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 Coin Collecting For Beginners

About The Authors

At the age of ten Alan Hartley became a keen stamp collector swapping stamps with his friends at school. One of these friends also collected coins and he sparked an interest in Alan to do likewise. Whilst Alan was in his twenties the P.O. started to issue many more sets of commemorative stamps than it had done, reducing their collectabillity value. When this happened he turned his attentions further to coin collecting, a hobby which he has now followed for many years resulting in a collection containing nearly two thousand coins.

Alan Hartley has written has several other books including two books on Fish Keeping, one on The Game Of darts and his Autobiography. He started writing at the age of about 35 when he ran an aquatic department within a garden centre. The newspaper that he advertised his business in asked him to write some articles on fish keeping, for the pets page, which were accepted and published and this started him on a new career.

Andrew Lucas is best described as a frustrated young artist forced to follow a career in retailing which does not inspire him, unlike his passion for drawing. It is this passion that has led him to produce the ink drawings which illustrate this book.

Andrew is something of a history buff who delights in drawing timber framed buildings and historical town plans. It is his interest in history that led him into the hobby of coin collecting. Whereas Alan Hartley collects what most numismatists would call modern coins Andrew’s interest lies in the earlier Roman, Saxon, Medieval etc. He has collaborated with Alan Hartley to produce this book entitled “Coin Collecting For Beginners.”

 

Foreword

It is hoped that “Coin Collecting For Beginners” will encourage more young people into a hobby that is often considered to be a pastime for old men and thought to be to “Dry” and boring for young people.

This book then is aimed at absolute beginners to the hobby of coin collecting and it is acknowledged that a lot of these new hobbyists will be teenagers so the book does not go into tedious encyclopedic detail. It does however remain informative with an easy to read style and is illustrated throughout with drawings and  relevant pictures, especially in the coin identifying section near the back, and as such can be used as a reference book to identify foreign coins.

Coin Collecting For Beginners concentrates on what dealers would consider “modern coins” that is the coinage of the milled series, ie; British coins since 1656. Foreign coins considered are even more recent, ie; those since 1900.

The book starts with a useful list of the rulers of Britain going back to Roman times and then follows on with a brief history of coins. A section on Pre-Decimal coinage and the advent of the Euro continues the historic theme. The Euro has meant big changes in European currencies which have not always been for the best. In fact a lot of financial problems have been blamed on it but it is now recognized as a major currency and as such deserves a mention in this book. One page takes a light hearted look at its phenomenal rise in value in the Vatican State. Also at the back of the book is a pictorial list of all the designs of the new Euro coins issued in its first year.

A section on the British Royal Mint also discusses the production of coins including how they are designed. Some interesting information on mints around the world and brief notes on museums housing coin collections worth seeing follows.

The actual collecting of coins is an interesting topic which is covered from all angles with some tips on which coins may be worth looking out for in your change. A brief section on collecting coins for an investment is covered with tips on how to buy coins at the best price.

This book on coin collecting takes a look at many different aspects of coin collecting including Maundy Money, housing a collection, grading and handling coins. An informative and yet light hearted approach to the subject of coin forgeries makes for interesting reading.

Eventually there will come a time when a coin collection has to be disposed of for whatever reason and this too is dealt with sympathetically, with a few words of advice on how it may be passed down the generations.

The book also gives another alternative to selling at an auction and suggests that the collection is used to start a small business in early retirement perhaps.

For more details on how to buy this book click here

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