words Al Woods
With so many of resorting to contactless card payment when we come to pay for those smaller items, it might seem inevitable that coins will, at some point in the near future, become a thing of the past. So, is coin collecting going to eventually follow the same trajectory?
Why collect coins?
There are more than thirty billion coins in circulation in the UK, many of which are pressed with unique, commemorative designs. That’s a great deal of scope for a would-be collector, as there will always be some missing piece of the puzzle. While you might one day assemble a full set of trading cards, the chances of assembling every sort of coin ever pressed are close to zero.
The history
Coin collectors are, for the most part, drawn to the hobby by a sense of shared history. Many of the rarer and more valuable pressings are created to mark specific occasions and events, like the commonwealth games and the anniversary of women’s suffrage. Moreover, since coins have been around for thousands of years, it’s possible to delve deep into the history of ancient peoples. If you pick up a Roman denarius, for example, you might be holding something that passed between who-knows-how-many ancient hands, and was used in all manner of strange and mundane transactions. That’s a feeling that few other collecting hobbies can match – even stamp collecting has been around only since the invention of the stamp in the mid-19th century.
What do I need to start?
One of the other major advantages to coin collecting is the low barrier to entry. To get started, all you need do is pick up a coin or two. When you begin to pick up rare and valuable coins, you might then invest in a display cabinet to keep them in good condition, where you can see them. When you begin to learn more about the details printed on the faces of each coin, you might want to examine them in greater detail. This means investing in a magnifying glass from a reputable place like RS Components.
To conclude, while the days of the coin itself might be numbered, the practice of coin collecting is unlikely to fall out of favour for awhile yet. In fact, it’s likely that the appeal of the practice will only grow as coins begin to vanish from our day-to-day lives, and become more of an object of curiosity.
