The Numismatist In Me

Coins are fantastic things. You can be things with coins, you can sometimes receive coins for buying things too, you can ogle in awe at shiny coins, and stare in confusion or disgust at a beaten up coin which has clearly seen better days (before putting said coin towards a chocolate bar, video game, or whatever else your heart may desire).

Coins of course are just one part of currency, a system which keeps the whole world working wildly with wondrous writ (that makes sense doesn't it, I'm quite sure it does. It's getting late and I'm rather tired but hey-ho, I'll saunter on).

The matter at hand, as the clever little monkeys amoung you may have already divulged, is that I like coins. I would go so far as to say that I am a numismatist (see how it all links in with the title, oh aren't I clever). A numismatist, if you don't know and can't be arsed to search the term, is a person who study's or collects money, coins or medals. True it may seem like a rather grand, or even pompous hobby, and something which may be seen to be restricted to the well off; after all if someone has lots of money they can probably afford a slightly expensive distraction, however most hobbies, activities, and general recreational ventures do have some element of cost (but I'm getting distracted now, and what's with all these brackets? No more I say, it's getting silly)

I've been collecting coins actively for almost a decade now, when I first started I was just a strange teenage creature with a money box holding various foreign, and commemorative British coins. I'd say it all started around 2005, when I got 10 Rupee coin in change from a vending machine. I was fascinated by the design and it became very special to me. A few years later, in 2008, The Royal Mint overhauled the designs of pretty much every coin, it was then that I was determined to 'collect the shield' - a special design of the royal shield which could be made by arranging six different coins in a specific pattern.

This amazed me, coins were no longer seen as just a way of buying things, or interesting trinkets, but as a game. I viewed coins as a puzzle spread over pieces of metal, and then my view grew to see them as a challenge. Like the Pokemon of my youth I started to feel as though coins were things to be obtained not for monetary sake, but to complete the puzzle, to obtain a set. In the words of Pokemon "Gotta catch 'em all", and so that was my goal.

Having made my shield I turned to hoarding foreign coins from holidays, and frequently checked my change for different designs desperate for something I hadn't seen before. It was around this time I ventured into the realms of Ebay and my eyes were opened to all sorts of amazingly beautiful, stunningly rare, and eye-wateringly expensive coins. It was during this sporadic collecting period that my collection grew greatly but with little to no goal, I simply went for whatever looked interesting.

     "5 cents from Belize, why not!"

     "A French half franc, sure!"

     "A cent with a starfish on it from the Bahamas, that's bloody cool!"

     "Wow 1 Indian Anna from 1944, it looks like a flower! That's the King on the 
      other side, this is amazing!"

     "That's got a poppy in it... and people thought it was been used to spy on 
      America. That's a fun little story, I'll take it. The Queen looks interesting 
      on these Canadian coins too."


Anything that was different, anything which had some slight hint of character outside of the pounds and pence I knew was a glittering gem I needed in my treasure trove.

Eventually I calmed down and set a goal of owning a pound from every year the coin was minted, and in general set upon focusing primarily on British coins. Of which there are plenty to chose from just in recent history, never mind the pre-decimal stuff. Then just a few years later some big sporting event happened and sent me crazy again. In the run up to the London Olympics the Royal Mint released 29 sport themed 50 pence, and after a long hunt I finally own them all.

My collection now contains numerous coins from British a world history going back to the 1800's. My silver sixpence from 1901 (The final year of Queen Victoria's reign) is a particularly prized item, and I think that's part of the joy I gain from this hobby of mine. Every coin has a story, however small each piece of metal has a place in history and it's through learning what that coin represents, or the state of the country it originates from, or even understanding more about the time it came from can be compelling and deeply satisfying.


So why am I telling you all of this. For the same reason people do almost anything on the internet, ego. Yet if there was something to take away from all of this, some sentimental mush to make you feel potential warm inside, or to give that sense of mild "yeah, why not", it would be this:

Do whatever the hell you want, we can get too wrapped up in the little bubbles of drama and mundanity that we call lives and spend too little time focusing on the things which bring us enjoyment in any measure. If you have a desire, follow it. If you find yourself being the only one to enjoy a particular thing, embrace it don't cave or cast it aside. Celebrate what makes you unique, and know that from even the most humble 'vending machine beginnings' things can grow to become beautiful, inspiring, and meaningful to at least one, and it is the one that matters most.