Confessions of a Coin Obsessive

Commemorative Coin Obsessions

Well, now that this Blog has finally come to fruition, I thought it best to perhaps explain a little but about why I like coins so much (insert L on forehead here). 

Having come from a family where at least 2 members saw both the historical and educational value of collecting coins, I am afraid I shunned any attempt by them to engage me in any kind of show and tell activities, preferring to educate myself on matters of Home and Away and condemning these interesting artefacts to the 'boring (Yawn)' file. I now realise why coin collecting is actually an interesting and worthwhile thing to do, that the history, culture and politics of Britain is all right there in my pocket and these will be passed on to future generations. And isn't it interesting to think that in our lifetime we will see the face of one, if not 2 (or more.  But that would be good for Wills) future monarchs on these coins in our lifetime. 

According to the London Mint Office "This use of coinage to spread news of an event dates back to Roman times. The beauty of using coinage is that virtually the whole of the population uses it, and more importantly they look at it when they use it. Even today, while some people may not read newspapers and others do not use the internet, everyone uses coinage."

My interest in coins came about fairly recently when a friend of mine began collecting the Olympic 50 pences. I still couldn't quite see the point in saving rather than spending them, but then I started to get a few in my change too. Suddenly they seemed like little treasures inside my purse. My Dad is a self confessed magpie and I suppose I am the same. The thrill of finding a special shining treasure amongst your change cannot be beaten. (Incidentally, it's worth noting at this stage that I am a single lady in my 30s. I expect it to stay this way if I continue with my numismatic ways). 

I began noticing the designs (some designs better than others) of the Olympic coins and not quite realising just how many of them were in circulation, set about collecting all of them. Now that the Olympics are done and dusted, and knowing how well GB did and the sense of team spirit and camaraderie that the games brought with it to London and surrounding, they will act as a lovely reminder of how great humans can be if you actually try. These coins will be around for a long time after that's all over. 

So that's what got me thinking about what commemorative coins mean and how the subject matter is clearly pretty special to be worth commemorating. 50p and recent £2 Coins circulate normally and can be found in change. Usually about 5 million of each of these are the commemorative issue, the rest being of the standard design. The designs of the £2 being particularly beautiful in some cases (but I'll come back to my favourite ones later). 

I now look out for all commemorative coins in my change. And will write a bit about my favourites in my next posts.