Coin Collecting Strategies Part 1

Novice collectors eventually reach a point where they are unable to find any

more interesting coins in pocket change. Of course you should never stop looking

at the coins you receive from your shopping trips or gasoline fill-ups. If you have

been trying to fill in the holes in that blue coin folder, and you find that some dates

never seem to appear on the coins you receive in change from the variety store,

where do you go from here?

Collecting Canadian Decimal Coins

There are several popular ways to collect Canadian decimal coins. These range

from trying to find every conceivable date and variation to focusing on portraits or

a particular denomination. Collecting by date Collecting decimal coins by date and mint mark has been the traditional way to collect them for several decades. The idea is to collect one coin of each date in each denomination, sometimes by filling the "holes" in commercially marketed coin holders or folders. Some collectors will collect more than one coin for a given date if there are different markings, such as marks that identify different mints. For example, you might want to include Canadian coins produced by the Heaton Mint. These are identified by a small 'H' under the date on Canadian large cents dated 1876, 1881, 1882) 1890, 1898, 1900 and 1907 (see photo). This can be a challenging way to collect, particularly since coins of some dates can be quite rare, but the result would be a large and relatively valuable collection if you take pains to acquire the coins in the best condition possible.

Collecting one denomination

Some collectors become attracted to one particular denomination. He or she

may then try to acquire as many different dates and types of this denomination as

possible. The Canadian five-cent series can be an especially attractive group of

coins to collect.

To begin with, there are the five-cent coins depicting the five different monarchs.

Then there are the "H" coins from the Heaton mint: 1872, 1874, 1875, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1890, 1902 and 1903 (Note that the 1902 five-cent coins also come in two varieties, with either a small or a large "H"). The Canadian five-cent coins are found in the small (15.494 mm) diameter and silver composition, as well as the larger (21.21 mm) size minted in nickel and other metals from 1922 onward.

Collecting coins of one monarch

One way to narrow down the scope of your decimal collection, and thus reduce

the expense or make your goal more accessible, is to limit your collection to the

coins of a single monarch. Suppose you are interested in the life and times of Ed-

ward VII. You might decide to collect just the coins showing his portrait. Then you

would not have to acquire the more expensive Canadian coins that you would need to complete a date collection. In fact, since Edward VII was the monarch for the entire British Empire, you could expand your collection by collecting his portrait on coinage from such diverse countries as Great Britain, British Honduras, India and South Africa, to mention just a few. And the coins of most of these countries are usually less expensive than similar Canadian coins.

Of course you could decide to collect the coins of George VI, or just George V,

or just Victoria, or just Elizabeth II. (There were no Canadian coins issued with the

effigy of Edward VIII).

Collecting by portrait

As an alternative, you might like to acquire a portrait set. Many different portraits

of Queen Elizabeth II, for example, have appeared on the various coins of the British Commonwealth. In fact, there are several different portraits of her on Canadian coins. The same could be said of Queen Victoria. Another, perhaps, more ambitious possibility would be to complete a portrait set for each Canadian monarch. The photo below shows the Canadian coin obverse portraits for Victoria, Edward VII, George V, George VI and Elizabeth II (young head).

by Marvin Kay, MD