Coins !! Coins!!

I am lost in COINS world. So much information is hidden in such a small piece.
Why I have not started collecting this from my childhood? When I think about this, I got disappointed.

Chasing people for collecting coins is real fun.

Coin Hunt is in progress.......... ;-)

How to clean Currency Notes.. Tips & Tricks !

If you’re planning on saving your paper currency note (money) as an investment, it’s not a good idea to clean them. This could hurt their value in the future by scratching the surface or removing the outer coating from the mint. It’s best to leave this money as you found it unless there is something truly repellent on them.

To clean currency notes, keep the note in pocket of your jeans and keep your jeans in washing machine. You will get clean currency note without any efforts.

Just kidding guys, I think this the most common and accidental way to clean currency note. he he.

You can follow this method to clean note:
1. Take good amount of warm water in dish.
2. Gently place and shake dirty currency note in this water. Don’t keep it for long time.
3. Place wet currency note in open space where it can be dry easily.
4. Once it is dried, keep it in between papers and then use iron to give it some stiffness.

Now keep this clean note in your note album for long life. :-)

Tips to polish old coins !!

You will find many tricks and tips on different web sites to polish or clean old coins.

But I use a very unique method to polish old coins. I prefer tooth powder to polish few coins. Yeah, white tooth powder like "Colgate". If you gently rub your coin with this powder and clean it with soft cloth then coin looks shiny and clean. Though the effect of this shine is for limited duration. If you packed cleaned coin in plastic cover then shine may sustain for long time otherwise black layer will develop on the surface of the coin.

So try this method on any coin which is not precious to you and see the effect.
Please share your comments if you really like this method.

Few suggested links which tells you about different method of cleaning old coins:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4489554_make-old-coins-look-new.html
http://www.mycoincollecting.com/collecting/cleaning-coins.html

Thanks !!

First Currency Note

When people come to know about my coins collection, they support me with both hands. In addition to the coins some of them gave me “Currency Notes”. I did not refuse and started collecting Notes as well.

I wondered that how these Currency notes were invented. So with the help of “Google” devta (god), I got wonderful information which I am sharing with you all. :-)

This is “Song Dynasty Jiaozi, the world's earliest paper money”

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknote

Eventually, the paper money called "jiaozi" originated from these promissory notes.

Story of currency note:

The use of paper money as a circulating medium is intimately related to shortages of metal for coins. In ancient China coins were circular with a rectangular hole in the middle. Several coins could be strung together on a rope. Merchants in China, if they became rich enough, found that their strings of coins were too heavy to carry around easily. To solve this problem, coins were often left with a trustworthy person, and the merchant was given a slip of paper recording how much money he had with that person. If he showed the paper to that person he could regain his money.

Currently circulated currency notes !! Advance, well designed !!

An Introduction of Numismatists

Very few things say more about a country in fewer words than the coins it produces.

Coins hold a wealth of information on their small faces, from the year of their birth to the language spoken at the time, from the metals a country holds valuable, to the cultural influences and historical figures that its people hold valuable.

After Diwali, while cleaning and counting old “pushtainy” coins, a thought came into my mind on how about collecting coins like my father and grandfather did. Every year in Diwali, they add circulated coins for the worship of goddess Laxmi. So I decided to start a new segment to this collection i.e. collection of coins from foreign countries. To start with, I had few coins from South Africa and USA.

So the journey begins by collecting old as well as new shiny foreign coins. I recalled and listed friend’s names who frequently go abroad (onsite) and those who can easily share coins with me. I approached them and did the necessary follow-ups. The count of coins was growing, and so was my interest in the hobby. Not only friends in office but other colleagues, relatives helped me in pursuing this hobby. Even my clients shared coins with me which were very rare and uncirculated.

If you are pursuing any hobbies then you should be familiar with some common words related to that hobby. Like in the coins world, commonly used words are “Proof Set and Mint Sets”. Proof coins are specially minted, early-issued coins struck by the government. These are high-quality versions of circulated (common) coins which are sold for more than face value. Whereas Mint sets contains coins that haven't been circulated and receive no real special treatment before being packaged for sale.

Currently I have 300+ coins from 34 countries (like USA, UK, Norway, SA, Asian countries, UAE, Australia, etc) with different denominations and 400+ old Indian coins. Old Indian coins include different types of coins like Anna, Mohra, Asharfi and Piee. Coins of Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, King George V & VI, Nizam, Bhosle, Jiyajirao shinde are also part of my collection.

As mentioned in the beginning, pursing a hobby helps in securing knowledge mainly the History of coins, where it belongs to which indirectly involves Geography, what is printed on coin i.e. King, queen, politician, animals, birds, temples, building, sports, etc. Gathering and reading all this information is also a part of this hobby. With so much information and beauty contained in such a small package, it is no surprise that coin collecting has been a hobby nearly as long as the concept of coins themselves.

These coins are precious to me and I will continue this hobby with passion and enthusiasm. I would like to thank all people who have shared coins with me.

You are always welcome to share coins with me and make this coinage journey more enjoyable. :-)