Sunday, April 1, 2007
Collecting coins- the final hook for collecting Chinese coins
As someone who collects coins and paper money, and who has some unusual tastes, I had been helping other dealers to attribute and price some World Coins. I told one dealer my story of the two Chinese coins, and he reached under the counter, took out a 1 Pound box of Velveeta Cheese, and said, "Here are a bunch of Chinese coins. No one is interested in them. If you would like them, they are yours." The box was full of Chinese coins, of all ages. I had a great time cataloguing them, and most of them are still part of my collection. This was enough to really pique my interest in the area of Chinese coins. Collecting coins and paper money has led me into different areas, with this one giving me over 35 years of interest, knowledge, and stories- that of collecting East Asian coins and paper money. Collecting coins and paper money can take one into very interesting areas.
Collecting coins- starting collecting Chinese coins
Collecting coins can lead to interesting stories. I started collecting as a young child, but I didn't really get interested in Chinese coins until I was attending University. A Chinese friend gave me an old Chinese coin. I had no idea what it was, so I went into the Main Stacks of the library, and down to the bottom floor. I found a book by A. B. Coole, a prominent collector of Chinese coins and paper money (his library is now the foundation of the ANA's wonderful East Asian Numismatic Library) , called "Coins in China's History."
After about an hour of searching, I found the coin was from the time of the emperor Kang Hsi (1662-1722), and the Beijing mint of the Board of Revenue. It was a very common coin, in nice condition, but with a story to tell. A month or two later, I was looking through a 25 cent junk box, and found an old Chinese coin. It had a colour, a patina, which just spoke of ages of use. I purchased it, and after most of 2 hours of research in "Coins in China's History," I found it to be from the Sung dynasty, with the reign title Hsi Ning, dating from 1068-1077. It certainly was old, although not very valuable- under $4.00. It was a different style of writing, and a different metal than the newer ones, but most definitely a beautiful Chinese coin.
After about an hour of searching, I found the coin was from the time of the emperor Kang Hsi (1662-1722), and the Beijing mint of the Board of Revenue. It was a very common coin, in nice condition, but with a story to tell. A month or two later, I was looking through a 25 cent junk box, and found an old Chinese coin. It had a colour, a patina, which just spoke of ages of use. I purchased it, and after most of 2 hours of research in "Coins in China's History," I found it to be from the Sung dynasty, with the reign title Hsi Ning, dating from 1068-1077. It certainly was old, although not very valuable- under $4.00. It was a different style of writing, and a different metal than the newer ones, but most definitely a beautiful Chinese coin.
Collecting coins- what I have done
After the coin display was done, I was asked to write a book about the display. It showed the coins in the display, their description, and had much more room to write about the significance of different pieces.
I did the revisions to the book on the phone, by long distance while driving across North America. I attended a Suzuki Violin School course in Wisconsin, and phoned in revisions every day on a pay phone. One day while travelling across the prairies, there was a tornado about 30 miles north from where I was. The editing was at least as tough as writing it, and probably more, but I didn't count on tornados.
I traveled with the display to the Northern Exhibition Centre in K’san, where it was displayed. K’san is in one of the incredibly beautiful parts of BC, and I had not been there before. It was when I put the display in there that I really realized how much I had accomplished.
I also did several other displays for the museum- one at the CNA convention when it was in Vancouver. (1991?). I used 10 cases of Chinese coins, covering all the major dynasties. Another display was for a major feature called Arts of Conflict, which displayed a piece of Chinese knife money along with a Japanese Samurai suit, and other wonderful weapons. The museum has a good Tsuba (swordguard) collection.
I now buy and sell coins and paper money, and go to coin shows. I sell on eBay. I have done talks about the life and money of Sun Yat Sen, talked on the radio, and for national conventions, and written articles about various aspects of collecting coins and paper money. I had no idea that a coin found under a lake surface that got me started, and a gift of a brass coin, would lead into such different fields, but that is a story for another blog. Such is the power of collecting coins.
I did the revisions to the book on the phone, by long distance while driving across North America. I attended a Suzuki Violin School course in Wisconsin, and phoned in revisions every day on a pay phone. One day while travelling across the prairies, there was a tornado about 30 miles north from where I was. The editing was at least as tough as writing it, and probably more, but I didn't count on tornados.
I traveled with the display to the Northern Exhibition Centre in K’san, where it was displayed. K’san is in one of the incredibly beautiful parts of BC, and I had not been there before. It was when I put the display in there that I really realized how much I had accomplished.
I also did several other displays for the museum- one at the CNA convention when it was in Vancouver. (1991?). I used 10 cases of Chinese coins, covering all the major dynasties. Another display was for a major feature called Arts of Conflict, which displayed a piece of Chinese knife money along with a Japanese Samurai suit, and other wonderful weapons. The museum has a good Tsuba (swordguard) collection.
I now buy and sell coins and paper money, and go to coin shows. I sell on eBay. I have done talks about the life and money of Sun Yat Sen, talked on the radio, and for national conventions, and written articles about various aspects of collecting coins and paper money. I had no idea that a coin found under a lake surface that got me started, and a gift of a brass coin, would lead into such different fields, but that is a story for another blog. Such is the power of collecting coins.
Collecting coins- Doing a Museum Display
Collecting coins led me into doing displays for The Vancouver Centennial Museum (now the Vancouver Museum). It is located in Vanier Park, right across the parking lot from the Vancouver Community Music School where I was taking viola lessons. I had been told that there was a Chinese coin collection in the museum, and I went over there to take a look after lessons one day. The assistant curator at the time, Carol Mayer, showed me the collection, and, noticing my enthusiasm as well as some "expertise", twisted my arm and got me to volunteer some time to catalogue the collection.
When most of the collection had been catalogued, I cut my left hand, right along a thumb tendon sheath. I could not play for several months. The Museum decided to do a large display about money, and I was hired to be the curator- to choose the pieces to display, to write the text, and to decide on illustrations. I ended up with a 36 case display, with 1080 pieces of coins and paper money. Each case had text- an overview, detailed descriptions of the pieces displayed, a related illustration, and often a map showing the area being illustrated.
The display started with how coins are made, and then proceeded from China to Japan to India to Russia to Germany, France, Great Britain, and then to Canada, and closed with a section on forgeries and frauds. The display used materials mostly from the museum's own collection, and was supplemented by material from my collection, a local minting facility, and the Vancouver Police Department. I was told by some long-time collectors that it was the best display to be done in Canada on world coins, until the opening of the Bank of Canada Museum Collection in Ottawa. Not bad for a person who is collecting coins, having fun, and gathering knowledge.
When most of the collection had been catalogued, I cut my left hand, right along a thumb tendon sheath. I could not play for several months. The Museum decided to do a large display about money, and I was hired to be the curator- to choose the pieces to display, to write the text, and to decide on illustrations. I ended up with a 36 case display, with 1080 pieces of coins and paper money. Each case had text- an overview, detailed descriptions of the pieces displayed, a related illustration, and often a map showing the area being illustrated.
The display started with how coins are made, and then proceeded from China to Japan to India to Russia to Germany, France, Great Britain, and then to Canada, and closed with a section on forgeries and frauds. The display used materials mostly from the museum's own collection, and was supplemented by material from my collection, a local minting facility, and the Vancouver Police Department. I was told by some long-time collectors that it was the best display to be done in Canada on world coins, until the opening of the Bank of Canada Museum Collection in Ottawa. Not bad for a person who is collecting coins, having fun, and gathering knowledge.
Collecting coins- Museum Asian Coin Collections in North America
I have visited several museum collections, including the ANA in Colorado Springs, which houses the best library on Asian coins in North America; the Smithsonian collection in Washington, where they had just received a fabulous Chinese Paper Money collection - 10 cowboy boot-sized boxes of Chinese paper money; the ANS in New York, where I got to spend a day with Rose Chan Houston discussing the Chinese spade money and knive money of their fabulous collection; the Asian collection at Yale, which has the distinction of being the only good Asian coin collection that I know of which was formed strictly from coins (and other pieces) in circulation; the ROM collection in Toronto, where I got really shocked; the start of the Bank of Canada Museum in Ottawa, which is absolutely wonderful; and the Nickle collection at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. All of these collections are worthy of their own posting. All of the museums were memorable in some way, and most had incredibly fabulous people involved with collecting coins and paper money.
Collecting coins- UBC's Museum of Anthropology Asian Coin Collection
Collecting coins was made much more interesting when I started to work cataloguing the collection of UBC’s Museum of Anthropology. Their Asian coin collection is about 3,000 pieces, which are Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean. The collection was formed before 1912. It was shipped back and forth across the province, before it finally was settled at UBC.
Advice about the collection was received from a famous institution, and a famous authority. Unfortunately, he was not in his field of authority, and his advice was wrong. Fortunately, UBC disregarded his advice, and they have a very fine, detailed, (stroke variety) Asian coin collection. It does not have the early non-coinlike pieces, struck coins, (except for the Kwangtung Provincial brass pieces), or paper money.
It has an astonishing variety of different ways of writing coins. (If you didn’t know, Chinese coins can be separated by year, mint, and submint by the way the characters are written. This collection was obviously collected by stroke variety). I would put it as tied for number 2 Museum East Asian Coin Collection with the Vancouver Museum’s collection- I feel its depth makes up for the lack in earlier and later coins). I had translated a book on Sung Dynasty coin stroke variations, and it was interesting finding so many of the pieces that I had translated being obvious in this collection. Coin collecting brings one into very interesting areas.
Advice about the collection was received from a famous institution, and a famous authority. Unfortunately, he was not in his field of authority, and his advice was wrong. Fortunately, UBC disregarded his advice, and they have a very fine, detailed, (stroke variety) Asian coin collection. It does not have the early non-coinlike pieces, struck coins, (except for the Kwangtung Provincial brass pieces), or paper money.
It has an astonishing variety of different ways of writing coins. (If you didn’t know, Chinese coins can be separated by year, mint, and submint by the way the characters are written. This collection was obviously collected by stroke variety). I would put it as tied for number 2 Museum East Asian Coin Collection with the Vancouver Museum’s collection- I feel its depth makes up for the lack in earlier and later coins). I had translated a book on Sung Dynasty coin stroke variations, and it was interesting finding so many of the pieces that I had translated being obvious in this collection. Coin collecting brings one into very interesting areas.
Collecting coins- Vancouver Museum's Asian collection
Collecting coins and collecting paper money are not my only interests in numismatics. I have worked for several museums, cataloguing the collections that other people have donated, and I have volunteered to help other museums, especially with identification problems.
The Vancouver Museum was once housed in the Carnegie Library. This building was built and supported with funds from Andrew Carnegie. The museum's Chinese coin collection was housed in several window-sized frames, and displayed over the stair well where no-one could get a good look at them. During the Canadian Centennial of 1967, a new museum was built to house many collections, including the coin and paper money collections of the museum.
The Asian coin collection at the Vancouver Museum is about 1800 coins strong. It contains good examples of spade and knife money, from about 500-650 BC. It contains several examples of early round coins, many of the typical round-coins-with-a-square-hole Chinese (and Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese coins), plus very interesting struck copper and silver coins. It also contains an example of the Ming note (paper money of 1368-1398), several other old pieces of paper money, and a very interesting forgery of a Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank 10 Taels note.
The collection is one of the best East Asian museum coin collections in North America. Of the ones I am familiar with, I would put it tied for second after the ANS Collection in New York, as far as East Asian coins are concerned. It does not have as many pieces as the collection at UBC's Museum of Anthropology, but it has an excellent breadth. Working on the museum’s collection has helped me to gain knowledge about collecting coins.
The Vancouver Museum was once housed in the Carnegie Library. This building was built and supported with funds from Andrew Carnegie. The museum's Chinese coin collection was housed in several window-sized frames, and displayed over the stair well where no-one could get a good look at them. During the Canadian Centennial of 1967, a new museum was built to house many collections, including the coin and paper money collections of the museum.
The Asian coin collection at the Vancouver Museum is about 1800 coins strong. It contains good examples of spade and knife money, from about 500-650 BC. It contains several examples of early round coins, many of the typical round-coins-with-a-square-hole Chinese (and Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese coins), plus very interesting struck copper and silver coins. It also contains an example of the Ming note (paper money of 1368-1398), several other old pieces of paper money, and a very interesting forgery of a Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank 10 Taels note.
The collection is one of the best East Asian museum coin collections in North America. Of the ones I am familiar with, I would put it tied for second after the ANS Collection in New York, as far as East Asian coins are concerned. It does not have as many pieces as the collection at UBC's Museum of Anthropology, but it has an excellent breadth. Working on the museum’s collection has helped me to gain knowledge about collecting coins.
Collecting coins in Singapore- eBay's smallest site
Collecting coins is alive and well in Singapore. Singapore is a beautiful city, with many interesting features. It is an island state, a hive of activity, and has a unique history. It shares much of its history with Malaysia, but has enough differences that it separated from Malaya when Malaysia became independent from Great Britain. Singapore has never looked back.
The eBay site has interesting features that are not available on other sites. There is a lack of fees in certain areas that exist on every other eBay site that I know of. It also has problems that are not found on any other site that I am aware of. They are caused by the relatively small size of Singapore, compared to the relatively large countries that are served by any other eBay site. It seems that some buyers will contact sellers, argue for a reduced price, and withdraw the lot from eBay, concluding a private sale. This, although against eBay policies, is very hard to prevent. The other complaint is people feel there is a lack of material available on the site. This is also a consequence of the relatively small size of the Island state. eBay will have to do some enforcing to slow down the first action, and much advertising to get more items offered to win the second area. Collectors can also sign up with or visit several other eBay sites. eBay shows currency conversions in many different currency units.
The Singapore site offers many types of paper money, and surprisingly few coins. To visit this site, click here to visit the coins and paper money on eBay.com.sg. When I wrote this, the Singapore site had about 6600 offerings of paper money, and only about 2200 offerings of paper money. eBay Singapore will definately help those who are collecting coins in Singapore.
The eBay site has interesting features that are not available on other sites. There is a lack of fees in certain areas that exist on every other eBay site that I know of. It also has problems that are not found on any other site that I am aware of. They are caused by the relatively small size of Singapore, compared to the relatively large countries that are served by any other eBay site. It seems that some buyers will contact sellers, argue for a reduced price, and withdraw the lot from eBay, concluding a private sale. This, although against eBay policies, is very hard to prevent. The other complaint is people feel there is a lack of material available on the site. This is also a consequence of the relatively small size of the Island state. eBay will have to do some enforcing to slow down the first action, and much advertising to get more items offered to win the second area. Collectors can also sign up with or visit several other eBay sites. eBay shows currency conversions in many different currency units.
The Singapore site offers many types of paper money, and surprisingly few coins. To visit this site, click here to visit the coins and paper money on eBay.com.sg. When I wrote this, the Singapore site had about 6600 offerings of paper money, and only about 2200 offerings of paper money. eBay Singapore will definately help those who are collecting coins in Singapore.
Collecting coins- help from eBay Australia
Collecting coins in Australia seems to be very active. There are several large companies which are well known, and Australian bidders have been active on my site, for sure. The history of Australian coin collecting is also very interesting, and has many parallels with that in Canada. There are holey dollars, many token issues, and a history of little support in currency matters from the mother country, leaving the local merchants to help the currency situation. Australia has an eBay site, which is well worth a look. There are listings that are not found on other eBay sites. To visit this site, click here for coins being auctioned on eBay.com.au. When I wrote this, the Australian site had 9,216 offerings of coins and paper money. It is a great help if you are collecting coins from Australia.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
collecting coins- eBay Canada
eBay has many sites all around the world. The one I use the most, because this is where I live, is the Canadian site. However, I list my items for worldwide viewing, and I get orders from all over the world, through the Canadian site. I have had items sold to the US, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Greece, Turkey, and other countries. Some of them have given me interesting experiences. Some have gone very smoothly, and some have not. Those stories I will tell in another place.
The national sites specialize in the items from that country, but also list a number of items from around the world. Some of them are very large, and others are surprisingly small. I will be trying out listings on some of the other national and regional sites.
My national site is eBay.ca. It has a large amount of Canadian items, and a good selection of items from other countries. The Canadian site lists many Canadian and world wide coins and paper money items. To visit this site, click here to view coins on eBay.ca. When I wrote this, the Canadian site had 155,568 offerings in coins and paper money.
The national sites specialize in the items from that country, but also list a number of items from around the world. Some of them are very large, and others are surprisingly small. I will be trying out listings on some of the other national and regional sites.
My national site is eBay.ca. It has a large amount of Canadian items, and a good selection of items from other countries. The Canadian site lists many Canadian and world wide coins and paper money items. To visit this site, click here to view coins on eBay.ca. When I wrote this, the Canadian site had 155,568 offerings in coins and paper money.
Collecting coins- eBay.com is the biggest
If you are not a member of eBay yet, you can sign up quickly and easily. eBay has many national operations, in the US (the biggest site), Canada, Britain, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, and many other countries. You may want to sign up only once in your own country's site, or you may want to sign up in several countries. I have 2 different names, one that I use when buying, and one that I use when selling. I have also registered on both Canadian and US eBay. I am equipped to sell on any eBay site, and I will be investigating selling on several different sites. I list all my offerings to sell internationally, but I am not sure that they always show up on all the different national sites. If you would like to visit some of the different National sites, I will make it easy for you. The first link is for the US eBay, which has many American items, of course, but also a huge amount of material from around the world. Click here to view listings of coins on eBay.com. When I wrote this, the US site had 233,529 offerings in coins and paper money.
Collecting coins- eBay helps
If you are collecting coins, I don't see how you can survive without eBay. It has many opportunities for you to add to your collection, or to let someone else add to their collection by selling your items. I talk about eBay in more detail on my auctions-world-wide blog. I generally like eBay, both as a seller, and as a buyer. I have done very well in some months, and not so well in others. I am now putting more items in my store, and will be having others coming up on the weekly auctions. I have been having some problems lately with customers not receiving my goods, and with one customer who says he sent me a money order that I did not receive. These are the problems with the eBay system, I guess. I sell US, Canadian, and world coins, and I try to have interesting pieces for sale. If you would like to visit my store, click here to visit coinsnpaper on eBay.ca.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
collecting coins- where it took me
I never imagined, when I started collecting coins, where it would take me. I was the curator of a large museum display (1080 coins, 36 cases, pictures, text, maps, and a book to go along with it- "Handfuls of Cash"), after I had catalogued the museum's 1800 piece collection, and later catalogued another museum collection of 3000 Asian coins. I became a small dealer, going to local shows and selling on eBay, and I have kept expanding my interests into other fields of numismatics. Now I am more interested in the South Asian and Persian areas. I like collecting coins because it involves history, economics, calligraphy (especially in the Asian and Middle Eastern fields), metallurgy, and culture, as well as valuable items that in many cases are also pieces of art. I hope you share my love of collecting coins. I am willing to help you as much as I can, answering questions and giving information. I sell on eBay as coinsnpaper , where I am a sometime Powerseller, selling assistant, and operate a store. I had no idea that I would be interested into all these fields, and be doing all of these things, when I started collecting coins.
Collecting Coins- how I started
Welcome to my collecting coins blog. I have been a coin collector since I found a 1929 Canadian Penny under the surface of Okanogan Lake at Osoyoos, when I was a child of 9. I wiggled my toes in the sand, out about chest high in the water, and found something hard. I went underwater to find it, and this strange penny came out. I was not even aware that old Canadian money looked different, and I became fascinated. I started collecting Canadian pennies, and then collecting Canadian coins. I expanded to collecting British Commonwealth, Proof sets, World coins, and finally into collecting paper money. I then became very interested in collecting Asian money, especially Chinese, and became somewhat of an expert in that field.
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