Coins Approved by Vatican and Australian Mint to Mark the Wo

[rangitoto]

on http://dig4coins.com/news/latest/coins- ... -2008.html i have read thet several coins, all made of gold and silver, where minted in order to celebrate the world
youth day, organised by catholic church. it will take place in Sydney. all these coins are commemorative, and i have a
question: is it worth collecting commemorative coins? do they cost something, or they are "just for fun"?
i'll appreciate your answers. thanks.

[Jes]

on http://dig4coins.com/news/latest/coins- ... -2008.html i have read thet several coins, all made of gold and silver, where minted in order to celebrate the world
youth day, organised by catholic church. it will take place in Sydney. all these coins are commemorative, and i have a
question: is it worth collecting commemorative coins? do they cost something, or they are "just for fun"?
i'll appreciate your answers. thanks.

Phhha... I don't really like this "commemorative coins" because are too expensive for me. I cannot buy it. Despite this fact, I have in my collection a lot of 2 € commemorative coins, but there is a difference:

The coins I collect can be found in circulation.

So, I collect only coins in circulatoin because the coins that are minted for collectors ("collector's coins") are NOT for circulation, thus they seems to me as if it were tokens or medals. But coins. You're not able to pay with it in any country (although you're crazy, as those are sold at higer price than nominal value)

That's why I don't collect coins from Vatican City or Monaco, but I collect coins from San Marino

Anyway, this is only my opinion!! That means that other coin collectors may obviously have another criteria thus they may collect this "collector's coins" specifically minted for collectors. And of course there are collectors whom collect both: normal coins and "collector's coins".

So... you have to choose and decide what is your collection of. I mean, you've to define "What do you collect"

Let's wait and we'll see what does other people think...

[tabbs]

Hmm, somebody whose username looks similar but is not exactly the same asked the same question in a forum which focuses on coins ... In my opinion you should not buy them if you consider them to be investments in gold and/or silver.

If you want them because, say, you plan to go to Australia for the WYD - sure, why not buy one of them as a souvenir. If you have a "theme collection" such as coins featuring the Pope - sure, go ahead. The question here should not be "will these coins be worth more in a couple of years?" (quite likely the answer is No) but whether you want them to be in your collection.

By the way, the Australian coin can also be had in a base metal version - in case you are interested in the theme, not in the metal: http://www.perthmint.com.au/catalogue/w ... cover.aspx
Also, the Vatican plans to issue a €5 collector coin dedicated to this year's World Youth Day. That will be a low-mintage silver coin which will cost more than face ...

Christian

[tabbs]

That means that other coin collectors may obviously have another criteria thus they may collect this "collector's coins" specifically minted for collectors.

From time to time I may buy such collector coins, yes. For example, I have some Spanish "€10" pieces (Gaudí, Dalí) because I like the designs and find the works of these artists interesting. Since those cost more than the nominal value, I do not purchase many though.

The Spanish €12 pieces can, like Dutch or German silver euro coins, at least be had at face value. But as you wrote, all that is regional money only - I could not use a German €10 coin in the Netherlands for example, even though NL is just a couple of kilometers away and is part of the euro area just like DE. Thus I focus on the €2 coins but may still buy others when I find them neat and affordable ...

Unfortunately the Spanish mint does apparently not continue its "tradition" to issue regular coins with commemorative designs. I have quite a few 10 (25, 50 etc.) pesetas coins with different themes - the €2 coins would be neat continuation, except that hardly any are issued in Spain. Booo.

Christian

[androl]

I have quite a few 10 (25, 50 etc.) pesetas coins with different themes

interesting, the 10 and 50 pesetas coins are really hard to get. I guess they used to pay mainly with 1, 5, 25, 100 and 500 pesetas in Spain. These are the aluminium and nordic gold coins, while all the nickel coins (10, 50, 200) have been rarely used. Sometimes you find 10 pesetas in lots, but then they are only the normal ones. But all coins except 1 and 500 pesetas have different designs in each year

[Jes]

I have quite a few 10 (25, 50 etc.) pesetas coins with different themes

interesting, the 10 and 50 pesetas coins are really hard to get. I guess they used to pay mainly with 1, 5, 25, 100 and 500 pesetas in Spain. These are the aluminium and nordic gold coins, while all the nickel coins (10, 50, 200) have been rarely used. Sometimes you find 10 pesetas in lots, but then they are only the normal ones. But all coins except 1 and 500 pesetas have different designs in each year

You're wright Androl: We mostly used 5, 25, 100, 500 and some times 1 pts coins. (pts = abreviation of Spanish old "peseta"). We also used 10, 50 and 200 pts coins, but those were less frecuent and... "rare".

As I was a boy when pesetas were used, I didn't use the 500 pts coin as it was a WOW !! what a denomination (I was about 8 yeasr old now: 500 pts = 3 € ! ) and I started to collect coins thus I kept some 10, 50 and 200 pts that I still have.