So I collect coins, so do many other people in the world but what does this mean for me ? What does it mean I actually do ? Do I just see coins, keep them and look for more ? To be a little more precise, I'd much rather call myself a numismatist. The main implication of this being that this is the name given to a person who collects or studies coins. Or in my case, as is that of many, I collect AND study coins. The study of coins makes the collecting a great deal more interesting - in my opinion. It seems that the vast majority of numismatists have a particular field of interest, sometimes this will be quite a narrow area, but not always. My particular field of interest is twentieth century coins of all nations, this is seen as a broad area. Many collectors stick just to the coins of their own country - if they wish to keep this broad they may well cover the complete chronological range of coins for the area of the world which currently constitutes their native land. (Themes are often chosen away from time and place themes - but I shan't go into that here). Few collectors strictly keep to their particular field of interest and so are likely to know something about each of the "other" fields.

   So I do two things, collect and study. To collect coins I usually need to buy them. I seldom wish to buy a coin if it is the same as one I have already. When I look through a selection of coins I have a good idea of what I probably don't yet have. Then with the pieces I think I would like to buy I use my comprehensive inventory listing to try and ensure that I don't buy anything that I've already got. Next comes the first part of the studying. The new acquisitions mean that the inventory listing is out of date. In updating this, each new coin is checked against the standard reference catalogue - each of my new coins should be listed in it already - otherwise I begin to wonder if I have something new. This something new may be a new date for a particular type, a slight change in design or a completely new design. Once I am sure about anything new I may have observed, I take a note of the details. Once in a while, a long list of these details will build up and these I send to the publisher's of the standard reference catalogue. This book is published in the U.S.A. and is called "The Standard Catalog of World Coins" (Krause Publications). The current edition for 20th century issues has over 1800 pages with an actual size illustration for each side of almost every type of coin. It is a very useful book.

   So how can the twentieth century coins of the world fill over 1800 pages ? Well before you ask - the writing is by no means in extra large print ! Tens of thousands of coins are listed. But how can there be this many ? Well if you think for a minute, there are around 200 countries in the world and these days almost every country individually has its own coins. Usually in circulation a country will have its own series of around 6, 7 or 8 denominations. We in Great Britain have eight denominations, these of course are 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 Pence and 1 and 2 Pounds. Of course an average of 7 denominations multiplied by 200 issuing states does not add up to tens of thousands, so what other factors are there ? There are two other main factors. The first of these is that most countries have coins and series of coins that are now obsolete - these can be from old monetary systems, previous constitutions etc.. The second factor, the biggest one of all perhaps, is that many countries issue their coins every year and change the date on them each year. It is because of changes in portrait and more importantly the use of different dates, that we in Great Britain can expect the next coin we take out of our pockets to be any one coin of around 100 or so. I should point out here that some collectors do not go as far as collecting an example of each date of each coin, these "type collectors" will opt for just having an example of each coin that is different in a way other than the change of date.

   When you go to your pocket, just which coin you will come to first is entirely random, though the odds of finding some coins are greater than for others. Some dates of particular types were never made in quite the same quantity as others and of course as coins get older and older there is an increased chance that they will meet their end one way or another. So perhaps some of our coins will only occur once in every thousand pieces and others as often as once in every 25 pieces. In a very similar way, only on a much larger scale, most coin dealers have large and varied quantities of coins in stock, from all (or most) times and places, however you can only be sure of finding the most common coins. Finding anything else requires a careful search at the best of times - this is no problem though - this to me is one part of what collecting is all about.

   So next, what about the computer ? Surely the computer comes into all of this ? One of the computer's task is to allow me to communicate by e-mail. If I don't know the answer to something, I can at least know a good place to start asking. Out there in "cyberspace" (i.e. in front of another computer somewhere/anywhere else in the world) there are very many other numismatists, including a number of "recognised experts" for want of a better phrase. But I guess you are wondering how it is that I find out about these other people in the first place. Well, in addition to e-mail the internet offers the worldwide web (www). There are many places on the www where people with similar interests (whatever they are) can communicate. So of course there are such places for numismatists. Questions are posted in the hope that someone else will answer. This brings about open discussion and of course this can easily be followed by private messages between any of those having partaken in a discussion. Quite a number of numismatists have there own websites as do a number of coin dealers. There are at least hundreds of numismatically orientated websites. Other numismatists will come across these either by following a link from another site or discussion area or by using what is known as a search engine which is, in simple terms, an enormous searchable index of websites.

   Many numismatic websites, usually those of larger coins dealerships, exist for the sole purpose of selling coins and seldom offer much numismatic information or news. Fortunately, there are also websites belonging to numismatists who wish to share their information and news. This is the reason for sites such as this one. A website can be an ideal information base for a club. There are many clubs that are to be found in “cyberspace” and a few of these are numismatic. For over two years I have been a member of the WBCC (Worldwide Bi-metallic Collectors' Club). This club has members in over 30 countries hence it is truly worldwide. Bi-metallic coins, such as the G.B. 2 Pound coins, are continually being used by more and more countries throughout the world. The WBCC exists to encourage collectors to trade both coins and information, to keep them informed on the latest news and to keep them in touch with where pieces can be purchased etc.. The main tools used for club wide communication are a website and a weekly e-mailed newsletter the "WBCC Newsmail". The website has an image of most of the known bi-metallic coins and tokens of the world (this is several hundred pieces), it has a list of members, an archive of previous Newsmails and amount of other relevant information. The "WBCC Newsmail" has the obvious general club notices such as new members and changes in members' e-mail addresses, there are offers for the sale of bi-metallic coins and tokens and of course there is the very latest news on new issues/discoveries. Some of this information is occasionally quoted from numismatic publications. Often though this new information is as researched by members of the WBCC, it is this kind of thing that I contribute and sometimes this kind of thing will be reported by other (bigger) numismatic publications (outside of "cyberspace"). My efforts with this kind of thing for the WBCC gave them cause over a year ago to make me the "WBCC Research Centre". What next ?