Is it possible for there to be a hobby that makes stamp collecting look sexy? If so then coin collecting probably fits the bill.
I kind of understand stamp collecting – all the different pictures, shapes and sizes, plus the old fashioned romantic idea of letters bearing these stamps travelling round the world in the days before email. But, to me, coin collecting just seems somewhat dull in comparison.
The Ladybird Coin Collecting book was first published in 1976 and therefore covered British coins up to the then new decimal currency. As well as detailing lots of British coins up to decimal the book also talks about coin collecting as a hobby. There is talk about the different grades and conditions of coins and how to care for and store the coins that you collect.
Coin Collecting also talks a bit about the history of coins and the concept of money instead of bartering for good and services. The book also looks at what coins can tells us about a country in terms of who the king or ruler was at different points in history, and also what items (famous people, animals, plants or birds) may be important to that country and they often also show emblems that are particular to that country too.
I find it fascinating to look back at some of these old Ladybird books on hobbies, from the Learnabout series in particular, and wonder if they look as old fashioned when they were published. It would certainly take a certain kind of a geeky child to go for a book like this today, but I wonder if that’s just the effect of all the modern day distractions that our children have and if it would have been more popular back in the 1970s when first published. Or maybe coin collecting was just as dull then as it appears to me now!
If you have a collection of old Ladybird books then please feel free to join in with Ladybird Tuesday. There are no formal rules to follow, just leave a link to any post you write in the comments below and if you’re feeling kind link back to my Ladybird Tuesday index page here on Being Mrs C. Thanks!
Accidentally came across your page when looking for snippets on the Ladybird series of how to make things (trying to find ideas to keep my little one busy) and was amused to read your comments on the Ladybird book on Coin collecting. I still have this book – which was bought way back in 1983 in Calcutta (I still remember how I almost emotionally blackmailed my father into buying this one for me – got it on the same day that I had been bitten by a dog :->). But to go back to your comments about coin collecting and whether it was popular in an earlier time, I can tell you that coin collecting was pretty popular among boys (in Calcutta at least) when I was growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, and was considered more “adult” than stamp collecting. For one thing it was more expensive – unless you had relations who traveled abroad frequently and brought back coins as souvenirs. Friends of mine lucky enough to have such a source would stock up on large number of coins of the same type (e.g., the UK 1 pence piece was pretty popular – as was 1 US cent) and then exchange them for coins they didn’t have. The fun part was figuring out how much was a new and strange coin worth in terms of this exchange rate :-> I still remember the trouble I got in at home for exchanging a 1 forint piece (obtained from my father after he did a Eastern Europe tour) for a 1 penny piece :-> And the Ladybird book actually came in pretty handy in increasing my collection – a friend of my father’s on seeing this book figured out that I was a coin collector and very generously gave me quite a few coins he had with him from his foreign trips.
And somehow I think the hibby still popular – I recall seeing a Guide to Coin Collecting – I think it was published by Dorling Kindersley – maybe 3 years back at a local bookstore here in Chennai. And our local stationers keeps at least 2 different varieties of coin albums (of course, its hard to beat the large variety of stamp albums he keeps) – which suggests numismatics as a hobby is probably not that rare among kids of today. Well, I guess I will find out once my son gets the collecting bug :->
My Dad tried to interest me in collecting coins once but I wasn’t bothered. I do have an old tin money box though where I put interesting coins that I find, odd bits of foreign money, and those squashed pennies that you make at theme parks. I can kind of see the attraction as they are quite tactile and the children love posting them into things, they aren’t quite as interested all mounted up in frames when you can’t touch them! I’ve joined in this week with Learning to Sew http://www.jenniferslittleworld.com/2015/01/ladybird-tuesday-learning-to-sew.html