Marko, the owner and representative of Vilk Varustus OÜ, a company importing SAFE collecting supplies, talks about his unique coin collection and how he got into coin collecting.
Classic collecting items include coins, stamps, and postcards, with coin collecting being undeniably the most popular and still growing trend worldwide. Being a postcard enthusiast myself, I was searching for a connection to the world of coins, mainly to understand the everyday concerns of coin collectors and gain practical experience in the field of coin storage. However, my plan to collect valuable, possibly even precious metal coins didn’t materialize. Even if an interesting theme had been found, there weren’t enough resources available alongside postcard collecting to create such a collection.
It’s important for a collection to constantly grow. The pace is not crucial, but its existence is. If collecting items are difficult or impossible to obtain, interest in the collection diminishes quickly. Although I had a handful of copper coins found in my own backyard, which formed a collection associated with a specific location, finding or searching for coins in the ground is relatively random and ungrateful. Ten coins in ten years amount to only one coin per year, which clearly didn’t satisfy me. The solution unexpectedly came from where I least expected it.
During the summer, I operate under the brand name niidanmuru.ee, maintaining dozens of lawns and surroundings of houses in Järvamaa. Already in the first year of operation, I found a few euro coins while working. In the second year, after the first find, I decided to start assembling a collection of coins that I found while mowing, trimming, or cleaning objects during work. If someone now thinks that it is not possible to find many coins in this way, consider the following.During the mowing season in 2018, I found 20 coins, of which the majority, 18 coins, were small denomination euro coins. One of the found coins was from the time before the last currency reform, and the other was from 1977!
After careful consideration, I decided to store my coins in SAFE coin frames. The decisive factor was the fact that I could write down all the information related to the coin’s discovery on the frame: location, time, coin details. Although frames are available in various sizes, I opted for a specific size that could accommodate all the coins I had found so far.
Coin frames can be stored in different ways, but my choice fell on a solid wooden box that can hold up to 50 coin frames. At first, I thought it would be enough for several years, but the box was already half full after 5 lawn mowing sessions. There were days when I found more than one coin! Since SAFE offers a wide range of collection options for coin frames, it is not excluded that one day I will replace the existing box with an album. Specifically, there are album inserts available for storing coin frames, which I also use for storing my postcard collection. This way, both of my collections would have a uniform style, forming a long row of albums on the shelf where I have placed them.
Therefore, my coin collection consists of coins that were lost by someone and found by me. The circumstances of the find are crucial. Although by now, I also have one coin found on the street, the focus remains on acquiring the main collection. I am already eagerly awaiting the next mowing season, solely because of the anticipation of new coin finds it will bring.
As my example confirms, collecting doesn’t have to be necessarily expensive, and it can be integrated into everyday activities. If you are looking for a hobby or an additional activity, think about where you go and what you “move”. There are endless quirky collecting themes out there. You just need to find something that resonates with you and enjoy the pleasure of collecting.
