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160 countries, side by side

Started by chrisild, July 21, 2012, 02:28:19 PM

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chrisild

What do you do if you would like to have coins from as many countries as possible? You can buy them, or maybe swap ... or do what Helmut Behrend has done. He went to a nearby university and asked students for help. The result? He now has coins from more than 160 countries.

Behrend, 77 years old, is a retired German customs officer who lives in Emmerich, NW. Coins have fascinated him for a long time, and in March he already had pieces from 96 nations and territories, side by side, in boxes, albums and holders. Well, there are more countries, but how to get their coins?

He asked friends and neighbors -- and then the local university. The Rhein-Waal University has a campus in Emmerich, and students from many countries. The secretariat helped him with the translation of his request note into English. That is how the students learned about his "want list" too ...

... and now Helmut Behrend has coins from more than 160 countries. :) He does not have a computer, but somebody gave him a Schön catalog, he goes to the library, and asks others. He also has a friend in the nearby Netherlands who sometimes helps determining "difficult" pieces. Here are two articles in German about him:

WAZ (26 March) http://www.derwesten.de/staedte/emmerich/taler-taler-du-musst-wandern-id6499445.html
RP (21 July) http://www.rp-online.de/niederrhein-nord/emmerich/nachrichten/eine-muenze-aus-bhutan-1.2917409

Collecting is also about connecting. ;)

Christian

Figleaf

Cutely naive and a wonderful illustration of how coin collecting adapts easily to everyone's circumstances, interests and wishes. He obviously has great fun with his modest collection, which is - or should be - the bottom line. Zum wohl!

Not so obvious but good to know: the place where he lives, Emmerich, is in a V-shaped wedge sticking into the Netherlands. People from the Emmerich area who still speak the local dialect can communicate without any problems with Dutch neighbours speaking their local dialect.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

paisepagal

Bravo, it's a nice way to connect with people outside ones social milieu. I've experienced it to some extent myself !