Coin Shops, markets, museums Netherlands

[quaziright]

I'm travelling around Netherlands all week and am planning to spend some money on coin shopping. I'm particularly looking to filling gaps in my Dutch early 20th century collection and potentially add some older (hammered) coinage too.

I'm not looking for anything in particular and I have a modest budget, but anything that catches my eye and would make for a nice souvenir that at the same time fits well into my collection.

I'm not sure what good prices would constitute, so my question would be how trusting can I be of Dutch coin dealers, and am I expected to haggle with them?

[eurocoin]

I have never negotiated with a coin dealer here. But I also never had to, as I knew the value of the things I was buying, and would only buy from the dealers with normal prices. In general, I do not think that negotiating with coin dealers is a thing, but you may pay too much if you do not know what the true value is of the things you are buying. Also, of course, prices are very likely higher than those of dealers who do not have a physical store.

Unfortunately, I am really not sure whether there is anything of interest to be seen here. I feel that few coin dealers with a physical shop are left. As far as I know, there are no sheduled coin fairs next week. The Money Museum closed years ago and the Royal Dutch Mint is not open to visitors.

Will have to think, and maybe others come up with something.

[quaziright]

Thanks, I'll keep my expectations low and not go out of my way in that case. I'll pop into the shops if I happen to see any

[Figleaf]

The best collection of numismatic material is now Teyler's museum in Haarlem (only a few minutes from Amsterdam by train. Not sure what is exhibited, though and their collection is traditionally focussed on medals. Still, both the museum and the town are great places to visit and undiscovered by the touristy masses. Let me know if you go there and I'll provide a little list of things to see.

There is a coin and stamp market on Saturdays on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal (near Dam square) in Amsterdam. Haven't been there in years, though. Don't buy any expensive stuff (fakes), but it's OK for low-cost Dutch and euro coins and rummage tray stuff. Haggling is OK if you buy a number of things.

There used to be some (uninspiring, at least to me) stamp/coin shops around the market. Not sure if they are still there. You can always try to haggle if you buy a good number of items. There are collecting events that include coins, but not in the summer months.

If you like numismatic books, I highly recommend that you visit this site and have your purchases delivered to a trusted address in the Netherlands or a hotel. International postage for books is prohibitive.

For more expensive Dutch coins, you might as well order online, where most dealers are. Keep in mind that coins of the Netherlands are most expensive in the Netherlands.

Let me know if you are interested in tokens.

Peter

[quaziright]

Thanks! I'm actually going to Haarlem tomorrow morning (Zaanse Schan in the evening)

I had kept about $300 aside for coins but it seems it's not worth spending it in Netherlands. I'll perhaps keep it aside for Cologne or once I'm back in London

I plan to make day trips to delft, Leiden, utrecht, Rotterdam and the hague. If time permits, I would like to add Maastricht and Kinderdijk as well

[eurocoin]

At Zaanse Schans, watch out for the pickpockets (almost always foreigners!), which is a quite bad problem there. 

Utrecht is not what it once used to be. If you wish, you could walk to the Leidseweg 90, to see the old mint building (until 2020). It is a nice building and neighborhood, only a short walk from the station.

Maastricht is ok, only too many coffee shops and drugdealers.

You should consider to visit one of the northern islands, now or in the future. They are quite nice.

[Figleaf]

Zaansche Schans is well worth it. Try to visit the Albert Heyn shop if it is open. The windmill collection is worthwhile also. If you don't come by car, take the ferry to Zaandam. If you do come by car, try visiting either Broek in Waterland (salted port village, just stroll around the waterside) or Graft-De Rijp. If you are feeling adventurous, visit the Cono cheese factory on Rijperweg 20 in Westbeemster. Recommended: meikaas, biologische kaas and grand cru Beemster. Show the staff this post. They'll understand. No tasting. Modern factory, but it cannot be visited. Toilets in the reception area of the factory.

In Delft, the Royal Delft museum is one highlight. Beware of buying Delft blue porcelain. If it is cheap, it was sloppily made in China last month. The other is the private grave complex of the royal family in new church. The first grave dates from 1584. The canals rival those in Amsterdam.

In Leiden, follow the tracks of the pilgrim fathers. See this site. Make sure to visit the remains of the Leiden stronghold (Burcht van Leiden) on Nieuwe Burgsteeg 14 (free, but a bit of a climb).

In Utrecht, the major sights are the low canal quays, below street level and almost at the level of the canal water. Visit the railroad museum and the museum of musical machines (Speeldoos tot pierement) if time permits. Unless you are into torture or martyrdom, the episcopal museum is not worth your time and the centre is very small. Nearby castle De Haar is a fun 19th century folly, but it has nothing to do with the middle ages. The mint is closed to vistors.

Rotterdam ain't worth a visit unless you like harbour tours (I do). It was bombed out in 1940 and never recovered. The major attraction is getting out of town. Do Delfshaven or Kinderdijk instead. Delfshaven is a good extension of Leiden, because the pilgrim fathers left from there. You can actually park your car in the vicinity if you are lucky. Kinderdijk is a quicky visit.

Unless you have plenty of time, forget Maastricht. It's a really nice town, but too far from the rest of the country.

Peter

[Figleaf]

That leaves Haarlem. From the central station, start out by visiting Dolhuys, devoted to madness. The guides have all been restrained or locked up for madness. You'll come out understanding madness much better. Numismatic link (knowing that Dolhuys was a hospital before it became a funny farm): in Dutch, laying down your last lead piece (zijn laatste loodje leggen), refers to poor people, paying with a lead charity piece obtained by going to mass to go into hospital, knowing they'll only come out feet first.

Go down Jansweg and Jansstraat to visit Teyler's museum on Spaarne 16. From there, walk to Gierstraat 3 and visit the Van der Pigge drugstore, dating from 1821. From there, it is only a short walk to Sint Bavo, Haarlem's principal church and back to the station.

[FosseWay]

Unless you have plenty of time, forget Maastricht. It's a really nice town, but too far from the rest of the country.

 (Speaking as a Swede, where Kiruna is 1600 km away...)

[quaziright]

That's a lot of information to digest, much appreciated! I'm staying close to Amsterdam central, so taking the train everywhere. I'm on my way to zaanse schans right now

[chrisild]

Rotterdam ain't worth a visit unless you like harbour tours (I do). It was bombed out in 1940 and never recovered. The major attraction is getting out of town. Do Delfshaven or Kinderdijk instead.

Actually Delfshaven is part of Rotterdam, easy to reach with the subway or tram. But yes, it is not downtown. As for the architecture, I think that the city (council, whatever) made the deliberate decision to not "rebuild" the place after the WW2 bombings but try something radically new instead. That worked ... to some extent. But those cubes at Blaak for example are quite interesting. And they have a "European" Walk of Fame!

If one has a lot of time, taking the subway to Spijkenisse is an option. In a fairly new quarter, the bridges were designed after those on the euro notes. But such a trip is probably not what a traveler who has a couple of days for the entire country would want to do.

(Edit) The Dutch central bank (DNB) has a numismatic collection (NNC) but apparently that cannot simply visited either. If you have a special interest and reason, you can make an appointment at the temporary location in Haarlem ...

"Vanwege de renovatie van ons hoofdkantoor in Amsterdam is de collectie tot en met 2023 tijdelijk gevestigd in het Joh. Enschede-complex in Haarlem. Als alles volgens plan verloopt, is de NNC vanaf halverwege maart te bezichtigen in vaste en wisselende tentoonstellingen in de nieuwe publieksruimtes van ons hoofdkantoor." March 2023, I suppose, so not helpful for this trip.

[quaziright]

I spent a couple hours at zaanse schans this morning and then a little over 3 hours in Haarlem in the afternoon. Both were lovely and I clocked more than 30k steps walking around. I'm not one for museums and churches these days as I've had my fill over the years. so I generally skip those though i sud go into the St.Bavo church

I'm heading for Rotterdam tomorrow, so I'll go to those recommended places.
Maastricht is about 2.5hrs away which is doable for a day trip. In general that's doable, but I have already quite an ambitious schedule, so I'll keep it as a maybe.

Being from Canada, distances are so vast, I will always toss up going to Vancouver vs europe; ticket prices are about the same and Vancouver Is only an hour closer to Toronto than London by plane

[eurocoin]

What else did you get to see during your vacation here, and what did you think of it?

[quaziright]

Thanks for asking. Taking your advice,  I didn't end up looking for coins.
Over the week in the Netherlands, I visited zaanse schans, Haarlem, Leiden, delft, The Hague, Rotterdam, Delfshaven and Utrecht. My impression of all these cities was that Netherlands is uniformly beautiful as you'd see in a brochure, something like Amsterdam is a larger version of the other cities (except Rotterdam). The downside of that is after a while you start under-appreciating what you see. That happened especially by the time I visited Utrecht.
City wise, I felt Rotterdam was closest to a typical North American city; den Haag surprised me being larger and more modern than I expected, while Utrecht seemed more lively around the main station and mall than in the old city centre. Amsterdam certain has that charm and as a lively big city, it's obvious why it attracts so many from North America who wish to live to the continent.
I was extremely impressed with the rail system, how modern, easy, timely, quick and flexible it is. We can only dream to have a fraction of that in Canada (this coming from someone who lives in Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe which has the densest rail network in Canada)
I knew English was widely spoken, but I found it maybe a bit disturbing that even so much signage was only in English rather than atleast being bilingual. I'm travelled often in France and Germany and I usually will switch languages. Even in other places like Japan I would learn a smattering of words and phrases. This would be out of practicality, but also because I enjoy it. However no such motivation to do so in Netherlands which made me feel guilty to a degree. subconsciously I just started expecting people to know English.

There were a couple places I intended to see, but due to poor planning, could not make it like Kastel de Haar and the peace palace in The Hague

Overall it was a very nice trip. I also visited my friend in cologne and made day trips to Bonn, Brühl and Aachen. I was in London for a couple days and then ended the vacation in Milan over the July 4th weekend

[eurocoin]

I see, you have seen quite a bit of the country then. Even some places that I have never visited before. The rail system is indeed well connected, and the trains drive when the weather is good. When there is even a tiny bit of snow, or storm, there is chaos though, and then we are jealous of the proper trains in parts of Canada and the US like this. Yes, we have certainly gone (way too) far in facilitating foreigners. A pity that you could not visit Kasteel de Haar and the Peace Palace.