Coin collecting: a lifetime adventure that sometimes leads to a dream job

Martin Purdy started collecting at a young age and combined this with a love for languages. He is compiling catalogues of New Zealand Medals.

A lifelong journey of explorations is how many stamp and coin collectors describe their passion. It often began early in life with a small bag of coins collected or inherited from relatives combined with a healthy dose of curiosity and speculation about the origin and journey of these simple treasures.

Many find they are able to combine coin collecting with other interests such as history or languages. A number of lower North Island collectors of coins, medals, banknotes and tokens gathered in Levin recently to natter about their finds.

Martin Purdy from Upper Hutt grew up in Levin and graduated from Horowhenua College.

His family came here from England when he was a child and had among their possessions a pocketful of small coins, which set him on the journey of a lifetime collecting coins.

He is a member of the Royal Numismatic Society and compiles catalogues for it on New Zealand medals.

He combined an early interest in languages with his hobby of collecting foreign coins.

"I prefer the coins that have been in circulation," he said.

Many collectors aim for specially issued commemorative coins, those that are shiny and have never rattled around in someone's pockets. But for people like Purdy, the smudged, used coins that have passed through thousands of hands and played a role in the purchase of many items have an almost mystical attraction.

"I read all the books on coins the Levin library had and once I was working – as a translator – I bought copies of these books," he said.

"Books are the best source for information. Not everything is online."

Today he researches and catalogues and has spent years editing the Numismatic Society's newsletter, which comes out once a year.

He expects his current project, cataloguing New Zealand's medals, to take 10 years.

"Because it is such a big job, I decided to publish chapter by chapter, rather than wait and publish everything at once."

Published issues can be found at Catalogues - The Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand (rnsnz.org.nz)

Among the coin dealers present is Liam Jennings, 25, from Porirua, who is living the dream as a numismatist working for Mowbray Collectibles in Ōtaki.

Liam Jennings, numismatist living the dream at Mowbray Collectibles.

In a room full of grey-haired coin, token and banknote collectors, Liam's youthfulness stands out, according to some, but he said appearances can be deceptive.

"There are very few young people who work in this industry, but many of us are collectors."

He said many young people collect, especially silver and gold, as an investment. He himself has been collecting since the age of 13 and a year ago got his lucky break: A job as an assessor for Mowbrays.

He has a background in finance and pawnbroking, so brought an understanding of market value to the job plus a lot of collecting experience.

"In this industry, no matter how long you have been involved, everyone is still learning."

The intriguing thing for Liam has always been that searching through a box of used coins, there could be a fascinating find just at his fingertips.

Tokens are very popular among collectors. These are proof of membership of the Free Church/Presbyterian Church, a custom Scottish settlers brought with them from home.

As an assessor, he identifies what is valuable and said trust plays an important part in his profession. At Mowbrays they are always willing to assess someone's collection and give advice freely, he said.

"We buy the low-grade items, but anything valuable we sell on behalf of. We have a large international network of collectors and dealers, about 50 per cent of these are based outside New Zealand." Of course they take a commission, 15 per cent, if the item sells.

If you have inherited a coin collection a place like Mowbrays is a good one to find out what it contains and whether some of it might be valuable.

Next month, a large auction will include a 50-pound note from New Zealand.

In front of Liam are numerous boxes with small coins, graded into several price categories, and the avid collectors searching through them find a few that they believe are in the wrong category. A quick look and a search of his database, and Liam decides on a price that matches the current market value of the coin - and yes, they were in the wrong box.

For a job like his, passion is important, then there is in-house training and personal collecting experience because there is no school for numismatists.

He said an area of interest to him is tradesmen's tokens. "In the 1880s there was a shortfall of money, so shop issued coins to anyone who bought from them."

He also collects United States coins and banknotes. "I like the history behind them and half the fun is finding out who or what is depicted on the coin or banknote."

Liam said collectors never polish or clean their coins. "That harms the value of them. The interest is the fact that they have been in circulation for years and that disappears when you clean them.

"Only real old coins, like Roman ones, need cleaning. They have been in the soil for centuries and have sediment and mud on them, so you cannot see the face of the coin."

The first token used in NZ to prove membership of the Free Church of Scotland, brought to Otago on the John Wickliffe in 1848.

The interest in silver and gold has been on the rise in recent years, said one dealer from Whanganui. Another category that is really "hot" is military medals, as well as military cap badges.

All collectors say a good collection is hard to compile and most of them have started with someone else's collection, whether it is a serious collection or just a box full of coins collected while travelling the world. Often family members or grandparents leave collections to younger relatives, which gives anyone a great start.

While Horowhenua no longer has a numismatic society, there is one in Whanganui which holds monthly meetings.

For more information about numismatics go to www.rnsnz.org.nz/