Foreign Coin Exchange Values

India 5 rupees
Exchange value: $0.09 US

Recently we discussed ways that you can research the value of a foreign coin. We talked about the difference between book value, market value, and trade-in value for a coin. There's another important value that you may sometimes find useful, but it only applies to recent coins - the exchange value.

If a coin is still being used in its home country (it hasn't been devalued, or replaced with another currency such as when the French franc was replaced by the euro), then that coin has actual buying power in that country (in other words, you can spend it). These coins are called circulating coins, because in the issuing country they would be the coins that are currently in circulation - the coins that people use every day to buy things.

All active currencies have an exchange rate, which is how much that currency is worth in other nation's money. You may have run into this before if you have done any international travel and had to exchange your money for that of the location you were visiting. For example, today $1 in US money is worth the same as 2 Brazilian reals, 12 Mexican pesos, or 98 Japanese yen.

The exchange value of a foreign coin is how much that coin is worth in your currency, based on the current exchange rate between that country's money and your own. You can look up current exchange rates at places like CNN, CoinMill, and Yahoo (along with many others). The exchange value doesn't care about condition, age, rarity, or anything else that affects the value of a coin as a collectible.

However, it only applies to current, active currencies which can still be spent in their home country. For example, much of Europe has changed over to the euro. The old Spanish pesetas, French francs, German marks, Italian liras, and Greek drachmas (to name a few) aren't active currencies anymore - they can't be exchanged, and have no exchange value at all. (If you're unsure whether a coin that you have is a current circulating coin, you can use Web sites like Numista to find the coin and see if it is listed as demonetized - this means that it is no longer an active currency, and has been replaced with something else.)

A good example is money from the United Kingdom (Great Britain), which is consistently one of the highest-valued currencies in the world. A recent exchange rate for the Great Britain pound to the US dollar was $1.54 (1 pound = $1.54 USD). So if someone asked about the value of a 2010 1 pound coin in US dollars, you would have these "values" to choose from:

• Book value: $3 (for a coin in uncirculated condition)
• Market value: $1-$1.50 (approximately)
• Trade-in value: $0.25 - 0.50
• Exchange value: $1.54 (dependent on the current exchange rate)

In this case, the exchange value gives you the highest estimated value of the coin (unless you happen to have a coin in really great condition). This means that to get the most money for your coin, you'd need to exchange it for US dollars somewhere.

Australia 1 dollar
Exchange value: $1.02

And that is the problem with the exchange value - it is one of the hardest to capitalize on because it is not easy to exchange foreign coins for US dollars. Most large banks will exchange foreign bills (paper money) at a rate close to the daily exchange rate, but they usually don't accept coins.

Instead, you'll have to look for a currency exchange in your town. Currency exchanges are businesses which buy and sell foreign money. They are frequently used by people who have either returned from foreign travel (and have unused foreign money they want to get rid of), or people who will be traveling soon (and want to get some foreign money for their trip). Exchanges are sometimes found at bus stations (especially near Canada or Mexico) or airports (especially airports which have international flights). Cities which have a lot of international travelers (New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Victoria B.C.) may have exchanges located all around town to serve the many travelers who visit. Individual exchanges may or may not accept coins, so you may want to call first to ask.

At either a currency exchange or a bank, don't expect to get an exchange rate exactly like the rate that you find online. These businesses need to be able to make some profit for the service that they provide, so they will typically buy foreign money at less than the current exchange rate, and sell it for more than the current rate.

Besides using a currency exchange, you can also try to sell your foreign currency to someone (a family member or business acquaintance) who is traveling to the country that the money is from. That way the money can be returned to its original country and spent. Or you can try selling your extra coins online through a service like eBay - people who are traveling to that country might buy your coins so that they can spend them on their trip (but you may or may not get values close to the current exchange rate).

Exchange value is one of several ways to measure the value of a coin, and it is a good value to be aware of when trading or selling coins (you wouldn't want to sell 25 British pounds for $1.50 when the exchange value is closer to $37). But don't let it restrict your trading, either - trading an Australian dollar ($1) for a Chinese yuan ($0.16) is a good trade if it adds something new to your collection. As with all measures of value, let it guide your trading, buying, or selling activity and help you make informed decisions.

Latvia Introducing Euro Coins in 2014

Latvia 1-santims and 1-lats coins

Latvia is an eastern European country of about 2,000,000 located on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Its neighbors are Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, and Russia to the east. In 2004, Latvia was one of 10 European nations which were accepted into the European Union.

The current currency of Latvia is the lats. 1 lats = 100 santims. But in January 2014, Latvia is expecting to become a full member of the Eurozone and replace their national currency with the euro. This would make Latvia the 18th European nation to join the Eurozone (the countries of the European Union which have switched to the euro).

Latvia euro coin design models

Latvia's lats and santims coin designs have been in use since 1992, when Latvia restored their independence from the Soviet Union. Annual commemorative/collectible 1-lats coins since 2001 have featured animals, plants, a Christmas tree, and a snowman on their reverse.

According to the Bank of Latvia (Latvijas Banka), the country's euro coin designs were chosen by a country-wide competition held in 2004. The original wining design for the obverse of the 2-euro coin, the Freedom Monument located in Riga, was decided to be too difficult to depict on a coin and be easily recognizable, so the image from the 1-euro coin, the Latvian folk maiden originally from the 1929-1932 5-lats coin, will be used instead. The euro cent coins will feature the Latvian coat-of-arms.

Latvia 2-euro original design
featuring the Freedom Monument

As always, it is exciting to have a new type of coin for world coin collectors to search for. But it is bittersweet because in order to have the new coins, the old lats and santims must be retired. The usual practice for switching over to the euro is to offer a period of time when the old currency is traded in for the new currency, so within a short period of time a large percentage of the old Latvian circulating coins are going to disappear. If you don't have a full set of current Latvian coins, you may want to try to complete your collection in 2013.

Will Coins Change With New Netherlands King?

On January 28, 2013, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands announced that she would be stepping down (or abdicating) as the ruler of the Netherlands on April 30, 2013 (the date of the annual Koninginnedag, or Queen's Day, celebration). Beatrix became Queen in 1980, when her mother Queen Juliana similarly abdicated (retired). On April 30, Beatrix' son Willem-Alexander will take over as King of the Netherlands - its first King since 1890.

Like many countries, the Netherlands has a long history of incorporating its current monarch on their coins. Beginning in the early 1800s with King Willem I, nearly all of the Netherlands' coins have used a profile of the ruling monarch on their obverse.

Netherlands 1 cent 1948
Queen Wilhelmina

Netherlands 2 1/2 gulden 1970
Queen Juliana

Netherlands 1 gulden 1980
Ascension of Queen Beatrix

The last such change in the Netherlands' coins was in 1980, when Queen Juliana gave up her rule so that her daughter, Pricess Beatrix, could take over as queen.

Netherlands 5 gulden 1990
Queen Beatrix

In 1982, the coins of the Netherlands not only changed portraits from Queen Juliana to Queen Beatrix, but underwent a complete redesign (both front and back) to give the coins a more modern look. (At the same time, the 1-cent coin was eliminated from circulation.)

Netherlands 50 euro cents 1990
Queen Beatrix

In 2002 the Netherlands gave up their national currency, the guilder, and moved to the euro. The obverses were again redesigned for the Netherlands' euro coins (the reverses are the same for all euro-using countries) while maintaining their modernist flair.

With Willem-Alexander's ascension to the throne, we should expect to see new designs for the Netherlands' euro coins in 2014 or 2015. Will they stick with tradition and add a portrait of Willem-Alexander to the euro obverse? Or will they take the opportunity to switch their coin designs to incorporate national symbols instead? Only Monaco and Vatican City's euro designs have changed significantly since the euro began in 2002, so it will be exciting to watch what the Netherlands does with their coins.

Finding the Value of a Foreign Coin

Great Britain 1/2 crown 1945

When someone comes across a foreign coin, there are usually 2 questions that immediately run through their mind:

• Where is this coin from?
• How much is this coin worth?

We want to know the value of things, whether coins or baseball cards or shoes or cars, so that we can determine a thing's importance (especially compared to other things). If I see a penny on the ground, I know its value is so low that I won't bother to pick it up. A quarter, however, is worth stopping for. If I'm shopping for a car, I want to know the value of the cars that I am looking at so that I can decide if a particular price is a good deal. When the thing is a foreign coin, which we naturally associate with money and value, it is hard not to wonder about how much it is worth.

For a world coin collector, even someone who isn't investing in expensive coins, it can be useful to know the value of a coin:

• It is important to know the approximate value of your coins in order to avoid over- or under-insuring your collection.
• Comparing the values of multiple types of the same coin (different dates or mint-marks) helps you choose the more valuable coin for your collection.
• Knowing the value of a coin can help you make sure you are making equitable trades with other people (though you shouldn't be nit-picky when making trades - trading a 25-cent coin for a 5-cent coin is a good deal if it's a coin that you don't have in your collection).
• For those valuable coins that you do run across, you'll make sure to take better care of them so that they continue to stay valuable.

Book Value versus Market Value

When we talk about the value of something, especially something that is collectible, it is important to know that there are actually 2 different values that we can consider (and that are found in different ways) - its book value, and its market value.

Things (coins, cars, houses) usually don't have a single, fixed "value" or "price" that everyone agrees to. If you go to 3 different grocery stores, you'll probably find 3 different prices for the same items. For things that people commonly collect (like coins, comic books, or baseball cards), some person, group, or company has probably created a "price guide" - a book (or magazine, or Web site) which lists the different items and gives them an estimated value (usually based on a lot of research). A commonly-used price guide for cars is the Kelley Blue Book, for example. When you get the value for something from some kind of a price guide - whether from an actual book or a monthly magazine or  a Web site - it is called the book value.

Book values are useful as estimates (for insurance, or for comparing the estimated values of several coins), but they are usually not what you could actually buy or sell a coin for.

The market value of a thing is what someone would actually pay for it, which can be more than or less than the thing's book value and can change frequently. I may have a coin that a book says is worth $100, but if nobody is willing to give me that much for it, is it really worth $100? Or I may have a coin that a book says is worth 25 cents, but it is very popular right now and I am able to sell it for $1. Finding the market value of a coin is more difficult, and requires you to do some research.  It's also only really useful to know if you want to try to sell a coin (or are checking if a coin you want to buy is a good deal).

Finding the Book Value of a Coin

For foreign and world coins, the main book source of coin values is the Standard Catalog of World Coins, published by Krause Publications. It is currently available in multiple editions (coins from 1601-1700, from 1701-1800, etc.), and is updated annually. These are big books, listing nearly every coin ever made with pictures and the number of coins minted, with estimated values based on the coin's date and condition. Every world coin collector should have one of these. You can find these books at Amazon, or you can check if your local library has a copy.

The nice thing about book values is that you don't need to have the most recent book (or to buy a new book every year) to get a good sense of the value of a coin (or to compare different coins). If coin X is worth more than coin Y in the 2002 edition, that's not likely to have changed in the 2012 edition.

Krause Publications has put their coin value database online at Numismaster.com. For a monthly or yearly subscription fee, you can look up the coin values from their current books online without needing to buy a book. Depending on what you need, it may be a better deal to buy the book or to subscribe to Numismaster.com.

In June, 2011, the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) released a free World Coin Price Guide Web site based on Krause Publication's coin value data. I don't know if the information is any different than what is available at Numismaster, but I've noticed that it is not as complete as the information I can find in the printed Standard Catalog books (not all the coins are listed, and there are fewer pictures than in the book). If you haven't yet invested in a Standard Catalog of your own, start with the NGC's price guide and see if it is sufficient for what you need.

Finding the Market Value of a Coin

To try to figure out the current market value of a coin, you need to find out what people are willing to pay for that coin. The best way to do that is to see what people have actually paid at auction sites like eBay.com. eBay allows you to search completed auctions, which lets you know how much people actually paid for things. It is unlikely that all the sales were for the same value, so using this method you end up with a market value range - if there were 3 similar coins that sold in the last 30 days, for $1.50, $0.99, and $1.10, you can take the average to arrive at a reasonable current market value for the coin. If you were going to sell the same kind of coin, that would give you a good idea of the price to use.

The difficulty with finding a market value is finding completed auctions. eBay only allows you to search for completed auctions within the last 3 months, so for less common coins you may not find any actual sales.

Trade-In Value

While the market value of a coin gives you a good idea of what you can sell it for, it only applies to selling the coin to another collector (e.g. in person, through the mail, or in an auction).

If you're going to try to sell a coin to a coin dealer (someone who buys and sells coins professionally), then a third value comes into play - what I call the coin's trade-in value. Any coins that a dealer buys from you, they will have to then try to sell to someone else - that is their business. A dealer wants to resell the coin at its current market value, which means that they need to buy it from you at lower than market value (the "trade-in value"). This trade-in value may be anywhere from 25% to 50% less than the market value or book value of the coin. If you take a coin to a dealer and ask for the full market or book value, they are very unlikely to be interested.

The best choice for getting the most for a coin is selling to another collector, either in-person or online. But selling coins this way presents its own set of challenges (fees for selling your coin through an auction site; fees for accepting credit cards; risk of not getting paid; etc.) so it may be easier, though less profitable, to work with a local coin dealer instead.



Collecting foreign coins is about enjoying the beauty and variety of the world's money, about glimpsing another culture through an ordinary, every-day object which is very commonplace but is also very important. Foreign coins show us what that country thinks is important enough to honor by immortalizing it in a small sculpture that will be seen by millions of people. While there are collectors who search for only rare or valuable coins, they are missing out on the thousands of other interesting coins that make world coin collecting fun. For that reason, I don't recommend that you focus too much on how much coins are worth. Most modern world coins are minted in the millions, and are going to be neither rare nor valuable. The excitement comes from finding a coin that isn't already in your collection, that fills a hole or completes a set and gives you a sense of building something. If the coin happens to be worth something, then that's an added bonus, something that you can showcase as part of your ever-growing collection.