Favourite size of coin?

This seems like a weird question, but I was wondering if people have a favourite size of coin.
For example, many countries, especially those in/associated with unions/leagues like the LMU (Latin Monetary Union), which lasted from 1865 to 1928, made coins that were identical in dimensions to each other; and even countries outside of it made coins in similar sizes, for less complicated transactions I suppose.

For example, the British shilling is equivalent (about) to a 1 Franc/Peseta/Lira/Mark coin from the same time period of about 1815-1920; their dimensions are similar; same goes for the Florin to the 2 Franc/Peseta/Lira/Mark, Crown to the 5 Fr/P/L/RM, and so on.

Personally I've always liked florin and half crown sized coins; they seem large enough to be 'impressive' on first glance, and feel good in a palm, whereas (silver) denominations below the shilling's size seem to just be lacklustre due to their size, and crowns seem a bit too large and unwieldy. Some of the bigger ones (40mm+) barely even fit into any coin holders I own.

Favourite is crown sized coins of 38.6mm diameter. Great variety of countries with many differing subject themes.

I actually enjoy seeing larger sized coins. At least in America, I find it exciting to see something larger than a quarter as I go through my normal day. Get a JFK 50 cent coin in change? Cool! Eisenhower dollars are also really cool.

On this side of the pond, I think the ½ dollar/50¢ is my favourite size, especially when they were in silver and a little larger than the harder-to-strike nickel ones.

And yet, I like very much the 1797 cartwheel 2 pence ─ especially for the incredible thickness. Amazing physical presence altogether.

We were talking about the Cartwheel twopence coin the other day, but more in a light hearted way, as news came through of football spectators throwing 10pence pieces at players.
We were concerned that if that happened in 1797, with a cartwheel twopence coin, it would have done some serious damage to a player. We also concluded we were a bit more refined in those days, so this would never have happened.
We realised football was not played then, but a great little debate for 10 minutes, before we moved on.
I have a cartwheel penny and twopence.

I have two preferred sizes.
I love very much the really big copper coins like the already mentioned cartwheel 2 pence or the Russian 5 Kopeks of the second half of the 18th century or a Siberian 10 Kopecks.
Then I also have a knack for the very small silver coins, like the French 1/4 francs.

I prefer the Latin Monetary Union sizes of coins: silver coins with diameter 35 mm and more, golden coins with diameter 20 mm and more.

Citação: "Camerinvs"​On this side of the pond, I think the ½ dollar/50¢ is my favourite size, especially when they were in silver and a little larger than the harder-to-strike nickel ones.
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​And yet, I like very much the 1797 cartwheel 2 pence ─ especially for the incredible thickness. Amazing physical presence altogether.

​I just looked the 1797 cartwheel up. That coin is massive. Is that the biggest coin that circulated at one point? I am curious to why they think it needed to be so big.

Gridiron, it comes from a time when money was worth its weight. The cartwheel was an whight of copper, worth a literal penny. Look up the gold standard, before the fiat money more common after WWII, and present in the world economy of today.

Citação: "redsmithstudios"​Gridiron, it comes from a time when money was worth its weight. The cartwheel was an whight of copper, worth a literal penny. Look up the gold standard, before the fiat money more common after WWII, and present in the world economy of today.

​Thanks for the response. I still have a lot to learn about the hobby!

The cartwheel looks all tiny compared this one: http://dingedeswissens.de/ddw/de/projects/sammlungspanorama/muenzkabinett/plattengeld/

At 274 grams this Roman Republican as is almost five times as heavy as the "tiny" cartwheel 2 pence.

Citação: "maudry"​The cartwheel looks all tiny compared this one: http://dingedeswissens.de/ddw/de/projects/sammlungspanorama/muenzkabinett/plattengeld/
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​beautiful! Please post this to me directly, I will send you all my coins and money!

Right now I’m working on a collection of dime-size (2.5g) silver coins from around the world. It’s interesting what you find lurking in the small stuff.

Citação: "Camerinvs"​At 274 grams this Roman Republican as is almost five times as heavy as the "tiny" cartwheel 2 pence.

http://www.artancient.com/antiquities-for-sale.html?categories=250
​scroll down to see one in hand, please let my wife know that this would make a good Christmas gift....she could sell her car to get part of the money.....

Citação: "redsmithstudios"​http://www.artancient.com/antiquities-for-sale.html?categories=250
​​scroll down to see one in hand, please let my wife know that this would make a good Christmas gift....she could sell her car to get part of the money.....

I am given to understand that your wife is not driving the latest Maserati or Porsche.

That's a very nice example indeed. I doubt your wife will listen to me if I begged her to put that on her Christmas shopping list. I could try to argue it's a good investment ─ it's unlikely to go down in value, unlike a car...

The Romans had even bigger "coins" earlier on. They're called aes rude, aes signatum, and aes grave, with aes meaning bronze.

That is one big as!
(I'll show myself out)

The closest European equivalent to the British half-crown in the late 19th/early 20th centuries would be the commemorative German 3 Mark coins for me; and speaking of the LMU it's worth noting how countries that weren't in it, like the UK and the Netherlands, made their coins uniform to the LMU's standards (somewhat).

For example, Dutch 2 1/2 Guilder coins are the equivalent of 5 Francs, or Crowns (5 Shillings) in the UK; Dutch 1 Guilders are like British florins, or 2 Franc coins, and so on.


Map of the LMU in the late 19th century.

Citação: "COINMAN1"​We were talking about the Cartwheel twopence coin the other day, but more in a light hearted way, as news came through of football spectators throwing 10pence pieces at players.
​We were concerned that if that happened in 1797, with a cartwheel twopence coin, it would have done some serious damage to a player. We also concluded we were a bit more refined in those days, so this would never have happened.
​We realised football was not played then, but a great little debate for 10 minutes, before we moved on.
​I have a cartwheel penny and twopence.
​

​Are you kidding? It probably did happen back then, and then the player stormed over and shanked the coin thrower with a dirk from his boot, and then everyone shrugged nervously and left it to the servants to dispose of the body.

I would not have liked to carry a pocket full of the two pence coins around with me, for throwing or spending.
I have taken a photograph of my two coins for anyone interested. I have included, for comparison, a penny and two pence coins from 2015.
Comments please



These two coins, the 1797 coins that is, are always great conversation pieces, especially when non numismatists are here as they have never even heard of these coins and cannot believe the size and weight.

Citação: "COINMAN1"​I would not have liked to carry a pocket full of the two pence coins around with me, for throwing or spending.
​I have taken a photograph of my two coins for anyone interested. I have included, for comparison, a penny and two pence coins from 2015.
​Comments please
​
​
​
​These two coins, the 1797 coins that is, are always great conversation pieces, especially when non numismatists are here as they have never even heard of these coins and cannot believe the size and weight.

​Man, those are so cool. Is the best way to buy my own on eBay?

Some of the copper coins from late 19th century Spain are ridiculously large too. Must have been a similar law in effect that copper coins must be worth their weight in copper.

Citação: "COINMAN1"​I would not have liked to carry a pocket full of the two pence coins around with me, for throwing or spending.
​I have taken a photograph of my two coins for anyone interested. I have included, for comparison, a penny and two pence coins from 2015.
​Comments please
​
​
​
​These two coins, the 1797 coins that is, are always great conversation pieces, especially when non numismatists are here as they have never even heard of these coins and cannot believe the size and weight.

​I need to acquire these two splended coins for my collection, I’ve always wanted them but never really prioritized them. They are going on my needed list!

Sorry Cass, I didn't expect this would turn into a friggin-huge-copper-1797-two-pence post! I guess coinman1 is right that they are great conversation pieces.

Here is mine (not as high grade as coinman's) beside a Lesslie & Sons 2d token. If I'm not mistaken, he is the Lesslie who gave his name to the Lesslieville area of Toronto.

○

Oh! And to get a sense of the thickness, here is the English 2d beside a Lincoln cent:

The 'Westminster Mint" are selling the pair of cartwheel coins on their website.
£295.00 plus postage
983.33% increase on face value. Not bad then
No idea of their actual quality. May need to contact them first.
Need the cash first though

Citação: "Camerinvs"​Sorry Cass, I didn't expect this would turn into a friggin-huge-copper-1797-two-pence post! I guess coinman1 is right that they are great conversation pieces.
​
​Here is mine (not as high grade as coinman's) beside a Lesslie & Sons 2d token. If I'm not mistaken, he is the Lesslie who gave his name to the Lesslieville area of Toronto.
​
​ ○
​
​Oh! And to get a sense of the thickness, here is the English 2d beside a Lincoln cent:
​
​
​

​Don't worry about it, it's basically still on topic anyway, given their size being the main attraction.

But on the subject of big coins, the Russian 5 Kopecks of Catherine II's reign are just as, if not bigger, I think?

My favorite size is the middle-one,like the US quarters.

I think it is a good question. I like coins of about at least 30 mm, because my eye sight isn't all that good. Also, prefer (just a bit) silver to copper for that reason. To give an example, I think my 1962 Liberian dollar is a beautiful coin-though it is 34 mm. As long I can see detail with the naked eye, I am happy.

• Up to 20 mm – good, because they don't take much space in album.
  
• Around 27-31 mm – impressive look.
  
• More than 31 or 32 mm – less interesting for me, because usually they are noncirculating coins.
  

Unfortunately bulk of my coins fall within middle range (20-25 mm).

I too like large and small coins.
My largest coin is the copper 5 kopek coin from the Russian empire (about 50g) and the smallest is a 1/4 kopek silver coin:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces112412.html
Only weights 0.17g. Very small. The largest coin (not plate money) actually used I found was this:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces17970.html
Probably not so known, but weights 60 g.

Personally I'm a fan of coins large and small in size, however I do find some of the larger coins from earlier to be quite interesting. One of my favourite coins in my collection so far is a Canadian penny from 1916 which I got from a coin show not long ago.

If I had to pick a favorite, I think the smaller the coin, the better. It's fun to find a coin and imagine how many have been lost due to its miniscule size. The late 70s 10centavos from Mexico is pretty small, but the Panama 2-1/2 cent from the late 70s is even smaller.

I enjoy odd denominations more than anything. A 2-1/2 or 4 cent piece is pretty cool.

Hello,

My favourite are silver 20 mm coins, about 1.5 g. That will be the old 3 kreuzer coins, groschens, batzen, half batzen etc.
In copper I prefer a bit larger, type half penny tokens of the 18th, 26-30 mm and 8-9 g.

Regards,

I prefer copper and silver coins of all sizes. Weirdly I mostly do not like uncirculated silver coins bigger than 27g. Same for almost all other "common metals", I prefer all sizes.. For rich metals like platinum and gold (also titanium) I prefer not too small but not too big. I'd never buy an rich metal coin under the weight of 2g or heavier than 25g.

I collect mainly dime sized to six pence sized coins, small but also less expensive than larger coins.

I have to say I like crown size coins 38.6 mm normally. It’s deceptive I know, but I feel I’m handling something valuable. Also because there are often commemorative, there’s a historical element to them.

I am sure however that many rightly would argue that smaller coins also have a similar worth.

Now as a West Ham fan , I have more reason than most to want to th row something at my team , but as a coin collector I couldn’t bring myself to throw a coin away