I’ve been collecting coins since high school. Whenever I travel to a new country, I come home with coins from that country. I also have coins from Eric’s travels, and my mum’s. Some I’ve swapped for, when meeting people from other countries. But all are naturally, organically acquired – none are bought.

These days I rarely get new ones, so it’s a low-pace hobby now. All sorts of forces work against my collecting. Most of Europe uses euros. I travel less, and avoid long flights which might otherwise take me outside of Europe. And cash is becoming less and less common – faster in Sweden than in other countries, and in Slovenia we did run across places that only accepted cash, but nevertheless cash transactions are getting rare. Who knows – in another few decades, the whole idea of coins might be a quaint, antiquated one.

The coins that I’ve had longest date back to before I was collecting – old Soviet rouble coins from my childhood piggy bank.

The newest coins are three euro coins with Slovenian designs on the rear. Euro coins do travel to some extent, and I have some from countries where I haven’t been since they switched to the euro, but it’s still most common to get the local country’s designs.