A Young Numismatist with a Taste for Idenumia

My name is Sophie Welch, and I'm a 20-year-old numismatist from South East England. I've been collecting coins since around 2015. My interest originated through different influences while growing up, such as getting a pressed penny at a theme park or finding a foreign coin in my change.

As many young British coin collectors begin their numismatic journey, I was always on the lookout for a commemorative 50 pence or £2 coin. My collection quickly skyrocketed to what it is today, consisting of 1,500+ coins, banknotes, and medals from all over the world. My favourite coins are errors and anything unique that's coin related. It's difficult to say which are my absolute favourites, but among the ones I currently own, I'd say they're a 2008 British two pence struck on a one penny planchet, and the Van Gogh Starry Night 2022 10 Cedis from Ghana with the painting recreated in a stained-glass effect.

I've been working full time at the Heritage Auctions office in London since October 2022. As the London office is very small compared to most of the others, what I do varies a lot from day to day. I can be the go-to person onsite for coins, but I also handle comics, movie posters, video games, and many other items every day. I deal with the ins and outs of most elements associated with the whole auction process from both a consignor's and buyer's perspective. I also catalogue modern world coins, which resulted in me visiting the Dallas headquarters to spend concentrated time cataloguing coins in person and meeting the people I'd previously only communicated with virtually. I really enjoy being able to do a variety of tasks, and I think it's good to not have your full-time job be identical to what you do as a hobby, as that could take the enjoyment out of it.

Having a job like this has also boosted my confidence immensely. When the phone used to ring I would beg for it to stop because I didn't have the confidence to talk to someone I didn't know, not wanting to say or do the wrong thing. Now, I feel like I can handle any conversation, and I know that the people I'm speaking with are coming to me for guidance and assistance, so I no longer feel intimidated in these sorts of scenarios.

Another type of coin I really like is coinage featuring designs of other coins, such as the 2021 Decimal Day 50 Pence. I'm gathering many similar coins that are like this. However, they're difficult to look for as there's no specific term for such coins. So I coined my own word: idenumia. I wanted the word to be memorable and make sense for what it means whilst referencing the definition. The full definition is, “Coins, paper money, or exonumia of which the obverse and/or reverse design features an identical design from another coin, piece of paper money or exonumia of a different denomination.” My hope is that over time, people will begin using this word to define such items, making it easier to find and collect idenumia currency. I mean, coins with the image of other coins on them... Who doesn't love more coins, right?