Opinion | Coining it in

It takes all kinds to make the world go round. My long-deceased grandfather used to say this whenever he encountered someone acting peculiarly, and he would in all likelihood have said it had he found out about my latest passion. Shaking his head, he would have muttered something like: "Coins? Why are you collecting coins? Go and do something useful with your money like buy a beer." Then he would have walked off muttering to himself about the strangeness of the younger generation.

A highly practical man, my grandfather. Yet coins - big silver ones, preferably from the 19th century and earlier - are what have of late taken my fancy.

My acquiring them, mostly through the online auction site eBay, is less about a desire to collect than to provide memories, an heirloom and, if the need arises, cash. They can be expensive, but I justify each new purchase by their beauty, weight in sterling silver and how much I am saving by staying up all night to bid on them rather than spending time in pricey bars.

The looming 25th anniversary of my time in Hong Kong prompted my behaviour a month ago.

With the occasion fast approaching, it occurred to me I had nothing physical to show for it. Yes, I have two sons who were born here, but they call far-off Australia home. I don't own a flat and, being blind, don't have an album full of photographs, shelves bulging with books or paintings. Music stirs my soul, but in digital form, it is files on a computer, not CDs and vinyl of old.

An uncirculated set of Hong Kong coins from 1988, the year I arrived, started it all. Then another from 1997, to mark the handover. One came from Canada, the other Britain; getting them from overseas proved several times cheaper through eBay than buying them from coin dealers in Mong Kok. Apparently, the higher local prices are in part due to demand from mainland Chinese, who have a particular liking for currency bearing the British monarch's head.