6 Best Coin Apps For Iphone
For all those mobile communications fanatics, there are some great applications for when you want a little coin based fun on the move. And these applications are being improved and expanded all the time. As more people join the iPhone revolution, it’s natural there will be tech savvy numismatists that get involved and produce some great software..
Some of these are for fun only, but could be a great way to introduce children to the world of money, and coin collecting. There are also those that can add real value to a coin collector’s toolbox. It’s interesting, also, that now leading numismatic companies are waking up to the power of modern technology. Old coins arriving in the modern age.
Here we take a brief look at a handful of applications that are available to be downloaded for free or minimal cost. The user should be warned that these apps might prove rather addictive!
Coin Booth
This is one of those applications that children and adults will love: especially those that have ever wanted to see what a Dollar or Euro coin would look like with a different face on it. The application allows the user to take a photo from his album and place it on the coin. The coins that can be ‘personalised’ in this way are the Euro, the UK Pound, and the US Dollar and Dime.
But it’s not a question of an automatic coin being produced on screen. The application allows the budding coin artist or engraver to create the individual effect that he wants by using its engraving and coining settings to apply the perfect finish to the effigy.
Once created, the coin can be shared with friends through Facebook, Twitter, or email, and is available to play games of heads and tails. There are two versions of Coin Booth available: the free basic version or the Coin Booth Deluxe, which has greater flexibility and can be downloaded for a $1.99.
Coin Toss
For those who need to choose heads or tails – soccer referees, friends deciding who’s turn it is to pay, etc – then the Coin Toss World Edition is the application to download to your mobile device.
But it’s more than just a way of deciding an outcome. This coin toss application is a great educational tool, too, and is useful for all travellers to foreign lands where coinage is either obscure or unknown to the user. Actual size images can be displayed on screen of the coins from more than 20 countries (a list that is expanding), and is a fantastic tool for those that enjoy collecting coins when abroad.
One word of warning about this application: it has a cheat facility that allows the user to never lose a toss! This application costs just $0.99.
Euro Coins Album
Developed by a coin collector, the iPhone Euro Coins Album app gives the user all the information he needs about every Euro coin ever minted. It includes pictures, which are a great aid to coin identification, information on the different coin motives used throughout Europe, and allows the user to keep a catalogue of his collected coins.
It’s a must have application for any collector of Euro coins, enabling details of one’s collection to be available at all times. It’s available in three languages – English, Polish, and German – and only costs $1.99.
CoinCalc
Copyrighted by Hamish Graham, the CoinCalc Iphone application lets the user tap in different coins and then adds up the value of those coins to arrive at a total. It’s a convenient way to either count your loose change quickly and easily, or to use interactively with children who are learning maths and the value of money.
The application is available for a range of countries, and each country costs $4.99 to download.
Coin Value Calculators
A big step up from the CoinCalc is those applications that let the user select a coin from the display, and then gives a value and accumulated value for those coins.
These are a great for collectors that want to know the melt value of their coins, or for the novice to find out the real value of his box of loose change. They will use the current spot price of silver, and/ or gold, which is automatically downloaded, and then calculate the weight and value of the coins entered. They all use their own databases of coins, and the user has to be careful to select the right ones. Two of the best are the Snoops Silver and Gold Market Value Calculator (downloadable for just $0.99), and the RRBI Silver Coins which is available as a free download.
One word of caution with these types of applications, though, is that they will not give the numismatic value of a coin, only the melt-value.
PCGS Mobile Coin Facts
Finally, in the last couple of days, at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Chicago, the Professional Coin Grading Service has announced that it is making its library of graded coins available on mobile devices for the first time.
For those avid collectors that visit coin sales, or auctions, or spend time browsing a dealer’s stock, this could be an invaluable tool. If a purchase is on the cards, the user only has to input the PCGS number to gain an instant price guide and report. This will tell the user information like the last three auction prices for the graded coins; and produces a high-resolution photo of the actual coin sold. It also allows research on the coin, to discover rarity ratings, prices of different graded coins, mintage information, etc.
It’s available on free trial now, by visiting the pcgs website at www.pcgs.com.
