I’m a big fan of American coins, especially the older designs that contain something more creative than images of presidents. But with the exception of Guatemalan coins because that’s where our children were born, I’ve never paid much attention to foreign coins.

I’ve been missing a good series. Since 1995, Israel has been striking coins about biblical stories. This year’s coins, available in gold and silver and in different sizes, illustrate the story of Israeli judge Samson killing a lion with his bare hands.

Past coins have featured the Big Three patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — and characters such as Joseph, Moses and his sister Miriam, Solomon and the prophet Isaiah. The Tower of Babel makes an appearance, too.

Meanwhile, on $1 coins here in the United States that nobody uses, this year we’re celebrating presidential powerhouses William Henry Harrison (dead one month after his inauguration because he didn’t have, as the cliche says, the sense God gave a lemon), John Tyler, James K. Polk and Zachary Taylor.

It’s enough to make an all-American guy want to start collecting coins from Israel.