ThePrepper

Hi....ok i've had a break in the chaos and have been back at the collection....having had enough of sorting the shilling and sixpences in the last coupla days i started having a look through the foreign/other stuff..... theres some very noble-looking church/cathedral/castle/palace thingys you could maybe help me with and i've most of the ones pictured in duplicate...i've done a bit of research but cant find much....google/wikipedia/ebay..... so....theyre maybe circa 1977 birmingham mint?.....medallions? commemorative coins? whats the term lol? the gold ones are gold plated....but does anyone know if the silver ones are solid and the percentage? and how many were in a full set? are these meant to be proofencapsulated and in boxes etc?? theyre coming in at 39mm/28.5g & 45mm/33.5g. as i mentioned in the main thread Uncle Iggy was a religious man so i'd like to more about them....oh and the 'pope medals' there....are they issued/sold/minted in vatican city? vatican city currency? thankyou!!!

and rounding up todays religious coins collection, all with presentation boxes etc we have.....

hi bag....kool ta....yup, though not my thing they are rather handsome i admit....got quite a few spares so i might do that....just surprised at how little info i've been able to find concerning them... regards! p

and there's these.....:

aha....just found this.... http://museums.bristol.gov.uk/narratives.php?irn=3506 http://museums.bristol.gov.uk/details.php?irn=89249 and just remembered i have these too...and have found similar on ebay....

Hi....as i mentioned recently i've just been given a fairly huge collection to add to my own....this new lot come from my sister-in-law and were part of her inheritance from her late uncle iggy....a keen outdoorsman, detectorist and carpenter by trade who's also presented his work personally in an audience with the pope and yes i've seen the photographs....blew me away. polish catholic, one of his sisters is a nun and from everything i've heard the guy was a pretty superb fellow indeed and i feel very lucky and honoured to be entrusted with these beautiful coins....i've seen a lot of his cracking marquetry work and am now the proud owner of a collection that no doubt took him many years to put together.... its a very interesting collection dating back to the 1700's and whilst he doesnt appear to be a 'numismatist' in the search of perfect coins he was definitely a coin collector and there are nearly complete date runs of every type of silver british predecimal especially from victoria onwards and not a few copper/bronze....a lot are circulated, many indeed worn significantly but there is a huge number in very nice conditions indeed..... since recently starting to collect again (i did somewhat over 20 years ago...u.s.. and morgan dollars) i've been getting into my british pennies which are clean and solid and in high grades....so no problem there.....but now this new lot are stressing me out.... I UNDERSTAND.....NEVER CLEAN YOUR COINS.....NEVER CLEAN YOUR COINS. so....i cleaned some coins (and i have my reasons...coming in a minute)....i've been experimenting and learning for myself....i'm not stupid...i've done research and been careful and not risked anything silly....for example.... i took a nice condition but filthy silver u.s. half dollar that i had in duplicate....i soaked it in acetone (yes ''pure'' 99.9 percent)....i then rubbed it gently but thorougly with a johnsons cotton bud....its now beautiful with tone intact and dirt gone.....i've then taken the three different loupes i have and examined it under a halogen light....my eyesight is good....and i know a scratch when i see one. there are no scratches. so why does everyone say there will be?....on proofs maybe....on anything else....maybe i'm blind. people also say acetone will dissolve surface grime like pva 'greenage' and the coin will just require rinsing....it does not. the acetone-affected pva greenage will still be on the surface of the coin in a film. it then comes off easily when rubbed.and why rinse the coin anyway? acetone evaporates.....quickly....and totally...unless they mean rub with (grease and sweat oozing) fingers under water but then hey, that wont remove the gunge from the detailed areas.... i've also soaked coins with 'paint' or similar on...which is attached firmly prior to soaking. the acetone does not dissolve it....rather weakens its attachment so it will then come off when rubbed. and why do most posts i've rubbed say soak for a minute or two?.....acetone does not affect metal....you could leave it in there for years....unless its all about that 0.1 percent of impurity of course lol....but then tap water and even of course distilled water are not pure....theres no such thing as pure....and you could even rub under water with cotton lint free gloves rather than fingers i know....but they are not pure or 'lint free' either....as i said...theres no such thing as pure. i also find it hard to believe that sealing up these coins with pva and years of grime and impurity on them is a better thing for them than washing with acetone and a gentle rub. i've also read acetone affects copper colouring.....it doesnt.....i've cleaned hundreds of pennies out of the many thousand i've got here and they are the same as before they had their bath. and at the risk of being inflammatory....no intention...i just talk pretty straight and say how i see it....i've bought quite a few non-unc non-perfect non-slabbed-since-the-day-they-were-made pennies from dudes who are on this forum....dudes who say never clean your coins....and considering these coins are non-unc non-perfect non-slabbed-since-the-day-they-were-made its quite surprising that they have no dirt on them......ok they havnt been polished or put on a grinder but theyve certainly been washed....and therefore rubbed. and i dont like the usage of 'clean' and 'cleaned' and 'cleaning' and its complexities, dubiousness and translation. i think washed (acetone/water/gentle rub) and polished (duraglit/angle grinder/exposure to a c4 blast) do the job appropriately. and whats this about 'dabbing' with papertowel....i've got beautiful valuable coins here so covered in pva that if you were to soften the pva with acetone and then try to 'dab' it off....well....it makes me laugh. and i'm sure i'm not the only person who's had pva affected coins that need more than a dab....maybe i should learn more manners and ask the coin politely to shed its green skin without the need for a johnsons ear bud? lol....ok....i'm getting raw. so....rather than everyone repeating what everyone else says in a politically correct manner for fear of being shot down by other hypocrites could someone please step up and say look dude....DO THIS! because everywhere i go i see conflicting 'advise' and opinions and evidence of cow pats.....lolol! many of uncle iggys coins were in degrading pva sheets or wallets. the rest were in a lovely cabinet he'd made for them....just like the ones you see for sale with slide-out trays and compartments etc.....however his wasnt lined with felt and may well not have been made out of completely coin safe woods..... also.....he had milled out/counter sunk correct size holes in the trays for the coins....i'm guessing with what are known as 'spade bits' because each milled out ring has a hole in the middle which goes completely through the tray (i cant explain better or provide pics as the cabinet is still at my sisters) which i guess proved handy as that then meant you could poke something through the back of the tray to 'pop' the coin out....something i had to do with a wood kebab/marshmallow stick. these coins that were still in their countersunk holes were obviously open to the elements completely on one side but also through the smaller hole on the back....meaning many of them have a darker circle on one side....see pics provided. i have of course tried cleaning one to see ifit was indeed dirt or tone and it seems to be dirt....comes off fine.....weird because i would said something like that lived in a smokers home but iggy wasnt a smoker....anyway.... as for pva damage....some more affected than others....for instance see the 1902 crown....ok-ish one side....yellowy stain the other....that is not tone....do i acetone it? others were in sheets that had literally congealed and had to be cut out and are actually 'tacky'. others its not so evident unless the coin is tilted to reveal a greenish tint and often a more visibly green edge. many other pva sheets were still ok luckily. and hundreds were in a deep pile at the bottom of the cabinet which had been dislodged from their positions when moved/transported from home to home over the years....thank god verdigris had not set into that lot because every one wouldve been totally ruined. in fact only one coin had bad verdi and that was a 1797 penny that i'm now soaking in olive oil for 6 months with an oil change and a light rub every coupla weeks....i've already got several so no biggy on the outcome. and there are loads of interesting oddities in the collection too....please see the pic of the george halfpenny....its totally smooth one side and completely even.....gotta admit i find it hard to believe someone achieved that at home....its thinner that it should be but i just do not see that someone did that at home though granted the obverse (his ear/hair) is worn....i know loads of knifemakers etc that own industry standard machines, as do i myself, but that nowadays is a do-er....for a few grand you can buy that kit....but back then??????......i've also got a mistrike 2p decimal thats pressed both sides but again is half thickness of norm....and loads of mistrike/test??? 1971 2p's and pennies....see pic. and some lovely foreign coins of which i had no idea of value until i further researched upon returning home from last weekends visit up north....again see pic...hundreds more to go through yet. so...feel free to toatally rip my head off and point out what a degenerate i am....and i'd really appreciate your advice and opinions about all the above and grades too if possible please....i'll try to scan some in each day and add them to my thread so please keep an eye on it and return with any input....i really dont want to mess this up.....uncle iggys collection added to my mums/her fathers collection and my collection too....even my grandmother has been sending me modern proof coins this last few years to put away for my two sons.....i've got a really lovely heirloom to build upon here to one day hand down further and would hate to know i'd f***** it all up. regards and rave on! Prep ps....i'm just going to scan them in whatever containers the coins are already in...capsule whatever....and my scanner only does 600dpi...hope its ok!

hey....plenty of reason for you to fly off the handle mate....its kool. yup my uncle jerry....i'll miss having a guinness with him.....as for uncle iggy who those coins came from he too died in an accident years before i met the family...a very tragic one back when my missus angela was a young'un....a large family camping trip in several cars...at night returning home one car developed a problem so they all pulled over in a lay-by....angela, her sis and two brothers stayed in their car....uncle iggy and angelas dad got out to examine the problem car and all of a sudden iggy was gone.. with the engines running and the darkness no-one saw the incident happen but a passing car hit (and ran) him so hard he was in a ditch some distance away....i wont go into the gory details but obviously total panic ensued and angela remembers looking out her car window and seeing signs of where her uncle HAD been....he was in his prime too. as you and mike have aptly said...s**** and b******.....especially hard when you hear it happening to 21 year old kids so my heart goes out to you, being a father of two incredible sons myself. on the radio the other day i choked up listening to a mum talk about her twentysomething son who committed suicide over a 500 quid debt. its messed up. all very messed up. be strong and best wishes. x

hi....lost my uncle a coupla weeks ago and been thinking about him every day....so i'm going to post my sincere sympathy here and a big hug to all! regards and respects! sonni

hi shane....i'm new to metal detecting myself...great hobby, hope youre enjoying it! i'm also fairly new to coin collecting too but even so i've got to tell you that its very unlikely those sort of 'coins' in that condition will be worth anything....from what i can see they are fairly modern and would have to be in mint condition to have any value.... however thats not to say that metal detecting can indeed turn up very collectable coins which appear in bad condition such as 'hammered' and roman....these are much older. i started out mainly watching two youtubers, addictedtobleeps and the man with the hat....go check out their vids to see what youre really after... and please keep posting up your finds....maybe best to start your own thread rather than sticking them here in ladyglitters thread though! lol keep going....youll find something sooner or later....and what detector do you use? regards prep

hiya lady....just been through this exact thing a coupla times myself in recent months....huge learning curve......the coin yearbook 2017 will help you get off the ground....and if youve got anything oldish best thing to do is get some pics on here for the dudes to help you with....that way youll also start to see the range of what youve got and become familiar with it....and for now, DO NOT CLEAN ANY IN ANY WAY!! regards p

define 'better'.....

PPS....i'm dreading what peckris didnt say.....

LOLOLOLOLOLOL!! RESPECT!

hi guys....sorry been real busy last few days getting ready for my biggest show of the year...20 hour days, hardly eaten, hands killin me and all thats fine i'm just pee'd off ive not had any time for coins lol.... while i'm here a quick thanks to Sir Perkins and Sir PWA....nuff luv! lol garrett.... Still amorous, and fond, and billing, like Philip and Mary on a shilling. HAHA! ok....carlos....i'm not a coin geek....i'm a budding coin geek....and i never intend to 'grow up'....not ever. declan....thankyou....i'll get more scanning done when i can and get some more on here...funnily enough i was watching a vid on youtube made by detectorist addictedtobleeps recently where he cleaned his hammereds with foil, spit and then RUBBING...and at the time i thought, that cant be good....your non-rubbing approach definitely seems more sensible, i'll give it a try very soon, ta again. hey mrbad....yup yup same story here....the vast majority are nowhere near as bad as your example....and its only really noticed when the coins are on the slant, then the green is more visible on the surfaces and edge too...a few are more affected and where appropriate (ie not rare/valuable) i've acetoned/budded and theyve come up lovely like yours....and as you said this is pvc damage not verdi. stuntman....as i mentioned in the thread-starter....i've read on many forums people say 'quick dip and then air dry' which to me seems total bollox....on a coin that bad the acetone doesnt dissolve it all, rather softens it....you will then need to swab/bud to get the gunge off....in fact youll need to use several buds....and 'asfarasiknow' so long as youre gentle then abrasion marks on a circulated coin are negligible, at least with my 18x loupe and perfect eyesight i cant see any harm anyway...and short immersion, no matter...''pure'' acetone is harmless to coins 'asfarasiknow'....you can leave coin in as long as you want 'asfarasiknow'...i use acetone not only in my work but also on vintage sewing machines and on metal its fine....just keep it away from lacquer, plastic, decals, paint etc etc... hi rob....again as i mentioned...there was only one (AMAZINGLY) coin really whacked by verdigris, a 1797 penny which is now in olive oil for 6 months as a test piece...will rub it every coupla weeks and change oil for duration....of course many of the coins have the odd spot here and there but nothing major and i have been practicing with success some of what i learned on here about getting spots off...'softened toothpick', gentle prying etc etc...also had some tips from sir pwa ta dude! i've just about finished isolating eah coin now after spending a good coupla hundred quid on capsules, flips, wallets, storage boxes and so on so verdigris spread will hopefully be no further issue for my babies....and after reading everywhere i go about verdicare i thought i'd see what thats all about too and my order arrived today...when i get a chance to try it i'll take pics as i've seen others on here have done before....its not cheap though huh? for a tiny lil' bottle.....we'll see. as for robs second post....this is why not a coin geek yet....because i have absolutely no idea what any of that means haha!! i'm proud to be the degenerate i am lol! hi coinery....ta for your input....as said though the main issue i've got is pva residue....like on the 1902 crown...had a good chat with pwa and sure i understand that the residue has already done its ''reacting'' by now therefore the philosophy of 'dont clean coins' is a good one but, being the newbie i am, i'm trying to find that middle ground and learn the boundaries....should only take me '40 years' but i guess thats a blink to the coin and itll be fine-ish till then. i understand that to some of you dudes a 1902 crown in less than unc condition is nothing remarkable and certainly affordable....as i'm sure you also understand there are many people/collectors on here that have very limited budgets and would love to own one in that condition....its not unc but it is very nice still (under that gunk is all his hair, beard etc)...now me and the coin, we're in the middle, not rich or poor, and its not unc nor worn....so after spending weeks and weeks becoming ever more confused and frustrated by the conflicting (and i've now learned often wrong) info on multiple forums across the world i then decided to start this thread after i was given this collection..... the 1902 is nice, has value, isnt mint and looks horrible...would it be harmed further by the stuff on it? would the stain end up in years to come adding to a real nice 'tone'...would i damage it if i acetoned and devalue....scratch, wear?...should i leave it alone?....and so on....and this extends across the many hundreds of coins i've got here....which to clean...which to leave? and to be honest, whilst ive certainly learned a lot in a short time and have a better 'eye' and understanding, more knowlege and experience, (and again mainly thankyou to PWA here) through my own experiments and tinkering and by listening to you guys and reading your posts/threads, i still dont know what the hell to do haha! some people believe that when youre in a 'situation' that action is the answer....others believe in doing nothing.... i've been collecting pennies for a while now and as pwa confirmed bronze/copper coins are perhaps the most troublesome and prone to probs....but most of this inheritance is silver....about 110 crowns....about the same in florins etc....the majority of which need 'a wash'...'a clean'....but i've still pretty much decided to do nothing for now.....which is tough because everything looks dull and lifeless...or has a black dirt circle on it like the 1905....or a stain like the 1902....the older copper halfpennies in the pics are so tacky from pvc they actually stick together....and leave your fingers sticky...SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME TO ACETONE THEM!!!! i did clean the date run of 50pence pieces, they were rather green....and i've done the lower value and 'less-unc' threepences (quite a few of the higher value/nice condition ones i left alone and with gritted teeth sealed them away in their yucky condition....feels sorta like having a nice hot bath then when you get out putting back on your dirty socks and undies....kinda wrong yeah?!)...am now working through sixpences....then theres shillings, farthings etc. for now all the crowns, halfcrowns and florins have been put in new capsules....being the higher value coins i'll come back to them when i'm a fully fledged geek and can hold a conversation with rob and understand the language he speaks lol! ok....i need 3 to 4 hours sleep before getting up to kill myselfagain...night! prep ps and just to annoy pwa a bit more i'm going to say thanks again and hopefully get a 'wind ya neck in!' haha!

just read back a few pages and am sitting here cracking up at the stuff you lot have said....though granted each time i've clicked on a link i've had a feeling of trepidation as i wait to see the dodgy gits ebay username in case i've bought from them....did about ten pages and so far its been 'phew' apart from maybe lukas mentioned above....lol you sell on ebay bagerap? p

yeah same here mick....i'm flapping too a bit....not sure whether i bought off him or not....i've certainly come across him on ebay but whether i bought???? it wouldnt have been anything major but i dont like what i've read above enough to feel a bit raw.....have checked my feedback but as i rarely leave it myself theres a good chance i didnt receive any.... but thanks for the heads up guys! prep

lololol....yup the irish builder who boards the doorway up and manuel goes into it haha! where has door gone???? lolololol!

funnily enough me and my other half caught some fawlty re-runs recently.....think they were on Gold.....timeless....hadnt watched any for years.....'basil the rat' was one of them....pmswfl!!!! p

lolol....my next thread is going to be entitled ''Tits, Twats & Schizophrenia Over A Gin & Orange''......i swear i'll never look at uncle iggys coins the same again.... p

you lot are nuts.

hi....thanks for pointing that out and your support too guys...i've pm'ed tom, regards p

hi...no problem tom..... regards, p

lol.....so true yes.... if my dead uncle wasnt involved and the high level of emotion i've got over what i've been given so freely by my sis werent factors i daresay i wouldve just put him down as a mere potential wanker and left it at that.....hes not the first potential wanker i've met on a forum who's been completely blanked..... but i wouldve thought a man of his age knew better how to conduct himself.....it seems i'm not the biggest degenerate here....potentially. anyway....thankyou rob for levelling my head a bit and i'll take this opportunity to apologise to anyone i've offended....apart from the potentially degenerate wanker of course. regards and heil hitler! (and yes...to anyone who doesnt get it....i'm joking!!!) p ps....i look forward to my first club meeting.

anyone else?

nah....not biting my lip for a second time..... if youre so clever youll also see i then said ''please dont contribute on my thread again''....shame he couldnt follow that so literally huh? and he didnt 'rip my head off' or call me 'degenerate'.....he said stupid things that were irrelevant to what i'd written..... and he called me a twat.....which by the way could also be construed as breaking the law as its abusive language....its also untrue....and therefore i believe defamation.....(by the way three years ago i earned myself 3 grand in an online defamation case...fact) but hey....some words are just words arent they?.,....so if he can say shit to me why cant i say it back? and on other forums i'm on he wouldve got banned in a heartbeat for what he did....including the ones on which i'm a moderator.....so.....with that off my chest.... thanks for you contribution but please dont do so on any of my threads again...or i'll consider it trolling, but thankyou for your other comments.....shame you and mr. outspoken come from very different worlds from me.... thankyou!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! prep ps i've also had other members contacting me who disagree with you entirely. pps please take note of all the times i've said please and thankyou......thankyou!