Alan Parry

After 4 years of metal detecting I have finally struck gold! A 1725 George I Half Guinea, found under a tree ,where someone sat down and lost it. This is how it came out of the ground.

Laser Rapier, in this case no headphones coz I was with someone who was listening too.

When I saw the Heinz packaging I thought "I got that when I was a kid, where did I put it?" After hours of seaching I found it, but alas it's just the 'TWO PENCE" version!!

All my 'coin collecting' is done through metal detecting. If you seriously want to collect coins though it is not really the right way to do it. Most coins I find (95%) are copper/bronze from 1700 onwards and are in such bad condition that most coin collectors wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. If they have enough detail on them to make an ID then I am happy as I use them to produce a report to the farmers of what I've found. Normally I spend hours trying to spot the edge of a 'bust' or part of Britannia amongst the corrosion to make that ID. Occasionally you find a silver coin, bu tagain unless you go back to a time when they were almost pure silver, they also can degrade very quickly. I have found a handful of hammered silver coins, these are generally worn almost smooth but are very exciting to find. I'm still waiting for my first piece of gold and my first Roman with enough detail left to ID.

It was because he had a hit song 'You need hands' (i am showing my age!)

Chris, I have downloaded a copy of your "Collectors’ Coins Great Britain 32nd Edition © 2005 (PDF Version)", which I find is great for a quick reference guide. Do you know if there is anywhere where the data in the book is available as a spreadsheet? I only really need the coin 'name' dates and circulation figures. I want to use it as a 'check' list to record the coins I have against a 'complete set'. Also if there is the same information for pre 1797 coins that would be great. I know it's a lot to ask for, but if you don't ask..... Thanks.

I have been led to believe that when silver coins were reminted from 1816 the silver content was reduced and replaced with cupro-nickel. I collect coins that I dig up so their quality is measured in worn smooth through to worthless! I have noticed that silver coins dated 1816 still appear to be silver, whereas silver coins dated afterwards have lost most of the silver and appear like copper coins. Is this beacuse the first, 1816, mintings still had higer silver content and this was lowered in subsequent years or are all the later silver coins I find forgeries? (seems a coincidence). I attach a picture of an 1816 and 1818 shilling for comparison. Thanks.

Picture (hopefully)

Mine are George IV rather than William but as they are consecutive rulers it could be that the tokens were for the same purpose. I am open to any other suggestions too, the numbers '20' and '100' don't seem to be monetary so I would guess the 'reward' idea seems appropriate. Another token produced at a similar time, to commemorate the death of George IV has the two crossed branches (although one is a different tree). I'm guessing various 'tokens' were produced as things to hand out at important event etc, a bit like our jubilee mugs.

Not a very clear picture of the '20' token.

I have been told that they are 'School Tokens', commemorative coins given out to school children as rewards (for what I don't know). I have found one with the '100' and have got a picture of one with '20'

I use a scanner rather than a camera, there's no flash and you can scan to a very high detail.

Colin, you might also want to look at Columbia farthings, these were minted, as far as we can tell in the early 19th century and come in many varieties. Most have a 'bust' on one side and either a 'Britannia' type figure or a standing Justice figure on the other. There are many theories as to what they were made for and I would be very grateful for any help or ideas on the subject.

Please, please please Chris can you get this link back and working. I discovered it by accident when I started collecting and it is almost a bible for me when trying to recognise badly worn/corroded coins. Thanks for a great site. Alan.