Jump to content
British Coin Forum - Predecimal.com

50 Years of RotographicCoinpublications.com A Rotographic Imprint. Price guide reference book publishers since 1959. Lots of books on coins, banknotes and medals. Please visit and like Coin Publications on Facebook for offers and updates.

Coin Publications on Facebook

   Rotographic    

The current range of books. Click the image above to see them on Amazon (printed and Kindle format). More info on coinpublications.com

predecimal.comPredecimal.com. One of the most popular websites on British pre-decimal coins, with hundreds of coins for sale, advice for beginners and interesting information.

Sylvester

Coin Hoarder
  • Content Count

    3,044
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

Everything posted by Sylvester

  1. Sylvester

    Rare £2 coins

    This is where decimal coins really kind of come 'alive' so to speak. First though (a slight aside) - The main disillusion for collecting decimal for me is basically I don't really see the point. Every year the mint releases large numbers of BU sets (and other commemorative sets where the coins are included in another form), but in a nutshell the 'rare'/'scarce' mintages aren't really very rare or scarce and where's the fun in just buying the mint set? Think 1988 £1 coin, fairly rare in circulation, but I could buy a BU set tomorrow if I wanted to. But the real 'rare' and 'scarce' decimal coins are the minor varieties that slip into circulation barely noticed and stay there without another thought. Until someone wants to buy an UNC one and can't find it. I want a BU 'dot to dot' 1992 10p and 'Between/between' 1992 10p, but what's the chances of getting one now? Little to none. I'm also kicking myself a little because I'm not really aware of the new coin varieties, and I had a few 2007 £2 coins pulled from circulation all shiny and new back in 2007, but I paid them all in at the bank two weeks ago!
  2. Sylvester

    Just An Idea

    Actually that is quite acheivable for the most part (and for less too), certainly true for the Charles II - Elizabeth II time frame. So long as you don't want them all in EF of course. Even 'stumbling' blocks like James II can be overcome if you are prepared to buy 'Maundy' currency. Hammered coins are more of a mixed bag, some like Henry III, Edward I, Henry VI and Elizabeth I may be relatively easy. Although not quite sure how you sort out the Anglo-Saxon monarchs and the tricker medieval monarchs like William II, Henry I, Richard II & Henry IV. They will be harder.
  3. Sylvester

    WHsmith coin folders - pvc?

    I'm afraid I know all too well the price of cheap PVC plastic holders and album pages. From when I was about 10 until the age of 16 I used to save my pocket money and buy EF-UNC coins, mostly shillings, but also I assembled a few UNC year sets too. My father, kindly bought me a rather nice folder with album pages to store them in, (unfortunately what he didn't know, and neither did I - they contained PVC). After a few years I noticed the silver coins (particularly the George VI 50% silver) had a weird discoloured corrosion starting and well I lost practically the whole lot. I guess I learned the hard way.
  4. Sylvester

    Good evening.

    I have to admit that even I have a soft spot for florins. Gothics are beautiful, Vicky Old Heads are cool, Edward VIIs are one of my favourites and I have fond memories of the George VI ones. I miss seeing them in change. Oh and welcome.
  5. It could have been better. I personally like the old 50p design, that is probably my favourite Britannia design (although the Edward VII florins were quite something).
  6. It's nice to be back once more.
  7. I actually quite like the new one, so I voted for that. The Gillick, I have fond memories of, but the relief - or rather definition - was always quite poor and so I just couldn't vote for it. The Machin, I do like, simply because it shows more than just the head, but was it much of a likeness of the Queen back in 1965 when it was first used? The Maklouf, my least favourite, it looked younger than the Queen did back in 1985. Fairly utilitarian and bland portrait. The Rank Broadley was a vast improvement as it actually looked like the Queen and up until this new one was probably the most lifelike of any of the Queen's previous portraits.
  8. Just out of interest what is your dream coin? I always used to say a Henry III gold penny, or perhaps an Edward III Florin, hmmm. But i've got a new one now, a little more down to earth as it's cheaper but, nonetheless even if i won the lottery (which i don't play anyhow so that's even less likely to happen) but i'd probably still not be able to get one with all that money... A Cromwell 1658 sixpence... currently going at £15,000 in Fine. Arrghhh!
  9. What's your's? Mine would have to be the Godless/Gothic Florin variants and the Gothic Crown...absolutely gorgeous coins. Sixpences follow not far behind...
  10. For me it was that 1920s/30s George V florin. Next oldest was 1947 and i saw a few hundred of these... 1948 probably many, many hundreds. 1953s were always fun to find too, having the 'BRITT OMN'
  11. Sylvester

    Question Re: 1787 Silver Issues.

    With regards to the 1758 shillings and sixpences being available in some quantities it's because they were struck for a number of years, into the early part of George IIIs reign. I suspect even at this point though silver had been fairly scarce for a while. The larger silver coins had dried up earlier in the 1750s, I have read articles in the past that stated that even the great silver recoinage of 1696-8 period was not successful and that silver shortages were still somewhat problematic, even after weeding out the substandard hammered remnants - although not to the extent of George III's reign. I don't think much silver was coined (at least smaller silver - shillings & sixpences) in James II or William and Mary's reign - halfcrowns are more prominent. The basic problem being that the silver coin face values were undervalued - British silver coins were worth more melted down on the continent. The inverse is true of gold though, Britain had a plentiful supply of gold right through from Charles II to the Napoleonic period.
  12. Sylvester

    Very Special 10Yr Anniversary

    Youngster. N00b. ZX81? Hah! Some of us remember the ZX80... When I was a lad, we had quills.
  13. Sylvester

    Very Special 10Yr Anniversary

    I don't think it's quite 11 years yet, but it can't be that far off, November I think. Also Jon and William iirc. I often wonder what happened to all those youngsters, they were aged in the 10-15 age range back then, they'll all be in their early to mid-20s now! Probably at uni or got families now, my how the time has flown by. Scary thought! I'm glad to be back, it's been a while. Chris' got me working on a little project, so hopefully I'll be nipping in and out of the forum for a while. How are you getting on anyway?
  14. Sylvester

    Very Special 10Yr Anniversary

    Congratulations! You've been a rock and a pillar. Here's to another ten years!
  15. Sylvester

    Removal of 5p and 10p from circulation

    Ah but it's still different, because whilst it may have been rare it was still a possibility. For example in 1992 I saw a 1930s George V florin in circulation. So even though it was rare and only happened once in all those years, it did happen. The lady who worked at the local post office kept it. See that's not even a possibility now not with legal tender anyhow. The only thing you can get these days is predecimals used deceptively, such as farthings, halfpennies and shillings as 1p, 2p and 10p coins respectively, although that's seldom now. I remember it used to happen more frequently in the early 1990s. I can't remember the last time I got a predecimal in change (which I'd love to happen), or even an old 5p.
  16. Sylvester

    Removal of 5p and 10p from circulation

    I think I didn't make my point very clear, what I meant was not that coins would be melted and thus unavailable for collectors to buy, collectors will always be able to buy decimal coins due to the huge mintages. What I meant was that they'd be nothing of great interest actually circulating (or say scarce circulating), say for you to hunt down and find in change. With this I very much agree with Tom, we have nothing compared to the US and Switzerland where you can pull coins 100+ years out of circulation (by that I mean coins that are circulating as legal tender as they were meant to). How many collectors on here collect coins from change? Probably less than buy coins I suspect. Collecting coins through buying and collecting coins through change are two completely different experiences, at least for me anyhow. It's a bit like going to an auction/antiques house vs going metal detecting. One you know you're going to get something decent, the other you might find nothing. It's the thrill of the chase. British coins just don't have that, and for us folks born in the decimal era, we've never really had the chance to enjoy that. Personally I'd love to go to Switzerland and spend many hours searching through change, that'd be cool. Actually the most fun I've had buying coins is searching through the junk boxes, that's fantastic, love it. Which probably surprises Chris considering the kinds of coins I have specialised in over the years.
  17. Sylvester

    Removal of 5p and 10p from circulation

    Heck, I can't even get excited about it either, and I collect coins. I still find it hard to get even remotely interested in the 1970s bronzes, let alone the small 5p. The only vaguely interesting things about the modern coinage to me is the 1988 £1 coin (not rare really, but cool to find one in circulation) and the 10p die varieties, to me that's like hunting down a rare coin, lets face it none of the dates of current coins are actually rare, or likely to ever be, so it's got to rivet counting... Of course with the cupronickel 10p coins withdrawn, well that just leaves the 1988 £1 coin as the little ray of sunshine. I can't get excited about the commemorative coins because I despise commemoratives, talk about forced... 250 years of some other event or person's birth/death that we neither care about or even were aware of. Please save stuff like that for stamps. Production of coins for commerce really seems like a second priority, and I seen more coins with flaws in the last few years than ever in my 20 odd years of collecting.
  18. Sylvester

    Removal of 5p and 10p from circulation

    All jesting aside, my impression is (and I may be wrong), that the 20p and 50p coins will be left in circulation (at this point in time) since they're still being minted in cupronickel. It's only the pre-2011 5p and 10p coins that are going to be weeded out. Obviously the pre-2008 designs are going to be the easiest to spot and they'll vanish first. Although even so I expect it'll take ten years or more before they are seldom seen, I mean how many billions or 1990 5ps or 1992 10p coins are there. Many of which I bet are sat in change bags / piggy banks waiting to be returned to circulation or dumped in at the bank. Maybe they'll get HSBC or similar bank on side to engineer their change depositing machines to automatically separate the cupronickel 5p/10p coins? Coinage of 2020, imagine... 1p & 2p coins only going back to 1992 (rarely any earlier) if they're still in circulation at all, who knows? The 5p & 10p coins only going back to 2011/2012 (rarely earlier), 20p & 50p coins, depends whether they switch composition between now and then. It looks like we'll never get another period where you can regularly pull coins 100 years + out of circulation. The failings of a fiat currency, me thinks.
  19. Sylvester

    Removal of 5p and 10p from circulation

    What planet have you been living on scott? It's been steel since the early 1990s! I didn't know that! Not that I should, of course! Really? Yep, copper plated steel since 1992. I think he meant, why haven't they started collecting the bronze coins back in, and I did once ask the Royal Mint why they'd minted a whole load of bronze 2p back in c.1999, they weren't forthcoming with an answer. But I still get lots of bronze in change, lots of Machin head coins turn up, I had a whole pile full of them until a few months ago... seems strange how they haven't tried actively hunting them down like the are with the 5p and 10p coins, maybe they are doing it now, since they're going after the cupronickel.
  20. Sylvester

    Removal of 5p and 10p from circulation

    What planet have you been living on scott? It's been steel since the early 1990s! I didn't know that! Not that I should, of course! Really? Yep, copper plated steel since 1992. Wow, makes me feel sorry for the future generations of collectors! Imagine the questions on post-decimal.com in 50 years time! "How exactly do you store a piece of steel"? "Can I dip it?" "My tuppence has developed a series of nasty orange bubbles, what can I do?" I already have that concern with my Huth double florin. Yes, I was just reading about it in a different thread! A lot of money for a 100+ year-old lump of iron (did you ever post images?), selling for significantly more than its silver brethren! Why did they strike some in iron, when others were struck in silver, etc. seems like a crude material for such an impressive pattern? Tin farthings and halfpennies from the Charles II, James II and William and Mary come to mind, much harder to find in decent condition without corrosion and the price for the tin coins is higher than the copper, on the whole.
  21. Sylvester

    Removal of 5p and 10p from circulation

    I first heard about this recovery programme at the end of last year. I must say that I view it with no great surprise and a little disdain at the same time. I mean it's a sensible move and it turns a tidy little profit no doubt (although I like the mention of all the old 5p and 10p coins getting the melting pot treatment too, that would be a great idea, surprised they haven't thought of that one). However, it really does show the depths the currency has plunged to. First in the 1920s the sterling silver was hoarded up shortly after it was oused by the .500 silver. One article I read from the 1930s said by 1932 there was hardly any pre-1920 silver left to be found (I wish I could relocate that article). Then in 1947 the .500 went out and cupronickel came in. The last vestiges of silver vanishing in the late 60s/70s silver price rises. Then in the early 1990s the coins had to be reduced in size to make sure they wouldn't exceed their face value. Now they've been switched to nickel-plated steel, and the cupro-nickel coins are being removed in advance before they exceed their face value. The question this raises is, what next? How long until the humble 5p falls in value so that even nickel-plated steel starts edging over face? Plastic? 1920-1946 = 26 years (although war helped massively to oust silver in the UK earlier than it did elsewhere). They could theoretically have lasted to 1967 like other parts of the world, if so then this would have = 47 years. 1947-1992 = 45 years (from 1967 this would be just 25 years to the end of the old 10p the last with pre-decimal equivalent coin to switch) 1992-2011 = 19 years (although some of the 2011s appear to be steel) The time period between changing compositions getting shorter, or what?
  22. Sylvester

    New Years Resolutions

    Continue to buy what I like the look of! But I'm thinking of resurrecting some kind of 1912 set, Titanic 100th anniversary and all. Would be appropriate!
  23. Yes customs do open packages and yes they will charge you an import tax on them. Apparently it's random spot checks, but it happens more often than not.
  24. I've been collecting coins on and off and off and on for about 20 years and I think i've finally come to a realisation in the last few years. I've tried quite a few areas (always in series rather that concurring); modern shillings, early modern sixpences, brass threepences, specific year sets (1837, 1887, 1912 etc.), Norman pennies, Anglo-Saxon pennies, Roman denarii, Henry VI Annulet Issue denomination set, Tudor mugshot gallery, half guineas, half sovereigns, Washington Quarters, Edward I pennies. etc. The list goes on. Generally what happens is I get going on one collection focus, make some decent progress then feel overwhelmed by too many varieties and types and I get disheartened because I can't complete it quickly (I'm a right here, right now kind of guy, not patient in the slightest) then I get distracted by a new series end up selling all my previous purchases and move to another area, and repeat, losing lots of money along the way. In the end I find specialising less of a reward and more of a straightjacket, a complete inspiration killer. In all 20 years I've never managed to complete a set (date run or type set), even when one set was only a run of six coins I only managed three of them! Admittedly Anglo-Saxon were too expensive for me anyway and didn't turn up often enough to keep me interested. So I made a decision in around 2004 to give up all pretense of a set (with the one exception of US Standing Liberty Quarters P-Mint date run because they pretty coins) and now I simply buy coins on eye appeal, if I like the look of it I'll buy it and I don't care if it fits or makes sense in a greater scheme, because my collection, what little there is left after various trades and sales, is now completely haphazard and random. And you know what I feel much better about it! So I have no real theme, except buying whatever tempts me at that moment in time.
  25. Sylvester

    Game grading!

    And in a nutshell there it is. The bomb was dropped to save lives (military in many cases), and the people on the other end of the bomb were tragically civilians, who were treated as cannon fodder by their own side anyway. Without the bomb many more people (millions), this includes soldiers and civilians caught in the cross fire, would have died. With the bomb many millions did die. All in all the situation was an horrific catch 22, screwed if you do, screwed if you don't. Not a decision I would want to have to make, knowing how many lives would be affected. Whether it was morally right to drop the bomb really depends on who you sympathise with. If you or your relatives were British/US soldiers about to head into what would have amounted to a suicide mission dropping the bomb was the right thing to do. If you lived in Nagasaki or Hiroshima or had relatives there, then dropping it results in nothing more than the mass murder of innocents. It was the leaders in Japan who were driving the war effort, not necessarily the civilians. And of course the poor unlucky souls who survived the bomb have been disfigured for life, living in constant pain for 40-50 years and knowing all too well that it's only a matter of time before they will probably die of cancer. That bomb was a death sentence for millions either instant or living under the close shadow of death for 70+ years. As for my own opinion I tend to have most sympathy for the Japanese civilians in those two places, but at the end of the day any bitterness is not going to change what happened, what's done is done. With regards to the comment above about the possible nuking of Germany if people had been aware of how they treated the Jews. Well I very much doubt that, it should be noted that countries of Europe at that time, including the UK, were not exactly falling over backwards to help the Jews during the war. After the horrors of the War were revealed you'd think attitudes would be much more sympathetic? Well when many surviving displaced Jews wanted to emigrate to British controlled Palestine, the US and UK were more concerned about the mass migration upsetting the resident muslim population of that area because it might affect our oil contracts. Sound familiar?
×