copper123

LONDON MINT OFFICE ???? "But who's going to want to pay that sort of money for over 2700 of the same coin? Not Quite a rarity is it" Worked with them undated 20p coins

This hoard is massive and far to large for the coin market at the moment to absorb. (I hope you put all notions about bidding out of your head colin)LOL Seriously though this ammount of coins should have been drip fed onto the market for many years and due to it being one of the most common dates along with 1891 and 1886 possably it was for a time. Looks like it was wraped in john minshulls lustre preserver , so undoubtedly he had a few. A brave (or foolish) mans buy i think

Don't shout, it's rude. Probably knocked up by someone in a shed as a curio and yes it's rude to shout

Going back to the original subject - the farthing , Victoria old head I am very sure these coins become more common in the higher grades the nearer you get to the end of Victoria's reign I have only ever had to wait to get two high grade dates 1895 and 1896 , I am quite sure that 1895 is the scarcest coin of the whole series, though 1896 runs it close. It always appears that the public hoarded many farthings , even the relatively unattractive dark ones , unlike the penny and halfpennies which never seemed to get a look in for some strange reason - even today a find of a small tobacco box full of Victorian and Edwardian farthings some in near mint grade (usually the later ones) is something that every dealer comes across three or four time in his lifetime

The civil war ended in 1660 did it ? I always thought this country was a republic for eleven or so years after charles's death but maybe i am wrong

I paid 10p for my UNC but that was 30 years ago. Damm ! I was really ripped off!!!!!!

I have I bought it seven years ago for the princely sum of £1.50. Lovely and black with that gleam that tells you it would be unc but for the mint darkened finish

Maybe it will not be long till the undated 2008 20p coins outnumber the dated ones as the royal mint gets on with the job of melting down the old currency and issueing the new!

THE ERDINGTON COIN COMPANY WENT BUST PROBABLY LOL

freeman 530 found today in a £1 junk box at a local collectors fair. Adds to the other 15 or 20 or so known examples . Just shows it can be done

If coins are acceptable is totally up to the buyer - I must admit I personally am very surprised by the sellability of cleaned coins these days , back 20 or 30 years ago the coins fetching good money on ebay, would have been considered almost worthless (mostly silver by the way), cleaned copper and bronze is another matter. IF YOU DON'T FIND CLEANED COINS ACCEPTABLE KEEP IT REALLY SIMPLE AND DON'T BUY THEM!

There was no more chase, you just waited for the next set to appear ever few weeks. The post office was just churning out more and more junk issues for collectors purely as a revenue stream. I think coin collecting is going the same way. Who in there right mind collects modern commeratives?2 Very true - but it is really wrong to dismiss the recent output of the mint the 50p issues have been very good and will draw coin collectors in for many years to come - the kew gardens 50p for instance. we will need new blood to come into the hobby or it will die, just as surely as collectors lost interest in stamps in the seventies and early eighties

acetone is quite good - inert and does not produce a cleaned look Soap and water is pretty much the same but you might have to use a bit more elbow grease - a small pack of toothpicks is often good for getting off gunk from around lettering.

The royal mint in room 101? A bit harsh on a coin collecting / numismatic forum. A bit like a dog lover hateing crufts

I have heard that the black finish farthings 1897-1918 look superb with a quick dip in car oil

No victorian farthings are hard in good grade - except for a very few very rare varieties. Which makes them ideal for collecting doesn't it. IMHO a collection of top grade bronze halfpennies is much , much harder

The 1876 H seems to have been the one to invest in along with 1875 no H I agree . Funny enough I am finding 1872 a bit of a bitch to upgrade, at a reasonable price, and I totally agree with your 1869 comments. 1875 H, 1884 , 1885 and 1886 seem now to be a lot more common than they were years ago even in the top grades , though this is also exagerated by the hoard of 1886 farthings that colin cooke bought some years ago. I also have invested in a really lovely 1895 old head that i got for less than £10 in Gef - Aunc grade from an american would you believe.

Strange thing about 1895 YH farthings was they were massively overvalued in the sixties and seventies but now never seem to have recovered to any sort of premium level since their collapse in value (or stagnation at least), over the last twenty five years or so.

Ooh, ignoring Edward VII, the scarcest reign of modern times, and George V, arguably the most interesting reign of modern times? Surely Edward VIII coins are the rarest of all modern coins - I must admit i love Edward V11 coins as well

charles will be the next in line for the throne , unless you know for certain he will die before his mother..

i find it strange you say the coin is increaseing in value rapidly

I would get rid of the coin at anything over £600 . Invest it in something something interesting victorian or before

probably it would be best for a potential buyer of the above 3d to make his own mind up if it is proof or currency- in the end the buyer decides. Ebay the coin with virtually no complex details and it will find its own value. Personally these coins (3d's) do little for me , I prefer the silver ones but I known others love them

I would guess that about 50% of 1953 plastic sets probably got broken up probably mostly before 1960 Most of the coins were then spent after the excitement of the coronation had passed. It's only a guess but judging on all the circulated 1953 penny's u get probably a reasonable guess

It's also true that most of the proofs are still in the original sets and therefore only available to commerce that way. Prob only 2,000 - 3,000 sets have been broken up over the years