ozjohn

Hi Mark, I'm another halfcrown man and I collect from 1816 to 1946. I'm not sure if truly UNC George IV coins for any date really exist other than proofs as the quality of minting these coins was poor due to the very deep design adopted. Very rarely the top of the kings's ear and the side facial hair are all fully struck and the top of the shield on the reverse suffers as well. These problems are often taken as wear when it is not always the case and telling the difference can be almost impossible. A good guide is to look at the milling and if that looks pristine but the ear looks flat then it may be the "wear" is more due to poor manufacturing also if you look carefully at the edge of the obverse of coin often you can see a raised collar of silver on the rim of the coin. If there had been much circulation of the coin then this would be the first to wear. If you want a perfect coin the proof is the best. I always wonder how many they had to strike to get the required number of proofs given the problems with this coin. I have a couple of proofs and a CGS AU75 1911 halfcrown and I think I'll have to be happy with that. A photo of the GGS AU 75 is attached.

The oldest coin I found in change in the UK was an 1849 godless florin while in Australia a 1913 florin which is early for Australian coins other than Sydney and Melbourne mint sovereigns, In the 1960s there were plenty of George V & VI .500 fine silver coins which even then were worth above their face value in silver which was 15/- and ounce while 6 florins (12/-) contained an oz. of silver. .925 George V coins were becoming less common as the price of silver was well above their face value. I still have many of these coins that I saved at the time to this day.

I was flicking through the Coincraft 1998 Std. Catalog and read the following in the florin mintage figures for 1927, 1927 116497 non proof issues with the note 1927 florin was proof only issue: mintage figure as reported. The next item on the list was 1927 15000 proof issue. As far as I am aware only the proof issue of 15000 were minted that year which begs the question what was the date on the other 116497 florins?. Were they some left over from the previous year perhaps? has anyone got any idea?

Of course praise when praise is due. All of the coins I have brought from Colonial Coins of Adelaide St., Brisbane have been better than their stated grade by about half a grade. The coin shown was graded at VF by the dealer but I think GVF is closer to the mark. I think grading standards may be more severe in Australia than in the UK which may account for this however this would not apply to all dealers. I forget what I paid for the coin but from what I remember it seemed reasonable at the time.

1928 should read 1938.

Crowns were struck for 1937 and 1928 in Australia but proved to be unpopular because of their size. I assume earlier British issues circulated in Australia before our own coins were produced.

Sorry I didn't see the earlier post.

I think the ident on the top LH side of the shield is the position for a lance to go through and help to stabilize it

Paxolin was the cheap and nasty stuff. Fiberglass was he better product with RT Duroid for microwave circuits. Never mind about plastic money we now have virtual currency ie Bitcoin.. Personally I am not convinced about the value of Bitcoin and think it is basically a Ponzi scheme.

GBP bag of silver should be a 5 pound bag of silver.

Sound, When I was a kid in England I grew up with the Betty 11 2/6, 2/- etc. I guess familiarity breeds contempt however at the time there were plenty of George V & Vi 50% silver coins in circulation with the pre 1920 ones becoming rarer. Sometimes I would get a GBP bag of "silver" coins from the bank and sort out the silver ones, some that I have to this day. Even then silver was about 15/- an oz. while 6/- of 50% was half an oz. therefore still worth hoarding.

Large mintages, indifferent designs and no proof sets save 1953 and 1970 do not stir the imagination. In addition the move from soft silver alloys to CuNi did nothing for the appearance of the coin. They do not wear gracefully either. Any careful examination of the surface of a modern "UNC" CuNi coin reveals a multitude of surface marks from the minting process let alone from any circulation. For me my interest in UK coins ended in 1946 the year I was born.

I can't answer for local dealers but an average sovereign in Australia is about $AU 420.00 or GBP 227.00 . As a previous post indicated there are Bombay Mint with an I plus Canada with an O which are a bit more expensive than the others. It has to be said that some of the post 1914 Sydney Mint sovereigns command big bucks.

Sovereigns are an interesting series of coins well worth collecting. A little expensive perhaps but maybe not so when you look at high grade Victorian copper prices. Also plenty of different mint marks, shield and George and Dragon reverses. Australian and South African branches of the Royal Mint continued to mint sovereigns long after the London Royal Mint stopped. Don't be fooled by the modern sovereigns as they are only bullion pieces. Fine if you just want gold but not much interest otherwise. Don't be tempted to buy them from the Royal Mint as you can probably obtain them cheaper elsewhere.

I was shown a pair of crown dies at a coin dealer in Fremantle West Australia. The dealer was Sterling & Currency Fremantle but I don't think they were for sale.

Its still an acid (which is less corrosive than Sulfuric acid) that removes the oxides and sulfides which means some of the coin is removed during the cleaning process whereas the method above converts the sulfides back into the original metal. Perhaps a chemist amongst us could comment as my chemistry is limited to a one semester undergraduate course.

Dunno about Godards dip as most silver dips contain sulfuric acid. Try a couple of teaspoons bicarb of soda dissolved in boiling water with aluminum foil in the bottom of the dish. Put coin in solution on to the foil for a few seconds remove then wash and examine. Repeat as necessary. I think this method of chemical cleaning is less aggressive than acid based dips as it converts the silver sulfide back into silver metal and does not remove anything from the coin. Probably a good idea to degrease the coin with metho beforehand. Caution all cleaning of coins should be done as a last resort and not embarked upon lightly. Also much cheaper than dips even if the hot water is hard on the fingers.

Why so surprised that florins turn up in New Zealand as the British issues were used in NZ and Australia in the early part of the last century. I have a publication from the Bank of NSW (now Westpac) tracing Silver coinage in Australia. It seems that the British issues were currency into the 1930s. Many probably migrated back to the UK when the Australian pound was devalued against Sterling in the early 1930s.

VF will certainly be cheaper but because of the light strike for most of this series most VF coins can look more like a coin in F condition. Also an UNC 1911 proof florin would be some where over GBP 120 and 1913 is a low mintage year and can be hard to get in a higher grades.

Thanks but it was top dollar. Sometimes you have to take the plunge.

Thanks

Just what I have been looking for. A hard date to get in UNC condition.

Someone likened this to a divorce, an acrimonious one at that with England feeling like the aggrieved partner. Expect them to play hard ball in the event of a separation. And when it's said and done I think they seem to hold most of the aces in the deck.

A few years ago I was standing in line at the duty free store at Singapore Airport where a man with a Scottish accent was tendering Scottish bank bills to pay for his dutyfree goods. The checkout chick told him that they only accepted $US, Sterling, Yen, $AU & $Singapore for cash payments. The customer protested that he was offering Sterling but the checkout chick was having none of it and the customer went away empty handed. The moral of this story is if the yes vote for Scottish independence is carried then be prepared to accept a lot more of this sort of treatment. Maybe a credit card will help but with no currency even that may not work it's a bit of a risk. Believe me this is a true story.

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