Stuntman

I worked as a betting shop cashier for a year in 1990-91 and during that time (with the shop manager's express permission) I swapped out from my till 2 silver shillings (1935 and 1946) and 3 silver florins (1922, 1929 and 1941). I still have the 1929 and 1941 florins and sold the other 3 coins as scrap silver. https://imgur.com/a/azGawQF

What an abominable post, you've definitely put your Big Foot in it 😋

I'm late to this thread, but here's a bit more info about my own job and background. I did Maths and Sciences for A-levels but then did a Law degree. I really enjoyed the study of Law, but didn't think that working in the legal profession would interest me enough (although at that time, virtually all the interesting work was in London and I didn't want to live in London). So I graduated from Cambridge and took a job as a cashier in a betting shop 😀 This rekindled my love of probability and statistics, and I then took a job training as a Chartered Accountant with one of the big firms, in Bristol. Again, the study was interesting but I left as soon as I qualified, and got out into the business world. I have spent the last 20+ years in a variety of companies and roles, but always as a forward-looking analytical problem-solver. These days I am an interim and have been in and out of work rather than having a secure and stable job. But I solve commercial business problems with data, logic, algebra and creativity 😄 I have retired from several non-work lives too. I used to represent GB at Orienteering at under 21 level, used to be a national standard athlete on the track and the road until my body gave up aged 37, and am probably retired from being a comic performance poet (although I was brought out of a 4-year slumber earlier this year when I was booked for a music festival. Toyah was in one tent, I was in the other!). I won the UK Allstars Poetry Slam in 2012 which was the biggest event of its kind in the UK in terms of a paying audience. This is what I used to do...

Shut Up, or I'll have a Cardiac Arrest. My Girl's mad at me, as it is...

Welcome to the House Of Fun, Madness Good choice, the 1787 shilling. A nice coin with a bit of history, some different variants and fairly widely available at reasonably low prices. Mine is probably a bit lower grade than you are looking for, but it only cost me 40 GBP, about 3 years ago.

Nicely toned, much lustre remaining...

My 1845 for comparison as well if it helps, which has slightly less wear than the coin in question but still plenty of honest wear.

Someone needs to finish the rest of that one!

Wow to the first one, for me

Great work everyone!

Well I never even knew about these obverse varieties. I've just checked my 1953 Unc and it's an Obverse 1, so I suspect it was originally from the sets.

Some of mine - I don't have many, but I really like the ones I have:

I think we should photobomb this thread with pictures of our favourite half crowns in our own collections, to whet kieran's appetite!

I've got a spare complete set in cards in the official RM folder that I will sell at some stage, ideally in their entirety all at once. Bought 2 by mistake back in 2012 (the online transaction went through twice) and was too lazy to return the second set. They seem to be worth more than what I paid to the RM, so I remain very happy with the error!

I'm not sure that I've ever posted one of my coins on this thread. Probably because I rarely acquire new coins at the moment I agree with the general sentiment though; it would be simpler if all acquisition pictures were in one place, but I'd rather people kept posting them somewhere rather than nowhere, since it provides vicarious pleasure!

Welcome, kieran. I'd say the most important thing is to enjoy looking after the coins you have. You have a nice starting point with your assortment of coins. Which are your favourites, and why? For example, is it to do with their, age, size, design or condition? This might give you a clue about where to start collecting next. I would also recommend thinking of the hobby in terms of 'acquiring' rather than 'investing'. In that way, you can treat it as saving up for something you want to have, rather than buying it with a view to selling it later on. Of course, you might want to sell some coins either soon or in the future but I think that buying things with a view to resale would perhaps limit your horizons stop you from buying things because you like them! I will slightly disagree with Paddy in the sense that I think that some of the modern bullion coins are quite interesting and rather beautiful - such as the Queen's Beasts and the recent Britannia with the Oriental border. I also like one or two of the Lunar series coins, and if you look towards world bullion coins as well, I think the US Buffalo, Mexican Libertad and Niue Turtle are rather nice too. The silver coins are reasonably affordable, the gold ones less so! Above all, have fun!

Lovely half crown there Zoo.

The second coin looks to have a sharper strike on the obverse, to my eyes - but it might just be because it's difficult to photograph the first coin through the slab. Both very nice!

Not quite the Queen's head, only part of it

Reminds me of this (I supported him at a couple of his gigs several years ago...)

Those opinionated vegetables need to learn how to deliver feedback more effectively. I would suggest less stick, and more carrot. The other vegetable is just a total knob.

OK - updated table including the £20, £50 and £100 silver coins. I've introduced the concept of MINP for these coins - being the 'Max If Not Paddy' number of these coins that one of us owns up to holding! This gets round any 'divide by zero' issues and also offers a POP-style number for these denominations with a maximum of 100... Denomination Paddy Stunt UWN MINP* POP Numbers Paddy Stunt UWN Half P 14 0 14 0 Half P 100 0 100 Penny 48 2 24 0 Penny 100 4 50 Two Pence 45 2 11 0 Two Pence 100 4 24 Five Pence 50 8 17 0 Five Pence 100 16 34 Ten Pence 61 3 49 0 Ten Pence 100 5 80 Twenty Pence 43 2 14 0 Twenty Pence 100 5 33 Fifty Pence 101 52 73 0 Fifty Pence 100 51 72 One Pound 46 8 25 0 One Pound 100 17 54 Two Pounds 61 38 48 0 Two Pounds 100 62 79 Crown (25p) 4 3 0 0 Crown (25p) 100 75 0 Crown (£5) 26 2 5 0 Crown (£5) 100 8 19 BU Sets 32 2 7 0 BU Sets 100 6 22 Proof sets 41 3 5 0 Proof sets 100 7 12 £20 silver coins 0 4 2 4 £20 silver coins 0 100 50 £50 silver coins 0 1 1 1 £50 silver coins 0 100 100 £100 silver coins 0 0 0 0 £100 silver coins 0 0 0 Sub Total Decimal 572 130 295 0 Decimal POP 100 23 52 * Max If Not Paddy

How many different £2 coins and £1 coins though?

Are we adding the £20, £50 and £100 coins then? Happy to, but they aren't really normal coins, given you can't actually spend them in most shops. (I have 4 of the £20 coins and the £50, coin but no £100 coins. In fact, it was the emergence of the £100 coin that made me see the advantages of spending that kind of money on the predecimal stuff instead...) Your call Paddy!

Updated table, now including 25p and £5 crowns: Denomination Paddy Stunt POP Numbers Paddy Stunt Half P 14 0 Half P 100 0 Penny 48 2 Penny 100 4 Two Pence 45 2 Two Pence 100 4 Five Pence 50 8 Five Pence 100 16 Ten Pence 61 3 Ten Pence 100 5 Twenty Pence 43 2 Twenty Pence 100 5 Fifty Pence 101 52 Fifty Pence 100 51 One Pound 46 8 One Pound 100 17 Two Pounds 61 38 Two Pounds 100 62 Crown (25p) 4 3 Crown (25p) 100 75 Crown (£5) 26 2 Crown (£5) 100 8 BU Sets 32 2 BU Sets 100 6 Proof sets 41 3 Proof sets 100 7 Sub Total Decimal 572 125 Decimal POP 100 22 Anyone else? Post up your numbers of different coins of each Decimal denomination and I'll work out the POP numbers.