Where on Earth do I start?

[balf118 0]

Hi All,

just joined today. I have no idea where to start but after somewhat of a discovery after a cleanout this week I have found over 700 predecimal coins (300 2 shillings,280 shillings and a number of sixpence and half crowns) The only interesting one seems to be a shilling from 1839 but I really don't know what I should be looking for. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[azda 973]

Hello Ballf and welcome. Sounds like you have some work to do, my suggestion would be first of all to sort out the dates in order and denomination. Depending how they were stored could give a clue to grades, for imstance if they were all thrown in a jar they could be low grade and bullion value only. Up to 1920 Silver coins were made from .925 silver, and from then on up to 1947 ist was .500 silver.

Just be careful how you handle and store them for now until you soft through them, there Are rare dates of both shillings and florins, 1850, 54 and 1905 Shillings Are the stand out ones and 1854, 63 and 1905 again for the florins.

Most of all, have fun checking, you never know what you might find, grade of the coins are VERY important, mishandling can devalue a coin, so be careful

[TomGoodheart 373]

Hi there!

Firstly ...as Azda just said, for most (95%) coins, condition (the amount of wear) is everything in terms of 'collectable value'. Cleaning (even a light wipe with a thumb of damp cloth) can reduce the value of a coin, so please don't!

Then a list as also suggested.

Do you know yet what you want to do with them? Do you want to keep them, as the basis of a collection? Sell them off? Or just see what you have?

Whichever, members here will be happy to advise!

.

[Peter 615]

A great starting point would be Collectors Coins GB 2015.

This covers George 111 to 1970 (Available from this site/Amazon ETC)

It is great value.

Welcome

[sound 25]

Balf,

As others have said welcome.

Dave's advice about handling couldn't be more important.

If many are badly worn then storage is perhaps less important as they may just be worth bullion value. But any thing half decent try to separate from other coins.

Do take your time with this. You can buy the publication in digital form for your phone or tablet.

If you follow Peter's suggestion you can easily identify the scarcer dates for any period.

Perhaps you could start to post pictures in time of scarcer dates and better condition coins then we can have a look?

Mark

Edited July 3, 2015 by sound

[Coinery 926]

Yep, as a show of colours, you couldn't get better advice than had already been given!

Welcome aboard and share any pictures or dates/denominations of interest! Then we can help in the next step!

Fancy collecting for the future, it's a very interesting 'nerd' pastime?

[Coinery 926]

We do need new collectors!

I wonder if a statistical analysis could be applied to value for every new hard-heart collector that arrives, and/or for every hard-heart collector that falls?

[Nightvision 0]

In answer to the initial question, you might find after some research some types of coin capture your interest more than others. It's a very organic process. With me I really like sixpences and other silver coinage, but couldn't begin to tell you why.

Grading coins is fun if you like attention to detail.

[AndrewCampbell 1]

It never gets dull when it comes to dealing with antiques. There is always a story that lies beneath every individual piece and it is nothing but a lot of fun and excitement during your entire journey of digging up its origins and history.