Welcome Iian,you will note that this is mainly a predecimal forum but we have a few lost souls who collect modern. I even succumbed to the Olympic set of 50p's....snapped up a few Kew gardens when they came out due to low mintage...a BU was £2-£3 then.A word of warning on our Chinese buddies. They soon pick up on rarer coins like Kew,undated 20p's and are swamping the market with fakes. There are threads referring to these to help you to avoid them. If you do fancy predecimal I can sort you out a good starter pack FOC. We all chip in and info is also free. Enjoy ....hardly touch my Xbox.
Hi Iain and welcome only started really collecting myself a year ago, and only join the forum a week ago. Found the best place to get coins for beginners is ebay, got a 100 old pennies for £6.50 last week, most were in a shocking state but a few nice ones including a 1912 Heaton mint (one of the penny aficionados will most likely explain) which in theory covers the 6.50 spent, and the rest forms the basis for a penny collection.
Definitely not for the bin, I don't think you will find anyone on here saying that (except in jest)
Very gentle soap and water, tamping down, pure acetone with a cotton bud possibly, but the key words are 'little' and 'gentle', if at all!
Welcome to the madhouse. It is a great place for anything Numismatic, and occassionally just pure mental ravings but always fun. A great set of collectors with massive amounts of knowledge in all fields. Join in and have fun and take it from me dont be afraid to ask questions as sometimes things can go over your head at first. Especially when some of the more experienced collectors start talking in what seems to be some sort of foreign code . Satin, Bramah, F62, BSC3912 and so on......... You will get it. As long as your a little mad you'll fit in perfectly
I just picked up this copper 1 Franc Essai piece from a member on the PCGS forums. It arrived today and blew my socks off! Just the look I adore in copper.
-Brandon