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I was fortunate enough to pick up mine before the prices went completely crazy:

These are the best of my bunch, 1864 is probably the best example that I have, these as the rest I have were boot fair finds well over 30 years ago, pre computers internet day and age...... also It turns out 12 months have passed by it was 1 year today that I first joined www.predecimal.com/forum 👍🍻

Thanks Paddy. Charles II 1667 and William III 1696.

I have now added this type to my rarest pennies site and would be grateful to see any other examples.

I usually turn them down when offered, because I have never looked for one for the collection, and they are way overpriced for what they are. I was offered a couple of cleaned examples 6 months ago, but declined on the grounds that I don't like cleaned coins when much better alternatives are available, and the questions of iffy ones, abused ones and the rest are a bit off-putting. Give me a florin any day. Only problem is, if I get a type example of everything else I will have to eat my words. Not looking forward to the expense when I can buy fish and chips for a few quid.

As recommended by coin books at the time I bought a small bottle of benzene from a nearby chemists back in the late 70's to clean my lustrous bronze farthings. It was 25p (I still remember for some reason!) and they dispensed it from a bigger bottle at the back of the shop. Those were the days, it smelt lovely but it's now banned as a carcinogen, though it was a very commonly used solvent in industry etc 50 plus years ago, so most people seemed to have survived it.

The Gothic crowns probably had limited circulation due to the fact that they were vastly outnumbered by the large issues of 1844 & 1845 crowns. The mint has always produced coins based on demand from the banks for circulating currency. There could be two reasons for the gothic crown. First it was a commemorative piece celebrating the tenth year of Victoria's reign, but also the question of decimal currency had raised its head again since the beginning of the decade. This could also have been a test the public opinion for the new design issue, which as it happened to be popular, was then adopted with the pattern florins further refining the choice of design. I refuse to believe the monetary committee worked in complete isolation to the thoughts of the public, even if everything had to be approved by the monarch. For most people the circulating currency is the face of the monarch, so there has to be some sop to public taste. Where would you prefer to live? In a monarchy that is ruled by someone who is a bit of a dog, but tolerable, or someone you could point to on the coins and say, she's beautiful. Most people will prefer the latter given the state of the country 20 years earlier with the excesses of George the Fourth still in recent memory.

1904 narrow date with 1 over tooth, Lucky enough to pick this one up in uncirculated condition Ex rare

Under ‘Professional ways to store collections’. Strangely there are also two ‘British coin type set’ threads. Jerry