Chris Perkins

My opinion is the same as those already aired. Slabbing is all very well, but you're buying the coin not the slab. No doubt CGS are making good money out of it, and why not. I do find the 'best known' thing a bit odd though for common coins. If there are, for example, thousands and thousands of BU 1960s coins, how can one of them be classed as best known when it would be impossible to examine all of them. Surely hundreds and hundred of them are the same as 'best known', or better. I don't see how CGS have been going long enough to have examined the vast majority of certain coin types.

Is it even a coin? It's certainly a funny shape for a coin. Perhaps some kind of stone set in a mount?

It simply depends if the seller wants to fart around on ebay, doing pictures, waiting for the listing to end, waiting for payment, encountering perhaps the odd unreliable buyer on the way. Or if she simply wants to send it and receive a bank transfer on the same day with zero risk or hassle!

What a relief that no-one capable of spending £12k on a coin would be stupid enough to buy what is now nothing more than a piece of earth which used to be a brass threepence!

Go for it. What was it, around bullion or something like that?

I'd certainly give you full bullion for it, which is £291 for a kg currently.

I've certainly spent them when I've had them and they've been less than perfect. The reason none are seen is probably because they get pulled out of change and kept as oddities.

Or, the cased silver proof version with small certificate and encapsulated etc is probably worth up to £20.00.

I wouldn't imagine it has a value over the silver value. Those kinds of modern novelty coins seldom do. It's not British though as the Royal Mint have never made 1kg coins as far as I know. Is it state issued from another mint or is it privately produced?

Just £1 or so as scrap silver, unless you can find anyone that seriously collects Indian coins that have been engraved - and I suspect collectors of such are few and far between.

6 Euros is just over face value, so I'd pay EUR5.00 each, in fact I'd probably rather pay less than that! But you'd have to cover postage this time. The 1994 Seychelles 25 Rupee would interest me about as much as tooth removal with root canal complications.

Should be a 2009 (or 2010) edition later in the year. Won't be for a while though. The current one is good but doesn't include the new design coinage.

A pound!! I've scrapped better copper tokens than that! The condition is absolutely dire, but at least you now know what it is.

Jeff has been in touch with me. I'm going to be seeing him Monday. I just hope the dreaded verdigris had not set in!

Jeff, Really, all of them are likely to be scrap value. There are indeed some dates, like 1919KN etc that are scarcer, but with a quantity like that, whoever were buying them would probably want to buy them for the scrap value, or a little more, because sorting them properly is likely to cost more time than the coins would cost! Also, there are not really any average circulated pennies that are worth a huge amount, even the likes of 1919KN are worth less than £1 in average condition, same applies for the older ones, which tend to also be much more worn. Where are the coins located? I'd be happy to pay 3p per coin and also come and collect them if you/they are not too far from the SE. For 40,000 coins that would be £1200. They would be good stock for my 50 average pennies that I sell.....even though that many would likely last more than a lifetime!

I think you mean a 'Guinea'. Can you post a picture as the condition is the most important factor and whenever anyone that clearly isn't an experienced coin person says 'mint condition' I never believe them, because a truly mint condition 1760 Guinea would be pretty rare. Nothing personal. Also, confirm the diameter in mm.

Nick, there's not much of a market for 1970s produced commemorative coinage (regardless of who struck it). Even though the pieces are limited in number, they are also limited in demand and in my experience usually trade for the metal value or a small percentage over the metal value. I remember having one of the Field Marshall Montgomery coins, it was silver and by weight worth less than £7.00 so I gave it to my dad as part of his birthday present! Coins don't usually have hallmarks but if they are some kind of precious metal there is usually a small certificate with them that details the specification. Actually I think my Monty coin had some kind of hallmark on the rim for that matter. Check the rims and try not to touch the faces of the coins, only handle them by the rim if they are not encapsulated. If any of them are gold or platinum then they will be valuable as the values of those metals has increased by a lot since the 1970s.

That's what I like to read! Money can't pay for this kind of advertising.

You're welcome.

I had a fake 1887 £5 once, made of good gold that actually looked pretty good.

It should weigh 39.9g, so the 0.2g is probably just slight wear. Doesn't mean it's real though. Often fake ones were made of good gold and are about the right weight too. The surface quality should confirm it as real.

Common or not, it's in a bit of a sorry state so is unlikely to be worth much. Generally all European coppers of that kind of age are not that desirable it that condition, unless it happens to be a very scarce date. I don't have any books that cover German pre 1800 unfortunately.

As a publisher I have to produce books that I think have a chance of selling in large numbers. Not millions (that would be nice) but at least 1000 a year. So for that reason I have so far avoided very specialist titles. Rather than a book on Victorian varieties I'd rather maximise the potential readership and do one on all varieties! But even that may be too specialised. Actually Collectors' Coins GB already includes a lot of unlisted varieties. Some, but not all, are illustrated. So I'm up for books on varieties, but ideally as a bonus part of my main priceguide so that it wins over more readers, rather than doing a new title from scratch. And as for budget collecting, if someone could present a workable idea I'd gladly have a look. But again, would much rather include information about budget collecting in my price-guide than create a new book! It's easier to find 500 more customers for an existing established book (by adding extra content for example) than it is to find 1000 new customers for an entirely new book!

It depends what kind of muck it is and how long you leave the items in it. I've got a Lighthouse mains unit (I'd not bother with a battery one) and it works well on certain things with just soapy water. On most types of coins it sometimes starts to make a difference but you have to leave it on for hours.

I have thought about producing a Coin wall calender. That could be a nice thing.