Chris Perkins

I don't think it's meant to be a coin, just a coat of arms. That coat of arms (with Hannovarian stuff lower right) was never used in that shape on a Geo II coin. The spade shape like that was used on the spade Guineas of Geo III and, much much more commonly on the spade Guinea imitation Victorian gaming tokens. Are you sure it's not Geo III? Ignore the date as they often read 1701 instead of 1791 and are not always actual dates.

Red Riley, I do believe I have an 1860/59 kicking about somewhere (in England). It's lowish grade so may well be up your street. I'll try to get its current custodian to send me pictures of it. Did you get my recent emails? The cover chap is wanting to push on with the cover design.

Yes, the prices are too low in CCGB for 1840s pennies. I've been told about this. As an Englishman in Germany I always try to hush my location a bit. I think people imagine it to be enormous hassle buying things from abroad and the other way around; some are no doubt distrusting (I've had people refuse to send me very low value items) but I think some are just put off by the perceived extra 'hassle'. Some people still think that a customs declaration has to be stuck on the envelope and of course they all think the post between Germany and the UK is going to take at least a month to arrive as if they march it over on horse back with spiked helmets or something ;-) And they think it will be massively expensive too, when in reality it isn't and many of my customers don't notice they've bought something from Germany until it turns up very promptly with German stamps on the envelope (and then they often purchased again). Selling things is the easiest part. They get sent off and always arrive unless the Royal Mail cock up at their end (and the parcel ends up returned to me). Getting people to send things to me can be a struggle. I suppose it's logical....why send 'valuables' abroad when you could probably find someone nearer and in the UK and have less postal worries. I'll touch wood while I say this, but no coins have ever gone missing that I've been sent or sent out (to and from the UK). Obviously for Italy, Russia and Poland the situation is a bit different!

It's just worth £2 - £3 if truly as new with full lustre. There is an error one struck on a much thicker piece of metal, I've never seen one though! And all 1973 50p's are thicker than the current smaller ones.

The upside down thing is normal for then (and a very popular forum and email observation from novices that think they have something unusual). The missing letters could be due to those letters of the die being filled with crud, or it could be wear. I can't really see from the picture. It certainly looks like a farthing though.

And it has George III on it? Is there a date? If between 1791 and 1798 or 1810 to 1815 then it's probably a Provincial (merchant) token, and probably for halfpence going by the size.

No, nothing like that. That could be collar damage I suppose, I would think it would make it harder to sell not easier (which isn't really an issue for low value coins like this). I think there are pictures somewhere else in the Forum. All the writing was in the wrong oder, the Latin dates were superimposed etc.

There are also a couple of documented edge errors caused by slipping of the 3 part collar which surounded the blank as it was struck. I sold one like this once for over £300 and it's listed in my book Collectors Coins GB, linked to from above and also available on predecimal.com.

Lots of people gathered some coins in the 60s and naturally a few thought about just keeping the best ones. Usually though, the best ones from change are not always that great in the eye of a collector, especially after such a long time in circulation. I expect some of the 30s coins are VF or even EF. The 60s ones will be as new (and are very common). The 1920s coins may well manage Fine and the Edwardian and later Victorian will be all readable and not unattractive, but usually less than Fine. All that is quite normal. I would be very surprised if any are worth £50 each, but you never know. Can you post some pictures of what you think are the best ones? You can do it on here by using the Attachments/Select a File below the text box. I always seem to come across a bit negative when accumulations of coins like this are concerned. Or perhaps not negative, but not exactly overwhelmed with excitement! I'm sorry about that, it's nothing personal it's just statistics! Over the years hundreds of people have contacted me after saving some coins when the old money was about to be demonetized. Often it's the people themselves but mostly it's younger relatives or heirs. In over 95% of cases the coins are all simply run of the mill and are of extremely high sentimental value and very low monetary value. Each time I hope it will be different, but there's a little voice in my head that tells me it's probably the same again. So melancholic already and I'm not yet even 30!

With this kind of accumulation the bulk of the value is usually in the silver. What you could do is split the silver coins into 3 catagories: 1. Pre 1920 coins, 2. 1920 to 1946 coins and 3. 1947 and later. From that I can make an offer based on the silver content. The chances are that the bronze coins, if normally circulated (as most would have been in the 60s) will just be worth a few pee each. In fact, unless your granddad carefully selected high grade coins they may all just be worth a few pee each! Is it a postable quantity and where are you?

Yes they did have the normal one for those years. Source: My book, Check Your Change linked to above!

That bearded geezer looks like one of the Egyptian Ptolomy's. They were all called Ptolomy and all married their sisters!

JMD, I have a 1953 2+A Proof farthing available. Do you want it for £90.00?

It's because its very worn and only worth scrap value (around £7). They are very common in that condition, in fact the 1821 Secundo is the most common GeoIV crown. Truly brilliant ones will of course sell for more. Condition is the main factor for 'modern' British coins, always.

That'll be a sovereign then, not a guinea (20s, not 21s). Post pictures if you can.

Looking again, that's 1887. That was the jubilee year and a lot of 1887 coins were enamelled and sold as souvenirs. I've even seen 1889 coins enamelled to look like 1887.

Or, more accurately, enamelled. The Victorians did that a lot to their own coinage and to those of previous reigns. They are not really of interest to most numismatists but very pretty ones or completely intact ones are saleable.

Take no notice of £1650! That's just someone quoting you the EF price from the Spink book! That coin is not EF, more like VF, albeit an attractive VF. I'd offer £450 for it and hope to eventially sell it on for £600. PM me if that sounds worth doing.

Watch you don't confuse that for the box labelled 'pants' that actually contains your pants! ;-) Quite often they are not as obvious as that. One coin is often hollowed out and the other reduced in thickness and diameter and glued in the hollowing in the first coin.

No, as with 98% of coins, they are not. Simply little demand for that kind of thing.

Before I got my current camera I was very satisfied with my Nikon Coolpix 990, mainly because of its swivel head ability which meant that I was able to stand it on a tripod and have the lens facing downwards at the coin. Very useful feature. I've upgraded now and my new camera doesn't even do that! Here are details on the Coolpix 990: <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Nikon/nikon_cp990.asp" target="_blank">http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Nikon/nikon_cp990.asp</a> My Nikon Coolpix is now for sale. £45 plus postage (which is £5.50 within Europe, or £9.00 world surface). I have the original box but can't find the manual or software at the moment. Both the manual and software/drivers are available on the Nikon website. In fact, the CD it came with only had drivers on it for Win 98 and 2000 as at the time Windows XP didn't exist. It's easy to set up. The battery compartment lid is broken which means if you're using it with batteries you have to somehow tape it shut to stop the batteries (4x AA) falling out, which is a pain. This is obviously not a problem if you use it on the mains. What you get: - Camera, in good condition, fully functional showing external signs of use. With lens cap. - USB lead to connect to PC - Leather holder with strap (showing signs of use) - Mains power adapter (240v for UK/most of Europe) - A couple of spare memory cards Any takers at £45? If you've been struggling taking good quality coin pics, this could be a cheap solution. It's 3.4mp, but I can certainly vouch for the quality and ease of use. This was a very expensive camera 6 or 7 years ago.

It's not really all that clear is it Joe. The bust of Victoria shows a bit of ear, a bit of crown and not much more. In fact it's very nearly a silouette. On an 'as new' one you can see the folds in the veil and the jewels in the crown and practically the Queen's earwax! That's scrap silver I'm afraid, 20 - 30p. I sell them like that for people to munch on in Christmas puds: http://www.predecimal.com/forsale/christmasthreepences.htm Sorry to be the bearer of bad news again.

Maroccan, not as old as they look as they were made like that until the 19th century I believe.

That's just worth a pound or 2 because it's quite worn.

Very little probably. The age is almost irrelevant for the modern machine struck milled coins, it's always condition that counts and the standards that coins have to meet to be 'collectable' are very very high. Attach pictures again and we'll have a look as soon as scottishmoney has admitted he was wrong all along