TomGoodheart

Oh, yes. And welcome back Debbie! (Did you see I have started a little sideline collection?!) Not lurv tokens, but .. a bit of a change from Tower shillings!

Mmm .. not an area I'm familiar with I'm afraid. But a quick search suggests maybe 50% of the un-holed examples. So .. £10 maybe, depending on where you tried to sell it? If eBay then you'll want to include listing in the US (which I think now costs). Either a 99p start or a Buy It Now with a 'Make an Offer' seem to work reasonably well, the first being of course riskier. Or ... keep it as a souvenir? An interesting bit of history.

With goomolique's help I think I have solved my international finance problems. Now if only we could do the same for the UK generally!

No it was a purchase. Ex Alan Morris' collection. It had already been straightened a bit but was still rather creased so I didn't have to do all the work thankfully! There's probably a way to properly flatten them but it might involve using an old fashioned mangle or something and I'm not sure I'd want to take the risk!

Ah, only on the 'inside' Chris. The exposed areas get quite worn. And of course, it's not that simple to unroll the things without either having them just snap at some point or leaving a fairly obvious crease. Here's one I straightened a bit. Though it's close to flat again, you can still see the crease.

Anywhere near Białystok? But seriously, I have asked if I can just phone them and buy using a Visa card over the phone. It worked for a recent Spanish purchase, so why not? I did think someone in Europe could act as an intermediary, but it's an imposition, not to say there really ought to be a simpler and cheaper way to move money around from Britain to the EU these days.

The oft quoted reason is so they could be used as love tokens. But I have no idea if there is any contemporary evidence that this is true. Larger coins like sixpences and shillings are sometimes found doubly bent so that sideways on they take an 'S' shape. Certainly it would be easier to wear one on a cord like that. But then, piercing would work too ... so why roll them up?

Anyone else find it inconvenient that while bank transfers seem to be a common means of paying for goods au continent d'Europe they aren't in Blighty? £25 my banking society charges for IBAN payments. Which is jolly inconvenient when you want to pay for something in Poland that will cost £40 and they (perhaps very wisely!) don't accept PayPal. So .. anyone ever use something like globalwebpay.com? And is it safe?

I wonder if he bought them as gold? And ... this may be a stupid question but, isn't the weight (or thickness) of the gold ones different from the silver? Enough that a TPGS should be able to tell the difference at least ...?

The tags Patrick has added are "18th century", "Lancaster" and "penny token". Though I have to say when I searched what I found were halfpennies ... .

Cool piece Scott! I do like the sower Marianne. Rather better I think than her Walking Liberty cousin, which just has too much cloth floating around for my liking! Especially the "colorised" versions. Poor thing, out collecting broccoli, when there was that terrible accident at the circus tent ... As for porzellan ... reminds me of Rammstein I'm afraid.

I should listen to my Wife. She always says that I just spend money when I have it. Finally found an acceptable Barber coin to add to the Mariannes. No, not brilliant. But I didn't want to spend MS money. Thought it was Ok for £20 delivered. And a Portuguese 50 Centavos. I have a later (smaller) Cu-Ni one but fancied a 30mm chunk of silver: All pushes the average cost of the collection up a bit, but .. well, let's just say it's still cheaper than Stuart shillings!

Hi Britcoinz. I only just started to get into these myself. As you say, most interest is in the US. Civil War Tokens seem to be classified by the Fuld numbering system. I think yours is something like F 209/414a but we'd need to see a photo. The SPOOT reverse is slightly rarer but only a little. (R2, between 2001-5000 rather than the usual R1 (5000+)!) So it's likely the condition, rather than scarcity, will determine the price. Nice condition ones here: http://www.cwtoken.com/Civil_War_Token_Type_Set/Patriotics/Pages/F_-_Flags.html#0 http://www.cwtoken.com/Civil_War_Token_Type_Set/Patriotics/Pages/F_-_Flags.html#4 If you can get the Fuld number for it then you can search online for similar to give you an idea on prices. Advice on posting photos here: http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/7880-posting-pics/

Nice colour on yours Brandon. And thanks for confirming the Fuld number. A whole new area for me and although I did think the token looked nice, it's always good to know I haven't totally wasted my money buying in a fit of n00b enthusiasm!

Oooh! No, don't tempt me!

Another little oddity from me. An American Civil War token. I admit to knowing nothing about these, so don't now if they actually did circulate as 'money of necessity' (Brandon?) or were more of a statement of sentiment. But here it is. Copper. I believe Fuld ref 11/298 (though I am happy to be corrected). I presume 19mm and around 4.6g in line with the official cent of the time, though until it arrives I can't tell!

Good grief! That's less allegory and more of a book in the form of a coin! Or is it more a medal? Either way I'm not sure they could have crammed more discontent into a little space like that. That's some engraving and clearly not made in a toy factory! Amazing and thanks for posting that Damian. Nothing like money with a bit of a story to it, eh?

Hi Joc. The short answer is .. probably not. Quality control isn't great at the mint and odd blobs of metal appear occasionally in places they shouldn't! However, without actually seeing pic of your coin it's difficult to be conclusive. Some people collect what are called 'error coins' and some are more interesting than others. You can add a photo (ideally mostly of the coin rather than background and in focus) of 100kb or smaller directly to a post by clicking on More Reply Options. Or if you have pics hosted somewhere like flickr or photobucket they can be linked using the little icon that looks like a picture of a tree at the top of the reply box. Then we can probably give a better answer. In the meantime, welcome!

So that's a proof, a coin made in a toy factory, a few made abroad (London, Paris and Philadelphia) for use in Liberia, Venezuela and Cuba respectively and some local issues made just to circulate in one town. And ranging from aluminium through bronze, copper, Cu-Ni and silver to steel. No gold as yet though. It's still meant to be a sort-of-budget side-line!

And then there's this. A proof 20 Centimes. I got the proof because, well it's nice to have some diversity. And the design by Lagriffoul is rather shallow so I'm hoping it's a bit clearer on this than most currency examples.

Bit of a scarcity. A 25 Centimos coin from Ibi in the Alicante region of Spain. Produced (as far as I can establish) as 'money of necessity' during the Civil War. Copper, 4g and 24 mm. Not the prettiest of coins, but it was made by a local toymaking factory, so the design is .. a bit amateur! However it has the essentials I'm looking for in a Republican issue, namely the lady in the hat, so a space awaits her when she arrives.

<iframe><"https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=06C4CD4BE69E8BB3&resid=6C4CD4BE69E8BB3!245&authkey=ALE5GVt75nzxGfw" width="318" height="167" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> Which is to say ... no idea.

Done.

There are units that can be bought on ebay that are two sheets of plastic within a frame allowing coins to be dislayed. Ah, they are Lindner Nimbus apparently: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lindner-Nimbus-Flexi-Frame-Display-Case-White-45-x-45mm-Hammered-Coins-/321240160312?pt=UK_Coins_Ancient_RL&hash=item4acb67d838 Don't know if multiple coin ones are available ..

Wifey and I often frequent such places. Antique cellars and the like. I always look for coins, but tend to end up disappointed. Mostly because, as Rob says, most offerings are 1970-80s proof sets and commemorative crowns. Or a few very worn bits of 19th C silver. But also because people have the habit of just throwing in a Lindner tray or similar, or you find a jumbled pile of plastic 2x2s. This mean you can't see the reverse of the coins, or even all of them clearly. Often there are no prices either. Yes, I could ask for the cabinet to be unlocked (normally the centre is staffed, but not by the actual sellers and staff phone the owners if haggling or price info is needed). But unless I can clearly see a coin I want, or similar coins suggesting there's the potential for there to be one I want, I'm unlikely to bother getting everything unlocked for a 30 second scan to confirm it's all junk! So if you do go down this route Peter and aim to attract actual coinys, you'll need to consider how to display your wares! This is assuming it's a glass tower type of display with several shelves. For one of the older wooden, lockable cabinets with the glass lid that hinges up, you can't stoop down to peer through the underside of the shelf. So either you'll need labels to help people or something like a mirror base, so the reverse of the coins displayed can be checked. You might also want to decide in advance how much leeway to allow on prices. Usually there is a label, but often staff are given discretion to accept less within pre-set limit. Let us know if you do go for it. And how you get on!