TomGoodheart

He must have decided there was an error. It's €804 on delcampe.net Dave!! There's hopeful and .... insane. And I think we both know which side of the line this one falls on!

LOL Unfortunately my ususally very efficient searches have turned up nothing, so I'll say €125 and you'll have to put me out of my misery Dave and tell me if I'm close! EEEEK! Nowhere close! Do you think there's a decimal place error there?

I have to say, I've no idea. It's not a denomination for which I've seen many examples. Nice condition. Plus the mint marks make it interesting. My old Spink suggests £90 in vf, so on the right day it could reach £120. Higher if there it has an interesting provenance. But on a bad day .. as low as £70? Rather a large range and a lot of guesswork I'm afraid!!

Maybe the RM should take inspiration from the Canadians. A glow-in-the-dark note with Queen Elizabeth sinking the Armada from the back of her dinosaur? £10 for £10. Should sell well!

Well, that's hardly surprising Derek! Their eyesight at nearly 200 years old will surely be pretty dodgy, even if their memory is unimpaired?

Most dealers there I'd never heard of, Clive, and looking them up afterwards quite a few have no internet presence at all, which is remarkable. Quite old school in a way - it almost felt a bit "underground", compared to the mainstream I'm used to swimming in. As well as Rob, the other people who sold me stuff were: David Craddock Birmingham Coins Ian Pratt Paul Davis Numismatic Legends D T Peake K B Coins Dave Craddock and K B Coins are very much old-timers - I remember them from the mid-90s. Possibly Ian Pratt too? but the other names are unfamiliar. Did you happen to see Dorset Coins, Carlton Coins, Lockdales, or Wayne Nicholls there? They were familiar faces to me all those years ago. I bought some nice coins from Keith Bayford as he's (relatively) local to me. Before I started to concentrate on the hammered shillings, that was. He's not long had a website and it still surprises me that there are dealers that don't ....

Yeah, but most of those are things like "Why are the Kardashians so popular?" and "Who are One Direction?" so don't really count! Are they the popular cousins of the extremely unpleasant Cardassians? Yes, and who ARE One Direction? (I did hear one of their songs that I thought was someone doing a remake of The Who's 'Baba O'Riley') I'm afraid I can't answer those questions Peck.

Peter Leonard of ?Southend? makes / made the best cabinets. If he's no longer in business, the cabinets do come up second hand from time to time and are worth looking out for. Make sure it's a coin cabinet though - I bought one of his from an auction that turns out to be a medal cabinet : the trays are deeper and don't have punched recesses for coins. I still use it for parts of my collection though Mine's one of Peter Nichols'. I have to say I thought I'd heard he was retiring but he still seems to be making the things!

It partly depends on what metal your coins are made from, how many you have and what you want to spend! Shiny/proof/lustered copper type coins you'll want to protect from fingermarks / tarnish, whereas my old coins, well they have been around a few hundred years and picking them up isn't going to ruin them. I imagine if you have bought the binders they will be 'safe' plastic. Only older ones people inherit are likely to have pvc which can tarnish coins. Coins for display, .. trays are nice and come in a variety of ranges and cost. Some will take coin capsules (and have round holes), others coins in a square space. But if you have a lot of coins, the price can mount up. Chris (Predecimal owner) stocks Lindner storage you could look at. Me? My collection is in a coin cabinet; a traditional way of storing the things which quite a few others here use: But oddities I store in small 2"x2" paper envelopes I bought from Colin Cooke ltd, a couple of odd trays, chocolate boxes and plastic coin flips. The usual stuff!

Yeah, but most of those are things like "Why are the Kardashians so popular?" and "Who are One Direction?" so don't really count!

Woah! I just thought! I have all these 1967 pennies. Now if only there was a way to alter them to read 1962 I could make a fortune! oh, wait .....

For grading perhaps Derek's (who is a member here) book might be of interest?: The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins The only other thing I'd mention is that buying directly from the RM and companies like Westminster can be expensive. Very often their products can be picked up later on ebay for less. And of course, there may be less of a market for such things if ever you want to sell than for coins meant for circulation. If you like them, that's fine. But they aren't a money-maker. Except for the mints that make them in the first place of course!

Ditto. A very good day indeed, with coins to prove it! Well done!

Hi Al. As the others have said, it helps to have an idea of what coins interest you before we can offer much advice. Here's my story. I got a load of odd coins from my Dad. Some I put aside and of course, I wanted to know what they were worth! So I went to the library and got a few books on coins. One of them was about shillings (the 'old' 5p). Now I remembered spending shillings from when I was a kid and I was surprised to see they had been used not just here but in countries like South Africa and New Zealand. I decided it would be fun to collect a selection just like in the book. Over time I've narrowed down what I collect as what I've wanted has become pricier, but I still collect shillings, only now just English ones produced during a particular time period. As I've collected I've bought books to help me know what coins exist and what sort of condition the better ones are in so I have a guide to what's worth buying and what's not! I have also learned (pretty much everything I know about coins!) from other collectors as we've compared notes about coins we've seen (or not seen!) People collect all sorts of coins, depending on what they like. That's something you'll need to decide for yourself. All I'd say for now is ... condition (we talk about 'grade' which means how much (or ideally little) wear a coin has had over its lifetime) is the MAJOR decider in how much a coin will cost and how desirable it is. Which brings me to 2) Never Clean Coins (unless you want to ruin and devalue them!) And 3) (my personal opinion) don't mix investment with collecting. Collect for fun. If you choose well, if you ever decide to sell you'll find a buyer. Maybe even make a profit. But collect because you enjoy it.

Hi Asumel and welcome! I've not dealt with Kent Coins, but do have them bookmarked in case anything interesting comes up in their stock. I'm not sure what you mean by odd? Looks like a normal low- to mid- range dealership to me. By which I mean that they have modestly priced coins in grades that reflect their prices. Advice about buying old coins? Well ... that kinda depends on what you mean by 'old' really! Some people think of anything pre-decimal as old. Others would say a coin needs to have been around for over 1000 years to qualify! Me? Anything pre 1816, which is when the face value of coins was disconnected from the intrinsic value of the metal they were made from. Bear in mind, old doesn't necessarily mean more valuble or expensive. Roman coins can be picked up for a few ££ and coins from the 1930s can be worth tens of thousands. It all depends on the coin and what condition it is in! Basically, there are some who just collect anything they like. But most people collect within a time period, reign or by denomination (face value) of coin. To really advise you best we'd need to know what sorts of coins interest you. So personally I'd recommend getting a book or two on coins from the library and see what appeals to you. Then you might like to read a bit more about coins that you like before spending too much money. I know that's not as much fun as just going out and buying! But it makes it less likely you'll spend good money on something that really isn't worth it and you later regret. (Though I have to say, we've probably all been there and done that at some point!)

Ideally, you want a full weight, round, evenly well struck coin with nice toning (!!) However those aren't easy to come by and you'll find individual collectors often have different priorities as to which aspect is most important to them. For example, in my own area of collecting interest, there were two sales through Spink towards the end of 1999 and middle of 2000. In the first, the Martin Hughes collection, many coins were noticably full and round, and although not always fully struck up, most were to my eyes very attractive. The second, of J M Ashby's coins, features many very crisply struck coins with minimal wear. However some of the flans are oddly shaped and there are occasional weak areas noticable to the King's portrait. Something that presumably Ashby felt he could live with, but for me that detracts at times from the coin. In the end only you can decide what's most important about a coin and what, though less-than-perfect, is forgivable. This is where knowledge comes in. If you can get to see a number of coins in a series, through auction catalogues, other publications or collections, you can get a better idea of what is the average condition coin and, hopefully, a benchmark coin to aim for or try to better. That of course takes time. But it can be fun learning!

LOL OK, I admit, I'm no wiser for that! However there are others here who know a bit about hammered coins. Hopefully having pic of both sides now might help someone ID your coin for you!

Mmm .. the portrait looks 17th century. Trouble is there are a lot of European states it could be from. Do you have a photo of the other side? And an idea of diameter might help too.

OK, I found one on ebay for what I thought was an acceptable £10.99 including postage. Oddly enough when I paid it turned out I'd bought from the RM. Rather better than the £33 they are asking on their website for this year's issue! However I am now (still) after a few auction catalogues and thought there's no harm posting here, just in case anyone has or spots one, so here goes: Glendining 24 Mar 1920 Catalogue of a Choice Collection of English Coins from Edward VI to Present Day, formed by Mr Grant R. Francis Sotheby 17 Oct 1921 Catalogue of the Important Collection of Hammered English silver coins of the period Edward I to Charles II; The property of Raymond Carlyon-Britton Esq Sotheby & Co 20 - 24 November, 1933 Catalogue of the Valuable Collection of Coins Formed by the Late Colonel H. W. Morrieson. Sotheby 17 June 1935 Sir K P Vaughan-Morgan. Glendining 25 April 1955 Deceased Lady Collector (Helen Farquhar collection) The first particularly interests me. The others will depend on cost and condition. And if named and priced, even better! Thanks!

Interesting!

I resume you're planning on selling them in the US Varietalis? Otherwise CGS could be just as good: http://www.coingradingservices.co.uk/ And here for a thread with comments about the service: http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/7811-cgs-trial/?hl=trial

Don't be a tease Dave! $13,000 is certainly out of my budget and I'm guessing William's aspirations are ... towards the modest side too. (Apologies if you're a billionnaire Wiii !) But what I do think is a good idea is to collect .. not the coins, but the images of ones you can't afford or the best condition you can find. With grade, price and seller details you could find it a very useful resource in years to come William, when hopefully you will be so wealthy you'll be able to pick up the odd ££,000 coin at the drop of a hat! Just an idea! (But if you do buy the '77 nd William, we'll expect photos of course!)

I have the hollowed out half of a penny, though I've never see the other half or an example of a complete hollowed out coin in the hand. I wonder if someone was experimenting along those lines, do you think? Maybe this would have been the coin that fitted within the hollow, if it had turned out neater? Just an idea!

Yes, I remember annoyingly being refunded my PayPal money on numerous occasions! I only ever swallowed it because they posted on arrival of cheque, rather than make you wait for clearance. It's a husband and wife team I think, S&H? Yes, Heather and .. Steven? When I bought from them in May I paid by paypal without problem. I think it's just they say they don't want it in the listing details, but I suspect it would be difficult not to accept it, given it's ebay. Decent stock, but I don't know what to make of the bidding ..

Silver can tone in various ways, including golden highlights. However, from your photograph, I suspect that your coin was gilded at some point (probably to pass it off as a coin of higher value). A sixpence being roughly the size of a crown (five shillings). I'm assuming the gilding has mostly worn off again over the years but can be seen from the correct angle. Suggesting your coin has seen some use, though whether as money or possibly a 'pocket piece' carried by someone for luck, I couldn't say.