TomGoodheart

Oh, I don't know. Perhaps I could be persuaded. Not bad eh? Now, where did I throw those slabs?

I have considered selling them but the more im finding out the more attatched to them i am becoming,the model 1/2d coin was actually inside the two halves of the coin next to it which i have always been fascinated with as i have never seen anything like it before ,do they actually belong together or did someone just put it in there,the case is silver from what i can make out. Cool. I've not seen anything like the coin/case, though people did split coins (smugglers' coins they are sometimes called) either to hollow them to maker double headed ones! Not sure if they belong together. Oh, and I looked up the Jubilee medal. It's an official issue, by G W de Saulles after T Brock. They aren't rare but yours seems in decent condition and should get £30 on ebay if you sold it. As to the prices, well, they are based on Spink's catalogues so .. just a guide. Selling is always hit and miss. You can be lucky and get several people who want something and even if it's pretty knackered the price will go up. Other days a real rarity will struggle to sell because nobody that knows there stuff is around! No, Class 10 is the design, depending on the style of crown and so on. Hammered pennies are a specialised area I've never studied but Eddy ones come in a wide variety of styles. There are even whole books about them! Yes. They were only minted in 1841, 1844, 1851, 1858 and 1861 before the reverse shield style changed. Not a terrible valuble issue but a curiosity, the odd fractional demomination that's not quite a halfpenny!

As for 'sought after', well most things can be sold, though you might struggle to get much for the later pennies and the poorer 3pence. I can't see anything fantastically valuble there but I guess that's relative. Some people will say £80 is a huge amount for a coin, others will pay £ thousands and not blink! Are you planning on selling them? Just that if you kept them, the smaller silver and other better condition pieces would make a start to a collection! You've some nice enough maundy coins Bit more about Maundy coins here, though they could be regular currency too - I'm not to hot on the difference! - a couple of hammered to better identify (which is part of the fun of collecting!) a dump halfpenny (C9), model coin (D6) a very good spread from which to chose an area that might interest ... just a suggestion!

For some reason I had difficulty getting the photos to display. But now I have ... the first group A, the pennies, not worth a great deal unless there's a scarce variety in there. Someone else can advise. No 1, the 1919 kn penny, might be worth a separate photo so people can assess the grade as these are a bit more popular in better grade (condition) Group B, any pre 1920 silver coins are 92.5% silver and pre 1947 50% so worth money for that. The smaller coins such as 4,8,12, 13 look like maundy pieces. If you have a set (1,2,3 and 4 pence) for a particular date they will be more collectable. Ones like 3 and 7 that are toned, DON'T clean them! They look very nice as they are and cleaning generally ruins coins. Having said that, coins like Gp D #1 are pretty poor and cleaning can't make it much worse! The gothic florin (C13) will be silver (1865 I think, but only poor condition and under £20 value) and possibly the coronation anniversary medal. The medal is likely to be of interest above the metal value. Gp c is an interesting mix. Two Roman coins, an Elizabeth I sixpence (4) mint mark eglantine (flower) .. £50+? and an Edward Penny .. I think that might be minted at Canterbury ... someone else will need to pin down the exact details I'm afraid. The Henry I can't identify. Southwark (London) mint groat? In which case £80+ 8 is quite nice, a Jersey 1/26th of a shilling. I can't make out the date but it's the first issue in copper from the shield design, £15-£60? The others the Guernsey 8 Doubles £5-£10, 4 Doubles £10? Well, that's a start! Others will no doubt add their views (and correct me!)

PETER! Don't you know you're doing it wrong!? Wife clips trees. You drink scrumpy. Result: Health & Safety maintained!

Watched the concert on and off too, and feeling the urge to say something I have felt for a long time ... great lyrics and music, but Sir Elton and Sir Paul can't actually sing very well at all!!!! There, off to the tower with me! Actually, they WERE in tune! But you're probably right, not as rich vocals as they had when younger. Is it just me or did both Grace Jones and the wonderfully rear-ended Kylie Minogue not look a day older than when they were having hits all those years ago? I thought it was sad how their voices had weakened. As for Cheryl Cole, well, I don't think she was in tune, unlike Kylie and Grace (who I am amazed to see is 64! Perhaps hula hooping keeps you young because I agree, she looked great!) I'd have liked to see Ozzy or some of the other 'old rockers' but hey, it was fun for what it was. And I didn't have to stand around in the cold to see it!

Ridiculous. Now were it a proper colour .... but as it is? Just a novelty.

Roddy Richardson did have one but his site is playing up so I don't know if it's still available ...

The seller was CromwellCrown, but it was a while ago: Coins for sale link

I couldn't see the 20 Crowns coin in the photos but as Gibraltar uses the pound for currency that sounds an odd denomintaion. Though as a crown is 5 shillings (25p) effectively that would be a £5 coin. Photos? The Gibraltar piece that is photographed appears to be a medal, like this one: Gibraltar New Constitution though 'yours' appears to be silver and so worth more. As to the Chinese coins, as with most things Chinese, the market is largely in China and there's plenty of new money and interest in antiquities. Depending on what your father-in-law has, if he ever wanted to sell, his best bet might be a larger auction house with Far Eastern contacts/ representation.

Hi Rob. From a glance at the photos what your father-in-law has a mix of what are called 'commemoratives' and bullion bars. The comemoratives are not really coins and are generally produced by places like Turks & Caicos or Guernsey to raise revenue. At best they will be made from silver and so worth bullion / melt price. Sadly the fact that they look pretty doesn't increase the value, unless you can find someone that collects such things. There must be some out there but most coin collectors aren't interested. The bars are just a way of buying silver, but again likely at a makr up. A coin is made to circulate, ie: to be used to buy goods and services. Gibraltar does produce it's own coinage, but I doubt any of these are coins as such. As copper said, it looks as if they were bought from magazine adverts which tell you how scarce they are and how they are silver but don't mention that they are no different from commemorative plates, mugs or porcelain dogs. The only sure fire way to make money from them is to be the one selling to the public. I suggest you check for certificates that confirm what metal the 'coin' or bar is made from (there are occasionally platinum issues). Any without you might have to assume they are base metal, though a jeweller can check. With effort they might sell on ebay, or as a lot at auction or to a dealer/jeweller for just under melt value.

Ah, toning. There's another thing to learn I'm afraid. Particularly with hammered silver coins. Before they were struck the planchets (coin blanks) were heated and de-greased and would come out bright or nearly white. But with time (and remembering people weren't terribly fussed about cleanliness so most coins would get greasy from food, stored in a damp leather purse and passed from grubby hand to grubby hand) the silver would start to oxidise (tone) very soon. This coin is nearly black, particularly in the areas that get less wear. Left to age naturally, most coins will end up like this eventually. And actually, I find this one with it's velvety tone quite attractive in the hand: This on the other hand is more typical being a slightly pinkish grey. You can see that the high points, particularly the lettering of the legend are brighter. This is an example of cabinet wear - the coin has been in a collection for many years, but stored in such a way that as the coins were inspected it has slid around and the high parts of the design have been polished. Not ideal, but not uncommon either and as it's a scarce type and didn't cost me much ... Of course, you do get shiny coins looking much as the day they were made. Found coins sometimes need cleaning and people do silver dip coins that have toned unevenly and unattractively. But generally I prefer mine to have some toning. Not the rainbow stuff though!

Not sure what my Mom's gotten to do with it Peter ... And I'm pretty sure that even a mere 300 years ago cattle were gotten in from the fields and a shilling would have gotten you ale and a wench to, er .. hold your ale while you went to the privy. You must be younger than I thought.

They are carved from gemstones or seashells that are naturally layered. One layer is cut through to another, so that the design stands out against the (lower) contrasting layer. This one is carved from sardonyx, a type of onyx.

THE STANDARD GUIDE TO GRADING BRITISH COINS

I imagine the number of certifed proof ultra cameo (whatever the heck that means) coins will be limited, but yeah, I do wonder if someone hasn't gotten a bit carried away there. That's what? $66,000 for the set? Not including commission. And no doubt they will just sit in a bank vault. Certainly I can't see the buyer cracking them out of their slabs (assuming they're slagged) to admire them .. Not my sort of thing I'm afraid. Plus I question whether the buyer will have any chance of getting their money back for many, many years ..

What Peter means is that he has a few mistakes to sell you if you're interested Then if you're still interested, I have a few mistakes for sale also Me too! Did I mention what a fascinating series the hammered shillings of Charles I are? And how examples can be bought (from me) for well under £200? Always pleased to help.

I have never really learned to grade, largely because grading (as in degree of wear) is not the sole determinant of .. attractiveness... with hammered coins. OK, I can make a reasonable decision on seeing a coin, but I don't take it too seriously. Because there are other factors that can make one hammered coin more desirable than another, even though it may show more signs of circulation. But what is helpful as Rob says, is to know what the perfect coin (or best available) looks like to give you a benchmark to aim for. To that end I keep a collection of photographs from internet searches of coins, together with when they were sold and for how much. It gives me an idea as to whether a price is within reason for a coin in a particular condition. It also gives me a sort of population report; if I have plenty of examples, it's likely a common coin. Very few, I know I might have difficulty tracking down another. It's not perfect, but I find it helpful ..

I think I've lost track of this thread! But I had a couple of comments (My hap'ny worth!) I find it interesting that after the foundation of the euro, Germany's national debt regularly broke the set limits. Whereas Spain's government carefully followed the requirements and had the smallest debts until the 2008 crisis. What caused the problem was personal debt as Spaniards borrowed money to ride the crest of a property boom ... which of course didn't last. So really the banks were responsible, in that they responded to public demand and provided cheap and poorly guaranteed loans. But of course the people themselves have to bear some responsibility for borrowing well beyond their means, so fuelling the banks problems. The whole thing was compounded by a similar thing happening in the US which knocked confidence in financial institutions. And there's the problem. Polticians and the government no longer (if ever they did) have the power to control the national economy because it's largely influenced by factors outside national control. Financial sentiment, international debt and increased gearing of financial institutions mean that when things go well they can do very well. But when the US (or China, or a Eurozone member) catches a cold ... well, we all sneeze. As to Chris' comments about disability .. tell me about it. I work with people with acquired brain injuries. And while many of them do show some physical effects of their injuries in poor muscle control or spasticity, many of their problems are not so obvious. Changed mood, motivation, stamina. Impulsiveness, poor self control, difficulties in concentrating or keeping to a task for any meaningful length of time, excessive (and sometimes sudden) tiredness -these things all make it very difficult for them to just pick up a new job. But these things are also difficult to spot in a half hour chat and a request to do some simple physical tasks. Their problems require expertise and understanding to diagnose and to allow for. Which is not to say that many of our service users can't work and many of them would like to. But to expect many of them to walk back into a job without proper support is a recipe for disaster. Plus there's the aspect of self esteem. These guys already struggle to come to terms with how different their lives are from before their brain injury. To add to that by asking an ex-barister, English graduate or someone who worked for the Financial Services Authority to box up bicycle gears or shelf stack in the Body Shop can exacerbate depression (particularly if they realise they are struggling with even these simple tasks) to the point that they can barely function. So while I have no problem with confirming that someone who receives state support actually needs it, or trying to help them find meaningful employment, I do feel that those who are making the assessments need to have the tact and expertise to do so. I also feel that we need to focus less on 'weeding out the fraudsters' (which makes everyone feel as if they are assumed to be guilty before they are even seen) and more on enabling, assisting and supporting people to make the most they can of their skills and abilities.

MS Security Essentials found malware when I visited the site yesterday but I went back this morning (both from a bookmarked link and through the one in your signature) and viewed a few pages and had no problems, so I'm assuming the site is now safe. Bloody hackers ...

A few of the Bole Collection coins are illustrated here: http://www.dnw.co.uk/coins/auctions/rostrumauctions/auctioncatalogue/pdfs/Coins%209%20Dec%2010.pdf And if you can get a copy of the Brooker collection book (Coins of Charles I, The John Brooker Collection, volume 33 of the Syllogue of Coins of the British Isles, by J.J. North & P.J. Preston-Morley, London 1984) all of John Brooker's coins are illustrated. And a few more here: http://www.coinarchives.com/w/results.php?search=charles+sixpence&s=0&results=100

Neither (automatically) good or bad. The Middleham hoard (1993), Prestbury hoard (2005), Bedale hoard (2009) ... all detector finds. So in some ways detector found coins can add to our knowledge and to the availablility of particular types. I'd guess most hammered coins were found at some point rather than saved and passed through families to collectors, certainly the earlier ones, and of those most were likely buried. Nowadays rather than finds being made when buildings were demolished or farmland ploughed I suspect the the majority have involved using a metal detector. On the other hand, whereas people used to claim a coin was from a house clearance or deceased relative (I know nothing about this, I am just selling it) to cover the fact that they were listing a replica on ebay, nowadays some people claim they are 'detector finds'. If you look up both the PAS and UKDFD database you will find Trevor Ashmore copies have been logged there as found. Did someone bury them as a bit of fun? Who knows. Just that a 'detector found' coin is not always a coin ... or found. Knowledge, as always, is power.

Certainly smaller coins such as pennies and 5ps can be found in the same condition they were when they left the mint. The problem is that coins leaving the mint are not always perfect. Edges of one coin knock dints into another, there are often metal flaws. The only 'perfect' coin is probably specimen or proof issues. But people hold on to nice coins and then decide to use them or even break into specimen sets, so it's certainly possible to find very nice examples of coins even 20 years old with a bit of luck! (I guess I shouldn't perhaps use the term BU, when really I mean nice, shiny and with no signs or blemishes from circulation (such as finger marks or suggestions of being 'wiped' which can lead to very fine marks that spoil the sheen)).

It certainly seems as if making choices is very difficult at present. We had money saved for daughter to go to university, but with the tripling of the fees, it's just a bit of help rather than the genuine support we'd hoped to provide. But she may never work and so never need to pay back her loans, so I decided why worry? She's no worse off than anyone else and a bright kid so we'll see how it pans out. As for myself (and Wifey) we have savings which are basically my inheritance from my parents. But we're by no means wealthy, we have a few pensions each that should amount to 4 or 6K a year, plus whatever the state gives us. I stopped boosting my pension a couple of years back and bought a small house which we rent out and I figure we'll have to live on savings and rental income to top up the pensions. Diversity I reckon is the best idea at the moment because it feels as if, while some were fortunate, the majority of people with all their financial eggs in one basket came a cropper. But if I had more money, which I don't, I honestly wouldn't know where to invest it. I suppose I'm sort of burying my head in the sand. But the way I see it is that worrying about it all isn't going to change anything, so I count my blessings and assume it'll all work out in the end. Certainly I'm aware that I am a most fortunate person to be living at this time, in this country, being in work, a relationship, little debt. No life is perfect, but mine is a damn sight better than some, if not most.