Sylvester

I still sometimes find myself counting ten pences as 'two, four, six, eight, ten... eighteen and one pound" It's from the days of dealing with two shilling pieces. It's a very rare occurence these days though. Way back in Anglo Saxon times there used to be 240 silver pennies to a £ and these silver pennies weighed 1lb, now i don't know whether that's Troy or Avoirdupois (sp?). So 1lb in weight was one Livre (French from Latin). The d originally came from denarius, however more correctly the d actually came from the French 'denier' (which came from Denarius). In the 760s the French king introduced a new broad and thin silver coin known as a denier. In the 780s this new type of coin spread to England when it was adopted by Offa of Mercia (Mercia was the kingdom territory that roughly covers the midlands and Offa was the king of this territory), and they thus coined their own variants and these became known as pennies (from German pfennig). Why did they keep the Lsd shorthand though? Well that's because of 1066, the Normas arrived and they spoke French (English was for low life scum, i.e the conquered peasants). In turn in 1154 the Norman line was succeeded by another line straight from France, the Angevin line (from Anjou, also known as Plantagenets), and thus French continued as the official language of England till sometime in the Fourteenth/Fifteenth Century. Even after that period French was still more prestigous and important than English and was until the Welsh took over in 1485 (the Tudor) Henry VII straight over from France (a pattern emerges no?). Then of course the Reformation put paid to French once and for all (well until 1714 at any rate when it became the language of the Government, due to the German Hanoverian kings not being able to speak English and the MPs not being able to speak German). English generally though became more predominant from the 1530s onwards. Latin went into decline too because it was seen as Popery. So naturally the French variants, Livre and Denier stuck.

1933/37 and 52 what? I presume you mean pennies?

Well struck hammered coins.

Will do. I have noticed heterosexual pornography links too in the past few weeks. Dunno if it's coming from the same location but i'll note the IP addys before i delete them.

Chavs really are the scum of the universe. Them and those hoodies. So cool, so trendy, so sheep. I'm chavin it!

I din't know Manx had coins! I've known banks refuse to take non-mainland issues. I was under the impression that Jersey, Guernsey and all the other islands coinage were not legal tender in the UK itself, this also went for pre-euro Irish coins. But it seems it more complicated than that.

Don't worry it took me ages to get my head around it too, i had to be told three times. TAhis is why i don't like trying to explain it to other people because there's alot of potential for confusion along the way. Another thing i should make you aware of. Some boards use the IMG in capitals, others use img in small letters. Coinpeople uses the small letters. This one uses capitals i think.

There's another (better) method. If a picture is already on the internet you can access it directly. 1) Find a picture you want, right click on it. 2) on the menu that comes up go down to 'Properties' and click on it. 3) This opens up a new window and you should see "Address " and next to this will be an address starting http: etc. If you highlight that address, right click on it, copy it. The go to the place where you want it installing, right click, select paste. Then all you have to do is put at either side of it. The goes after the address. (Make sure there's no blank spaces at either side of the address) When you post the picture will be shewn.

Yes there has been alot of links to websites of that nature posted lately, i've removed all of them as soon as i saw them.

William IV is my favourite 19th century monarch! Love William IV coins... It's about time he got more recognition. And surely that'd be a £2 coin Oli, William IV never had any £5 coins (except patterns)

Are they doing colour editions of all the Krauses? I'm thinking 18th century specifically.

I'd have them ready bagged up with reciept...

Same reason as you Geordie. Plus Spinks is pretty useless for hammered coins.

I still refuse to buy one... maybe when they go colour i might actually get one to replace my 1993 Seaby.

Oww i know, it was Raphael Maklouf's really early work... Now why am i thinking Edward VIII

That's generally my feelings on the matter. Although it could be from a photograph or a painting, i believe this is how Mary Gillick came up with her Elizabeth II obverse. There is a very slim possibility it could have been Mary Gillick's work however she died in 1965... which would kinda fit in with my theory above. Someone took the criticism too far... Are there no initials on the reverse of the Crown? Could but Fuller and Thomas' work, as they designed the 1953 and 1960 crown. But if they were the ones responsible for the Churchie then they were wise to keep quiet about it.

That's closely guarded mint secret, basically to protect the designer from assasination. Honestly i don't know, but i've often wondered.

Archaeologist hey? Funny you should mention that, i'm off to see about enrolling for a masters degree in Archaeology tomorrow. Dunno whether to do an MA or an MSc in it though. I'd find the MA course easier, but the MSc is what gets you the jobs. (Usually Laboratory based jobs). Sounds good to me.

I look at all of my £1 coins Chris. For duds and for 1988s, i look on the edges of every one and i'm sure i would have spotted it by now! Unless he's got a one off?

The Royal mint does buy back on type of set (gold i believe) because one of the coins in it is an error. Wrong reverse or something so they'll take them back and issue the correct one for you. So maybe this is the one and same? (Perhaps they don't have any correct sets left? And now they're just buying?)

It's a PAXS penny (which is the 8th coinage issued of William I). On the obverse is crown type 1. Looking in North it appears the moneyer may be Æstan of Winchester. But don't quote me on that. I'm pretty sure it's Winchester but i'm no expert on this by any means.

Sounds like the dealer's got a right dud to me. Gold plated more likely than not. A coin that has been plated is worth less than one that has not been, as plating done outside the mint if considered damage.

Of course the unspoken rule is that it's always easier to read the moneyer and mint when you know what it's supposed to say! If you don't know then you can stand there looking at it for hours. Even a long time dealer i know who's been handling stuff like this since the 1960s says he was scrutinising one all weekend once and he couldn't make it out. Then a few days later he had another go, he took one look at it and he saw it as plain as day... and that's when he kicked himself!

It's either; WINC or LINC I'd say. PINC/WINC being Winchester and LINC being Lincoln. However during this period i thought Lincoln was more often than not referred to as NICOLE. (Doesn't mean it's not Lincoln though, as spellings varied) The moneyer i can't quite make out looks like HESTIIN ON PINC/WINC, or HESTIIN ON LINC. (Winchester is the one i'm inclined to go for at this instance) I'm at work at the moment, but when i get home i'll look up the moneyers in my North catalogue. It would help me if you told me what class the coin was though.

Wow, we've got some really bright people on here! I seriously didn't see A's all that much, never had an A* just not that bright. My key to success was not my intelligence but merely my ability to just memorise stuff. Practical problem solving like maths i was doomed, stuff like history it was plain sailing, remember the fact, remember the date... sorted. Although i have got two grade A's, one at GCSE and one at AS level. A in GCSE Woodwork and an A in AS English Language, but only because i was quite good at writing stories.