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VickySilver

Coin Hoarder
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Posts posted by VickySilver

  3. Posted

    Wow, that about covers it! LOL

    Well I do want really choice currency examples of 1841 and 1842 only.  Is there an 1868 RRITANNIAR? Mine is fairly nice but a choice piece would be special...

  5. Posted

    I agree, the surfaces "conserved" of oxidation - generally known in chemistry as reduction reactions.

    We have differing solutions of ammonia, the 25% would probably be alright. Please do experiment with lesser value pieces and suggest that they be of higher grade though & suggest all finenesses of silver and limited exposures on copper nickel as longer may start to dull lustre. 

  6. Posted

    Yes, always seem to be a subjective component to this sort of thing. BTW, nice reverse on the 1918 and maybe excellent lustre in hand.  Also the first photoed set is a bit ugly and possibly not in the range of restorable. I have found paranthetically (sp?) that dilute clear ammonia with liberal rinsing afterwards often does a nice and believable job of surface restoration....

  9. Posted

    Perhaps a matter of definition. IMHO if a coin is of uncirculated quality when struck and then pushed out of the mint in bag quantities and spent in significant numbers whilst most not receiving any special treatment or being cased individually or placed In sets (which was what happened) as was the case of these crowns, then they would fit the definition of "currency". 

  10. Posted

    Hiya Paddy. Love the better 1920 transition year shillings, florins and half crowns.  Although only pictures, you will see with some frequency the TPGs to give a "technical" grade - that is the level of wear and lustre, etc. giving the grade. The strike IMHO is not valued enough and so I believe this to be the rationale for the higher grade on the first coin. Yours appears to have a wonderful strike with excellent hair & mustache, etc. detail. 

    To be fair the first coin appears a bit overexposed photographically but the details do appear a bit flatter. I was thrilled to some years ago get the specimen proof "duck tailed" 1920 florin and will post a picture later today in case you might be interested.

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    On 4/28/2025 at 9:11 AM, copper123 said:

    The odd few did circulate esp in the war years remember  many people finances were turned upside down.

    Many of those that circulated have been melted down now as they were seen as useless as no-one wanted them in the fifties and sixties , not collectors anyway

    This. They were struck in large numbers in non-proof uncirculated (ie currency) pieces regardless of them being commemorative issues & as we know many commems find their way into business "currency" channels.

    • Like 1

  12. Posted · Edited by VickySilver

    I have been somewhat saddened by what appears to be the demise of that company. I used to communicate with Alan about coins and got some quite decent pieces from him years ago & do hope he is well. I still look at their "offerings" but have not bid for quite a few years now. Well, here's to hoping the ship can be righted....

     

    PS - really superb currency George VI crowns are hard to come by as I believe the planchets were not well cared for and there are nearly always bag marks, including in key areas. Same is generally true of the George V 1935 Jubilee  crown issues.

    • Like 1

  15. Posted · Edited by VickySilver
    Clarity

    OK this is from an auction not yet closed and is only the obverse (St. Jas or somebody - lol) . As they like to ask, GTG or guess the grade!  Can’t say I’m in agreement:

     

     

    EF1C653B-2B94-4ED5-BE73-72642DB1EBA4.jpeg
     

    I see the usual wipe and even some hints of green near corrosion.

  16. Posted

    Thanks for the pictures as I was about to share, but covered nicely.  

    Back to the OP: some have said that both the 1899 and 1919 dates have a final "9 over 8". I am not at all sure that they are not artifact even though I have purported examples of both. LOL. Might be worth a check but they would not be valuable in any case....

  17. Posted

    Bit of a puzzler. The center details of George may have had a bit of dip applied (as opposed to immersion of the whole coin) perhaps with cotton bud or some other device. IMHO these coins need to be seen in hand; doesn't look to be a terrible price though.

    • Like 2

  18. Posted

    By recall the British Museum has quite a series of coins demonstrating the alloy experiments and versions and that most were of the 1920-22 vintage. XRF scanning will yield metal breakdown of the surface metals at least and would be interesting if anyone had access to such an instrument....Results might readily be published in Coin News or other publications....I would be very interested to know results and have some really nice transitional pieces like the "duck-tailed" silver and others....

  21. Posted

    OK, first of all I do like 20th C. silver as you probably have seen so like BOTH. I looked at the PCGS cert pictures and think I may be able to answer [to some degree]:

    The second coin has a cheek and base of the neck (along the SCM muscle to be precise) that show some degree or rub or contact, at least to my eyes. They will tend to be hard on that bit. Also, it is likely just the pictures but the top coin appears to have better lustre even if struck more softly than the second coin.

    On what I have heard a "technical" basis, aside from strike the first coin would then get the higher grade. I think this is something that both NGC and PCGS tend to go with more strongly.

  23. Posted · Edited by VickySilver
    clarity

    Looked back over this site some more and a couple of observations:

    -  did not see ANY 1929 proofs, even of the crown

    -  there is no 1945 currency threepence, or proof of that type (non-Maundy)

    -  the 1945 year coins did not show any proofs to my eyes

    -  there is no 1952 currency or proof halfcrown 

    -  there is a proof 1963 halfcrown, none for 1964-67

    -  there are some proofs of pennies and larger denominations up into the 1960s (Hello Richard!)

    -  some of the coins from the 1960s whilst not proof are either early strikes or somewhat "specimenish" but not well care for

    -  this site may not be complete but seems to support my hypothesis that there were no proofs (or at least no evidence) for the years 1929, save the crown, or for 1945 and helps to explain why I have not seen any in all these years.

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    I was looking for some references and knew they had a site, but this may be of interest to some. It is mainly pictures with bare descriptions so that is a bit limiting. Also, when I looked up the 1920 date (because the site would not take more info on the search section), I was looking for information on transitional patterns like the "duck-tailed milling" silver coins. I think I found them but they are not identified as patterns and had to mainly pick this out from the pictured details. Much of Bull could probably be updated from this and other pages, but wish a bit more ID had been done as they have some very rare coins that I have NEVER seen in commercial channels. There were some errors too (ie the incorrect ID of the 1926 Wood Pattern Reverse MODEL Half crown).

    Anyway, do have a look....

    • Like 2
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