1949threepence

I wish I could help you, Paul, but I've absolutely no idea. Would it be possible for you to upload an image of the "coins" ?

Oddly enough I got a 1988 in my change the other day. Usually get one every few months or so. Always liked the one off design. Hadn't realised the 2008 mintage was so low. I've actually had a few of these over the last few months.

Yep, I meant the London Mint, my bad

Interestingly, the Royal Mint are offering £50 each for them, as they have received interest from "collectors". Took up a full page spread in the Express (and probably other papers too)

Just looked at e bay ~ there was a bidding war going on for what looked to be BU gem example, and the current bid was over £1k. Underneath was a buy it now one, for £250. I wonder just how many are in circulation.

I'm not convinced they do raise the price, personally, and if they do, the effect is marginal for experienced buyers. But from a coin vendor's point of view, it sounds kind of good to say that a coin is "slabbed". To the inexperienced buyer, it may place an entirely underserved cache of extra value on the coin.

I agree with you. I'm not a fan of slabbed coins, either. In fact most of my collection (and I don't do really old coins) are in Whitman folders. I collect for the pleasure of collection, not the profit, or potential profit. I like to hold an uncirculated coin from the turn of the 20th century, and wonder exactly where it was hiding all those years, whilst two world wars and the general upheaval of the last century was going on.

First try and sort each denomination out into year order. If there is more than one coin for any given year, try outsorting what looks to be the best one. I'm not sure what you know about grading and value of coins, but there is an excellent book advertised on this site. But if you want a link, try googling http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/coins.html. He gives some excellent advice. As others have said, do not attempt to clean coins. It is an art. Definitely avoid using brasso or silvo, as that will damage the coin beyond repair, and silverdip is not recommended either. Definitely the 1946 & 1949. Also 1950 & 1951 are quite scarce. If any of them have any original mint lustre still on them, they will definitely be worth something.

I know it's over 18 months since you originally posted this enquiry. But as I have a complete set of brass threepences, I checked out what you said. I have three 1937 examples. One as part of my collection, and two previous fillers, which I retained in a box. The one in my collection shows the B of "BR" level with the corner, as in the second example in your pic. Interestingly, of the two fillers, one is like your first example, and the other, actually has the B a little to the left of the corner angle. From 1949 to 1952, the BR is in a different place anyway, as the "Ind Imp" was dropped. But in the 1938 to 1948 inclusive, examples, the B starts directly adjacent to the corner.

Not sure, but as you say, there is a definite slant on the "2". Apart from "Die letter A, B or C to left of lighthouse", classed as extremely rare, there are no variants of the 1862 halfpenny listed (that I can see anyway). It may be just a one off error. Interesting.

OK thanks folks. That was really informative I never thought about the mintage for any given year, including some still dated the previous year.

Something that has always puzzled me slightly, and I've never yet been able to find a definitive answer. Why is the 1869 penny worth so much (£2,500 in unc, for example), yet its mintage of 2,580,480, is more than twice that of the 1868 penny (1,182, 720), yet the 1868 in unc is worth a mere £550. No doubt this will be elementary to most of you, and I aplogise in advance for sounding a bit thick.

Unfortunately, the coins are so worn, that they are pretty much worthless, I'm afraid to say. As has already been said, in fact.

Yep, that is so true. A testament to the fact that there are so many in circulation. The vast majority of the ones I have received are of very poor quality, commonly with a blurred strike, the obverse out of alignment with the reverse, the reverse design incorrect for the year shown and a wrong, incomplete or totally missing inscription. Obvious to the naked eye, but only to coin collectors, as the vast majority don't even look at £1 coins.

Just to say ~ absolutely great book. One which has been needed for some time