Peckris

oh dear, that would be me then! Me too - there aren't many coins from the 1950s (1959 halfpenny, 1953 brass 3d and 6d, 1959 sixpence.. perhaps) that you can get that cheap.

Are you implying that we don't, you git?

Interesting. In Liverpool the myth (was it?) was that South Walesians - especially in The Valleys - were friendly, especially to fellow-working class Brits. But on the other hand, perhaps everyone hates the Scots

This thread explains the various varieties of small 10p. http://www.predecimal.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4566&st=0&p=35535&hl=aardhawk&fromsearch=1entry35535 It's all a bit of a mountain out of a molehill - especially when you look at all the extremely scarce and rare large 10p varieties that don't make a ripple anywhere these days.

Beautifully worded. That's exactly what we got. A new design across all the denominations ... a bit on each (Jeez, decent coin designers must be hard to find these days )

But never fear - keep it for 50 years and you should get back more than you paid for it

My family variation on that was 'enough blue to make a sailor a pair of trousers'. Yes, we were told the sailor variant also - except it was 'mend' in both cases, not 'make' (perhaps it was a smaller patch of blue sky? ) My mother always said "It's going to be sunny if there's enough sky to make an Englishman's trousers" followed by "Bloody Englishmen". This was all in Welsh of course. She was North Wales I guess? As a Scouser we were always told that they were the "unfriendly lot" - mind you, putting up with scousers trailing through your country must be a bit irritating! Liverpool was never really an English town, before the great influx of Irish during the potato famine, it was known as "Little Wales beyond the Dee" Both sets of my grandparents were Welsh speaking Liverpool Welsh living in Walton. When I was a lad in Bootle, we had three churches with the notice boards in Welsh David :-) The accent is certainly an unholy mix of Welsh and Irish

I don't trust any software that they haven't created a Mac version of And oh boy - I'd forgotten just how plug-ugly the XP system is!! (Window design, fonts, colour schemes, etc - didn't anyone bother to tell Microsoft "Hey, people have to LIVE with this awfulness!"?) I will continue to use a bespoke database system designed and built up over many years Ok, it might not give me values for coin types I don't actually own, but for those I do, it lists valuations going back to the mid-60s. Not to mention a cunning algorithm that returns a valuation for all mid-grade coins

Good point. I don't normally collect non-coins but I liked that design so much I actually do have one large silver Britannia!

My family variation on that was 'enough blue to make a sailor a pair of trousers'. Yes, we were told the sailor variant also - except it was 'mend' in both cases, not 'make' (perhaps it was a smaller patch of blue sky? ) My mother always said "It's going to be sunny if there's enough sky to make an Englishman's trousers" followed by "Bloody Englishmen". This was all in Welsh of course. She was North Wales I guess? As a Scouser we were always told that they were the "unfriendly lot" - mind you, putting up with scousers trailing through your country must be a bit irritating!

I was brung up in Liverpool - the number of times we holidayed in Wales and passed the "Croeso i Cymru" sign - I can hardly NOT know what it means! You're welcome Sion

Thats right Chaps, you tell him! lol If only there were some way that we could get Peckris to join us in the 'Dark Side' of collecting £2 Coins from change... LOL You think I can AFFORD to stockpile £2 coins???

Oh, but it has! The standing Britannia is a feature of the "Britannia' series of coins since the late 80s - check out Spink S4281 and S4500 for example. Whether it is as remarkable as the Edward florin would be the subject of a big debate here I'm sure, but I think it is an excellent design. One of the best of the recent designs.

Yes, though the difference between the two is quite subtle - many so-called 'soft strikes' are simply the result of worn dies I believe. It does make you wonder when exactly the Mint out-sourced the Heatons and Kings Norton jobs in 1918 and 1919? Clearly, from the numbers struck in 1912, and the good state of strike, the Heatons job must have been set up pretty early on that year. Perhaps in 1918 and 1919, the two subsidiaries were asked to be on 'standby' and more precise instructions would be sent along with the dies to be used? Clearly, in both years, many Mint pennies are also poor obverse strikes as a result of worn dies - it may be that the dies sent to Heatons and KN were a mix of very worn, quite worn, and the odd one that was still quite good (which would account for the tiny number that are found not only in high grade but with good detail. I wish there was a good source of information about all this.

Croeso i predecimal, Sion!

Krause are like the 'respectable' 'international' equivalent of that perennial paperback 'Coins and Market Values' (Link House) which as I'm sure all long-time collectors will remember set pretty low values up until a few years ago. Then again, so did CCGB until our Chris Perkins bought out the title.

The brass 3d has a thrift plant on the reverse, not a thistle. On the assumption it is a standard 3d but silver in colour, I would expect it to have been plated post issue. This must have happened quite a bit. Someone earlier mentioned they had one in these forums, and I have one I picked up as part of an auction lot. Though to be strictly accurate, mine has been 'chromed' I think, rather than 'silvered'?

I remember near the end, around 1991 or so I was sent to the shop with a George V Florin to purchase a bottle of milk (despite my protests that I didn't actually want to spend this), my mother won the argument and it was spent. OMG, not a 1932 or a 1925 I hope?? I remember near the end, around 1991 or so I was sent to the shop with a George V Florin to purchase a bottle of milk (despite my protests that I didn't actually want to spend this), my mother won the argument and it was spent. It was receiving a GEF 1951 florin in my change in August 1990, that sparked my interest in coins. That sounds like someone - with no idea about coins - desperately spending that 1951 before it got demonetised. But every cloud, as they say ... {Ok chaps, diversion over - now you can drag the discussion kicking and screaming back to the boring old £2 coin! }

It does appear a lovely penny, but closer inspection shows it's not the strongest strike - the folds across Britannia's lap, and Victoria's hair especially below the wreath.

HIS is certainly a marginally better reverse strike than yours (Britannia's face, that is - her right tit is still as flat ), but not enough to make it worth paying good money for, as in all other respects yours is the more attractive, higher grade coin.

No guesses, it's a penny of Queen Anne. Although commonly called Maundy money, the early small change (4d, 3d, 2d & 1d) wasn't produced every year for the Maundy ceremony but rather was struck according to demand and circulated freely. The fact that it has been pierced for suspension means that its value will be little more than melt - say a few pounds at most. Queen Anne maundy isn't rare, so any damage will be detrimental to its value and collectability. It's a real shame about the piercing. The coin is in a high grade and would probably be worth between £50 - £75 without the hole.

That's interesting, because the FTSE has had it's strongest December in 20 years. Clearly, there are forces at work which we can barely comprehend. FTSE = Frost Then Snow Everyday?

You've already put these in another thread Az, or am I suffering déjà vu? Or maybe it's Dave ja Vu

Add a zero!!

Has there ever been one - just one - £5 design that hasn't been plug ugly? I can't think of one.