Peckris

LOL yes. If it was that predictable, we'd all be millionaires!

I'm not quite so sure? I was a schoolkid in the late 60s when that madness was prevailing, and as a newcomer I took it all as perfectly normal. Luckily I'd collected from change rather than spending money I didn't have or the complete collapse of modern prices from 1971 would have made me as tragically sad as it did various 'investment' dealers whose hands were well and truly burned. Obviously it is very difficult to make firm & confident predictions (or we'd all be millionaires!) but I'm not sure that the current eBay trends will continue forever upwards : that's what people were saying about the housing market... It's all about supply and demand. Like housing, if there is a combination of shortage and demand, prices will go up. If the supply increases, then demand will weaken. With coins, the supply of pre decimal is constant. It will never change, except for more and more quality materiakl being squirrelled away in private collections, never to see the light of day again. Not really for me to pontificate on the collapse in market & prices from 1971, as I wasn't around then. But I do wonder if it had anything to do with decimalisation. Maybe the mania had been driven by people checking what was in their change, and once that avenue had been withdrawn, the mass interest waned rapidly. Moreover, sometimes trends just suddenly change for no obvious reason at all. It had everything to do with decimalisation - which was of course, the spur for the frenzy & madness that preceded the collapse. I agree that trends that can change with no obvious reason, but there must be underlying causes, even if we can't immediately see them? Just as the collapse in the housing market OUGHT to have been dictated by the gods of supply and demand, though it wasn't. The supply of houses has been fairly constant - it was the collapse of the American sub-prime mortgage market, occasioned by banks stopping lending to each other, then the imminent near-collapse of the banks themselves, that did for our housing market. But before it collapsed it had over-heated to a ludicrous extent, driven by fear (first-time buyers desperately trying to get on the property ladder), greed (over-extended 'buy-to-let's, people trying to cash in on equity, etc), the general 'lemming' factor, among other factors. Strangely, supply and demand - i.e. 'normal' market forces - had very little to do with it, IMO.

One thing you can be 100% sure of : it's not a fake, unless created by someone mad or totally stupid

I have to say that the late series hammered coins and the earliest series milled, are not only quite similar in quality, but are very handsome coins.

Of course - just like the 1967 penny eh? Welcome to the forums Beebman, and welcome back to the hobby

OMG! Someone paid £5 for it?? "A fool and his money..." A coin with an identity crisis! A penny, a halfpenny, a farthing? 1852, 1952? FDC... or just F ?

1. Crowns are now worth £5 face (used to be five shillings). They are definitely legal tender, though most shops might refuse to take them. 2. You have the 'sealed in carton' example rather than 'loose from Post Office', listed in Spink about £2 or £3 more than the loose one. However, actually getting the Spink price is a different matter altogether. You might be lucky on eBay, you might not. At any rate it's not worth less than £5!

Good topic of discussion choolie! I started as a schoolkid, collecting stuff from change, then strayed away. Then when I returned some years later, I bought some things I never dreamed of as a boy, e.g. high grade Geo V and Ed VII, and filled in some gaps in my date series of pennies and halfcrowns. When I began low-key dealing, it led me to getting a few really nice coins, and completing my series of pennies and halfcrowns. That was when - like you - I became disillusioned with date series (after all, a rare date is exactly the same design as the others, so buying one in a high grade is not only hellish expensive, it's a bit of an anti-climax in the end). So I decided to concentrate on type collecting instead, and that's where I'm at : I'm a bit stuck on many types from Charles II to George II because given the choice bewteen low grade or nothing, I'd rather nothing! And most of those types are frighteningly expensive - there is NO cheap Geo I silver, and Geo II crowns and halfcrowns are ... gulp. I also have a small ancients collection, and a few reasonable 18th Century tokens. But I've never regretted moving away from date runs and into type collecting.

I echo what £400 and Huss have said. There's damage to the O in ANNO but it doesn't look like an error, ditto the A. And the G in DG looks odd, but not "variety odd" if you know what I mean. All else seems to check out : it's Type 2 bust, WW has stops, legend and design look right. You going to let us in on the secret?

Oh come on, be fair! It's not often you see the 18th century's most common farthing in such crappy condition, so "scarce" is a fair description

Yeah, but with a speech impediment; "J-J-J-James Bond, d-d-d-double oh-oh s-s-s-seven." Not so much a speech impediment as shivering with cold! ("Ain't you finished yet? How much longer must I sit here holding a pose?")

That is definitely REX - the bottom right part of the R is 'floating free' and detached from the main letter. As for the E you can just make out the three serif ends, each forming a tiny triangle which all touch each other. It does look rather like PUX but it is REX.

You need to be careful : look at the precise law on this - although predecimal coins are no longer legal tender, it may still be illegal to melt them down. Perhaps you could hold the silver in the form of unmelted halfcrowns? Your best bet is to find an auction house where there are some 'scrap' lots and bid for what you want. eBay prices are going silly for silver coins, so avoid that if you can. Or place an advert in a local newspaper of decent circulation, and offer to buy pre-1920 UK coins.

The main thing to know about UK coins is that before 1947 silver coins are actually silver : 50% silver from 1920 - 1946, almost full silver pre-1920. Silver prices are high right now, so those could be your priority.

Hi Fubar - Welcome to the forums If it's mostly modern, foreign, then it's unlikely to be worth much more than metal i.e. scrap value. But if you have any older stuff, or predecimal British, then by all means post it here. Pictures (photos or scans) would help a lot.

Sorry Josie, I never heard of PUX before. I heard of the Pyx and I heard of Dux, but not PUX.

I'd agree with the grade. I'd happily pay £50 for an example like that. But as Rob says, would you get that in Bulgaria?

The sharp corner 1949 3d is scarce? The example I bought from Colin Cooke (GVF/AEF w lustre) some years back, is that variety. I'm pretty sure Colin didn't know it was scarce, and I certainly didn't.

So that naked guy must be James James Bond Bond then?

I'm not quite so sure? I was a schoolkid in the late 60s when that madness was prevailing, and as a newcomer I took it all as perfectly normal. Luckily I'd collected from change rather than spending money I didn't have or the complete collapse of modern prices from 1971 would have made me as tragically sad as it did various 'investment' dealers whose hands were well and truly burned. Obviously it is very difficult to make firm & confident predictions (or we'd all be millionaires!) but I'm not sure that the current eBay trends will continue forever upwards : that's what people were saying about the housing market...

I'm afraid I'm no expert on banknotes, but from what I remember it's the series that is most important (the first 4 characters), & then the long number. Early series follow that, and low numbers follow that, so basically that's your 'hierarchy of interest'. In other words, the ideal note is one that's "first series + low number", while low numbers on their own would attract a premium but much smaller.

Wow, I don't think I ever saw one of those! They must be pretty damn small?

He's long gone, but never forgotten, I bet the rest of his coin collection is more valuable than this bit though. It does have alot of sentimental value, I think it's best I don't put photos up, it might make me very sick if I found out it was valuable before I damaged it. I'm looking to find a jewelery maker to encase it in glass so I can wear it again...without damaging it this time. Thanks for your help. x To be honest, although the coin is probably not worth very much (except to you), the story that goes with it is really vivid and interesting. You could do a lot worse than write it up ("A Decade in the Life of a Victorian Florin" or "Love Token" or something like that), then you could earn money twice over from an article : 1) Include all the relevant coin information emphasising it a bit more than the romance, and offer it to Coin News 2) Change the article to emphasise the romance more than the coin stuff, and send it off to one of those magazines like Chat or My Weekly - it will not be a subject they commonly deal with, and you might get lucky Make sure you get a photo or a scan to send with both versions.

He's long gone, but never forgotten, I bet the rest of his coin collection is more valuable than this bit though. It does have alot of sentimental value, I think it's best I don't put photos up, it might make me very sick if I found out it was valuable before I damaged it. I'm looking to find a jewelery maker to encase it in glass so I can wear it again...without damaging it this time. Thanks for your help. x To be honest, although the coin is probably not worth very much (except to you), the story that goes with it is really vivid and interesting. You could do a lot worse than write it up ("A Decade in the Life of a Victorian Florin" or "Love Token" or something like that), then you could earn money twice over from an article : 1) Include all the relevant coin information emphasising it a bit more than the romance, and offer it to Coin News 2) Change the article to emphasise the romance more than the coin stuff, and send it off to one of those magazines like Chat or My Weekly - it will not be a subject they commonly deal with, and you might get lucky Make sure you get a photo or a scan to send with both versions.

I can't see evidence of cleaning either. What I can see on the later pictures is what you call "green spotting" - it looks like a corrosion attack, but by no means the worst I've ever seen. I would therefore grade and value the coin as a VF example, though it's better than that judged purely on wear.