Peckris

Wow, if we'd only looked at a COIN YEARBOOK, we could have saved a lot of time! Thanks bilnic. (It was a fun discussion for all that.)

Hi bilnic - may I offer a word of advice? The 'secondary market' in UK decimals values them much lower than their RM issue (and Spink) prices. If you are prepared to hold on past the actual year of issue, most items can be picked up at auction at a very much lower price. Since dealing, I would never now buy anything from the Mint.

The Crown - as such - has never been demonetised. It ceased to be issued as a regular unit of currency after 1901, all subsequent issues being commemoratives or limited (for collectors only). However, they have always technically and theoretically been legal tender - therefore a Churchill crown has a current face value of 25p. The first decimal crown was the Silver Wedding 25p crown of 1972. (In any case, the term "crown" does not really denote a denomination as such). However, it has never been officially declared (to my knowledge) whether the upgrade of crown-sized pieces to a face value of £5 in the 1990s means that the descriptive term "Crown" ceased to exist, or simply became a £5 crown instead. I'm unable to help with the double florin, or fractional farthings I'm afraid. I strongly suspect that the silver threepence - being a valid 3d piece - remained legal tender until the brass 3d was demonetised in 1971. Though it is also true that they did not circulate into the 1960s; bear in mind that two years after the last silver 3d, all silver was removed from coins due to the high value of silver.

I just bought a Roman coin from the same seller - he seems perfectly above board.

And here's a couple of pennies in definitely 'average' condition :

If you really are keen to get started, then a good book on grading coins is one great place to start, and as luck would have it, Rotographic Press produce one available through this very website (and I'm not even on commission, more's the pity!)

Hi Tulip - welcome to the forums Condition is everything in our hobby. Those pennies from the 1920s in 'average' condition wouldn't be worth anything much, more or less just scrap value. In 'close to perfect' condition they would be worth between £5 and £10 each, but in mint condition they would be worth from £20 to £40 each depending on precise date. Ditto with the halfpennies (a little less perhaps). The 1938 and 1946 pennies - 'near perfect', £2 - £3 each, mint condition, around £10 each. Here are a couple of pictures of a 1929 penny in almost mint condition (the lustre doesn't show up too clearly in the scan) : (the reverse will be in the next post)

Wow, yes that sounds truly heroic - and should definitely be an award. On the subject of "actions", I heard an interesting interview with an Arab commentator about the whole "release of the Lockerbie bomber" thing. It seems that governments, diplomats, secret service, etc (but not us, the common or garden mugs) know certain data. To summarise : 1. The USA shot down an Iranian passenger jet in 1988. 2. As a "tit for tat", terrorists sponsored by Iran blew up a plane over Lockerbie. 3. Libya knew about, and sponsored, the Lockerbie atrocity, but it wasn't a Libyan who did it. 4. Libya in the 1990s sought rehabilitation with the West, for economic reasons. 5. As part of a deal, Britain and the US demanded Libyan accountability for Lockerbie. 6. Libya handed over two suspects, though everyone involved knew these were not the guilty parties. 7. There was a trial and one of the men was found guilty. We know the rest. It all puts the hysteria and muck-raking of the last few weeks into a different perspective, doesn't it?

Neither of the 3s look right on that 1933. Nor do they look quite the same, as you would expect them to. My own feeling is that it is a 1928 : if you look carefully, the second 3 could easily (!) have been tooled out of an 8. I've just compared my own pictures of a 1928 and a 1930 penny, and noticed something I never spotted before : there was a slight change to the style of numerals between those two dates. The 1928 penny has a longer '1' and a narrower '9', exactly like on that "1933". And if you look at the first of the two 3s, it's nothing like the 3 in a 1930, but the upper portion has much in common with the 2 in the 1928. The seller says it is "a rare coin which experts have appraised and concluded that it is possibly quite valuable." It could be the one which made its appearance on the Antiques Roadshow a couple of years ago (I missed that show unfortunately). But in one respect they are right - I'm prepared to bet that as a fake, it could still quite easily fetch £100 or more, just to give a collector the glow of owning what LOOKS like a 1933.

Could indeed have been burned, but bear in mind that darkened-looking-but-worn pennies are actually by no means uncommon. Who knows where they've been in their lifetimes (that 47 is now a venerable 62 years old...).

"Sit shtill, your Majheshty - yesh, that'sh right, BOTH of you (hic!)"

Well, that's a start! So it could be a French denier .. Who are the best people to ask? Coinpeople.com?

Two conclusions : 1. That incomplete 6 is a known flaw on 1860/59 pennies 2. The person responsible saw the CC coin and 'doctored' another date to look similar

Those were 1944, '45 , '46 (though some 1946s were lustred). The interesting thing is, when the hypo coins wear, they go a lighter shade of brown than other dates - I think it was because they had the tin content reduced because of shortages.

The reverse could feature a castle plan, as viewed from above

It was part of an auction lot that was otherwise Ancient Greek and Roman, but the ticket said this could be a "Templars" coin from the Crusades period. It's silver, very thin, and ever so slightly smaller than a 5p. I'll have to post the reverse separate due to the upload limitations.

Yes, it's a handsome tone.

Yes, that's quite a common toning of George VI bronze, especially in the early years of the reign. It does look on first glance as if it was 'Mint toned', but it's too green for that. Mint toning is invariably a kind of purple/brown colour and quite distinctive (and when it wears off, it reveals the different alloy underneath, which always makes the mid-1940s bronze look a pinkish colour).

This is where the Americans are way ahead of us Brits. They have a smoother gradation between BU, BU "prooflike" (i.e. early strikes), and actual proofs. As witness the high prices for prooflike Morgan dollars from the late 19th Century. We should do this in the UK too - e.g. £X for Unc, £3X for BU, £10X for really prooflike early strike, and maybe no more than £25X for a genuine proof (just off the top of my head - you get the general idea). The exceptions to this would be silver coins of 1816-17, and 1887, where prooflike examples are actually quite common.

Link to uniface 1965 pennies in Colin Adams' Sale That just links to a generic Spink page - no details such as you mention

Obviously not very photogenic. A shame that Meeshu's 'investment' seems to be a disaster. I think that is almost inevitable with coins like this. It's almost a case of "if they are too rare, the market won't gain buoyancy, and limited supply suppresses demand (instead of the other way around)". In the hierarchy of popularity, I would rate : 1. extremely rare dates e.g. the 1933 penny or proof-only issues 2. rare recognisable varieties e.g. 1926 ME pennies 3. rare less easy-to-see varieties e.g. "L C Wyon on rock, below shield, or missing" on bun pennies 4. extremely rare proofs of regular issue coins One hopeful note is that Wreath Crowns (sluggish for years) finally came good, and the same could be true of rare proofs too. Mind you, I once had a 1935 'raised edge' proof for some years, and then auctioned it, realising just a tiny bit more than what I paid for it. Sometimes, coins like these have to be enjoyed for their rarity, not their investment potential, which may be poor.

Yes, that's the penny all right. Good Fine grade, slightly uneven colour, but quite nice. £20, plus or minus.

Is it just me, or do others have difficulty telling these as proofs? Colin Cooke's VIP proofs usually look like proofs, but these 2 farthings don't seem to have the expected characteristics, or maybe it's just the scans?

It's actually a Charles I shilling (the XII after the bust is "12" as in "12 pence make one shilling", in old money). If it's a Scottish shilling, there is a member here called Scottish Money who would be able to advise you on the value. Though the portrait is somewhat worn, the rest of it is in very respectable condition - a nice coin. My avatar is the reverse of a Cartwheel Twopence (the penny would look the same). The only reason it is the colour shown is due to Photoshop, in an attempt to make the detail show more clearly! Shades of brown, or even black, are more usual. If yours has the same level of detail, it would be in high grade, but a scan would be needed to confirm that.