andyscouse

You're quite observant, Peckris ... I am. And whenever I meet someone new over here, they always ask where I'm from (and often guess Ireland) ... when I say England, most ask if London. When I say Liverpool, they generally say - "Oh, the Beatles!!" I quite like having the different accent

The RM site doesn't yet list 2009 mintages, but according to the Krause 2011 Standard Catalog of World Coins, it states "Est. 300,000". Now that seems a bit low, but I reckon we'll find out later this year the number for sure. Krause 2011 page with 2008/09 £2 coins

The RM site doesn't yet list 2009 mintages, but according to the Krause 2011 Standard Catalog of World Coins, it states "Est. 300,000". Now that seems a bit low, but I reckon we'll find out later this year the number for sure.

I don't, but it does seem that these come up on eBay (or similar) reasonably often. I got my example from our very own Mr Perkins several years ago, and it goes nicely along with the '32, '33 and '36 ... I just have the "easier" half of the series to collect now!

I'm sure the mintage figure will evolve in due time ...

I haven't started a sideline £2 collection yet. However, what with this recession and all that, I'm making the most of it by getting my decimal collection knocked into shape (of course, looking out for great pre-decimal coins all the while). Doing pretty good for pre 1992 2p, 5p, 10p and 50p - have almost all of them in Unc ... and it's quite interesting how the Unc/BU coin values have been creeping up. A couple of years ago on eBay I picked up the 10 £1 coins 1983-92 on eBay for about £12 and postage (sent to the US). Also a complete set (Unc or FDC, where needed) of 5p coins 68-98. It makes for a good challenge anyway, I think!

Yes, I have that book and it's quite enlightening! I particularly enjoyed reading it, being a Brit in the US ... and some of the things we deride[d] in the UK about "American" English were, in fact, used by England first, then came over with the Pilgrims and are still used, whereas that form has been dropped from England ... the main example he used was "gotten" - it was used in England first!

Fosse, You're correct. The £1 was on its way to being minted for circulation every year but then none were produced in 1998/9. Mind you, since 2000, all denominations have been produced every year. One other interesting fact is that the only years prior to 2000 that all denominations were minted for circulation were 1977, 1979, 1980, 1992 and 1997.

Back when eBay was new (c. 1997), I bid on a lot of about 5 or 6 brass 3ds in reasonable grade ... from the pics, I could see a 1949 and it looked pretty good. I won the lot for $7, and the 1949 3d turned out to be aEF ... not a bad buy - and the seller emailed me with "you got yourself a real bargain!" ... yes indeed! Also got a sovereign for $66 back in 2003 when the proce of gold was much lower, but even then, they were selling for about $90 each.