Debbie

Thanks for those extra pointers guys. Peckris I had been a little confused over the 1921 nose to S / SV etc so thank you for clearing that one up. I have also read somewhere about curved “R’s†and straight “R’s†as another thing to look out for? ( BTW I have only bought 5 pence pieces from your site, not any shillings yet) Asda I take your point on the BM as it could be the photo I guess it just reinforces that seeing coins in the hand is really the best way and that I shouldn’t be afraid of sending something back ifs it not up to expectation.(I will also watch that shilling!) Rob, it’s interesting about the different types of silver content and metals introduced. Does that mean that the weights of these shillings might vary then? I find the reasons and speculations to why coins may vary quite fascinating. I will see if I can get my hands on a magnet …. as well as a magnifying glass, electronic scales, digital camera, several reference books and perhaps the odd coin!

My goodness you have been busy gentlemen, It certainly makes very interesting reading for me "as the ignorant" (sorry Rob I know what you meant really!). I have to agree that whilst I realise that I need to become experienced and competent with the grading systems out there, at this stage the actual skill of knowing what features to look for that make it a decent coin is the most important. The full nose is a great example – so at least if I find a shilling between 1914 -1918 with this feature regardless of what the said grading, I will know it’s probably a good buy. Likewise knowing if a coin has been dipped, cleaned, forged, or of a scarcer micro variety is greatly useful and I thank you all for contributing with this information. Thanks for those links Asda, it is good to compare the two, I think I would have rejected the first because of the scratches and overlooked the second because I couldn’t see the BM clearly – that’s an example of how I have been selecting coins in the past!

Hi Asda -Thanks for pointing me to that thread. I can see I am going to have to get myself a magnifing glass! Do you or anyone else on the forum know what a "chamfered rim" looks like. The rims of those of 2A AND 3A that were posted look quite diffeent to me.

And how would you go about grading something like this? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1918-PCGS-MS63-silver-SHILLING-WORLD-WAR-coin-King-GEORGE-V-/400262018596?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d3179b624 Oh and how do you shorten a link!

Many thanks for all your replies. That's really interesting about the 1915/1916 coin strikes Threepence, I had noticed that my 1917 and 1918 seemed to have much more detail, I thought that perhaps it was a different design variation. That 1915 shilling only cost £5 so am very happy you think its a grade higher than I thought!

Opps - looks like I may have bought a dipped coin here then? It has a surface look of aluminium - would you still call it NVF?

Have spent a bit of time searching on the forum about cleaning and lustre and toning and found it very informative, thanks all. I also found this on the net which explains exactly how lustre is created - thought it might be interesting to someone - please don't think I am trying to teach you to suck eggs -just trying to contribute something too! http://www.coin-forum.com/Feature_Articles/Understanding_Lustre/last

Thanks for this information guys. So how can you spot if a coin has been cleaned / dipped in the past if it has re- toned? What do you mean by “odd†Rob? Am I correct in assuming that if a cleaned / dipped coin has re-toned in an appealing manner than this will not affect the grading or the price? I’m sorry if each answer leads to a new question!

Woops - heres the other side!

Hi all. I wondered if you could let me know what you think of this shilling it looks different from my others. It has a strange rim – sort of flattened… and on the reverse the “beading†seems to be created by the grooves on the outer rim edge rather than stamped on the flat surface. Would you grade this as VF? And does very dark toning affect the grading? Thanks in advance.

Wow, you don't get this sort of education when looking fot shoes! I just thought it odd that 1847 was the only missing year in a sequential run of over 130 years or so. Azda - I hope you won't "be easy on me" just because I am a woman - however I do hope you will be because I am likely to ask some questions which many of you shall no doubt have had to answers many times before! I'll pluck up the courage soon to post the odd coin I have aquired so far...

Thanks for all your replies. Tom, that Splendid Shilling book does look interesting - I will put it on my Christmas list ( much to the bemusement of my hubby who thinks I should be looking at shoes ) I had seen that 1905 shilling too and thought there was something not quite right, although mainly because I thought the rim looked a bit thicker than the other shillings I have of that era. I have another question if I may. Does anyone know why there were no shillings issued in 1847 - or am I mistaken?

Thanks guys, that's really useful advise. I only ask as there seem to be an awful lot of 1905's on ebay at the moment. It makes one wonder if it really is such a scarce coin.

Hi all. I don't know how many ladies you get on this forum, but I started becoming interested in coin collecting initially in an attempt to get my 11year old son interested. My sucess with this has been limited.... I myself however have become hooked on collecting silver shillings and love the idea of having a nice example of one for each year from 1816 - 1990 ( old large 5 pence piece . ) I certainly don't have lots of money to spend on coins - I think the max amount I have spent on a coin is £50 and I tend to buy most of my shillings from ebay.I have bought a couple from members of this forum and from this website.I have only been collecting for about 18 months and have familiarised myself with Spink and PJ Davis British silver coins. Are there any other books that I should read that deal with shillings? Oh and is there any way of detecting a forged 1905 shilling? Thanks in advance.