Hello all. my name is Garry and I am 52. I live in Newbury Berks I came in to ask what this means SN5355/77, to me it's all gobbledygook. I now have a rather evil confession to make. Many years ago I had a friend who's father had passed away, this friend asked me what to do with 2 rather large ammuniton boxes of old pre decimal coins, I took a look through them and took out a couple of pretty ones and told her to throw them.... she did, into a skip. A while later I found out that her father had served in both wars and he was a very astute collector of both rare and common english coins. Many of these coins I had looked at were really old even to me, 1800 - 1979 kind of era and even further back. I have kicked myself for years over it. I have had a thing for coins for a few years now and as a kid was banned from the slot machines in Bognor for bumping them to get the threepenny bits or pennies, I never spent them though!, I was fascinated by the designs and how shiny they were. Recently I had the desire to start collecting them, and I dragged out the few I had kept. I have also been banned by the wife from shopping with her as I scan the change at the shops which she finds embarrasing. I don't really have any aim at hand except to collect a set from each year as much as is possible ( untill I found out that that could be never ending !), i didn't realise they had so many variations in some years. I have been scrounging as many as I can from friends as well but think I am becoming the party pooper now ( I can imagine them screaming at each other to hide the family silver upon seeing me arrive ! ). I intend to make a mahogany cabinet soon as I have a bit of that laying in my garden from old wardrobes or cabinets. I have no interest in the value of coins as such I just like shiny things and I am as happy to get a bucket of dirty mangled ones as any other. I would also like to know what this BU BM stuff means as well if anyone wants to explain it to me. Thanks Garry
