Paddy

The typography is interesting and very pleasing. I am sure I have seen something in a similar style from that era, but I can't think where. You might try contacting Timothy Millett at http://www.historicmedals.com/ He seems to know more about medals than anyone else I have found, may have seen one before, and may give you an indication of value.

Thanks Rob, I have always smelled a bit of a rat about this coin, but I am more inclined to the E having been pasted onto an English coin than a complete fake. The E is too far to the left compared to the normal Edinburgh coins, but I wasn't sure if this would have been correct for an E no star. Now the news that the no star was due (probably) to a filled die means the location is definitely wrong. Still, I only paid English 1709 price for it more than 10 years ago, so I will keep it as a curio.

Anyone able to give me more on this shilling? It appears to be a 1709 E no star shilling dated 1709, BUT the E seems to be in an unusual place, and the bust appears to be English third bust instead of the Edinburgh bust. Is this right, or is it some cobbled together fake? (Presumably an English 1709 third bust Shilling with an E floated on in the wrong place...?)

It does look like a very lovely Coronation Medal for Edward VII in 1902. It is hallmarked Silver, assayed in Birmingham in 1901. The makers mark - J.F is for James Fenton and Co. of Great Hampton Street Birmingham. See: http://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/Birmingham-JC-JG.html#JF For more than that we need the designer - is there any signature on it anywhere? I can't see any in your picture but maybe a close examination with a glass could find some initials somewhere?

This would be Caroline of Brunswick, wife of George IV of England. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_of_Brunswick It is likely this was struck during George IV's reign (1820 to 1830) in support of the Queen. As you can read in the wikipedia page, George was being pretty unpleasant about his Queen and there was strong popular support for her. Hence tokens/medallions were struck for popular consumption and as gaming tokens.

Cleaned to me means some chemical has been used on it - which I don't think is the case for this one. It has definitely been rubbed with a coarse cloth at some stage to give the marks. Interestingly, the 1922 posted earlier in the thread looks more chemical-cleaned to me. With the flatness to the knee, typical of light wear in usage, but then the even tan colour it strikes me as one that has been cleaned and re-toned...? (I have recently noticed this in a number of pennies I had stashed away as AU but now had to downgrade.)

Cache problems certainly sounds most likely. Have you cleared your cache recently as part of a clean up? Or maybe manually deleted some of it? The web pages could be looking for the avatars in the cache and not finding them. If you haven't flushed the cache recently, try that. Webpages will be slower to load for a bit while the system replaces all the components, but you will have got rid of a lot of junk too. Try as a quick fix, when you have one of the broken avatars on the screen, hitting Shift-F5. That does a "hard refresh" (or at least it used to in older windows and hasn't been superceded). The webpage should refresh ignoring the cache and reloading all components, and that may fix the problem.

I am no expert grader, so wait and see what others give before you accept a final answer. I would give Good Fine (F+) to the reverse, but Fine (F) to the obverse because of the surface porosity. That is grading UK standards - US grades would be higher.

I sold a rather lovely Pidcock farthing on Ebay a couple of months ago - I hope it's not my one going round! Mine was the Elephant and parrot farthing...

If you are buying bullion for the sake of bullion, the Royal Mint is the last place to start. Even with their discounts their prices are way over bullion value, so it will be years before you even break even. You would do better through any of the numerous bullion sellers online where you pay close to the current gold or silver value for the coin. Even if you are getting bullion but also like the coins, you would do better through dealers and coin fairs, where you can get very decent sovereigns etc from previous years at not much over bullion value. (I was shown 20 Sovereigns a few days ago in a range of dates back to Victoria and all VF or better, blanket price £250 each.) Personally I would forget gambling on the commodity market (which is all that bullion buying really is) and spend some time at a coin fair buying coins you really like and have a bit of history!

Brilliant - thanks Stuart! I will pass on to my friend.

Yes - I had got that far, wasn't sure which class. There also seems to be a rare 6x for Canterbury for which we were hopeful! Is it 7a or 7b then?

A friend has asked me to get a full identification of this Henry III penny. We believe it is Roger of Canterbury, but we are not sure of which class - can someone please clarify?

Thanks Jerry, you are of course right! Not my area at all so I assumed when I was pointed to the Montmedy coin and it seemed to fit that it must be right. Disappointing reduction in value but still a nice find.

In case anyone here is interested, I have tracked this one down now. It is ND (1364-1383) Luxembourg - Esterlin with Lions - Wenceslaus I See the link below for a fuller description. The only auction price I can see indicates one in better condition sold for £922 in 2013, so quite a nice find! https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces95611.html

So if I read this thread correctly, this one from my collection is 8 and J?

I have to say, it is not just Ebay that is flooded with fakes at the moment! In my area there are a number of local low grade auction houses that regularly list coins that are clearly fake, but still get substantial bids. When a supposed "Kruger Rand" sells for £80 you know there is a problem - if it was genuine, it should be £800 to £1000, if a fake £8 max - so someone thinks they have got the bargain of the century. Most disturbing recently were two Morgan Dollars - 1879 and 1880, both with the CC Carson City marks, which should be an alarm bell in the first place. A few seconds examination confirmed they were not Silver (though not magnetic and approximately right on weight). One sold for £48, the other for £250. I was so annoyed I wanted to shout out in mid-auction! Is there a mechanism for reporting auction houses selling fake coins as genuine to trading standards?

Further searching suggests the four lions rampant may be the arms of Owain Glyndwr Prince of Wales. He was alive 1359 to 1415, which would fit with the style of the coin, but I can find no reference to any coins being issued by him...

Thanks Stuart, that clinches it. Consider this query closed - only the "Crusader" coin to resolve now! Thanks again.

Thanks for that and you are probably right. My concern was that the images for the type 4 obverse do not fit very well with this coin - particularly that the hand on the sceptre on my coin is much higher up. Is this discrepancy normal? Thanks again

Thanks for that and I believe you are right, so we can call this one closed. Thanks again.

Last one for now I promise. What is this? Clearly not standard English and I thought maybe Crusader, but if someone can point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated.

Another one I am struggling with - low grade I know. Best match I can find is S1722, which makes it pretty scarce and I can't believe I am that lucky! If not this, then what?

Can someone please help me nail this one down? In Spink book this seems to match S1347 best, which makes it Richard I type 3, but the moneyer on the reverse I can read ...ILLELM ON N... which would seem to be Willelm in Northampton or Norwich - but that does not fit with a type 3 coin. Have I got it all wrong? :-)

When I said "Indian Subcontinent" I meant that quite widely. You will need to include Afghanistan and maybe a few other countries in the area. Good luck!