Paddy

I have seen quite a few GV fake florins and half crown before, but not many GVI. Made of base metal and too soft, they were contemporary forgeries to fool the general public rather than fakes to fool the collectors.

I think it is a half crown rather than a shilling, but for that the weight should be 15.05g, so still light and therefore dubious.

With those statements from the RM, it seems it might be worth contacting them? They put not time limit on the production, so it reads as if all gold and silver coins produced by the Royal Mint, however long ago, are exempt! It would be great if that is the case, but I suspect not.

Sorry @Coys55 my comments were not aimed at you but responding to @ColdHands more general comments on patronising responses from some old hands. I think sometimes our posts can be interpreted as more critical than they were intended! I would be interested if the "legal tender" definition could be used to reduce the CGT burden, although I expect that battle will be down to my descendants in my case.

I recognise the problem and try to be as straightforward as possible when responding to newbie queries. I try to think back to when I was the newbie and how daft some of my questions must have seemed to the old and bold here! It is easy, when you know a lot about a subject, to be patronising to the less well informed, but unless the new collectors are encouraged, the hobby will just die out. Bear in mind that for every patronising comment made, there are many more here who are supportive and encouraging. As to your query on legal tender - if I knew the answer I would be happy to give it!

Not entirely. If the coin is sufficiently rare, they will fake an apparently well worn/used coin with patina to fool the collectors. Classic example is the 1850 Shilling, which is mega rare. A few years back a Chinese seller was touting a load of them at £10 each. All appeared well worn and convincing, each substantially different. This seller made it clear they were copies, but the unscrupulous could buy one and pass it off as genuine. On Ebay, the history of the seller is the most important factor, as you have pointed out before. In other auctions, for rare coins ask the auction house for provenance, and view even that with a jaundiced eye. There are now many coins in private collections that are fake because the collector was conned when he/she bought it. As they all say: "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is".

The typos keep coming! I think you mean 1696, not 1996! I knew what you meant the first time, so I didn't comment.

Circulation damage I would say.

Faked coins are made both in Silver and in base metal. In some ways the base metal ones are easier to spot as a simple silver test gives them away. 19th century coins are much faked and the "best" of them are very difficult to spot. There was a discussion on here several years ago about 1818 Half Crowns. A number of apparently excellent condition examples turned up in quick succession. They were all fakes, but the only sure way to spot them is that they all had identical dents and marks! As to the auction houses to avoid - impossible to say. Even the best houses have been caught with fakes in the past.

ditto

Yes, @wlewisiii has it right I think. They were made in huge numbers during the 19th century. Most of the British Indian coins of that period feature the Gothic portrait of Queen Victoria. In that condition only of interest rather than value. Even high grade examples don't go for a great deal of money.

I picked up this interesting piece of information from a local historian. He is a buff on the Fortescue family of Castle Hill North Devon, and when he heard I was into coins he was keen to tell me that one of the Fortescue family was used as the model for Britannia on the Edward VII Florins and British Trade Dollars. He has now provided me with a copy of a talk he gave on the subject. I attach a screen shot of the relevant paragraph, but if anyone wants the full talk, PM me and I can send it in .pdf format. Of course I only have his word for it! If anyone knows any different, please let me know.

That could be a good shout. My 1723 shilling has damage just at the critical point, but here is the 3 from my much better half crown. I can see that the sixpence 3 appearance could be due to a chunk missing.

Here is my best example of the later Vic florins - 1852 - for comparison. Shame about the scratches due some previous owner's over zealous cleaning. As is so often the case, they are far less visible in hand - the camera seems to pick them up.

I was just comparing my various 1723 silver coins when I noticed something odd about the 3 in the sixpence date. I checked ESC, which mentions a 3 over 0, but this doesn't look anything like that. Any thoughts?

My favourite coin in my collection would be the Gothic Crown, but I have posted that many times before. Second favourite is much more difficult as there are many candidates, but this one is high on the list - 1723 SSC Crown. You see the shillings all the time, but the Crowns are much scarcer.

Interesting token. I suspect this would come under the heading "Gaming Token" as it loosely resembles the Guineas and half Guineas from the 18th century. Many gaming tokens included advertising on the reverse, though usually a little more subtle than that one! Probably struck in brass and originally gilded.

I think I would have to give a split grading - "aF" on the obverse but "nVF" on the reverse.

OK - in the Phaidon series by Elizabeth Hallam as editor I find I also have "Chronicles of the Wars of the Roses" which covers Richard II in 1377 to Richard III in 1485. By Publisher Heinemann and collated by Anne Savage there is a great translation of "the Anglo Saxon Chronicles", which covers from the end of the Roman occupation to Henry II. I find this particularly useful as many TV documentaries quote the Anglo Saxon Chronicles in snippets, so it is good to be able to see them in full translation. (The chronicles were written by a series of monks over hundreds of years in old English, and were usually recorded withing only a few years of the actual events, so reasonably contemporaneous.)

Something is wrong here I think. There shouldn't be any 1838 pennies? Are you perhaps looking at a halfpenny instead? Both farthings and halfpennies for 1838 exist. (The changeover from Copper to Bronze means the copper halfpenny is larger than the corresponding bronze halfpenny, so an easy mistake to make.) Check the dimensions and weight of your coin.

I can see that the treatment has lightened the tone quite a bit, but I don't see any real verdigris, before or after. Have you tried it on obvious verdigris?

I can't think of any one book that covers the whole lot. I am sure there are plenty. Dorling Kingsley are usually a good publisher for this sort of thing as they do comprehensive but fairly light coverage of their topics, well supported by illustrations and diagrams in colour. From my own shelves I have picked out two from other publishers that I found useful - both found very cheaply at charity shops: "The Anglo Saxons" by James Campbell published by Phaidon in 1982. "Chronicles of the Age of Chivalry" edited by Elizabeth Hallam and published By Salamander in 2000. This latter I think is part of a series - I have seen one on the Anglo Saxon Chronicles and another on the Crusades in the same format. Both are "Coffee table" style - lots of facts and illustrations without going into huge depth. Easy reading!

Last year was the first issue under new ownership I think. There was a fair amount of chat about it on here at the time. I know I made sure I had a 2024 copy before the change in case they knackered it!

Generally referred to as "Toy Money". Produced in the late 19th century for play and education purposes.

Nice coin! It is type 1 Rupee and has 19 berries I think. Minted in either Bombay or Madras - I find the books very confusing as to which for this series. There are several varieties but all broadly of the same value. More detail here: https://en.numista.com/9718