Paddy

Another pick up from a bag brought to me at market. I think it is a Henry V Half Groat, S 1773 or near there, but I would appreciate confirmation or correction. Main identifiers for me seemed to be the mullet on the breast and the unusual Crown. Weighs 1.56g and measures about 20mm across.

I know this is no great shakes as a coin, but I believe this is another in your vein - 1566 threepence with lion over rose mintmark.

Always welcome Kev - I keep finding 1887 sixpences in hidden stashes and I have never examined them for variations other than the basic 3!

I certainly remember picking up pre-1920 silver during the 60s, but it had pretty much faded out by the 70s. I don't recall ever getting any Vicky silver but I heard a tale of someone in New Zealand getting a William IV halfcrown in change! Best I had, only ten years ago was finding that one of the "pennies" in my pocket after a day at the market was actually a half sovereign. Somebody must have gone home very upset!

Thanks very much for that - I have bookmarked the link for now and will return to read the articles later.

... and here is the one currently in my collection. (Apologies for the poor colour - this was taken before I got a better handle on that.) NOw - the new one seems to have a smaller roase that the old, but the old is not big enough to be the large rose variety, and in any case I don't think that is recorded for this date. Having spotted this, I also noted that the colon after Reg is different on the two coins, and the angle of the colon after Britanniar is also changed. Are these recognised variations?

As some of you know I am a reluctant variety collector, so I am struggling with these two 1855 OT Pennies. Here is the one I have just acquired:

This beggars belief - and it seems some mugs are buying them! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Winston-Churchill-Coin-Crown-WWII-WWI-Hitler-Nazi-Germany-Medal-Silver-London-UK/401589041208?hash=item5d80927838:g:Fz0AAOSwaSZaNvRG I sell them at 50p each - anyone interested? 🙂

I thought their shops were over-priced enough but their coin listings are incredibly dear! I can't believe they sell much.

As requested by Rob, this ticket from my new Henry II Penny. Apparently this is a "Ray Inder" ticket.

... and the tickets:

The other one was this Henry II Northampton Penny as an upgrade:

... and the tickets that came with it as I know some of you love these:

Well both my major purchases at DNW were hammered. Edward the Elder Penny to fill that gap in my sequence of Wessex monarchs:

Yes, and the second was so unpopular that he was probably murdered. The third was an imported Dutchman and the fourth was "Silly Billy". Anyway, at the present rate our next king will probably be "Vladimir I".

Yes - welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy this madhouse! As Peck has alluded to, the starting point should be some good reference books. Those shown in the banner ad above are great to get started. For more detail the Spink "Coins of England" that is published each year is the bible. (The 2018 edition is on special offer on Amazon at the moment as they clear the decks for the 2019 edition and the changes from one year to the next are relatively small.) Once you have formed an idea of what you want to collect there are lots of people here to give you great advice, so feel free to ask.

By the way - you may have noticed the historical list of mintage figures has disappeared from the Royal Mint website at the moment - at least for the £2 to 50p range. I contacted them and they tell me the site is undergoing maintenance and the list will be restored "soon".

Yes - I went for the Silver hammered as well. Picked up an Edward the Elder to fill a gap and a nice Henry II as an upgrade. That is about all I can justify spending at the moment.

He has got the date mixed up too - coin pictured is 1879M, not 1873.

Welcome to predecimal coins! The people here are pretty good at helping you out with anything you find in the way of British Pre-decimal and Decimal coinage, so we look forward to your queries. First advice is to get a good book to support your search. Those advertised in the banners on this site are a good starting point and very good value. If you get more specialised we can recommend others to cover specific areas in more detail.

Could you give more details on the book you have? The only reference I have is for Evasions in the Withers Token book, but it does not help with the counterfeits much.

Thanks for the update! I will pass on to the owner.

And lastly Shilling with Hearts:

Then Shilling without Hearts: