Paddy

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!

OK Nick, here are pictures of mine. It seemed to me that the date, in particular, looked smaller on mine. I tried to check out the Ebay advertised one to make sure it wasn't a mis-identified shilling, but I think he has it right. If you think there is a difference we probably ought to re-open this discussion elsewhere on this board.

I have the 1827 Sixpence - about the same grade as this one on Ebay at the moment and it cost me £100 ten years ago, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1827-George-IV-Sixpence-Key-Date/122737600194?hash=item1c93bb26c2:g:cDUAAOSw4ZNZ05md Interestingly my one has much smaller lettering than this one. Is there a recognised variety or has one of us got it wrong? :-)

Very much so! I have had an Ebay alert going for more than 5 years now, and as far as I know only one has come up (referred to above) and I missed it. Another case where the books seem to have mis-estimated the rarity of a coin. (1827 Sixpence is another.)

I don't know if Jamie ever got one of these, but I am after one too. Last one I need to complete my run of Threehalfpences...

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!

I don't have my books to hand but I would guess Indian Subcontinent or Sri Lanka/Ceylon 18th or early 19th century. Each State has its own name for small coins like this - including Fanams. It will be a search through Krause to nail it down I fear.

An interesting thread - I certainly had never noticed the change in the 20p obverse design. For years I have put away one of every coin each year from circulation, upgrading where possible to the best I could find. Here are my examples from 1991, 1992 and 1993. Now I can see clearly the change from 1991 to 1992 - the most obvious indicators to me seem to be the distance from the tip of the crown to the edge and the angles in the points of the bust. Now I just need to spot a 1992 with the smaller bust!

I would still go with VF+ to NEF - the loss of detail on the helmet and a few bits of wear on the high points just holding it back. It will be interesting to see what the graders say - please let us know when you get it back.

I am a bit unwilling to enter into this thread as there seems to be a lot of unnecessary testostorone behind some of the posts. My feeling is that any opinions on coins are valid but should be espressed in polite and respectful tones. Not all of us can afford perfect coins all the time and the joy for many of us is in the acquisition, not the possession. Being derogatory about other people's coins here certainly risks putting them off using this forum and may risk putting them off coin collecting all together, which is in nobody's interest. IMO the coin posted is around VF+ bearing in mind that farthings of this date were darkened by the mint so the tone is appropriate. Value is more difficult - in the end it is what someone is prepared to pay for it, so if the OP was happy with the price they paid, then that is it's value to them. As to grading, personally I don't go for that at all - I prefer to keep my coins in the raw so I can examine them when I wish to. Equally I have few coins that are good enough to warrant grading and having some of my coins in plastic coffins would throw off the balance of the others. But I completely understand other's desire to have their coins graded, so don't let me put anyone off!

As others have implied, 1946 and 1949 are always quoted as the scarcest 3Ds. I find the 1946 in used condition will only make £2 or £3. The 1949 does a little better - £4 to £6. In Uncirculated condition, or near so they will go for a great deal more. The 1950 in any condition is proving scarce these days and if you have one in Unc worth tucking away!