Red Riley

It certainly is an "Early" George III Crown! I have to say I feel a tad sorry for the guy. Other pointers seem to indicate that he has some idea of what he's doing - just lost the plot at the crucial moment.

Photos would be needed, but if the British coins are in normal circulated condition, then metal value only I'm afraid. The silver threepences though have a 50% silver content, but still doesn't add up to much. Depending on condition again, the Indian and Swiss coins may be worth more.

It's a very dark image - I had to Photoshop it to see anything - so most people won't have known what you were driving at. The 2 appears to be re-stamped over something, probably another 2, but the level of magnification needed and the low resolution means that it is very fuzzy. I don't have another 1862 halfpenny with which to compare it, but the dates on early bronze was frequently all over the place, and looking at the picture in Freeman, it appears that the slight slant may be normal for the issue. Broadly speaking, coins minted from dies where a number has been re-cut over the same number, are not regarded as major, or in most cases even minor varieties but there is no hard and fast definition of what constitutes a variety, so if you want it to be one, then it is! Unlikely however that it will ever be worth much more than normal.

There is also a rumour that a lot of them were lost on a ship en route to Australia.

Maybe a few pence for the Victorian coins but really not worth the postage. Sadly, the world is full of coins like this and nobody wants them.

For the British coins that you have photograped, unless there is some detail that I am unable to see, the answer appears to be 'no'. I know nothing whatever about the Danish coin, but the overwhelming odds are that it too, is pretty much valueless. If you do not want to keep the coins yourself, may I suggest that you donate them to a child, who usually find old coins of much interest. Just don't tell them they might be worth a fortune one day!

Found an interesting forgery today (but have since spent it) - 1997 with the Maklouf obverse and the three lions on the reverse. The edge lettering was slightly wobbly but not too bad. The thing about it though, was that it was in 'Fair' condition and this was not due to the forgers sleight of hand, but simply wear on what was presumably a softer metal than the original. I guess it just shows how little the general public care about forgeries.

1946s were mint toned (as were 1944s and 1945s), so only the odd one or two which somehow escaped the treatment will be found with lustre. 1949 from memory was not an especially common year when compared with 1947 or 48, so that may explain their comparative scarcity in higher grades. I do however agree that collector activity skews the apparent rarity of coins with short mint runs. Try looking up 1918 and 19KNs on ebay.

From what I have heard, most of the 1950 batch went to Northern Ireland. Although the mintage given is twice that of 1951, they seem to be less common in the higher grades. I guess being closer to the centre of the empire, they became dispersed more easily and were hence more difficult to track down. I would be surprised though, if many were melted down in 1971.

On it's way. I have just packed it up and it will see the Post Office sometime tomorrow.

That would make them more than twice as rare as 1951s, and put them in 1860/59 territory. Like 1950 and 1951, it is conceivable that they all went to a specific location, and if anybody knows where this was, would they please enlighten us!

Yes, it is scarce but not really enough to make it worth much in average condition. The official mintage of 4.5 million is probably correct as no pennies were minted for the previous 3 years. Standard 1926s would turn up occasionally in change, but I never saw an ME in circulation. I have seen estimates that approx. 1 in 10 or 1 in 15 were MEs, but by the time I started looking for them, most had been whipped out of circulation by collectors.

I would go a little better than that, the legend is readable and the main points of design visible, so on wear alone maybe Fair. The photos are however rather blurred and it is possible that there is some damage that I can't see - or perhaps it has been cleaned? Given that it appears to have a convex shield, it is most likely F33 and worth a pound or two at most; a clearer photo would confirm. As a penny collector, probably the most likely to turn up a rarity is the 1926.

There do seem to be variations, but they only make a minor difference. You would expect a standard package to have a standard price, but it doesn't seem to have worked out that way. Without realising, on different days and at different Post Offices, I was charged £8.12 and £8.35 and I have no idea what the reason was. The double order I sent to the U.S. was charged at £14.46 and that went as 'Printed Paper' whereas the oithers went with a customs declaration, so I would say that the difference is marginal, if annoying. There is a much cheaper rate - about £4 something if I remember - which seems to involve somebody rowing an old bath tub across the Atlantic, but that can take 'up to six weeks', so I gave it a miss.

The shipping for 2 signed copies was over £14.00! How much is it for just 1 Del? For me to send one from here (Germany) would cost just £5.50 but I don't have any signed ones here. A single one worked out at (gulp...) £8.12 + cost of envelope at £0.49.

Aw shucks... This may sound a horrible cliche, but I hope everybody that reads the book gets as much enjoyment out of it as I did in putting it together. Some coins proved real stinkers to find in the conditions that I wanted, but the whole project carried with it a kind of 'thrill of the chase' which became really intoxicating. At the expense of sounding like a Hollywood Starlet receiving her Oscar, I would like to sincerely thank all the members of the forum that helped me out with coins and images of coins - all your names are acknowledged in the book - and I couldn't have done it without you. On the other hand, one or two distinguished engravers may be turning in their graves...

Never mind, it looks military so may yet have an interesting tale to tell.

Welcome to the club. Right, now - where to start! OK, you've found some coins in the garden. Now, I don't want to put you off in any way, but you must understand that such coins, less than 100 years and afflicted with corosion are very unlikely to be worth anything more than their metal value, so in a sense it doesn't matter whether you clean them or not. As a general rule though, with coins in better condition and a genuine value, don't. The better the coin, the less they should be cleaned if you get my drift; if you have a low grade coin which appears rather claggy, a brush over with a toothbrush may improve its appearance and shouldn't do much harm, but with bronze/copper coins, make sure you don't expose the bare metal - at that level, a good even tone is most desirable. If you do find anything of value, best to keep it as it is. In effect what you are doing is passing the decision on whether to clean or not on to the next owner. Most genuine collectors however would rather buy a dirty coin than one that has received less than expert cleaning. In a wider context, if you are seriously considering becoming a collector, look at what is for sale at coin fairs or with dealers. Browse the internet and even check out eBay - but with that site, exercise caution - if it seems too good to be true, it probaly is. Lastly, read up on the subject - there are some books shown above and a lot more available on the open market which can provide valuable information and shouldn't be too daunting. I could probably go on for days and days, but hopefully I have given you some pointers of where to start. Good luck!

You sure come up with some ineresting stuff. It might be worth 'minting' the odd coin in plasticine - could give you a better idea of whether the dies are genuine or for the production of forgeries.

Almost certainly been erased, possibly by putting on a lathe (in which case the reverse will have marks remeniscent of a record). Very, very unlikely to have been issued in that condition from the mint. Value? Probably nothing at all. Incidentally, a wee bit intemperate, Mr. H.

Frankly, I never bid on an item where the seller has less than 99.5! And I read all the negative comments.

Probably an unofficial medal of some sort. The inscription probably refers to William IV's controversial handling of the Great Reform Bill of 1832. Historians nowadays are inclined to treat him a little more kindly.

I stick with temple token. As I say, not my specialist area (it might just be someone's) but they do exist and it would seem logical to use demonetised coinage to form the basis of these tokens. If you have Sikh or Hindu neighbours, may be worth having a word with them as they may have been used in the neighbourhood at some time in the recent past. Would suggest you don't melt it as it does have historic interest.

It may not surprise you that this is probably a temple token, although hardly my area. If you can post a photo, someone may be able to give you more info.

If you haven't got the facilities to post a picture, I would mention that there really wasn't much going on in British coinange in 1789; the guinea, its fractions and a few maundy bits but that was about it. Possibly a trade token, although most of those were dated a few years later.