richtips86

I was going to buy the Royal Mint presentation pack from eBay the weekend before the "story broke", but thought better of it for spending £23, having already paid a circulated version! Come Thursday of that week it was going for £250+

Yeah I have a kindle fire and they're black and white

Know it well, I was based on Nuffield Industrial Estate!

Hi Chris, it's decent actually!

Completely off topic, but where abouts in Wimborne / Dorset are you? I've recently moved to manchester but was a 7yr resident of Southbourne! Going home this weekend which I am ecstatic about! Sadly the area is not particularly blessed with coin fairs though

Welcome, I too am a relative newbie (2yrs) having started after being passed my grandads accumulation one Xmas, nothing valuable but full of history and my avatar pic was the first coin I ID'd. I started thinking my interest was George III as I liked the Sharpe films. Even though there's some great numismatic interest in this period, my interests never really developed, I don't know why. I have since moved into type collecting milled half-crowns and working my way through the various mints and moneyers of Henry III silver pennies which can be got in brilliant condition at relatively cheap prices! From my own experience I'd advise not to get too "het up" in initially defining what type of collector you are and just buy what you like the look of. And please, for goodness sake, do not collect milled pennies! Variety is the spice of life!

Yeah not in Manchester either, I took out £30 from the bank, although I did get 5 of the standard shield reverse

Haha yes another gap for me too! ?

Totally with you there, although there was much cursing and swearing at the time!!

Yes regularly, and it's getting harder to find 'old' 10p pieces in bags now, let alone 1992. Last time I got £50 worth, walked home with them in my pockets without checking there and then weighing down my jacket, only to find they were all newly minted 2015s!!!

Anyone? Still searching in change without joy and the 'old' 10p are getting more scarce as they're being replaced with the new alloy.

So, what are your numismatic hopes and dreams for the new year? For me, it's numismatically nothing out of this world, but I'm specifically after a high grade young vic half crown, a gothic florin and "a Briot"! Wishing you and yours a good one!

Thanks all

Hi guys, what literature would you recommend regarding hammered coinage to cover the reigns of the Normans through to Plantagenets? I've seen North but is that a good reference point? I've read Chris' England's Striking History but would like something a bit more detailed now Cheers

I see that they have now got 5 commemorative £2 coins. They're milking it out of every possible orrifice!

Hi Rob, so will the next meeting be 2 November? We're quite new in Manchester so not too familiar with Heaton Moor but living just over the other side of the A34 it shouldn't be too hard to find. What's next months topic (sorry if I've missed that somewhere on here)?

Thanks everyone for your really helpful comments. I do like robs suggestion of buying what takes my fancy. I think my 'problem' goes back to when I was about 12, I was into stamp collecting. I went to a stamp club and presented my collection and quite literally got told off for not having a theme (eg flowers / militaria) and that's stuck with me! It also put me off stamps!

Thanks for your thoughts. I was asking because,I'm STILL struggling to find a focus and was trying to identify other possible options where I may 'get more bang for my buck'. I really like half crowns but obviously these can be prohibitively expensive

Hi all, what areas would people say are currently undervalued? I remember reading somewhere a while back somebody commented they thought George V silver, but can't find that so may be wrong. Why would George V be undervalued but not George VI for example? Cheers

I fully take on your point and wasn't suggesting that decimals are the way for dealers (eBay hobbyist dealers - maybe) to go, but was simply trying to make the point that just because decimal werent seen as true coins by some collectors doesn't make them any less valid as a collectible.

For me, Rob really has hit the nail on the head. Still a novice, I currently don't have the time to be able to really get my head around the varieties (let alone remember them) of predecimal coins. However with decimals it's easy, it's in your face, because that's what you handle on a daily basis, indeed it's all I've handled all my life (save foreign dosh of course). However still trying to trace down a 1992 dot to dot 10p I have started to understand and learn the jargon, of say 'bead to I for instance' and can easily and cheaply compare wire rim to broad. Similarly, I'm trying to get a 1999 £2 in as close to uncirculated condition as possible (I actually think I have at £28 and have been meaning to post it up here) and so with decimals, in many ways you have the thrill of the chase that you don't otherwise get from pre-decimals. Equally you can easily learn and understand the subtle differences in hand as opposed to reading about them in a book (as I couldn't afford to buy multiple varieties of a predecimal coin, just to compare them in hand). I also think there is an inherent snobbery from some predecimal collectors and dealers, much the same as people who stop liking a band because they become popular. I think anybody who gets in to coin collecting via buying royal mint specials or through the coin hunt folders should be encouraged and supported not poo pooed because ultimately a percentage will make the transition into predecimal, and indeed, in another 40yrs time unless a coin collector, nobody will have any knowledge of what a farthing etc. is. Anyway, that's my musings over and done with

Good point, I was typing in haste whilst in the queue at Costa and wasn't really thinking. Thanks Rob, have just sent payment! Very excited now. ?

Hi rob, it's where the 1 in 10 is aligned with a dot, as is the L and I in Elizabeth on 1992 10p pieces with a broader rim as opposed to a wire rim. Thanks Richard

Hi All, as the title suggests, I'm after one of the these if anyone has any to spare, obviously, the nicer the grade the better.

Didn't they say the same about the underground £2 coins that a few (35k?) would be randomly released from tube ticket machines. Which they were, and now mintage is at around 1.5m!