Stuntman

Some fabulous coins there Azda. Love the 1911 Florin and the 1845 Crown in particular. Is the Florin a currency coin or a proof?

I think it probably depends on the type of collector you are (no pun intended). I'm similar to you in the sense that I'm not setting out to obtain different varieties of the same denomination and date, but reading about them here certainly raises my awareness of them. I suppose it's a spectrum really - I mean, most coin collectors probably know about things like the H and KN pennies of 1912, 1918 and 1919, the 1926 ME penny and the 1902 low tide penny for example. Coming on here opens your eyes to further varieties, such as different versions of a number (1903 open 3 penny for example) or different date widths (1889 penny for example, I think). Then I doff my cap to the real Forum Gods especially the penny collectors when they show pictures of even more micro-varieties and/or impacts of die wear evolution! I think if you're into collecting certain denominations, the varieties keep it interesting and give you something to try and find. But someone like me, and for a given budget, would rather have examples of different types of coins in my collection rather than different varieties of the same coin. It's an adventure either way!

Here's my only LIMA coin, what I think is a reasonably serviceable 1745 Shilling bought from the Midland Coin Fair in June this year!

Slabbed Panda would be a good name for a punk or metal band I think.

I'd say it's up to you, Sleepy. After all, you're the current custodian of this coin. If you think it might have more appeal to you without some of the gunk on it, by all means experiment. I'd probably give it a couple of weeks in Olive Oil followed by a good wash with de-ionised water and then a careful pat dry with a clean white cotton cloth. That should remove some of the gunk but not too much. After that, see what you think, and perhaps go down the acetone or ammonia routes as suggested by others above.

I saw that episode but I missed the first one. I thought it was interesting too, and I'm sure that you would have noticed how she had her hair braided(?) in the manner of the gothic head!

It's interesting that your girlfriend got a 1986 £2 in her change recently, as I thought these older style £2 coins were demonetised about 20 years ago! Nice find. You learn something every day. I still have the 1986 commonwealth games, 1989 bill of rights and 1995 50th anniversary of the end of WW2 £2 coins that I picked out of change at the time!

Will you really stuff and mount the winning beans? Fair play if you do, a proper taxidermy display like a prize catch! Congratulations, by the way. Would it be unkind to ask how many other mad eccentric fools entrants there were?

Good for you, and I think that the decimal £2, £1 and 50p coins are a good place to start whetting your appetite as you can enjoy looking for them in circulation as well as finding them from dealers or on eBay etc. Maybe after a while you'll dip your toe into the world of predecimal UK coins. For instance, for the cost of a Kew Gardens 50p you could buy quite a few common predecimal coins (say for 1937,1953 or 1967) in top grade, with those years representing the coronations of George VI, Elizabeth II and the date on the last circulating predecimal coins. Although where to start is all down to personal preference! For instance you might prefer to have a little bit of everything, or a lot of the same denomination like you currently have with your decimals. I'm relatively new collector (well I collected as a schoolboy about 35 years ago, but I've come back to the hobby in the last couple of years) and I started off collecting a little bit of everything, but like most of us here I suspect, I prefer the look and feel of certain denominations more than others. Have fun!

They are good honest coins that have seen plenty of action over their lifetime. You could enjoy speculating about whose hands they passed through, and what items they were exchanged for.

Hi - I tend to upload my coin photos to a sharing site (Photobucket for me) and then post the link here - for example: The 1824 AEF sounds interesting although it might be a little too rich for my blood. For the Large Jubilee Heads I would be more interested in a common coin with nice eye appeal than something more rare. I'm looking for a decent serviceable example of each main type and my own examples of the three coins I mentioned are Fine or worse!

I might be interested, don't have any halfpennies to exchange I'm afraid, only got a few myself I would be particularly interested in seeing what you have for George IV (garnished reverse and gartered reverse coins of 1821-25), and Victoria Large Jubilee head (1889-92). Stick some pictures up anyway, I'm sure many of us would like to see what you have! Good luck with the halfpennies, I like them as a denomination too, especially the copper ones of 1799-1859.

I like it. I would say at least NEF, probably not quite a pure EF for me. I would be tempted too, although it is the commonest year for the Wiliiam IV halfcrown and the price is reasonably full, I think. Good luck with your decision!

I have an early milled shilling with what appears to be a carbon spot on it. Can carbon spots be wholly or partially removed from sterling silver?

I think you've done well with your 1935 Crown. Better than I did for a coin from a dealer graded GEF but probably similar to yours in reality £24 delivered.

Stick on La Villa Strangiato and everything will be right with the world...

In any event (based on your interests), just crank up the stereo and stick on Rock N Roll, War Pigs and Highway Star and everything will be right with the world again

This is good advice and something I've being doing more of recently. Regarding your shilling - the planchet flaw might be seen as making the coin more interesting to you, something to contrast against your other coins. But if you're not happy with the coin and it wasn't as described (or the coin wasn't fully pictured) then I think you're perfectly entitled to ask the dealer for a refund. The dealer probably has a returns policy on their website anyway?

I agree. I would always prepared say how much I've paid and to hear others' views on that amount. Most of my coins have come from 3 or 4 online coin dealers and I've made two visits to the Midland Fair as well although I only bought five predecimal coins during those two visits. Then again, the sums I'm paying for coins are an order of magnitude lower than some on here. It's enlightening for me to see pictures of the excellent coins in your collection and those of other forum members. I appreciate your opinion regarding my coin, it helps me live and learn, although I'm currently not actively looking to upgrade any of mine. I will be adding different types and perhaps hoping to buy more shrewdly on the price/grade spectrum. Cheers!

Very nice as usual Paulus, and I do agree with you about the grade of my own coin being GVF at best. I wanted a decent enough example of an OH crown that didn't break the bank. My current aspirations are more modest than yours! I paid £77 delivered, from CC about a year ago. Not too bad or did I overpay significantly? I never know whether it's considered poor form to talk about the cost on these threads so forgive me if so!

Here's the reverse of my 1895 crown showing the circular hairlines: The obverse doesn't seem to be as badly afflicted: Dealer graded it GVF but I think it's possibly slightly better (with my rose tinted spectacles on)!

Both coins look very pretty although I would agree about the hairlines on the crown. I have an 1895 crown graded GVF by the selling dealer which has circular hairlines on the reverse, in particular, that only become apparent on a large scale photo. The coin's perfectly nice in hand and I'm happy with it for the price I paid. Your shilling's very nice and pleasing in my opinion, the obverse is particularly crisp and sharp. Looks as if it has a slight pinkish tone on the reverse legends, does that appear to be the case in hand? At least aUNC for the shilling for me. The crown has virtually no wear but I don't know how those hairlines might affect the grading. As a general rule I would say that most most dealers in my experience, even the forum recommended ones, will grade the same coin at least half a grade higher than our forum sages would. The forum sages are strict and dispassionate whereas the likes of you and me probably have the rose tinted spectacles on being relative novices. Azda is right though, if you are happy with the coins you have for the prices you've paid then that's the main thing. T

I agree. The RM has really milked its potential market since about 2013 and as such has lost a great deal of its credibility for me. I bought the commemorative proof sets in 2013,14 and 15 which I thought were nice coins in nice packaging, but there's no way I'm paying £95 for the 2016 set when the price was £65 two years ago for an equivalent set. I liked the first two £20 coins but I have been less keen on the designs since, although I did buy a Longest Reigning Monarch one for £15 on eBay when I had a discount voucher! The £50 coin I think is a nice design, but the £100 coins don't appeal to me at all. I'd far rather spend that sort of money on some milled predecimal silver

I think bhx7's coin has the sharpest reverse so far. Here's my 1916, which is probably the least impressive specimen on the thread! Still quite nice in hand, though.

I think the 1912 coin is sharper than the 1918 coin. It has more eye appeal to me, from the photos.