Stuntman

Wow, an 1820 shilling received in change! That must have been very exciting to someone with an interest in coins. The coin clearly found an appropriate custodian.

Agreed, I'll get my groat

I agree with Sleepy, in my opinion the reverse is near EF in terms of wear with the obverse not quite as good but at least VF. However, it appears to have fairly limited eye appeal, which will limit its potential buying audience if you were thinking of selling it.

Now that you know what the coin is, I bet you're Ticaled pink

As Phase says - try doing a few bank runs. Although perhaps leave it a few months if you're looking for the Jane Austen coin specifically as I doubt there are many in general circulation yet. I've done this a few times in the past but more as a bit of fun, rather than in absolute seriousness to find a particular coin. The current hit rate on £2 commemoratives is around 1 in every 7 coins, so you're very likely to find an interesting cross-section of coins for if you changed say £200 into 100 £2 coins. Rinse and repeat! I've just done £500 worth of 50ps in an attempt to find a Kew Gardens! Unsuccessful, but amusing nonetheless. The hit rate of commemoratives on these 1000 50ps was 9.3%, i.e. 93 coins that weren't either the standard Britannia or the partial shield reverse. I'll recycle these into another £500 worth soon, and then stop!

I thought this was going to be about a car! (Congratulations by the way)

eBay's certainly a good reference site if you want to see what a particular coin really looks like and the sort of condition you might expect to find them in. Occasionally there are bargains or potential bargains, but I have only ever bought two coins from eBay. In each case I left a max bid and then walked away. I have bid on more, but the winning bids have exceeded my maximum. I suspect if the coin is under-described or misdescribed (favourably to the purchaser), the casual browser might miss it, creating an opportunity for the informed buyer.

When I was working as a cashier in a betting shop in 1990-91, occasionally one of the punters would pay for their bets with silver predecimal shillings and florins. When these came into my till, I swapped them out with a 5p or 10p from my own pocket, with the permission of the shop manager. During the year I was there, I received two shillings and three florins. The shillings were dated 1935 and 1946, and both were not quite F. The florins were dated 1922, 1929 and 1941. The 1922 was poor, but the other two were pretty decent and are still in my collection today. I sold the other 3 coins as scrap silver within the last 2 years.

Yep, looks like the Northern Ireland one to me as well Gallingly, I have two England ones! I got back into the hobby a few years ago when the Olympic 50ps came out, which then prompted me to look at some other decimal coins and from there I rekindled my interest in the predecimal stuff. This place is full of knowledgeable people - I lurked for about 6 months before joining in. Get along to one of the coin fairs if you can, the breadth and quality of stuff there is impressive and there's something to suit all pockets. At least being in London you also have some actual coin shops to visit as well.

Welcome Duncan, I like trying to find the commemorative £2 coins as well, ideally in change but I occasionally go to the bank and cash out a few bags of the £2 coins to sort through. Am still looking for 3 of the 4 Commonwealth Games coins, mind! In my opinion there are lots of really interesting predecimal coins, with some beautiful designs and lots of historical fascination regarding the monarchs and the metals used. Perhaps start by just collecting a little bit of what you fancy to start with, which might be influenced by the size of the coin (if you like £2 coins you might like the bigger predecimal denominatlons?) or the metal (coins are usually either copper, bronze or silver) or maybe all the different head designs for a particular monarch, such as Victoria? Enjoy and have fun.

GF for me, I don't think it's quite NVF. £10-£15 as Rob says.

Pete - when the coin has been struck the RM staff member puts the coin into the folder that they give you at the start of the tour. It's a simple hinged piece of card which then presses together to secure the coin within the 12 sided transparent plastic recess bit (technical term...). It stays closed unless/until you carefully prise it open, as Rich has done with his own coin. I've kept mine in the folder rather than examining it closely, ,but it's definitely a normal strike rather than a die clash. Edited to say - as the tour guest you can select the blank, which you then give to the RM staff member at the striking machine, along with your folder. You do have to pay an additional fee to strike the coin and you pay this upfront before going into the tour. This was £5 when I went in Feb but seems to be £7.50 now.

I struck mine in the second week of Feb (see the Royal Mint experience thread I posted up on the forum) and mine doesn't have the die clash. When were you there, Rich?

If I didn't need the cash and liked the coins, I'd keep the 1918 and 1895 halfcrowns because they are in nice condition (especially the 1918), plus your middle crown (1890?) and maybe the 1873 gothic florin. But of course, these are the coins that would realise the most cash. The other crowns might perhaps sell for about £20, and the halfcrowns not much more than their bullion value. You may well do best selling them on eBay versus to a coin dealer or jeweller for the bullion if you're near London or Birmingham. Whereabouts are you based? And definitely keep the sovereign, but if you want to turn it into cash, your best bet is probably a jeweller in Hatton Garden or Birmingham's jewellery quarter. You'll currently get about £220 for it.

A nice interesting cross section there. The George V Halfcrown (1916?) looks as if it's EF or better. The Victoria Old Head Halfcrown looks as if it's at least VF, probably better. The 1887 Double Florin looks around GF or NVF but appears to have been cleaned. The Victoria Gothic Florin is around F I would say, with the reverse better. The other two Victoria Halfcrowns (Young Head and Jubilee Head) are Fair. What are the dates of these coins? The Gothic Florin would cost about £25 or so to buy if it's a common year, but loads more if it's 1854, 1862 or 1863 The George V halfcrown would cost about £35 minimum to buy, depending on year. The Victoria Old Head halfcrown probably about the same or a bit more. This is a useful guide when it comes to values: http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/values/index.html

It's certainly an impressive display of craftsmanship and a lovely thing to behold. Thanks for sharing!

Best wishes from me too.

I replied in your decimal thread! I think it's the NI coin as well.

Interesting stuff. I'd probably be inclined to leave my proof coins alone, but good to hear that you've had good results with your careful cleaning.

I think the blank is already a bimetallic blank before the coin is struck. That was certainly the case when I 'struck' my own £1 coin at the RM Experience in Feb. Therefore I would be surprised if the centre is actually struck separately from the outer, but the design as a whole could definitely be struck slightly off-centre I would think.

It looks like the Northern Ireland one to me. The centre of the cross is altogether smoother and more uniform on the England one. A good find either way - especially so if it truly is the NI one!

^^^ Well, the after is immeasurably better than the before. Was that just a short immersion in acetone and then just air dried?

Any more talk like that, and I will be forced to give you a damned good thrashing

Good stuff, gentlemen. Carry on (and don't mention the war)...

Some interesting stuff there already, and Iggy sounds quite the character. It's a pity that the coins probably haven't been stored particularly well for a good while. The misstrikes are interesting, and I think the Godless florin is in perfectly decent nick. . I think VickySilver is probably the most knowledgeable here with regard to conserving/improving the silver coins and hopefully he'll be along sometime to contribute- otherwise it might be worth sending a gentle PM in his direction asking for advice? FWIW I don't see any harm in starting with an olive oil soak for the 1920-1946 silver coins, leaving them in for a week or so and then gently poking off any more gunk with a water softened cocktail stick before a final rinse in de-ionised water and then careful drying (Vicky would say high thread count cotton towel I think). Start on the worst ones first and see how much improvement there is. For the pre 1920 silver I'm not sure if the olive oil soak is recommended. The one time I tried it, it improved the coin a bit but not as much as I was hoping. Keep posting