John Samuel

This coin was given to my daughter by a family member some years ago. A lovely piece of jewellery. But in numismatic terms, Forum member Rob has advised I "might be rapidly approaching melt". But I post it in the hope people find it of interest.

Thanks Coinery I think your remarks have consolidated my thinking. I would value the original coin with solder marks on it higher than a coin artificial after restoration. This holds, for me, no matter how sympathetic the restoration (thanks for your thoughts Gary1000). Today I shall post the third of three coins which came my way a couple of years ago. In this case, a 1842 Victoria groat, also damaged (but less so) and, it seems to me, polished.

Thanks for these interesting thoughts. Coinery's analogy/comparison doesn't really work for me: the point of a car/plane is that it can be driven/flown. So it would make sense to restore the car/plane so that these things could be done. But a coin doesn't do anything: it may be valued for its history - that it has been used as money over many years/decades/centuries. Or, conceivably, valued because it had been admired aesthetically by a great-grandmother, converted into a brooch and treasured. In the first instance (valued for its history) I agree with Paulus - much depends on the extent of the restoration. And Garrett makes a very good point. All I know about this Crown is that my grandmother gave it to my father. I suspect that my grandmother was given it by her mother, who lived from 1871 to 1962. All four of us in this paragraph lived in the same house and if I could find a photograph of the coin being worn as a brooch I would be delighted. But I haven't, yet.

Thanks. DaveG38 kindly gave the link in post #5. The before/after pics are remarkable, but: is a restored coin still the original coin, or is it something else? If you know what I mean...

Thanks so much for your warm welcome. My wife has put the groat "somewhere safe", and consequently it will take a while to track down! I'll post details soon and would be delighted to hear any comments.

Thank you for the welcome. No, I can't claim to be a collector, but am the recipient of a few family items, which interest me a great deal. I have posted on this site about my (damaged) 1847 Gothic Crown, and intend posting about a groat which came to me a few years ago.

My father gave this coin to my son a few years ago. According to my father (who was born in 1930) it sat in a sideboard drawer in his childhood home for as long as he could remember. He says that, in about 1941, he took it to our local (Plymouth) Museum, "where it was instantly identified as 'mint of Rome', AD43, Claudius on the obverse and the Goddess Minerva on the tail." So, there's no mystery about this coin, and I don't suppose it's worth a great deal, but it is a striking coin and I post it in the hope it is of interest.

Thanks again to all who gave advice. We seem to be reaching something of a consensus - I shall leave the coin as it is.

Thanks. It did occur to me that treatment by a jeweller might ruin that beautiful oxidation (if that's the right word. Patination?)

My thanks to hazelman and DaveG38. The (admittedly rather poor) photographs of this coin posted by me do not properly show the other damage, presumably caused at the same time as the attachment: directly opposite the attachment on the rim is some discolouration and minor chips.

Thanks very much for the advice.

Hi - this 1847 Gothic Crown has been in my family for a number of generations. As can be seen, at some stage the coin had an attachment soldered to it (my guess is that an attempt was made to make the coin into a brooch, and that this attachment was a hinge.) My question is, should I attempt to have the attachment removed, or would this attempt damage the coin further? I have asked this question on another coin forum, and am grateful to the advice I have received from there (which advice was that I SHOULD get the attachment removed, and that the best place to go would be a High Street jeweller. Such arcane terms as 'fine-tip soldering iron' and 'solder sucker' have been mentioned to me.) I would be very grateful for any further advice. (The coin is not for sale.) Thanks.