1888 half penny

[Guest Rhino]

I'm just wondering how much my half penny from 1888 is worth. I'm not really a coin collector so i'm not sure if it is in good condition. All i can tell you is that all the writing is great and easy to read, you can see all the folds in the womans dress on the front and you can see th light house to the left and the ship to the right really clearly, you can make out each sail.

Thanks for your time!

Rhino.

[Guest Rhino]

Sorry not for saying, but it is an english coin.

[mint_mark]

I think it would be safe to say "a few pounds". It would have to be practically perfect to be worth more than ten pounds.

[Peter]

Unless its "as struck" £20 or £30 ....then it won't be worth a lot.

If you can clearly see Victorias hair detail,a sharp image of the Union Jack on Britannia's shield,there are no edge knocks,the date and lettering are all clear and it HASN'T BEEN CLEANED.

It maybe worth £3 to £7.

A worn coin but with date & lettering clear ....maybe £1.

Still thats not a bad return (there were 480 to the £)

[Guest Rhino]

Thanks for all your help guys.

Rhino

[mint_mark]

A worn coin but with date & lettering clear ....maybe £1.

Still thats not a bad return (there were 480 to the £)

Well, if a halfpenny turns into a pound that's equivalent to an interest rate of 47900% over 116 years... doing the calculation suggests that this is equivalent to an average annual compounded rate of 5.47%.

But, looking at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ we can discover price index data going back to 1800. This shows that between 1888 and 2004 prices increased by a factor of 84.66, so the halfpenny having grown to 480 times its face value has only grown by a factor of 5.67 in real terms, which is equivalent to an average annual compounded real rate of just 1.5%... so nothing too special.

If you'd saved a brand new perfect halfpenny from the bank (now worth say £40), that would be equivalent to a real annual interest rate of 4.5%, which is an excellent return!

Of course, this is unlikely to be true for modern coins saved over the next 116 years because there are hundreds of millions minted each year (compared to millions) and inflation is likely to be much greater over the next 116 years than over the last...

OK I know, too much time on my hands

[william]

Ouch!

[Sylvester]

...If you'd saved a brand new perfect halfpenny from the bank (now worth say £40), that would be equivalent to a real annual interest rate of 4.5%, which is an excellent return!

Of course, this is unlikely to be true for modern coins saved over the next 116 years because there are hundreds of millions minted each year (compared to millions) and inflation is likely to be much greater over the next 116 years than over the last...

OK I know, too much time on my hands

Don't confuse the visitors!

...or me