New person

[Mat]

Hello guys, first time I have ever joined a coin forum and I need some advice.

Firstly I am going to admit I am into coins and notes just for the money which I know some of you may not appreciate my presence here but I would prefer to be up front and honest. I love coins and would love to collect and did collect up to the point of going to uni (sold to pay for tuition fees), however now I am 23 and need to utilise funds for slightly more important things like mortgage/car/wedding>wife. So I have been putting my knowledge of coins to good personal use.

I have been buying coins from everywhere and pretty much just selling them on eBay to make a second income, some of you may have seen the 1876 frank may £5 note I sold recently. Now despite the high value stuff I buy and sell, there is still a lot I need to learn and probably some of the simplest things I don’t know or still miss:

1. If a collection is described as “collection on leaves" does this just mean the coins are in plastic/pvc coin sleeves in an album?

2. I am going to sell some guilt George III coins soon when they arrive (cartwheel penny & 1806 half penny), both coins are proofs, however are they guilt proof or are they struck as a normal proof, then bronzed then guilted?

3. I came across a set of Official Coronation medals from Charles II - QEII, pretty much all gold, silver and copper or bronze editions were present for each monarch, however the queen Ann and George IV had a 4th metal issue which appeared to be struck in pewter. Are these pewter strikes official? They were both 34mm which I believe is correct, and did look a little worn.

4. I do not clean coins with the exception of bullion sovereigns (because they do look nicer shiny and I don’t think anyone really cares they will still fetch £145 either way) HOWEVER, I have recently acquired some pretty common James II tin farthings and I believe two of them would benefit from getting the rust off. Now I do not want to risk destroying them as they are worth a bit, I was wondering if anyone can offer advice on cleaning tin farthings using reversed electrolysis so the cathodes will extract the rust from the coin? I can use a solvent for the electrolyte opposed to an acid which will obviously destruct the coin surface.

Thanks for all your help with the above questions, I would like to communicate on here a lot more and I hope that we will trade in future.

ps thank you Chris Perkins for the help you gave me on the 1991 £15000 bank notes which I found mentioned in a book...

Mathew