Who can sell me?

[Mynki]

Now that I have your attention...

In order to further my appreciation of coin grading I wondered if someone could sell me four identical milled coins. Same design and year obviously in UNC, EF VF and F condition.

I wouldn't want to spend more than £50 on the whole set as it's purely for educational purposes. If anyone can assist, please drop me a PM.

Thanks in advance.

[TomGoodheart]

Not me. But I do think that's a brilliant idea Mynki! Well done that (wo)man(?)!

[sound]

Mynki,

Could I suggest there is another way of doing this that will cost you less.

If the first instance buy the the 'Standard Guide to Grading British Coins' by D. Francis. You can obtain a copy from this site. It dos'nt claim to be the last word but it is very good.

Look at various dealer sites and check how they grade. There will be a disparity because after all grading is an opinion. If you determine which are the most conservative and consistent that will be a start.

Why not ring one or two up and ask why they grade as they do. Most will be helpful, if not don't dont bother with them.

I wouldn't be in a hurry to buy my first coin the longer you can put it off the better. I know that's hard.

Also you can't really compare one with another. If you buy four George VI 2/6 as an example, as you have suggested. It won't help you with grading say George V.

Probably best to determine what your budget is or likely to be, concentrate on a type or reign, learn to grade that before moving on.

The slower you can take it, the less mistakes you will make, the more satisfying it wil become.

My thoughts in no particular order.

Kind regards

Mark

[Peckris]

Mark makes a good point - you need to see the wear characteristics of each design, and Derek's book takes you a long way down that road.

For example, Britannia on the reverse of pennies from 1937 is a very shallow design, and even a VF specimen will appear relatively worn. But if you take Britannia between 1927 and 1936, that's a very strong design, and even in F will probably look as good as that VF George VI.

I applaud your aim, but I feel that just to take a single design would be misleading?

[Mynki]

I always knew I should have selected a more masculine screen name.

Sound / Peckris - I've been meaning to buy that book for some time. I'm sure it would teach me infinitely more than four coins ever would. But I'd also like to obtain the coins also. So I could also teach my son too as we're collecting together / building his inheritence etc.

Thanks for all the feedback.

[TomGoodheart]

Personally Mynki (and bearing in mind I don't generally collect milled coins) while I quite agree that different dates and denominations vary considerably and it requires knowledge to know which ones can be easily found looking perfect and which will be a struggle, I think a coin in the hand is worth two in the book!. As it were!

A photo or even video just isn't the same as having a coin you can weigh up, tilt in the light, inspect at all angles.

In fact I have a 'jolly nice' 1916 halfcrown. If ever I do get round to visiting a coin fair I shall take it along and seek out one of the dealers here (or several!) and ask their opinion of it. I'm sure it will help me learn more about grading than all the photographs, auction listings and so on I've relied upon to date.

And if my coin turns out to have been cleaned, not in the grade it was sold as or otherwise different from the description, I shall have gained by the experience just as much (or perhaps more so) as if I had got a bargain!

As for your son, I'm sure he'd like to hold a piece of history more than see a picture in a book!

.

[CartwheelTwopence]

I've just had a quick look through my collection and that's a surprisingly hard thing to do! Most younger coins are generally good and older generally bad; it's hard to get the full spread! And for them to all be of the same year and design!

The best I can do is the set of George VI English Shillings - all .500 silver. Unfortunately 2 are 1940 and 2 are 1941.

As I said - it is a hard task!

[Rob]

I concur. Collectors will in general only have a couple of examples at most and dealers are unlikely to have a full spread of grades. You could ask someone like Micchael Gouby as he may have sufficient stocks to cover all grades, but don't bank on it. Dealers will not be falling over each other to accumulate low grade material, as for many 20th century pieces, demand for anything other than ef or unc coins is limited to say the least.

[CartwheelTwopence]

[declanwmagee]

Capture COINS.PNG

The EF and UNC are nowhere near on those old chap!

[Peckris]

Capture COINS.PNG

The EF and UNC are nowhere near on those old chap!

It's possible we're not seeing them in the best light? The "UNC" does look as though it's beginning to show rubbing on the cheek, so that would knock it back, but the EF - if it has all the hair strands still visible - could be lustrous if only if it was held at the right angle?

The one I'd dispute for certain is the F : an F George VI should have a complete ear.

[CartwheelTwopence]

Sorry - I'm a bit new to grading too! Here are the pictures of UNC and EF - I was sold the "UNC" as UNC, so will be a little dissapointed if it's lower. Perhaps AUNC? Oh well - it's still just a cheap coin anyway!

[CartwheelTwopence]

VF and F

[Nick]

Looks to me like each of your pictures is one grade too high.

[Michael-Roo]

The UNC has wear to the cheek, neck, and hair.

Nick is correct. Each coin is marked one grade higher than it actually is.

Don't worry about it. We are all here to learn.

[Peckris]

Having looked at the bigger pictures, I would say GEF, GVF, F and GFair.