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If they can sell overpriced tat, then good luck to them. Whilst we all look on in amazement at the prices they want and the fact that some people will pay that price, it is only the free market working as it should. The same argument applies as for overpriced slabs. If the buyer is happy paying that amount, then it's a good deal for all. Most of the disappointment arises when the time comes to sell, either the original vendor or the inheritor's realisation that their benefactor wasn't quite on the ball. You cannot dictate prices across the board, and for a business to survive, it has to make a profit. As a business you are better off selling 1 item at £100 profit, than 100 items at £1 profit each. That someone is willing to pay what you or me would say is overpriced is irrelevant. Should you want to buy the same items in the secondary market, the price you would be willing to pay would not shift from your current perception of fair value.

It looks like it's spent some time in water, sea or river, as it's rather smoothed? Also, without seeing the other side, there looks to be a plugged edge-hole at 9 O'clock? Nice bit of history, but not a collector's piece if there are better examples around for a few extra quid. Thanks for bringing it on here, though! Talking of Edwards, I was staggered to find a beautiful tomb in Gloucester Cathedral last week, which belongs to Edward II. I instantly wanted to collect Edward II coins, just to build on the sense of history I felt, standing before this king's burial spot! Amazing!

1866

Befpre having my head turned by hammered coinage i was initially interested in pennies

Pre the 1816 coinage, groats et infra were almost certainly struck on an as required basis with no consideration for the Maundy distribution. Although money was dispensed at the ceremony, it must have been taken from existing currency supplies. One would assume that the poor weren't particularly concerned what condition the coins were in, nor whether their date was current. In my opinion, the concept of Maundy Sets dated prior to the 19th century is something that has been retrospectively applied to those years where all denominations were struck, rather than as a result of a conscious decision to produce sets for the ceremony. With the introduction of Boulton and Watt's presses used for the recoinage of 1816, it enabled the mint to strike a consistent product, and it is this that I think led to the production of yearly sets, though obviously the priority was the production of regular silver currency pieces following 60 years of neglect throughout the reign of George III. Although there are a couple of gaps in the first years of the new coinage, since 1822 Maundy coins have been produced every year since. The number of individuals collecting has also increased progressively down the years, possibly as a result of wealth trickling down from the spoils of the industrial revolution and so we also see sets being made for collectors, in addition to those needed for the Maundy ceremony. This was the norm until 1908 when you could order them from the mint just as you can buy their 'collectable' items today, but from 1909 onwards the sets were essentially made for the Maundy distribution. 1762 is clearly a year where they only needed threepences, but it could just as easily have been any of the other denominations.