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Good morning all, I'm new as its been a while since I last posted and signed in, I didn't think I would even remember my pass word. My focus changed to more modern coins and banknotes, and a lot of face book groups, but it's nice to be back

Here you go. Silver coinage was basically worth its value because of the weight of precious metal it contained. So older coinage still circulated. The recoinage permitted some coins to continue to be used for a while providing they were on full flans. The official piercing to show they'd been checked was done in a way that didn't remove any metal. This is an officially pierced shilling of Charles I. Not the neatest of examples, but they're quite hard to find, so I'm happy enough with this one.

It arrived today. Very pleased, looks as good in hand as the seller's pics. £170 odd is actually quite a decent price. I had already got an 1858 small date in similar grade, but scruffy looking with spots all over it.

Here's one I found metal detecting last year, a Charles II halfcrown clipped right down to the inner circles and a bit over 8g! Jerry

As I understand it they struggled with production, despite the extra mints. They simply didn't have enough new coin at first so had to allow some hammered to continue in circulation. As for why not clip after, firstly because no coin that wasn't full was acceptable as legal tender (so you risked having it refused) but more importantly because clipped coin (well sixpences and as far as can be seen, shillings) were exchanged by the authority at full face value providing they were not clipped further than to the inner circle. Effectively this meant that if you were going to clip a coin (which was still illegal ) you'd be better clipping first, keeping the extra silver, then handing the central bit in to be melted in return for new coin to full face value! Basically the whole process appears to have been a nightmare and full of problems for the authorities, but I presume the hammered pieces were getting to the stage that foreign traders were refusing to accept them in payment and a reliable modern coinage became essential, despite the cost to the treasury.

I remember a dealer at the Midland who had a huge box of mixed coins marked at 25p each or 5 for £1. I looked at it a bit dubiously and the dealer said "I've not checked through that so you might find some bargains?" Not only were there some pre-1920 florins and shillings in there, there was also an 1888 6d EF, and a 1951 3d Unc with good lustre. When I showed them to Stephen Lockett, he dashed off and made an offer for the whole box to the other dealer!

I presume they weren't intended to circulate for very long? I guess the Mint didn't care much if they were clipped, though the question arises "why bother punching them at all, why not simply recall hammered in order to use the silver for milled coins"? Perhaps the answer is that they could punch several hammered coins in the time it took to mint one milled coin, so it was an efficient temporary measure on the road to recalling the hammered coins.

There are rare occasions when you have no idea what a particular rare coin will go for and you have to be prepared to make last minute decisions on how much you want it and how much you'll pay for it. Be still, my beating heart.

The punch simply created a small central perforation, round or square. There is even a book about them. https://www.galata.co.uk/the-punched-hammered-coinage-of-1696 Jerry