Chris Perkins

Yes, sometimes, confusingly, even Uncirculated coins have seen very limited circulation (ie from the bank to the bus company, to you). As long as it has minimal contact marks and no wear whatsoever, then you may label it UNC, as far as i'm concerned.

I think it would still be illeagal if it was gold or of significant historical value and went unreported to the authorities.

To the recent new faces: welcome on behalf of all the existing regulars in the forum. Stick around won't you, there are usually new things in here daily to talk about and respond to. Any problems, come right out and tell me via personal message.

Yes, of course there are unofficial and official earlier and later sets, but I think the original poster was just after info about the 40's-60's perspex sets they had. Worldwide in the history of coinage there are no doubt 10's of thousands of different coin sets!

Ah, well it was close. (Obverse is spelt with an 'S')

That sounds the same as what happened with me years ago. Now it would be very strange if your uncle was also an 'Uncle Peter'?

Not at all, many trial pieces are created in alternate metal for test purposes, and blanks that are the wrong metal have known to be acidentally struck. These do occasionally get into circulation. I have seen a bronze 1970's 5p and own a cupro nickel 1868 Halfpenny, the Halfpenny was a trail piece and the 5p was authenticated by the mint as an error.

Error coins are strange, it simply depends on how much someone is willing to pay for it. With a not too severe rotated die error, I would expect to sell something like that sell for £10-20, posibly less. Serious errors like brockages, wrong metal, wrong blank, off metal strike etc etc are usually worth more.

Yes, it would be good to assess the grade, but any picture will not actually show us anything we've never seen will it! I could scan two sides of a coin and rotate one of them at 180 degrees, and put both pictures together! Unfortunately in this situation, and with such a new coin, a picture is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard.

Aha, yes you see, there is a time limit that the post remains editable for! In order to prevent people completely changing what they said at a later date. So, you have the right to remain silent, but anything you do say may be taken down and used as evidence against you ;-) So you have to stand by your opinions always, because once you made it, you can't take it back yourself!!

Yes, i suppose being franked adds an actual date and place to the stamp, making it historically more interesting.

I don't wish to belittle our newest expert member, the highly respected Mr T (I wonder if he also has 5kg of gold chains around his neck? William....Ask your Dad, or watch UK Gold) Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I didn't really feel Geoff imparted very much knowledge at all in his last post for this thread. He gave a very interesting opinion and provided a few real life examples of things to do with forgeries, but he provided no direct answers to the original questions. (probably because there aren't any, and each fogery has to be judged on it's own merits) So don't go getting all starry eyed over our Geoff, will you William, he's just human! (Geoff, do you have publicity shots available?)

It's a good question, and of course all coins should be enjoyed (dare I say, even Churchill crowns, '67 pennies and even 1971 1p's eventually!). Some collectors actually prefer EF coins because they have seem limited circulation, almost like they have more of a story to tell. But with UNC coins, each one (especially the older ones), is in way, a small miracle. For throughout it's whole life people have been able to resist the huge temptation of spending it. But the reason UNC coins are always worth more is simply because they are rarer than EF coins, and there is therfore less supply to meet the demand. Perhaps with stamps, the UNC ones are more common? That would be the reason they are cheaper than used ones. I know nothing about stamps, and they do not appeal to me.

The way my hair is thining I think I'll have a natural No.2 soon anyway!

You may have noticed a sudden drastic drop in the number of members! This is not because they all got bored with our conversation and decided to leave, oh no. This is because I terminated the membership of all members that joined more than 90 days ago and hadn't made a single post. Just a little spring cleaning, to remove the erm 'dead wood' for want of a better expression.

You're a mere spring chicken Geoff, I'm sure people could mistake us for brothers!

I don't think I would ever buy one individually, but I have accumulated a collection of fakes, from William III, Anne, lots of George III, right up to on of EII. I have a lovely 6 Shillings Irish George III fake and I was offered £60.00 for it. Apart from that I wouldn't have a clue what to ask for them, or what they really are worth. I know that the GIII fake Halfpennies (1770's) are very popular in America, because they were even struck there, some of them. I've been able to sell fakes for more than the real thing in the past on eBay!

Yes I would have thought the chance of that happening would be pretty slim, although the die itself must be secured someway, so that is can be taken out and changed for the next date or when it gets worn. The rev die on your 2p must have come loose and rotated a bit. Interesting. Do you want to sell it?

Yes, if you listen to the broadcast is always was the truth. The public miss heard on a giant scale.

Could it read 'Pfenninge' (the plural) with an 'E' at the end. Perhaps the 'E' has worn off. From the 'A' mint mark (for Berlin) it's most likely Prussian, and should have a crowned coat of arms featuring an eagle on the back with '180 EINEN THALER' written around the top of it? This catalogue says it's worth EUR20.00 if in EF condition. If it's worn and around average, they are common, and not worth very much at all.

Way back in 1825 in Germany nobody knew how to spell, and much like in Great Britain too, there were always local variants. Does the coin actually state '2' on it?

Or just tell me what the writing says on the coin and describe the coat of arms, it should have the name of the state or be identifiable somehow.

I thought that chap from Channel 4 already got the job.

Actually the information given by the colleauge at the BBC (Only name dropping, I'm not a BBC employee or anything!) was completely correct about the New pence 2p. It was just the general public that seemed to have heard it wrong.

Approx size in MM would probably be most useful at this stage. It's probably not quite circular, so measure it at the widest point. Most silver Elizabeth I Coins look very similar indeed.