Chris Perkins

I think you mean a 'Guinea'. Can you post a picture as the condition is the most important factor and whenever anyone that clearly isn't an experienced coin person says 'mint condition' I never believe them, because a truly mint condition 1760 Guinea would be pretty rare. Nothing personal. Also, confirm the diameter in mm.

Nick, there's not much of a market for 1970s produced commemorative coinage (regardless of who struck it). Even though the pieces are limited in number, they are also limited in demand and in my experience usually trade for the metal value or a small percentage over the metal value. I remember having one of the Field Marshall Montgomery coins, it was silver and by weight worth less than £7.00 so I gave it to my dad as part of his birthday present! Coins don't usually have hallmarks but if they are some kind of precious metal there is usually a small certificate with them that details the specification. Actually I think my Monty coin had some kind of hallmark on the rim for that matter. Check the rims and try not to touch the faces of the coins, only handle them by the rim if they are not encapsulated. If any of them are gold or platinum then they will be valuable as the values of those metals has increased by a lot since the 1970s.

That's what I like to read! Money can't pay for this kind of advertising.

You're welcome.

I had a fake 1887 £5 once, made of good gold that actually looked pretty good.

I'd offer £35 for it. Would be £50 if it had absolutely no signs of circulation....but it clearly does. Well done for finding it.

It should weigh 39.9g, so the 0.2g is probably just slight wear. Doesn't mean it's real though. Often fake ones were made of good gold and are about the right weight too. The surface quality should confirm it as real.

Common or not, it's in a bit of a sorry state so is unlikely to be worth much. Generally all European coppers of that kind of age are not that desirable it that condition, unless it happens to be a very scarce date. I don't have any books that cover German pre 1800 unfortunately.

As a publisher I have to produce books that I think have a chance of selling in large numbers. Not millions (that would be nice) but at least 1000 a year. So for that reason I have so far avoided very specialist titles. Rather than a book on Victorian varieties I'd rather maximise the potential readership and do one on all varieties! But even that may be too specialised. Actually Collectors' Coins GB already includes a lot of unlisted varieties. Some, but not all, are illustrated. So I'm up for books on varieties, but ideally as a bonus part of my main priceguide so that it wins over more readers, rather than doing a new title from scratch. And as for budget collecting, if someone could present a workable idea I'd gladly have a look. But again, would much rather include information about budget collecting in my price-guide than create a new book! It's easier to find 500 more customers for an existing established book (by adding extra content for example) than it is to find 1000 new customers for an entirely new book!

It depends what kind of muck it is and how long you leave the items in it. I've got a Lighthouse mains unit (I'd not bother with a battery one) and it works well on certain things with just soapy water. On most types of coins it sometimes starts to make a difference but you have to leave it on for hours.

I have thought about producing a Coin wall calender. That could be a nice thing.

RF is usually Republique Francaise (with the accents).

That's true. Any images suitable for print will not fit in the forum. But we could look at reduced size versions. I suspect though that many images will not be good enough to print anyway (scans certainly aren't). So ideally we will need someone to take pictures of the coins and I'd certainly recommend Red Riley for this. Inexpensive coins can be sent, photographed and returned. For members that have a larger collection of hammered I'm sure he could visit if the quantity of coins justify the distance.

Wasn't tongue in cheek at all, there really could be a book here. Even just 100 'ordinary' hammered coins in chronological order presented as nice large images and graded (with desriptions of the wear, damage and nastiness etc). And as it's likely to be something for the novice to nearly experienced collector there would be no need to show gold coins or anything hugely expensive.

Avoid a Cayman at all costs, the residuals are catastrophic and being a big Range-Rover-like thing it's not really a proper Porsche!

The Roman date on the edge is the regnal years, i.e how long the Queen had been Queen for. She wasn't crowned exactly on the 1st January, so for every AD date there are two different regnal edge dates. 1896 Crowns exist as LIX and LX. Usually they are equally as common, but I seem to remember that one of the Veiled head Victoria crown date combinations is slightly scarcer than the others.

Sounds good to me. I think 'OK' is probably a bit too strong. The top grade should be 'Alright'! Then the varying grades of nastiness!

All those reasons are exactly why I've not considered getting involved in a hammered grading book! But what about a general guide with pictures of lots of different types in various conditions and labelled with the authors opinion? With lots of large quality pictures it may give the reader a general idea on what's what for a few of the most commonly encountered types. I bet we (as a forum) could source enough coins from our own collections for such a book! That would be fun. I could even publish it with the author name as 'Predecimal.com Forum'.

They were indeed darkened, but it was to avoid confusion with the half sovereign which is pretty much the same size, not the sovereign. And it was only up to 1918. UNC darkened farthings of that period look great.

If you've got a good selection of hammered types in various grades to photograph, I'll publish it!

No it's just modern milled, 1797 to 1970 (no decimal). I imagine a hammered grading guide would be an even bigger task.

That's great! Thanks.

When I put coins on ebay I always grade them. I understand the logic (and time saving) with the 'let the photo do the talking approach' but I think actually holding your hand up and grading a coin properly, and offering a refund if not as described is far more professional. Who cares what the other amateurs are up to....and the dodgy people selling dodgy coins to other dodgy people! I want no part of that. And buyers that buy this book will clearly also want no part of that. Viva La Revolución!

One of those things where you'll have to keep checking on ebay and ringing around dealers. I don't remember seeing one on it's own before.

Here's a link to the gallery: http://www.predecimal.com/forum/index.php?...=si&img=495 I'm no Greek expert, but they look cast to me, i.e. more modern fakes. And the quantities of each one would also suggest they are fakes. Real ones don't usually turn up that are the same in multiples of 22! I'd say that if all the like coins are practically identical (in terms of shape, size etc) then they are all reproductions.