Chris Perkins

Or an oven at a low heat? Might be a bit extreme. I always find that a bloody sharp whack on a hard but slightly padded surface does the trick.

On the Saint George side on the ground below the horses front right hoof is sometimes a mint letter. If no letter is there then they were minted in London (which is usually the most common mint). If you do have a letter there are a few different ones: C = Canadian Royal Mint M = Melbourne P = Pretoria S = Sydney SA = South Africa (but won't apply to your dates) I = Inida (but also won't apply to your dates)

You'd get the most for them individually but it may end up taking more time and trouble than they're worth. That's what coin re-housing agents like me are for! I'm in London from the 29th for about a week, then it's back to Germany until April/May.

Post a picture of the £2 coin if you can. I've been known to pay up to £60 for really lairy £2 errors. Thanks for buying the Roman book. It's not as advanced as some, but is a great inexpensive intro.

Hello Carl, The Forumancient coins website it good for identification, so is Wildwinds. Like Red Riley recommended, if you want something easier on the eye that you can curl up on the sofa with, my 2 inexpensive Roman books (£5.95 each and you could probably start with base metal as the majority of uncleaned coins are usually not silver) are also excellent for identification and a little background info.

I'll vouch for you, but only if you sell what you don't want to me!

I'd take all that you've listed so far and pay a fair price (based on the silver/condition). I can't remember the last time I had to send something back to a private vendor (that's why I always get some details first to judge the potential). It's very easy and painless and you can of course send them insured, but there's really no pressure! I've arranged a couple of good buy-ins recently, mainly from private vendors, but also from a few of the regular forum members here. In a couple of weeks I'm going to view what sounds like over £2000 worth of pre 1947 silver coins and someone else with 7 sovereigns. Both those are more local and should keep me busy for a while!

That's not a bad amount of silver, it would certainly be worthwhile selling them. Some of them may be good enough for me to sell individually and for those I'd offer a bit more (dependant on my selling price, which depends exactly how good they are). The 1826 coin is either a shilling or a sixpence, depending on the size! The non silver coins may also have a value too, but usually the bulk of the worth is in the silver coins. Would you be willing to send them insured to a London address? So far there isn't enough value to warrant a visit.

The sizes in mm are usually much more useful than the descriptions, as they are often very similar for different coins. The first is a half crown if it's 32mm and the latter is a crown if it's about 39mm and thicker.

No of course not. The stupid (under trained) women in the Post Office from where I sent it assured me that it was impossible for the Russian to get the money without the transfer number. I went back and told her he had collected the money without the transfer number or knowing the sender name and she simply said she didn't how that was possible and that's as far as it ever got! (my German was very limited back then) So I contacted WU over email and they at first wanted to know the details bla bla. Then they went quiet and no longer responded to my emails. I thought the customer service from eBay was bad, but this was pretty awful too. Because of that rubbish service I stopped using WU for 4 years, but now I find I unfortunately have to, as for many people outside Europe it's the only way I can send them money for goods. Now, I make sure I get the goods first.

Is it more brassy than bronzy? If so, it sounds like an imitation 1790 Guinea (made later as a gaming token). I'll await a list. A trip to the midlands has to be justified by the potential value of the accumulation!

Two Shillings and a Florin are the same just with different names. Where are you WednesdaysChild? Thanks for your message, if you have lots of the same sort of thing perhaps I could visit to see them. Usually the best way to sort them out is to split the silver coins into 3 groups...Sterling silver, .500 and no silver. Unless they are spectacular they are nearly always worth the silver value, the dates are pretty much irrelevant for lower grade (average) silver coins.

The workmanship is quite crude Andy, in fact it looks to be cast from a soft metal alloy. I know the date in Roman numerals is 1480, but I would very much doubt that was the date it was made, as the style is very un-15th century. It may be rare, in that not many were made/are left, but I don't think the character is famous enough or the medal of good enough workmanship for it to be worth more than a few quid (i.e £10). Perhaps someone else will have a different opinion.

The surface looks bad but that's probably due to the conditions rather than it being a forgery. There is a clear trace of where the 8 should be, so it would appear that during the minting process the 8 has been filled with crud and has lead to almost no 8 being struck on the coin.

You can post a picture here by adding it as an attachment. The most likely cause for what you describe is a filled 8 digit on the die. Or, actually probably equally as possible for that sort of period is a fake coin that hasn't been made as well as a real one.

It's a reproduction sold as a novelty in Roman Villas and the like...it's less than 20 years old, no where near 2000! The little 'WRL' stands for Westair Reproductions Ltd. That's exactly why any picture of the actual item in question is always prefered.

Rich, A borrowed picture of a similar coin is never usually good when trying to ID another Roman coin because there can be subtle differences in type and of course no 2 ancient coins are exactly the same. There are also lots and lots of Roman forgeries about, some of which are pretty good. Can you post a picture of the actual coin?

I'm quite sure that maundy money is decimal and legal tender and that a half sovereign is, strictly speaking 50p and that the Britannias are also legal tender for their face values. Of course the metal values are all higher so no one is likely to really test that.

When you got to the very accurate bottom of it all I'd love to feature the infomation in the next Check your Change book.

That 1750 halfpenny is better than £3. I think I could sell that for £10 and therefore I'd offer £6. The 1799 coin is yukky though and has really no value. The Roman coin is worth less than £5.

There are a couple of halfpennies there (George II and George III). The Roman coins, from the bust style and remains of writing would appear to be one from Emperor conSTANS with a quite typical 2-soldier reverse type.

Yes it is isn't it. You'd have to ask Allgold of Sevenoaks (Clive) as they do the prices for the gold coins, I just paste 'em in.

I get quite a few enquiries about double headed coins and I've never ever actually confirmed the existence of one that hasn't been cleverly machined from 2 normal coins. Normally they're not joined together at the rim, one coin is hollowed out with the rim (and usually the beading) un-touched and the other is reduced drastically in size and inserted into the shallow hole. The beads and border hide the join and the edge looks as it should. Your grandfather should have taken the £10 thirty years ago! I'll eat my hat if it's a real error coin.

I'm just south of Chemnitz, not very far from you. I don't have many pennies at the moment though.

Whereabouts in Germany are you Holger?