kuhli

Chris, This is indeed great news!! WoW!!! What a challenge and adventure!! I am envious of you!! I would be glad to offer any help that I can, from this side of the pond. I spend several hours everyday on line, and would be glad to help monitor prices on dealer websites and eBay, if that would be of use. I have the 1999 edition of Collectors Coins, and it has been an invaluable asset to me. It has its flaws, but its merits outweigh them tremendously. I have been contemplating renewing to the 2004 via your site, but I keep procrastinating, as my coin budget has been recently reduced yet again. Perhaps here in the next few weeks I can deal off some of my surplus and order a couple coins along with the book. Scott

Geoff, I would love to have one. What can I offer you in exchange? (something from this side of the pond??) Thanks, Scott

I agree!!

I like that coin. Are they easy to find in circulation?? Thanks for the link to the page about 50p. Now I can sit down and figure out which all ones I need to complete my set. A bunch, I know that.

I just assumed that pedigree was a vanity thing that is so common with American collectors (of American coins), just like the slabs are, which I understand are not a popular item in Europe (or anywhere else in the world). In my opinion, this is foolishness. If I could get a pedigree coin at the same price as one without a historical background, then sure, why not. But to pay extra is not something I would do. A BU penny is a BU penny, regardless of who owned it, previously.

Sounds like it might be a New World cob coin, probably 1 or 2 reales. The silver cobs were produced well into the 1760's and beyond.

ummm, Chris, speaking of coin valuation services, what is the status of www.coinvaluation.com?? Just curious. I never saw it before you took it down, but it looks like you had a decent site with it.

Follow the fingers!!! Just above the hand, there is a large ball, then the split into the 3 prongs. That is the plain trident. Just above the hand, there is a cluster of 3 smaller balls, then the split into the 3 prongs. That is the ornate trident.

NEVER!

I voted milled coppers but I also collect milled silver (am just beginning in this area). Do to minimal financial resources, I am limited in my coin purchases. I used to collect everything from all over the world, and could spend hours going through dealer boxes of 10/$1 and 4/$1 coins, finding many additions to my collection. Last year I had some health issues that affected me greatly, financially, physically, and mentally (damn near died!), so I stepped back from my collection and decided to focus my attention on a few areas that really interest me, and have been getting rid of a lot of the other stuff. British coins was one of the areas I decided to keep, and I made a plan to work my way backwards, gradually, taking my time and limiting my spending, but still enjoying myself. I eliminated all thoughts of gold, as they will probably never be within my budget, and focused on the lower denominations. I am content with decent circulated examples (don't need any FDC or UNC coins), but will always consider an upgrade if one comes along within my budget. My collection will never be one of monetary value, and I am well aware of that. But that is not why I collect coins. The fun, fellowship, and satisfaction I find in collecting and communicating with other collectors is well beyond any financial rewards I could attain. BTW, Oli, whenever you upgrade any of your farthings and want to sell the extras, let me know, I may be interested. Seems that farthings are the hardest coppers to find on this side of the pond.

Are you sure it has the 1993 date on the obverse?? Turks & Caicos Islands issued a 5 crown coin for the Wolrd Cup '94, but there is no other date on it. (actually, they issued 8 coins for the event)

I voted for the 20p. Something about them, I just like. The incuse legends around the edge give it some style, and I think the design on the reverse is one of the better designs on circulation issues.

This surprises me. I did NOT expect British collectors to merit pedigree so much.

Sounds like it might be a Civil War Token (CWT), but I am not familiar with these, so I cannot offer any more help.

These are called "encased cents", and there are many, many varieties. The coin is pressed into the outer aluminum ring, which is stamped with advertising. There are a couple of "styles", one being the normal circular ring, and another being a horseshoe shape. The majority of them (both styles) will have the advertising/slogan on one side, while the other side often has the "keep me and never go broke" or "keep me for good luck" phrases. eBay (US) actually has a separate category for these things (encased coins).

I have a 1981 Royal Wedding crown that comes in a hard plastic case, issued by Barclay's bank. My scanner is off-line right now, so I can't show an image, but it is similar to http://ebay.sdsimon.com/NZ_1987.JPG . I have seen other UK crowns (including the dreaded Churchill) in similar cases, but without any name of bank on it. I am assuming these are all made and distributed on the secondary market, and have nothing to do with the BRM, correct?? Assuming they are secondary market, are there many different issuers of these cases?? I have thought that if I could get all of the crowns in these cases (being all of uniform size) I could mount them in a shadow box to display on the wall in my office. I guess my best bet would be to begin searching eBay for them??

Chris, Would you consider accepting donations to help offset your added expenses?? I don't post a lot, but I do lurk and read, which does use the bandwidth. I would have no problem sending you a couple dollars every month or so, just to help out a little.

I scan my coins at 600 dpi, and then reduce the size to a manageable level, usually 300 pixels square. The higher dpi captures better detail, and reducing it to 300X300 makes the size an easy 25-40k.

Mine is too. I did dig out my Collector Coins book, and found a few more issues that have "pointings" varieties, and of course, all mine are the common varieties, and most all of the issues are ones that I have only a single sample of. With the 1992 10p issue, I had several to go through and found 3 of the varieties (the 3 most common, of course).

Sylvester, Amazingly, my numbers for most years are quite similar to yours, even on this side of the pond. This is what I have: 1971=180 1973=27 1974=14 1975=22 1976=23 1977=12 1978=27 1979=40 1980=29 1981=17 1982=6 1983=3 1984=23 Mind you, probably 3-5% of these are uglies that can't be saved for anything short of the furnace. I have only 86 of the Machin 2p. From what I have seen, they are not as plentiful over here, as compared to the 1p. By the way, you mention the hoarding of Canadian cents, they went to copper plated zinc in 1997, and have been phasing in copper plated steel over the last 3 years. If/when copper does get up there a little, I have about 4000-5000 Canadian cents, plus the above British, and will be the first in line at the scrap merchants. I wonder what they give for Churchills???

I have attempted to read your handwriting, but to no avail.

Or, you can use this link which will take you straight to a list of Sylvester's coins. (using his link, you get to see my 1854 penny, tho).

Sly, You sound like Yoda from Star Wars.

Actually, that is an "O" for Oscar II. BTW, Portugal used a centavo/escudo system prior to the Euro. The öre is used by Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

I am apalled that not a single mention is made of the Churchill Crown. Why, just today, I had the opportunity to rescue 2 of them from a dealers' junk box, for a mere US$0.75 each. Of course, that meant that I would've had to pass on a nice little Polish ditty, that I later found out I didn't need.