Sylvester

i'd need a picture to valuate it for you.

The catalogue says BV (Bullion Value), basically it's worth it's gold content. I'm not sure what gold is retailing at currently but i guess the coin is worth about £55-£60

Were the 'F', 'VF', 'EF' 'UNC' designations confusing you? I could sit here and explain grading but it's a bit hard to do unless i had pictures to show you what to look for exactly. The short of it is that the value of acoin is directly based on the condition it is in. The higher grade (i.e the more detail remains) the more it will be worth. 1966 and 67 coins are only worth about 10p/20p a piece in mint state (i.e looking the way they did when they left the mint). Millions of them out there. Can you post pictures? If so do the 1921-43 coins they'll be the ones with the value however little it may be.

I have a gros loitering about somewhere...

That's about the jist of it. Mintmark knows more about it than i do. What i knew was thus; Sixpences (6d) had a rose and were dated Groats (4d) no rose undated Threepences (3d) rose and dated Halfgroat (2d) no rose undated (Although you get rare issues with no rose where there should be one). But i'd bet you've got a threepence. Any chance of a picture?

If it's the size of a modern sixpence then it's definately not an Elizabeth I sixpence cos they were bigger. 19mm and dated it sounds like a threepence to me. Question does it have a Rose behind the Queen's head?

Under Anton apparently. Intriguing...

I agree it was the victim of it's own success also, it's the way these things work out. I dare say the forum could have lingered on a little longer if the size had been reduced in certains non-specific areas.

I think the words 'told you so' come to mind.

Dunno some sovereign collectors collect by date you know!

Do they have mint marks? If you look on the side with St. George and the Dragon, above the date in the ground (you'll see what i mean) there might be a letter, S, M, P, C or no letter at all.

Depends what condition they are in i think. If it's lower grades then selling them separate or as a group won't make too much difference as they'd be sold on their bullion value, which would be the same either way. If they are EF+ to mint state then it might be better to sell them separate.

Not a bad find at all! Yours' has Obverse 1 (stop above king's head is just above and to the left). Reverse 3 (left and right top corners of harp level and crowns just narrower than shields). I've just checked it to ensure it's a recorded variety which it is. These things often turn up with spelling mistakes, shields swapped over so England and France are in the opposite place etc. Always worth while checking.

How did i miss THAT!?! My little pet hate, people getting them the wrong way around... but you were lucky i was distracted by the sixpence.

I think that what you have there is a classic case of what we call clashed dies. That in a nutshell this results when metal is drawn in on one side of the coin more than the other when being struck. In your case the obverse took more metal in than it usually would do, and consequently you get a ghosted image of the obverse showing on the reverse. Hence the other term for this of ghosting. If you look where the raised level drops to the lower level on the reverse it should be in line with the back of William's head on the obverse. This type of flaw is perfecty normal for coins of this period, indeed bronze pennies of George V from 1911 to the mid 20s exhibit the same problem often on a more extreme scale. It is a design fault, i.e the obverse is in too higher relief for the thickness of the metal being used. They solved the problem on George V pennies by modifying the effigy and making it smaller, hence the small head coins. With William III it won't knock much, if at all anything off of the value.

No one knows for sure but when they know where the picture has been lifted from it must cast a seed of doubt into the minds of even the most confident. Which is good enough for me.

Phew... i thought you were gonna blow it there on CU forums for me. For those not in the know, i'm currently conducting an experiment with the picture of the above. Now we know it's AT, however i've had several disagreements with US members on another forum over colourful toning and how to me even the most less drastic (as the one above) is probably AT. Hopefully a whole crowd of them will wade in and say "fantastic", "lovely" or words to that effect. The odd one might know more than i think and spot it's AT. But i bet most of them couldn't tell the difference between a regular (not badly turned out over the top) AT and a natural colourful tone (if there is such a thing). Well the bait's there...

Lemme say one thing first and foremost. When artificially toning a coin you can never predict which way it's going to turn out. It might turn out looking relatively natural (the one pictured could have toned like that naturally, but the environment it was stored in would have been below standards), other times it'll come out all wrong, patchy, spotchy, speckled, bright pink... and you'll think "ahh..." and then you have to dip it and start again. But i'd always stress toning is tarnish. Tarnish is corrosion. Colourful coins are just more corroded than white or light grey ones. And all silver coins will turn black eventually as the silver oxidises. To be honest with you, i would prefer a cleaned coin over an Artificially Toned (AT) one. Usually because most AT coins are hiding something, i.e previous cleaning. So you get two conservation issues, instead of just one.

If i had £580 i would! Just forked out for an Edward the Elder. Hang on only 3 coins? Which one's missing? The £5 piece?

The 1989 gold set! One day i'll buy a 1989 sovereign, it's a must have date.

I should think Victorian 5d's are rare for most years!

More eloquently put than me...

Firstly is it Silver or bronze? Secondly what's it look like (the back side, opposite the Queen that is), does it have a figure sat down, say Britannia? Does it state a value on the coin, penny? Farthing? The more info we have the quicker we can aid you in identifying the coin and any value it may or may not have.

Next question do you know how to grade? If so then; 1911-C £70 in VF, £90 in EF and £120 in UNC. 1918-I Bullion Value only, but should you sell it on say Ebay or something make a point about 1918 being the only year of India mint sovereigns, thus whilst not rare they are sought after by collectors. 1927-P £90 in EF, £110 in UNC If you can't grade then post pictures of them on here and we'll do that. All the others will sell for bullion but you might make a tenner or so more on these by selling them separate rather than just on gold level, because these years have some collector value too.

Well i've got a incomplete date run of BU machin head pennies, 1971-1984... a few dates missing, hopefully i can finish it one day!