Sylvester

Yes they're forgeries, well actually they're not but allow me to explain; Guineas were last struck in 1813 before being replaced by the sovereign in 1817. For some reason the Victorians had an obsession with the 'Spade' type guineas (spade because of the shape of the shield, like a pack of cards), thus when it came to having gambling chips they soon put the design to good use and they struck tons and tons of brass imitation guineas (very crude in design, often the wrong size, of dates that were never struck, or dates that are wrong for the design). Which i believe is what you have there, gambling tokens, or imitation curiosities. Kinda like if you go to one of those gift shops in a city such as York, where you can buy replicas of medieval coinage. The Victorians probably sold them in 'memory of the good old days' which is the very inscription that quite a few surviving examples show on their reverse.

Looks like a contemporary forgery to me. Only genuine coins minted in the whiole period 1816-1820 were gold and silver coins. The only base metal used for coins at this time was copper, and the period 1808-1820 was devoid of any copper.

I dunno Olls i can live with coins upto 1919/20, after that well then it goes down hill. I think by rubbish he meant Churchill Crowns and stuff of that quality. I was glad they'd split the 1662-1815 and 1816-1971 stuff off sooner cos that saved wading through alot of rubbish too. Just wish they'd trim off the 18th century stuff too!

Dunno that's the million dollar question, i'll be busy until May with Uni work, not sure what's happening after that.

Everything has ceased at the moment, been too busy with essay, after essay, after essay... All those wishing to go to Uni, don't do history, do media or something! My mate does that and he hardly has anything to do and is only in Uni for two hours per week... amusingly each hour being on different days!

A job.... arrrghhh! Won't be long now... this is my last year.

One year already hey Kuhli? Tell me i've finally spelt your name right after all this time. As for me well I'm just passing through... still technically absent at the present, just catching up on a few things before i go missing again.

More of a legs man myself...

I really ought to revisit the Manchester Museum - it's about 3 minutes walk from where I work. I mean to revisit it actually one day. Some nice hammered gold they had last time.

Best way too... but i can't help feeling that some farthing obverse dies must have been used on farthings from new? I mean generally you are gonna need more farthings. Having said that though gold is softer and the dies could probably strike more sovs...

I generally use non-troy ounces. Never could spell aviour... well yeah. Ordinary ounces to me. Grams can be used also no too fussed. Coins i tend to go with what's in the book, if it's in grams then so be it, when i'm cooking it's lbs and ozs all the way. Prefer ounces generally.

A man dedicated to his farthings!

What's an upside down 'V' JMD? Me thinks either they broke alot of A's or had more V's than they needed. Obviously if there are notches in the unbarred A for the bar then the die has filled.

Just for you members on here, Mark Davidson is part of the CoinCraft writing team who wrote the hammered section of the CoinCraft catalogue. According to that he's well known on the London circuit.

Mark Davidson, i know that name. Doesn't he advertise in Coin News or whatever it's called?

You don't see many Charles II sixpences on ebay and not in VF. When you do they usual sell over book. I go straight to dealers for them.

Nope never use it.

I got quarter of one, but it's a bit substandard. Hammered gold is a weakness of mine.

I'll not bother listing the hammered but the milled sixers; Charles II - 1674 (AVF), 1675/4 (VF), 1675 (AVF), 1676/5 (VF), 1680 (VG), 1683 (VF). William and Mary - 1693 (AEF), 1694 (AVF) William III - 1696 (EF), 1697 Obv. 1/Rev.3 (VF), 1697 Obv. 3/Rev. 3 (EF) Anne - 1703 Vigo (VG), 1711 Small Lis (VF) George I - 1723 SSC (VF) George II - 1728 (F), 1728 RP (VF), 1728 P (VF), 1732 RP (GVF), 1735 RP (VG), 1739 R (GVF), 1741 R (VF), 1745/3 R (F), 1750 (AUNC), 1757 (EF), 1758 (EF) George III - 1787 No Hearts (EF), 1787 Hearts (EF)

I used to have one of those... Can't remember who i sold it to.

I wouldn't, not if they were half guineas... i love half guineas, a much nicer size than the full ones. Now if it was a row of half guineas and an EF+ William and Mary 1694 sixpence then i might have trouble.

I'm a gold man at heart, but i can't afford it so i default to silver. Copper has it's allure but it's either full lustre or no lustre. Verdigris is what worries me about copper. I like tin farthings too. Can never have too much tin.

Yes! At last, someone else who likes to break it down by reign. Stephen = 1 John = 1 Henry III = 1 Edward I = 3 Henry VI = 1 Mary I = 1 James I = 1 Charles II = 7 William and Mary = 2 William III = 4 Anne = 2 George I = 1 George II = 12 George III = 4 Elizabeth II = a dozen or so Rest are either German or US coins, two French and one Swiss one.

All in all about 60-70 coins. I tend to keep the number down. Plus another hundred or so low grade coins kept simply because they are silver and i like hoarding them and throwing them around. Cabinet for the best, Silver Jar for the silver.

Some post offices will do them, but fair warning to you, if you find one that will exchange a fiver for one, then they'll not take it back.