Sylvester

I buy alot of my coins over catalogue price, well it's either grab it while it's there or wait 10 years... and i'm impatient when i actually see one i want.

You wouldn't say that if you've ever studied William III coinage. Everything from Farthings through to shillings is nothing but errors, especially dated 1696 and 1697

That's why i've suggested those in my previous post they will never really drop too far out of favour because they are and will always be of interest to collectors. My advice is stay well away from bullion and low grade gold, high grade rarer dates that collectors will always want. Another good one is Canada mint sovereigns and the 1918-I since it was the only year of issue and some people collect one of each mint (this is before we get to the date/mm collectors), the I mint will never loose it's following quite like the other gold coins say 1925-L could.

Well i'm not looking at the book, cos i haven't the time. But i think the difference is in the lettering, one has plainer writing than the other, S.1566 has the plainer writing. But since most of it is missing (the important letters E, C and R) it's hard to tell. I think that S.1565 has a lis on the bust and S.1566 doesn't.

Right i bought this a few months ago cos i liked the tone (not often i like oil spill tones but i liked it on this), i can't really get it much lighter, it's an Edward I penny, London mint but what class? I've yet to look myself properly.

is it S.1566?

You're most probably right it's getting late and i'm getting confused. So is it in actual fact what i said it was the first time around? I'm having a tough time with this one!

It's even got the inverse n in London on the reverse.

I could be a back to front F actually, and the other letter to the right an R or a D... which would fit in with the Edward III Post treaty coins, have a look at S.1637

the letter to the right of it looks like an F for FRANC. The letter before looks like the the L from ANGL... But that sure doesn't look like a Z does it?

yeah i was looking at that... (i've just removed that post cos of Chris' bandwith it was a bit big!) My picture with the terrible circles shows it though.

I'm still not sure about this one though cos if you see here can you see a mintmark, this is kind of like Henry VI? Right i've done a bit of circling... the one on the left, what letter is that? The one on the right, what is that? (See if it looks like any mintmarks in the Spinks table)

Oh i know it's ANGL, it's just i can't see a z or not, that is important... i think i now what it might be... well i have a chouice between a few but i need to know if there is any z there... Actually just check this one... S.1566 After the ANGL is there what looks like a random placed 1 that looks a bit homeless?

you're not alone...

pheww i'm glad i did alright there i haven't been dabbling in hammered too long... i'm still trying to figure out if my Stephen is really shaftesbury mint... i just can't read it.

but you're learning!

Look on the obverse side where the king's byust is, to the bottom left if you can read the legend tell me if there is a z there... From directly below the king's bust it should read something like... ANGL then what does it read?

I don't think it's Richard II... Most probably Edward III

Right it's not Henry V or VI, the bust isn't right for those...

If in doubt say Henry VI, firstly you say it's heavier and that important cos it means it was produced between Edward III and the first part of Edward IV's reign. Henry VI ones are quite common so lets have a look there, if not there than under Edward III equally common. If that fails then we'll look under Richard II and Henry V... If that fails then we'll get to that if we have to...

You nearly had me for a minute there, but the collar etc is wrong for that one. I was looking under class 4, (it's definately not class 5), and it's not classes 1a, 1b or class after 10a because the legend is wrong for those. I'm still hanging around class 4 but i'm at a loss.

and reverse...

oh and 1860 copper coins, they are always good.

I wouldn't think bronze was a fantastic investment material, not like copper is a big mover. I would have thought rare coins (like the 1934 crown), highly sought after but not particularly rare (Gothic Crown) or high grade scarce gold e.g 1858 sovereigns would be the best place to put the money into? The best bronze coin i can think of is the 1882 no H penny, for investment purposes that is one of the best i should imagine.

Lis, fleurs and trefoils are seemingly used interchangably... depending on how clear they are. If it looks like a French fleur de lis then either lis or fleur are used, if it looks like three blobs then trefoil. If it's for blobs then quatrefoil. Needless to say it can get complex, it's quite in depth stuff. You're not doing bad with that Spinks, it's a catalogue designed (especially the hammered section) for those that know hammered coins, people that know what fleurs and lis and cusps etc are. Not very user friendly i find and not very informative.