Sylvester

Also please be aware of the increasing number of £2 coin forgeries, it appears they are on the rise. I got one myself the other day.

Yes, I don't know if you know but it was Isaac Newton who said it. I think it was in a letter to Robert Hooke when he said "If I see further, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants," Ineed it was, and Mr Newton was also behind the silver reconage of 1696 and the elimination of the hammered stuff. Also master of the mint for several years during Anne's reign. Very fitting i thought.

William, The first bit was German and asking for a cup of tea minus milk and sugar... The French bit was stating 'i don't speak French!' (in fluent French nonetheless!) Fun hey? Syl.

Oooh yes I'm sure loads of people would apprecate all those heavy coins jingling around in their pockets! Btw, they [the general public] probably wouldn't appreciate the sheer brilliance of the Gothic series. The £2 has become quite popular though, many people hoard them... I also think that that coin's design is also a work of brilliance, it's so well thought out and carries lots of historical meaning. I also like way the edge lettering 'standing on the shoulders of giants' stands upon the very edge of the brass ring, which stands on the achievement of all the others. Pure genius that coin. Pity about the obverse.

Here's a link to some photos of my Early Milled (EM) and some of my LM sixpences... arranged from newest to oldest. (They are scans and thus some of the scans don't do the coins justice...and in some cases [like the Edward VII one] this could be considered a good thing as it hides some of the ghastly toning). I would have posted them on here but the sheer amount would have Chris thinking i'm spamming the place, + it would take quite a while! http://www.numisaddict.com/showthread.php?...=&threadid=2310 Also Chris it'd be good advertising for you, if you were to post a message on the group in the link, as some of the collectors on there are interested in British coins. Perhaps we can win some more people over to the 'Darkside'...or so the US only collectors refer to it... Sylvester

It's a shilling!

Yeah my dad got given a ruler to pick it up with... (those were the days!) Now your grandfather sounds like the kind of Chemistry teacher most kids would have wanted! I bet the attendence rates would go up, and so would the chemistry pass rates! (probably the school mortality rates too!)

Could be one of three things, a halfcrown, a shilling or a sixpence. But you'd have to give me the size in diameter before i can tell you which of those it is. It's sterling silver, but sounds as if it has been mounted at the top and thus collector value will be near nil. But it'll still hold its bullion value.

What did the teacher say? Mind you my father once knocked over a nice big jar of mercury whilst he was at school...

I'll PM you with an email address!

It's just that the wear shows more on the obverse, and the overall quality of strike of the piece is also most evident on the obverse. A little faded sounds fairly promising... quite often you can only figure out the outline of the portrait, or less!

Indeed. Buy your 20th Century BU Farthings from Chris Perkins in future - the best guy in town! plug I bought some scrap silver from Sharpclaw, talk about acid dipped... yeuk, you couls see where the surface was patchy due to being eaten away at by the acid... Pretty cool coins none the less, but not what i was expecting! (ha the evils of dipping... i dunno what they used, but it must have been aqua regis! )

That side doesn't look too bad, slightly uneven creased flan, v chip on one side, some other small chips. All in all not too bad, i've seen a hell of alot worse! I'll have to reserve judgement though till i've seen the other side... the important one! I'm sure Chris will be along later, and he might know what to do!

Yes, never a dull moment! I like Terry Pratchett books! Also like to read the odd Dickens book. In fact i tend to collect books, i've got some dated 1793 somewhere, also collect first editions, even got myself a Charles Dickens first edition taking pride of place on the shelf... and that cost a fair bit too, i could have bought a nice gold Guinea instead of that book. Also got some other old paper documents, one from 1750ish, it's fun just trying to read it. Also collect pocket watches on and off, and general silver, got some Georgian spoons somewhere. And i spend time with my friends. Oh and i like the Simpsons!

Sharpclaw, that name rings a bell! I think i've come across him, not good if i remember rightly.

Ah you could say that! It's caught me out once before...

I might be around on here later, but i've got some stuff to do first, if i get back then i'll give you a rough idea of the value.

Ah that site closed down a few days ago, but you might want to try here instead... I think that's the right link, it'll take a while to load... i really went to town. And i've got another pic to add. http://www.coinpeople.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2210 conversely it might be quicker to look at some of those pics on here instead... (plus there's less to read!) http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/pics/six1.html

Have you got an obverse pic to go with that? Obverses being the area where most wear occurs. Looks a decent grade though...

Ah the Coincraft catalogue... A master piece of numismatic work, (forget the price guide now though, times have moved on...) still the book though, i'd say it was our eqivalent of the US Redbook. The coin book bible. Still a new updated edition wouldn't harm anything, perhaps with more indepth info than the previous one. Perhaps something on Bertram Mackennel, Kruger Grey and company so we can answer questions on these people when we get asked about them.

Depends upon the condition really, if it's a really battered one which is very worn, clipped, chipped or bent/creased then you'd be looking at £10 max. In average condition with mostly readable legends, and a prominent portrait (even if it's a little weak) you'd be looking at anything upto £30, it might have some very slight creasing. For an absolute top condition coin, pretty much showing full detail as struck (as far as this is possible with Queen Mary groats) you'd be looking at considerably more. The vast majority that i've encountered however fall just below average, and very very often some way below. If you could put up a picture i could give you a much better idea of the grade and a much more accurate price.

From a calculation point of view US coins dated 1964 and earlier are the best to go for, because being .900 (90%) it's easy to work out the weight in silver. .925 coins being not quite as straight forward. .500 UK coins (1920-1946) and .400 US half dollars (1965-1969) aren't worth bothering with.

Sounds familiar! Right my advice is take one of three approaches, (if you can, i'm finding it challenging) 1) Collect coins of one monarch. (I'd go for William IV here, i always felt he was overlooked as a monarch. Then again there is my other favourite James II). 2) Collect by denomination. (For me Sixpences, Half Guineas and the occasional florin) 3) Collect by metal. (Tin/Gold/Silver/bimetallic/Copper) [that actually tells you alot about what i think of certain metals!] Of course combine all three and you'll really narrow it down, one example say being Tin farthings of William and Mary, (doesn't get much more specialised really, does it!)

Ha that half guinea is my new pocket piece, to carry around with me. Nice having something unusual, that's the only reason why i'd buy such a bad bad coin. And Miss Moore is EF definately, UNC could be, put it this way she's a hell of a lot more UNC than Britney Spears, who seems to have entered circulation and will soon be heading for a grading of FAIR if she keeps it up!

So Chris... I take it you're not interested in buying this then? http://www.coinpeople.com/forums/album_pag...php?pic_id=1047