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The quality of my photo is poor also, it's a lot brighter and shinier in real life. Obviously if it is a fake, I won't spend it anywhere. I've had fake pound coins before, they were silver underneath when you scratched them, and a lot lighter in weight - how sophisticated are the fakes these days? How can I check?

Crikey...in what way?

Thanks very much I'll mull this one over, would your average high street Jeweller be able to remove the mount? I should mention here that I appear to be the sole numismatist in my small town (not a bad thing because it means I get first refusal on any treasures I find in the junk shops) so expert opinion is thin on the ground.

Hello all. I've been digging through the attic again and have come across a beautiful 1787 George III sixpence in extremely fine condition, possibly uncirculated. It's bright on the reverse with a patina on the obverse. However, it has been made into a badge, with a simple pin/hook fixing soldered to the obverse in two areas. It seems I'm going to be one of those coin collectors who go for superficial appearance rather than intrinsic value, I am severely tempted to get a jeweller to remove the fixing as it's a beautiful coin, but I'm guessing this would be a bad thing to do? Assuming that the clasp was put on around the time of circulation, I reckon if I did get the solder removed it would leave two pale spots in the patina, which would not be desirable. This seemed like a good time to at least ask what the thinking is on coins that are mounted as jewellery. Do the same rules follow as for cleaning, ie Don't do it?

Hello! Thanks for the info...now to break the news to my optimistic family members. Great site, by the way, I only started coin collecting a month ago and its been really helpful.

Hello all, I'm new. I just very recently got into coin collecting, having custody of my recently deceased grandparents coins - it's really addictive once you start, isn't it? I'm trying to hunt down any info at all on this tiny little silver coin we've got. I think it would qualify as Fine, grade-wise, family legend would have it that it is a maundy coin - its identical to the one penny maundy spink ref: 3716 (2006 edition). Is there any way to tell if its a maundy coin as opposed to a circulating one? Apologies for the lack of photo.