scott

its mary, it says MARIA on obverse

banks usualy store coins in trays, all lined up, then just put them in bags. you CAN find decent grade stuff. i have foound lustrous 80's stuff in the last few years

yea. CCGB is great for post 197.. but do pick up a coin yearbook if you are new, as it covers basically everything you need to know, and covers all the way from early hammered, world mintmarks, demomantions, cleaning/storage and you then have 2 guides, so you get a rough idea.

i know they are similar, but i cant make out ither way.

always wondered this. 1 - why is it there 2 - does this make it the first bi-metalic coins in the world? just seems an odd thing to do, i dont see it as tracking, as tin is actually a grey colour, and in a decent state looks quite nice , helps with identification but then the designs were differant from irish pieces anyway

its usualy on the bottom of the neck, you can usualy find engravers enitials either on the bottom of the portrait or just below

yup, i have it on a 1935 as well, and a 47 but meh and yes its pretty common

no, it was in amongst the forign stuff, so probaly thought it was an irish issue.

finally took the plunge and bought me a james II... but its not what i expected... the squre metal in the middle.. the right facing portrait and JAMES SECOND in latin (rather then the james II defender of the faith like on irish pieces) also, i dont see copper end up like this.

quite probable, it seems to be aEF, as for value, not really much, its a decent grade so probably a couple of quid

yea, crazy money lol yea thats about the average circulated grade for one of those.

the 1848/7 is what makes thing interesting, i cant help but feel, with that coin in existance they must have made a dye for 1847, perhaps they made some to test, perhaps they decided tnone were needed and they used it by mistake for a few coins before quickly correcting the dye itself. as for the grade, the date is well protected really with all the detail around it so i would expect that to wear. who knows, but if its the only 1 i dont see why it would come up very often, afterall its unique

great!! thats a nice little surprise it cost me a tenner, which seems fair considering james II stuff is hard to get hold of for anything near that... even below fine gun money goes for over a tenner

yea i have to know these things myself so it helps. its an 1858 large date farthing you have there, looks to average cirulated grade though, but its one of my fave designs

i would also recommend getting the coin yearbook too, although its pricing isnt as detailed as collectors coins GB (you should ALWAYS have that for variants) it covers hammered and has some great information on storing/cleaning as well as listing mintmarks throught the WHOLE WORLD as well as demoniation lists throughout history. because no doubt you will find sometinh interesting that forign and that book is great if you want more info.

its a 5, the wear has caused the top of the 5 to join with the top of the curve, i dont have an 1838 but i do have an 1839 the 3 is obviously shaped and note the raised W.W here is a 58, it looks more messy then a 3 and incuse WW

hmm, 3's and 5's look almost the same, but 1838 had raised W.W this is incuse W.W and therfore its 58, plus having seen pictures of 38, its more of a 5 to me.

i think thats 58, i have my 58 large date to hand and the shape is similar. but it is hard to tell

yes do watch for over grading, try and look up examples of grades, then use key points to help you, plenty of places to look on each coin for key grading areas. but its all down to oppion, i dont really care for UNC or BU.. to me its the same thing.. toning is just an aging thing, and is sometimes very attractive.

one of my fave coins its definatly worth more then melt in that grade.

well you should look out for edward V11 florins those sell well as do anything before that it would be wise, before going down the scrap option to check for key dates and any decent coins, we can always help with anything you wish to enquire about indvidually

never heard of these, there are 1848/7 sixpences which must mean there were 1847 sixpences minted although there seems to be no figures for it. 1903/2 penny? never heard of such a thing surly if those did pop up, they would fetch the sums for thier rarity though

always wondered this, what % of the acctual minting figure would a predecimal was lost when the coins went to decimalization. but curiously, grading, we know high grades cost more, but what % of a figure is expected in EF or above?

isnt 1992 20p rarer? but i havn't seen any of thse recently.. got a 1992 penny with some luistre the other day... it stuck to magnet.. i got annoyed i might have some 1993 5p's around somehwere.. i end up with many 5p

quite a faif few of them edward I pennies are by far the most common hammered coin thing is with those old silver coins, they were thin, wonder how many got chipped bent cut etc. some countries had coins smaller then 3rd farthings as thin as these, how did they survive lol well they did have many mins back then, which considering the fact they minted coins slower then, really shows how many they needed (like the H and KN in 1918 19, supply and demand) which makes me wonder, how many anne silver pieces were acctually minted, they were made in 2 mints as well... and james II? where have all his coins gone?