Mat

Hello guys, I picked up this very miss treated silver hammered coin (I think its hammered, looks thin for milled and its clipped) but it might be milled...scottish? From the original photo I saw I thought it may have been a very worn commonwealth crown but it appears not as the identifiable wreath is not the same style as found on the commonwealth crowns. Facts: Apparently found metal detecting in the UK A little bigger than a Charles I half crown Surface area is significantly worn, only the wreath part is identifiable, the other patterns may be features of the coin, or they may be the mottled effects of the tool that has caused so much damage. Nothing is identifable on the other side. Any help would be appreciated!

I know you all obviously know this already, however its still interesting to see what people knew about pennies in 1970! The fact it is mentioning pennies that were only 20 years younger than when this article was wrote makes me wish I was born in that era so I could have hoarded a ton of them while they were in circulation like freeman did!!!

My coin colleague bought a large UK collection from a country auction near Tampa a few weeks ago. When going through some of the paperwork in the lot he found a receipt dated 1890 for an 1877 proof set detailing a farthing, half penny and penny, cost of £8.10s There were no other details on the receipt apart from an illegible signature. Anyone else heard of such a proof set being issued? Unfortunately none of the actual coins were included in the lot. Mat

Any chance of a scan of the receipt which would say who the buyer was? I will hazard a guess and say it was part of Montagu's milled coinage (from George I onwards) which was sold off by Spink in 1890. There is a nice catalogue of the sale which contained many patterns and proofs. A priced and named copy sold at DNW for about £500 hammer a few years ago. Tight a***d me only bid four, which I've regretted to this day. It won't be a proof set per se as in the usual mint output, just a trio of the three bronze denominations. Hi Rob I have asked for the receipt so hopefully it will come over, I don't know the guy too well though so I am not in a position to keep chasing. Several years ago I also read about an 1877 purple velvet lined box for the three mentioned denominations but I did not take too much note of it at the time. £500 is a big push for a catalogue, I am not sure many people would have even considered £400 although I see the huge benifit of this one.

This looks highly suspicious to me, has anyone else seen a 5 stuck like this on the 1850? None of mine have ever had a 5 like that and none of the images I can find have such a 5 either. The colons after REG and F are also flawed. 230731085084

Hello Mathew I am based in Hanley, Stoke on Trent. I would be more than happy to give your collection of coins and banknotes an appraisal and if your items are suitable for my collection I would be pleased to make you an offer. Please feel free to contact me on mathew_chetwynd@hotmail.com or 07743512984. Kind regards Mathew Chetwynd

Good spot! This was typically the trend of the seller that had 2000+ feedback and sold the £2m worth of gold Kugers that didnt exist a few years ago.

Agreed, my 1852 farthing looks to have a simlar 5. I got a message back from the seller, you have got to laugh at the responses Dear icedchetty, Yes, I look at the catalogue and the drawing looks similar to the "5" of date regards, jun - tonting944 From: icedchetty To: tonting944 Subject: Other: icedchetty sent a message about Great Britain 1850 Queen Victoria One Shilling. Silver #230731085084 Sent Date: Jan-21-12 17:02:41 PST Dear tonting944, Hello, please can you confirm that the coin is genuine? I have never seen such a strange 5 in any 1850 shillings. Regards Mathew

The likelyhood of picking up a fake cartwheel is pretty slim, if you want a nice cheap one, you could pick one up from ebay in about fine for prices ranging from 99p to £5., if you want to stretch to £15-£20 you can easily find them on ebay in gVF.

I have been stockpiling many coins in UNC with near or full mint lustre which are present are worth about £2-£5 and not really worth the while selling them individually at present. The coins consist of things like 1935-6 pennies, GEV half pennies and farthings, GEVI silver and brass threepences, mint Edward VIII British Africa mint pennies etc... basically all mint UNC with lustre that are worth more than peanuts but not quite worth selling individually. The last two years I have been putting them all in 2x2 inch plastic grip seal pouches (the kind that screws come in when you buy flat packed furniture) and then putting them in ice-cream containers. Then putting the ice-cream containers in Royal Mail silver special delivery bags (as they are strong and FREE from the PO and air tight) I am not sure how this might affect the lustre as it’s not the horrid pvc plastic that we all know usually destroys the lustre. Would you think the lustre should be ok in their present storage conditions or should I remove all the plastic grip seal pouches and put the coins in a container loose so they have contact with each other to try and preserve the lustre better? Or any other advice? I have been buying the grip seal pouches for £2.99 for 1000. I do not want the expense of buying the acid free paper pouches are they are considerably more expensive unless someone tells me that’s really what I need for this solution. I intend to store these until the value goes up enough to make individual sales really worthwhile which could be 5-20 years?? Thanks in advance. Mat

Link does not work !. Ah, sorry here is the item number for one instead: 170724759421

Thanks for the tips so far. These coins are to be stored and not to be looked at until they are ready for eventual sale. So, the general consensus summarised: Keep them free of pollutants Stored separately so no contact - (Thanks was not sure on this one specifically in regards to lustre preservation) Dry atmosphere Use of silica gel Before I consider a switch to acid free paper pouches, can anyone offer an opinion in regards to lustre preservation in keeping the coins in: 1) Air tight atmosphere – detrimental or not? 2) The pouches I am currently using: http://www.ebay.co.u...=item43a3ecc159 Cheers Mat

Michael Coins has a very worn rare 1853 septimo gothic for sale but it has an inverted die axis which is unknown fot this strike as far as I know. Bit of a strange one.

Extremely poor condition, however the 3 is oddly slanted and pointing diagonally down, also quite a bit lower than the rest of the date. Any opinions or is it just too worn to make any judgement? Sorry about the picture, cannot do much better as the date is only just about there.

Thank you! And thanks for the pointers John, it appears you still have the core comps fresh on the brain.... I will keep you updated. Cheers

Thanks for your input John, on that note I will put it back where I got it from for now until another day. On another note, how long ago was it since you left the force? I cannot remember how long ago it was we last spoke about that.... however I have still managed to stay in the recruitment process but things are taking forever with the finance cuts.... Mat 2 years 8 months and 17 days but I'm not counting If I was still in I would still have 11 years, 11 months and 10 days to do. According to my former colleagues the job is going from bad to worse, someones got to do it though! Hang in there Mat and I'm sure it'll all pan out in the end. I hope so! Got my A/C tomorrow with fitness test, if I pass then just final interview to go. I still think your crazy for leaving after everyone in my position is trying so hard to get in, but maybe if I get in I will tell a different story after 15 years! If I pass my A/C tomorrow, would you mind if I picked your brains on a few things in prep for final interview?

Thanks for your input John, on that note I will put it back where I got it from for now until another day. On another note, how long ago was it since you left the force? I cannot remember how long ago it was we last spoke about that.... however I have still managed to stay in the recruitment process but things are taking forever with the finance cuts.... Mat

Thanks for the image, its very different though, I just cannot take a clear image of this one as it is so dire. I think you would have to hold it in your hand if you were going to be able to make a pos identification. I have been though about 60 of my own 1863's and the 3 is nothing like the others. The only one I can find that looks simlar is one of the open 3's that sold at London coins. Even if it is an open 3 its so dire I do not think any one would ever confirm it.

Ahhh were the 48 yours I bought from London coins? If so you let me have them at a reasonable price!! No I had already disperesed of mine then, I think they must have been another part from the same hoard....I was tempted Matt Put an advert in Coin News for "1825 UNC farthings wanted...will pay £100 each" let this run a few months then drop a load at auction. I didn't know that you used to be a double glazing/used car/kirby cleaner salesman Peter. My parents had the door to door hard sell on a Kirby cleaner when I was young and they still use it now 20 years later! I think the farthings will have to sit in the draw for a few years until I see them frequently selling for around £75 in UNC with ease. I just hope they dont lose their mint lustre in the mean time. I thought the 1822 was the most common??? they seem to go for the lowest price.....

Ahhh were the 48 yours I bought from London coins? If so you let me have them at a reasonable price!!

I have got 48 mint UNC 1825 farthings I am waiting to drop on the market but cannot for the obvious reason as you just said. I reckon a hoard was found of what ever farthings were bagged up in in those days and then split up.

Hoard finds are an occupational hazard which we are all risking when we pay for rarity. It may happen on the odd occasion, but for the majority of coins will not be a factor any time soon. If it does happen, bite your lip and move on. Don't ask which one(s) is/are going to be affected as I don't have a crystal ball. This effect is insidiously creeping up on us for all issues of hammered coinage thanks to the single random metal detecting finds. As for cherry picking, I do need some sort of payback for the money spent on the library. I've bought too many things in the past which I have regretted when a superior example has appeared post-purchase. Then you have to buy two if the condition warrants it and dispose of the lesser one which ties up capital that could be better used elsewhere. Forewarned is forearmed. Henry III Long cross pennies and the Colchester hoard are not a bad example of this situation. You can still pick them up in excellent condition for about £35. 200 in bulk lots of 24 sold at the Morton & Eden auction yesterday. If the buyers breaks them up and puts them for sale seperately, surely it will only force the price down even more.

If you stick them all on ebay in one lot, it will be very hard for buyers to identify everything that is there from the pics. Its always a bit more tricky with forign coins as above mentioned the silver content tends to vary right from 0.100 right up to .925. If you have several hundred pounds worth or more, you could take them to one of the cheaper fee auction houses in the midlands like A F Brock. That way the buyers will have viewed them all and worked out exactly what the value of the total lot is which is not possible to do on ebay and you should do quite well out of them. Dont forget auctions like Brock are linked with sixbid and thesaleroom.com so they always have internet comission bids being placed from all over the world.

Eric, thanks for the extra sources. It added two more images which has helped me reach a conclusion...... I have painstakingly analysed 11 images of s.3887 1839 half crowns now. 6 supposedly currency issues and 5 milled edge proofs. Assuming they are indeed currency issues as described by the auction houses, not one of the 6 currency issues are the same as each other. I have found many micro variations in each one. I can also identify two variations in the proofs but they are pretty much consistent. My new acquisition is definitely s.3887 and not a worn s.3885 milled edge proof, however with the lack of available specimens and with each one I have analysed being different, I it hard to point the finger. I would however tend to lean more towards the currency issue as there are micro variations on it which I cannot identify on any of the s.3887 proofs but I can on two of the currency issue images. Just to confirm, the currency issue that J, Danny Gill had on offer at the Midlands coin fair for £10,000 is not the Ex Glen one. I would say they are very very similar in condition but the ex glen has such toning which Gill's does not.

Is 13.8g acceptable for an 1839 or 1840 half crown in FINE condition? I do not have another in F to compare. My 1848/7 in much less than F also weighs 13.8 so just want to double check on authencity... Thanks in advance Mat