Nutsaboutcoins

Thanks BCC for the info, seems there might be some urban myths around J P Morgan.

Thanks again Rob, I'll see if I can do some digging. around the names you have given me. Ian..

Thanks for the info Rob. As the coin didn't reach the BM until 1915, it had to have pass through a number of other collectors cabinets first. Ian..

Here is the newspaper article.

Thanks to Brian (bhx7) for this added info. Of the two Double Florins recovered from the Tyne in 1857 one was sold to the BM the same year by a Mr Fenwick (presumably the founder of the Fenwick department stores) I know from previous research he was a member of the Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne. The other, according to the Kelso Chronicle of 31 July 1868 "In the recent sale of Mr William Forster's important and valuable cabinet of English coins was a gold florin of Edward III... Brought £113; and was purchased by Mr Webster, the well-known numismatist." The coin was sold to Mr Forster for £100 by a Newcastle jeweller Mr Lister. I would be extremely interested if anybody can fill in any further provenance for this coin which according to the BM was acquired by them in 1915. Is there anything known of the collections of Messrs Forster and Webster? I wanted to post an image of the Kelso Chronicle but the file is too large and I'm at work at the moment so have no way to reduce the size, I'll try to post later when I get home. Thanks. Ian..

That rainbow tone is hideous, might as well take a pack of felt tip pens to them.

Welcome Johnny, This is a sought after coin and as it only occurred in sets, both the Martini and Heinz, I think most collectors would prefer to purchase the set rather than an odd coin. Ian..

It would be interesting to find out. But I also wonder whether banks would accept these coins if it wasn't for some people taking it to a ridiculous extreme by trying to cash in tens of thousands of pounds in one go.

It's all about the quality, but eBay is not always a good judge of the market as a whole. I'm sure if you post some pictures some on hear would assist with grade / price. Ian..

Nothing new with "Cash for Gold Silver" We have all sold the missus' jewelry when needs must

Love the idea of spamming the spammers

Just received an email from BANS: "I regret to advise you that the Chelmsford Museum have suffered a theft in the course of which 14 of a display of 16 late Roman coins were stolen. Those stolen were gold solidi of Arcadius (5), Honorius (8) and one of Constantine III which is from the Lyon mint and this coin is particularly scarce; those left were a counterfeit coin of Honorius and a coin of Arcadius. Please, therefore, be on the lookout for coins on offer and notify Nick Wickenden of the Chelmsford Museum as soon as possible. He has details, weights and images of the missing coins." Ian..

Thanks for the replies.

Mine gives poor results when the battery starts to go dead.

Beautiful coins as usual ChKy. Can I ask, did pre war silver survive better than copper & nickle coins, I could imaging those with the means to, squirreling silver away before the outbreak of WWII? Ian..

I guess so Rob, I suppose they weren't expecting it to be such a short run so preparing a number of dies would be logical.

Apparently of the three known coins, they are all from different dies, I find this surprising for such a short mintage.

Thanks again Matteo, I think I have misunderstood medieval economics. With further reading Fourteenth Century England Vol 2 by Chris Given-Wilson, I think the English Florin failed not because it was inferior to the already circulating Italian Florins, but due to the disparity in silver & gold prices, so no one was submitting silver to the mint to be turned into gold florins. So there was no demand for them to be minted rather than there was a reluctance to accept them in trade. From Fourteenth Century England Vol 2 " The new coins were overvalued in relation to silver, and the King's profit or seignorage of £1 per lb. wt. was too large." Ian..

Thanks Matteo, Taken from the Fitzwilliam Museum website, http://www-cm.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept/coins/exhibitions/CoinOfTheMoment/doubleleopard/ so possibly from Richard Kelleher too: "England had no gold coinage of its own between 1257 and 1344, but merchants and the aristocracy used Italian gold Florins and French gold coins. When King Edward III (1327-77) decided to issue his own gold coinage in 1343, he appointed George Kirkyn and Lote Nicholyn of Florence as masters of the London mint for this purpose. The Double Florin was one of three different denominations these Florentine mint-masters were to produce: the Double Leopard worth 6 shillings, the Leopard of 3 shillings and the Helm or Half Leopard of 1 shilling 6 pence. The 3-shilling unit was chosen because the popular Italian Florin, widely used in England, had an official value of 3 shillings." So did the Italian Florin stop circulating at the same time, for the same reason of being over valued? If so it show incredibly bad timing on the part of Edward III to introduce a gold coinage just as it went out of use. Ian..

Hi Frank, Welcome to the forum, you will soon learn, if you haven't already, that there are some very experienced people on here who are immensely generous with both their time and knowledge to help you out. Happy hunting. Ian..

I've tried to photograph the names on the edge of military medals but with little success, so hope someone can com up with a solution.

After a few hints I got Rotographic's guide to grading British coins and an introduction to Arabic coins for Christmas. They look excellent works, so one happy collector this xmas. Ian..

Never been to the Midlands fair, it's a bit of a trek for me, but would like to try it one day.

Your welcome Brian, hope it helps.

I personally think the finger print is part of the history of the coin, and to my eye takes nothing away from it's appeal.