Emperor Oli

Do you mean our sailors or rowers? Our rowers are terrible this year.

If the gold coins are British, we can value them for you if you give us accurate descriptions. The US mint set I don't know much about but an American forum like Coinpeople could help you to value them.

When did the sovereign start issuing Maundy money in boxes like Liz does today?

Nono, perhaps I wasn't making myself clear. When was it issued in boxes, instead of the pouches?

It's a one penny token issued by "Swansea and Morriston". Other than that I can't help as I'm a complete novice on them!

I think Chris is right, I didn't know about the Victorian re-strikes.

Reading Colin Cooke's page about Dr. Nicholson, it says he "had little respect for the commercial exploitation of re-strikes of the Soho period". These must be the modern repro coins that crop up occasionally on eBay - the newly struck cartwheels etc. The statement above implies that the "commercial exploitation" is a bad thing, and should not be tolerated by any serious collector. However, when I clicked on the link to Mr. Cooke's eBay page, I looked through his listings and lo and behold, it seems even Mr. Cooke is selling them. This seems to be hypocrisy of the highest order...or am I getting the wrong end of the proverbial stick? Edit: I can't figure out why his username is "ohnosecond"

If only everyone could get that price!

I'm travelling to London soon for about a week. Does anybody know any good museums/shops that have coins on display or sell them? I've been to the British museum and was quite unimpressed with just one narrow room of coins. I'm going to the Bank of England museum and I've wracked my brains but can't think of anywhere else to go - other than Coincraft, just to see what they sell in the shop instead of on their site All input valued!

We could fly down but we are visiting people on the way

Yes. The thing is though most central London hotels charge around £30 per day to park so it's rather an expensive trip!

Anything under First Class (and I'm not being snobbish here, it's the truth) for long journeys is frankly atrocious.

Well I tend to go every year, once or thrice. I just love the city, there's so much to do - the museums, the art galleries, the theatres and playhouses, the architecture - everything is great (besides the pollution). Plus I think London has some fantastic hotels, which occasionally I get the chance to stay in.

The first coin, quite obviously, is a French franc. Likewise, the second is a 5 centimes piece. I don't know the values for these. The next one is a George IV piece - it's either a sixpence or a shilling. We need the diameter to work out which. Can you identify the reverse it from the pictures below, or give us a date? (I've only posted two of the reverses so if you don't see it there, we can still work out which one it is). The next is an 1883 farthing. If you can attach a picture, we can grade it more accurately. But if it's fairly worn it will be worth about £5. Values for it vary between £2 and £100 depending on the grade. The last in a George V threepence. In the same grade as the previous coin, it's only worth about £1. Values for this vary between £1 and £10, so a picture would be useful here.

Oh I thought you were dreaming or something

Yeeees, Sylvester. Anyway I'm going on the 20th of this month.

Is anybody watching the opening ceremony? It's quite exciting!

I've just got Spink, which doesn't. I've flicked through Coincraft but not at the gothic bits.

One of its vaults! How many more did it have? Imagine what could be lurking in the unexplored ones around the country!

Oops I missed that!

Roman numerals are fairly easy to translate into normal numbers, but I like having both the date in normal and roman numerals - I haven't seen it in any other reference work.

The first one is a Maria Theresa Thaler (is it the picture below?) and even though it says 1780 on it, they always minted them with htat date on, even now. Maria Theresa was the Archduchess of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. She was the only female ruler in the history of the Habsburg dynasty. The silver thaler was the currency of the Austrian empire and was very important for trade with the Levant and therefore became the most famous and most popular silver coin in the Arabian world. The reason why it says 1780 on is because due to the demand from Arabic traders, Maria's successor decreed that the 1780 dies could be used to strike the new coins. The Thaler lost its status as legal tender in Austria in the middle of the nineteenth century, but an edict of 1857 as well as the present laws of Austria, made sure that the mint at Vienna still produces the thaler down to the present day. The second coin you have is a Churchill crown minted in 1965 to commemorate his death. Even if it was in mint condition, it would be worth little more than £1 and in its grubby state, lesss than that. Most people agree it's quite a horrible coin and I doubt that you'll find a buyer for it. You could use it as something else though. For instance, the owner of this site sold one to a motorcyclist and it was welded to the side of the bike to block something I think and looked quite fetching. There are millions of other uses if you put your mind to work! Edit: I don't really know how much the thaler is worth

Isn't it Britannia in the chariot? Mr. Chard seems to think it isn't...

If it's caked in mud, use soap and water. Otherwise, don't clean it - simple!

When I opened it, it looked immediately sharper - don't know if that's just me or whether you've changed the res but it looks better! Anyway, to nitpicking: (starting from pg25) 25 - Listed as Young Head then on 26 as Young head 27 - Text box on right looks odd - "differentiate" needs to be aligned with the rest 28 - "re-melted" implies that the 1944 ones had been melted previously - "melted down" would be better 36 - "moto" should be "motto" 38 - "Long tailed 'Q' in 'QUE'" I reckon you could just get away with putting "long tailed 'Q'" 42 - Nice touch with the numerals and numbers 44 - Don't know what's going on with the 1907 mintage 47 - "Bust|" doesn't need to be capitalised. 1817 "moto" should be "motto" Excellent anyway - not as many mistakes etc plus it looks super! Well done!