Coinery

Totally get where you are coming from as a writer wishing to surround himself with interesting objet d’art to keep it ‘real.’ There is clearly no better item to inspire and pinpoint a definite place in time than a coin! Rob (above) is a coin dealer and likely has, or could probably source, all the ‘genuine’ items you require! Good luck with the book!

Not my territory...also, if you don’t know it, I don’t know it, but I hope you get an answer soon!

Just to kick things off, 1 and 2 are Edward III florin pennies, coin 3 is Edward I Class 9 with star on chest (all 3 are London), and coin 4 is Edward III minted in York.

Thanks, Rob, it would be an interesting coin to view

Don’t suppose you’ve got an image handy of the original have you?

Definitely one of the better copies out there. Quite nice to have the original coin. I stupidly missed out on an opportunity to own the original Elizabeth groat that we often see with the distinctive flawed crown.

I sold my Peck, Rob, but very interesting bit of detective work. Love the colour of @Michael-Roo‘s token 👍

And for just under £500 you can buy a ‘3/16’ quarter noble and also a James Bond bank note, ending 007, for £200.

This made me smile...a rather expensive (£150) ‘error’ penny. The error? Double struck! 232915135352

The class 1c/a mule hammered at over £250 at DNW with buyer’s premium, I’ll accept £150 plus postage. The in-hand image reflects the true colour/tone of the coin. https://www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/lot-archive/lot.php?department=Coins&lot_id=247935 The class 15b has an absolutely superb quality flan, also with a deep tone. Sold by R Ingram for £90, I’ll accept £55 plus postage. Apologies, I will have to upload the images tomorrow when I can downsize them on the laptop

Both have now been sold!

@Rob

London, Rob, will get the pictures up tomorrow. Clogged/soft-struck, but a definite collector’s coin.

Another query, though...wouldn’t you expect to find a base, or debased, metal flan in a contemporary counterfeit? The metal in this one has blackened like buried silver and is showing no signs of corrosion?

OK, got it, written backwards...duh!

What does ‘retrograde’ mean in the context of coins like this? Not an area I have ever looked at, or fully appreciate.

A fabulous book!

Well, for what it’s worth, your I/D exploration was great, as it is also great that you are learning so much, and so quickly. Re your Guinea...if you bought it from eBay without knowledge, I’d be happy that I’d even acquired a genuine gold article to be honest. Little consolation, I know, but you’re clearly getting there, and we’ve all done it. The very best of knowledge and successes to you, madness! 👍

Indeed, I agree with both of those, but in the context of this thread I was just wondering what put madness into a place of saying ‘this hobby is teaching me to be less trusting of people?’

Who are you distrusting and why? I’d only put my own judgement on my list.

Yes, nice bit of research, Madness, you’ve put in some leg work which is always nice to see AND read. As Mick has said, even the dealers have off or lazy/tired days, and I’d say this was one of them for Michael G. Having said that, when you finally get this variety into print, you’ll be ahead of the gold rush with your regular-priced acquisition of the I/D variety!

I have been in this position many times, thinking that the exposed ‘black’ layer is revealing a different metal to the clearly silvered surface ‘micro-layer!’ my thoughts are...I have seen many similar examples from the ground (namely, looking this way), which leads me to firstly conclude they are not modern copies. Equally, if they were contemporary copies I long since rationalised that the material beneath a ‘silvered’ copy would not remain black after 100’s of years, they would have given up the truth of their base metal materials by now, as all base metal coins have. So, my unsubstantiated theory is...the process of mixing silver for blank flans in that period was far from perfect, and was fraught with contaminated ‘mixes’ that left layers within the silver that manifested itself eventually as we see your coin here today, and many others too! 100% straight coin for me 👍

Great tips, Richard. For what you started out with, and what you’ve ended up with, it has my vote! Top job! 👍