Chingford

What on earth is one of those? With their auctions they notify all bidders as the bids are placed, giving them the opportunity to increase the bid or withdraw, selling to the last person standing, some items take days to conclude.

Online coins is back 'Online' John

Sounds like a part of a teaching set of coins produced by S G Onions, they ranged from the sovereign down to the farthing, issued circa 1843. For easy identification the male head resembles that of an child with the letters SGO or just O under the bust, with the legend H.R.H ALBERT.P.W. John Many thanks for the info Chingford. Would you know if it has any value any value? Jackje. They are quoted as being quite rare, but at the same time the number of collectors is minimal. Similar Model/toy coins, I have seen on Ebay, tend to average a selling price around £10 coin. John

Sounds like a part of a teaching set of coins produced by S G Onions, they ranged from the sovereign down to the farthing, issued circa 1843. For easy identification the male head resembles that of an child with the letters SGO or just O under the bust, with the legend H.R.H ALBERT.P.W. John

Thanks. I'd accept any reference which mentions them, even if it is only a paragraph or two. Rob, I have a copy of Rogers 'Toy Coins', pm me if you think it will help John

I thought the same, so I watched a couple of auctions, last night, with only minutes to go, on both the highest bidder withdrew within the last minute with the excuse 'wrong amount entered'

Yes I am sure it is the same coin. Are they common? Fairly common, very short date range, WIIII 1834, 35, 36 & 37, Victoria 1838, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 60 & 62, there is a proof in the series the very rare 1870. They were never used/circulated in the UK, only in the colonies of British Guyana, Jamaica, Sri Lanka and Trinidad. Tony Clayton has a write up and indicative values on his site http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk

Claireanne, I've attached an image of a Threehalfpence Reverse, 1843/34, is this similar to your coin John

Try the following http://www.galata.co.uk They have a large library of books on Tokens

All as Geoffs post, I abstracted the two articles below from a Historical and a medal site http://historicalresources.suite101.com/ar...r_of_big_events King George V died January 20, 1936, one year after his Silver Jubilee. The second son of Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark, he was married to Princess Mary of Teck. When her fiancé, the Prince of Wales, died in 1892, the Royal family decided that she would wed George. They were parents of six children. During World War I, amid strong anti-German feelings, he changed the family name to Windsor. King Edward VIII Abdication December 11, 1936 King Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor), born June 23, 1894, became King at the death of his father in 1936. In October of that year, against the wishes of his family, the popular Prince chose to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson. It was made clear to him that if he did so, he would have to abdicate. He explained his decision on December 11, 1936 in a broadcast to the nation and the empire. The only British sovereign to abdicate voluntarily, he died in Paris, France May 28, 1972. King George VI Became King December 11, 1936 King George VI (Albert, Duke of York), born December 14, 1895, second son of George V and Mary Teck, married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923. He became King when his brother Edward abdicated in December 1936. Though unprepared to assume the responsibilities, he became a much loved and greatly respected monarch. The Coronation was held May 12, 1937 when there were more clouds of war in Europe. During World War II he and Queen Elizabeth demonstrated courage and strength. The King died February 6, 1952. The present Queen, Elizabeth II, is their daughter. http://www.medalsoftheworld.com/page15.html 1936, THE YEAR OF THREE KINGS 1936, Great Britain. THE YEAR OF THE THREE KINGS. Set of three medals. AE 51mm. 1) George V. Obv: Conjoined busts, left. Rev: A group of figures. 2) Edward VIII. Obv: Crowned bust, right. Rev: An inscribed cartouche within an oak wreath. 3) George VI. Obv: Conjoined busts, left. Rev: Britannia before Westminster Abbey. BHM 4351. Original case. Extremely fine. $225 1936, Great Britain. THE YEAR OF THE THREE KINGS. Set of three medals. Silvered-AE 32mm. 1) George V. Obv: Conjoined busts facing left. Rev: Blank. 2) Edward VIII. Obv: Crowned bust facing right. Rev: An inscription. 3) George VI. Obv: Conjoined busts facing left. Rev: Blank. Original case. Extremely fine. $175 John

Sent Westminster an email. 'We had an enquiry regarding a 1 kilo silver queen mother(with grandchildren?)coin/medal. I believe it was originally a Westminster Collection product or at least Westminster were agents in their sale. could you give me some information or source to find out more i.e number minted, silver content, value etc..' Got the following reply. 'From the information provided in your email I have located an item which appears to match the description. However, this is only a guess based on the details supplied and cannot be confirmed as correct unless a reference number or picture is supplied. I988 - The Queen Mother Silver Proof Kilo Coin A Kilo silver proof coin struck by the Royal Mint in 999/1000 Silver and 10cm in diameter. It features a portrait of the Queen Mother and her four grandchildren on her 85th birthday. Struck on behalf of the Falkland Islands. In a special wooden presentation box with Royal Mint certificate of authenticity' The bullion offer by Chris is very fair, the problem with 'commemorative coins' is that they tend to be only ever worth half the retail list price, most of the money is for Packaging, marketing/advertising and profit. But as I said in an earlier post, some have actually been known to increase in value. John

I am sure it was from Westminster Collection coins, a private 'coin' club organisation normally dealing in very overpriced unofficial commemorative coins, Westminster, on occassion, try and buy back some of the earlier issues, I am fairly sure the 1 Kilo Queen Mother was one of them. On the open market, as chris rightly says, worth only bullion, but you may get little more from Westminster. John

Coin Manage UK from Liberty Street Software is compatible with Vista. Mark Most older programs will work with vista, go to properties for the file and choose compatability, then compatability mode, you can choose the operating sytem compatable with the program.

"This coin is slightly better than the pictures but it was hard to get the detail with the camera that ive got" Have they not considered that might be because there isn't any?

All work very well, my preference would be 4, but I think the window could be slightly larger. John

Have a look on Michaels coins, all images of 1858 penny varieties we have seen to date are posted there, about 8 in total from memory, mostly Michaels work, including numbers over numbers, spacing and colons. http://www.michael-coins.co.uk/ With the 58 being at the end of the series, the probablity was that all the old servicable dies were being used up, hence recording of more overdates using possibly 52, 53 and definately the 56 and 57 dies. Not recorded on the site is the 'fabled' 1858 'Large Rose' reverse (shown below). John

I started recording all my finds etc.. two years ago, but keep finding additional information, Incl. three new reverses previously unrecorded.., I have a rule that I need to have at least two examples of each variation I find or hear of so as completely satisfy myself it is a Variety and not something made up, or just another double strike. Michael Gouby and I share our findings but he is currently too involved with the shop and other projects as well. I think 1825-1860 Coppers particularly has been a neglected area of numismatics, but have only looked into Pennies and Halfpennies, maybe one day I will have something, would need Colin to chip in with the farthings/fractionals bit for the finished article. Until then, always willing to try and answer queries on the series.

I would say both are Rev B, I f the coin isn't too worn at britainniars foot, Rev C has straps to the sandal, B doesn't. Rev B Rev C

Stechlin, Your example looks to be the 4/4, if you look at the height of the four in relation to the 9, it is slightly taller, look at the base and side of the 4 under maginification, you should see two or three base/side serifs one above another where the four has been struck to an ever increasing height. I have attached a clearer close up for comparison. John

All the examples I have examined, seem to be either 1/1 or 4/4, never both together and these seem to be as common as each other.

Chris is right, a master die is created and smaller dies made from that for use in making the final coin for circulation, this is reinforced by a coin I have seen, a Copper Penny dated just with 18 and a space left on right, most probably to cut the other numerals at a later date, the coin was minted either in error or to check the die. Part of the Gregory Collection, Baldwins. Dies were expensive to make, so lightly used dies were over filled and re cut or over cut if the number was similar in shape. The active life of a single die would have been approx. 90,000 coins. Re use seems to have become more common place after 1849, the introduction of the florin, according to mint papers, was to be the point when decimalisation was originally to take place, but it never happened. The italic top, small 5, seems to close at the top of the loop giving a 'solid' appearance to the top, particularly noticable on 53, 54 and 55 dates. Dates after 55 tend to be the flat top 5s, large date, probably to get over this problem, although italic tops still are present, probably again to making use of the older less worn dies.

I have been helping Michael with his Copper Penny images for a couple ot years now, he does update on occassion but concentrates more on his bronze work, which I understand he hopes to update his Penny book sometime in the near future, but as you rightly say little, if any, literature is avaliable on Copper Penny and Halfpenny varaitions. Pecks tends to ignore a fine works by Bramahs which lightly touches on the obvious variations, but nothing apart from Michaels site looks at the variations in any depth. Unfortunately Holiday season is upon us, and the forum seasonally quiet, but I'll attach an image of the 54/3 sent to me courtesy of Gary Schindler. http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i141/spr...3close-upHL.jpg http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i141/spr...4-3close-up.jpg I am happy to try and help with any Copper questions, my area is 1825-1860 Penny and Halfpenny. John

The Colin Cooke collection re-ignited my interest, still avaliable to view on line, the number of variations and proofs in these little sets, it is something I would like to complete, but maybe in a couple of years time, once I have finished my 1825-1860 Copper penny/halfpenny proofs, which are proving both difficult and expensive!

I have full sets of Halves, Thirds and quarters, although I haven't been down the routes of proofs or minor variations. I have let Colin use the images of the rarer ones for his site. As you say they are a great introduction to collecting, as all dates seem readily avaliable, similar to Threehalfpences, another of my 'starter' collections.

Hi John, Not particularly, I was just wondering if anybody else collected them. Despite their low mintages they can be obtained relatively cheaply and the complete 1/3 farthing set (not including varieties and proofs) is quite an easy set to build as you only need 12 coins. It suits me as I'm not great when it comes to building sets, I am easily distracted by other nice coins. I've already visited Colin's site (many times ) which is great. Do you have a full collection? does it include 1/4 and 1/2 farthings? Hus