Mr T

I don't follow proofs much but yeah I didn't think the Royal Mint struck many proofs in that era - maybe they were too busy getting ready for the move to Llantrisant.

Not sure about the 2002 1/10oz - I feel like all these modern mules tend to get surprisingly little coverage - maybe because they're made for collector coins rather than circulating?

I thought the early ones were 80% silver but possibly the later ones were devalued to 50%. They should all be silver I believe.

Apparently some of the strike your own 2025 George Orwell two pound coins have been struck with planchets with the wrong edge inscription. The edge is inscribed with IN SERVITIO OMNIUM instead of THERE WAS TRUTH AND THERE WAS UNTRUTH. Seems like it was the result of one morning's worth on strike your own coins at the Royal Mint. Possibly 60 to 100 struck?

Passed in at a recent Spink auction: https://live.spink.com/lots/view/4-FIVKOF/ngc-ms63-elizabeth-ii-halsbury-committee-of-inquiry-on-decimal-currency-una-and-the-lion-pattern-for-a-fifty-cent-piece-1961

Getting somewhat off topic but too right - I was telling a family member recently that there are some coins that money can't get you - only patience can.

Yes it's interesting - I can see why predecimal collectors wouldn't be interested, and even decimal collectors might not warm to it as there never ended up being a 50c piece.

Ah, not sure why the links don't want to link - and editing tells me that I can't edit the links. edit: don't mind me - got them working one by one instead of all at once.

Bit of a late addendum to this but I saw one for sale recently having completely forgotten about this discussion: https://www.drakesterling.com/great-britain-2014-proof-sovereign-unfinished-obverse-die-pcgs-pr69dcam-49827332 That's a PR69 ($1,950 AUD) but a a PR70 on eBay is listed for $9,824 AUD: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/395996106783?srsltid=AfmBOor8ObE0gPXpWPt6sVdeNc_GdrfHCxiG8iSAFyNExnT7lVl8hVI0 Apparently is happened again in 2015 and 2016 too which seems quite unusual: https://www.thesilverforum.com/topic/38823-2014-mule-sovereign-anyone-know-how-many-of-these-error-coins-were-minted/

Not a Maundy fourpence unfortunately - just a regular fourpence. I believe the Maundy fourpence had a different design at this point.

I'm no expert but the colour seems quite dull. What does it weigh?

Looks like https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/world/italian-states-venice-scudo-km-143-1624-25-1629-cuid-1161875-duid-1495817 Not bad - seems to be worth close to twice the melt value even in quite worn condition.

Ah, there was a new Wallace and Gromit movie e out not long ago yes. I think with few exceptions modern commemoratives eventually settle back to issue price, so if you do want to realise the profit, I'd be doing it soon.

Yes I don't remember this one either - filled die I'm guessing?

Cyrpus had coins with roughly the same sizes as British silver coins (9 piastres was one shilling) and I read recently that Essequibo and Demerara were the same (one guilder was one shilling). Does anyone know of any other examples like this? I think most of the rest of commonwealth used the pound or some sort of dollar (where the half dollar usually seemed to be equivalent to a florin).

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about those. Generally I stick to coins that have the King or Queen on them though. Not sure how they decided on whether to have that or not way back when.

Well done.

I saw one of the Gouby books on ebay a while ago - keep your eyes peeled.

Yeah, as much as I'd like a one-stop book that covers it all, specialist books win out every time. Unfortunately, there are few (let alone in print) specialist books on many British Commonwealth countries.

Not sure - seems okay for me right now.

Looks like it - the prices at https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/spinks-catalogue-british-colonial/ are higher.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

Does anyone have copies or know where I could get access to Royal Mint annual reports from 1977 and onwards? https://library.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/archive/royal-mint-annual-reports has up to 1976, but I'm trying to track down some Solomon Islands coins from 1977 onwards.

No luck with the Royal Mint's collectors bulletin you mentioned earlier either? I suppose this was probably marketing coins of the United Kingdom though (although the Royal Australian Mint has sold coins of other South Pacific countries).

I would very much echo the "buy a book" sentiment. Collectors Coins Great Britain which is sold by the forum owner is a good starter.