Paddy

That's a very nice three halfpence (usually pronounced three ha'pence). I love these tiny coins and have managed to get all the dates eventually. (1837 is the trickiest I seem to remember.) Although technically colonial, they were legal tender in the UK.

Sadly in that condition they are probably no better than scrap as pretty common. There are collectors for them even in this grade as they are an easy target for beginners and date run people, but still only change hands at scrap money. Just to point out though, these are not "Maundy" coins - they are circulation silver threepences. Maundy coins of the same denomination were and still are made, but they are usually proof or proof like, and may have other subtle differences from the circulation versions.

Hi H, The second 1889 is a double florin, which is why it is a little smaller. You are not the first to be confused by them. They were only issued 1887 to 1890 and became nicknamed "The Barmaid's ruin" because of the number of times they were mistaken for a Crown and so the wrong change given. They are not rare and a bit of a niche collectors area, being so few dates to go for. There are a few minor varieties, mostly to do with the font of the date. Because of this I would say yours is worth £20 to £30.

... and the very clear triangle mintmark on the Charles I sixpence dates it to 1639/1640, minted at the Tower under the king's control.

Hammered is not really my best subject, but the top one is Elizabeth I of England, not James VI of Scotland. Others will be better than me on the denominations. The 1758 coin is a sixpence I believe. That and the shilling of the same date are probably the easiest of the George II silver coins to get hold of. Yours is a decent example.

If you missed the first episode of the new Digging for Britain series on BBC 2 this evening, 7th Jan 2025, it is worth catching up with it on I Player. They show the Suffolk hoard of Harold I, Harthcanute and Edward the Confessor in much better detail than they usually do with coins. The penny that they can track as minted in Eastcheap London is particularly interesting, and they say unique. Here is the BBC news report on the same hoard: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wl9re5j1qo

My misconfabulation - Alice Roberts!

Very nice, and I hope you have fun finding out what family it comes from! Not my area, but I had a friend who was much into these (sadly recently passed), so I was involved occasionally helping him ID these. A few thoughts: I think the animals may be Ermine in heraldic terms, so "3 Ermine left" or "3 ermine sinister" may feature in the description. The divider is known as a "Bend" It is possible this one is for a lady, because of the floral surround. The gentleman would usually have a shield. Looks to be 18th or 19th century.

I agree, Alice Walker is also an attraction, though Lucy Worsley on Friday is slightly more to my taste!

Welcome H, always good to have new members. Sorry to hear of your medical episode and I hope things are not too bad for you now. We look forward to seeing your coins or answering your questions. P

I understood that Ebay is already reporting trading figures, private and business, to HMRC. So if one tried to hide as a private seller whilst doing too much business, they would soon be onto you. Of course the unscrupulous just have multiple private accounts to hide their totals.

This article on the long pointed shoes, or Poulaines, worn in medieval times is very well and amusingly written. Worth a diversion from more serious matters: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vnl1evdkko

I have had one back saying "We are looking into it".

OK, thanks. Now reported.

I have forgotten who, but haven't we an Ebay executive on here somewhere now? I can't even find a mechanism for reporting fraudulent listings on Ebay anymore. Have they removed it completely? Clearly they are not at all interested in preventing fraud.

This has now been taken down after I had a long message conversation with the seller through Ebay. The seller says they have a number of interesting sounding pennies that they want to share/discuss/sell and I have suggested they come to this forum as there are better experts here than anywhere else! Hopefully they turn up here soon.

I would agree that there seems to be a lot of metal there. @fluffy998 if you can weigh it we could compare to an unadulterated halfpenny. I still can't work out what it was done for. It looks like a wheel for some toy, but then you would expect and axle hole in the centre.

It appears to have started life as a halfpenny from the 1770s, whether regal or a contemporary counterfeit is difficult to tell with the level of wear. I has been machined to create the raised rim on both sides. I have seen this done before to create a ferrule for the end of a walking stick, but these are usually deeper and one sided. Not quite sure what purpose this one was created for - possibly to fit on the base of a chair leg?

That link doesn't work. A click leads to a download of the htm file, which seems to be a menu from some website.

An historical query: As posted elsewhere I recently acquired a 1739 Crown. When I showed it to a friend, who also collects, he immediately said that the 1739 coins were made from silver from the Combe Martin silver mines, which is fairly local to me here. I have done a little research online and have found no mention of this. There is plenty about the Combe Martin silver being used for coins during the Civil War 1647-1648. Anyone know any more or have any reference they can point me to? A picture of the coin to make it more interesting:

Over the Christmas break, with nothing better to do, I did a bit more research. ESC confirms that the roses in angles silver of this period use silver from "The West of England". Researching silver mines in the West, there are not too many options, and of these many were not operating in the 18th century. Only two areas seem to be working: Combe Martin and Cornwall. Cornwall's main focus was on tin and copper, though some silver was produced almost as a by-product. So it does seem that the bulk, if not all the silver in this 1739 Crown would have come from Combe Martin. A nice little addendum to a pleasing coin.

They are a challenge to shift. You used to be able to get 25p each for them at the PO or Bank, but not sure that works anymore. I see bulk lots of them turn up regularly at local clearance auctions, often diluted with a few other coins (sometimes silver) to sweeten the pill. Really that is just shifting the problem onto somebody else, but at least it gets them out of your life! I have a box full somewhere too.

I have never got into stamps, so I can't help with valuations. I have seen two auction houses through Easylive that do lots of stamps and some coins, they may be worth a look: Martello Philatelic auctions: https://www.easyliveauction.com/auctioneers/martellophilatelicauctions/ And James & Sons: https://www.easyliveauction.com/auctioneers/jamesandsonsauctioneers/

I can't say I really have much time for Christmas anymore, but I am happy to wish you all the very best for the season and a prosperous and successful New Year!

I had this problem a few years ago. Solution recommended was to message @Chris Perkins direct, and this worked fine then.