Paddy

Welcome to predecimal coins! The people here are pretty good at helping you out with anything you find in the way of British Pre-decimal and Decimal coinage, so we look forward to your queries. First advice is to get a good book to support your search. Those advertised in the banners on this site are a good starting point and very good value. If you get more specialised we can recommend others to cover specific areas in more detail.

Could you give more details on the book you have? The only reference I have is for Evasions in the Withers Token book, but it does not help with the counterfeits much.

A chap in the market has found this Groat metal detecting and has struggled to get it properly identified as it appears to be a mule. The obverse appears to be a Leaf issue with a Cross Fleury mintmark, but the reverse is an Annulet issue with a plain cross mintmark - and I can see no combination in Spink even close to this. Where are we going wrong?

Thanks for the update! I will pass on to the owner.

And lastly Shilling with Hearts:

Then Shilling without Hearts:

Then Sixpence with Hearts:

OK - My contributions (4 coins in all). First Sixpence without Hearts:

It is always a couple of years behind but the source I use is the Royal Mint: https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/circulation-coin-mintage-figures/two-pounds-to-20p-issued

That is brilliant - thanks Rob! I have never been good at spotting the various shapes in the hammered coins, something you seem to be able to do outstandingly well. Thanks again, Paddy

I am also getting lots of requests for them, but mostly from people frustrated because none of them are turning up in circulation! They (like me) prefer to collect circulation coins from circulation at circulation prices instead of paying the Royal Mint's extortionate figures. It seems those sent for circulation so far were distributed to the post offices and the vast majority were taken up by PO staff for resale on the net. I suspect (hope) the RM will suddenly flood the market with them early next year.

Sadly your 1971 Twopence is worth just two pence. The media hype about them being worth more was a classic case of fake news. There are 10s of millions of them still in circulation. The rare one is the 1983 two pence but only if it reads "New Pence" rather than "Two Pence". Sorry!

If you were referring to the undated 20p from 2008, that actually did prove a different matter. The prices did go crazy for a little while after the BBC got onto the story but it seems they have settled down in the £40 to £50 bracket now. I think they would be more if the 20p was otherwise an interesting coin to collect, but with only two main designs (barring bust changes) over 36 years, not many people can get excited over them. Anoraks like me still like to put one of each away each year!

As always when checking prices on Ebay, click on the "Sold Listings" button down the left hand side and you will see what they are actually going for. The circulation ones are going at markets for around £2 each except Jemima Puddleduck, which is proving much scarcer and will make £10 to £15. Anything in a sealed Royal Mint package and will make more. I can't help you with the coloured ones as I can't stand them! Obviously the various precious metal proofs are also a different market.

Welcome to the forum! There may be others but for the older stuff I use the Coincraft book "The coins of Scotland, Ireland, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man" published in 1999. The more modern stuff is well covered in Krause, but then you are getting coins from all over the World too.

No problem, I will let you know as soon as I see another. 😊

Not sure if this one fits into your target area? A friend of mine has it and may be interested in parting with it to a collector. It comes with an advertising paper from Richards of Sheffield - the manufacturer of the penknife.

I meant to say Amazon - I got to distracted!

Actually you can get the 2018 Spink book, including the decimal supplement, for £21 including free postage on Ebay at the moment.

Nothing wrong with them, just in that condition they are effectively scrap silver. Scrap on 200g of 50% silver is less than £40, so £65 for them is steep.

Another one in the same ilk:

I disagree on a number of counts: 1. It is graded XF, which is a US grading and not the same as EF on the UK system. On the UK system I still think it would be around VF. 2. Book prices are rarely if ever realised in real life. It is worth, as was said before, what someone will pay for it. If you live by the book you will die by the book - financially at any rate. 3. I doubt very much that it would make anything close to £690 on Ebay - more likely back where we started - £100 +/- £50. 4. I believe soliciting sales in this section is against forum rules and particularly unwelcome form unregistered users. I do agree with the congratulations on a nice find though!

I stand corrected. 😊 I still wont be buying it though...

It looks wrong to me! I can't say anything specific but the toning looks very artificial and exactly the style that they create on fake coins. I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, even if the grade was correct.