Paddy

Wow! Well found! If you are a member on that site, feel free to add a copy of my picture if you think it would be appreciated.

Here is one that is probably a transportation token, but because the message is less clear, one cannot be certain:

What happened was that CP moved the Wanted and For Sale sections to the Members section and so most got reset as unread.

Quite a few Counter-stamps are commercial. Many copper pennies were stamped with "Lloyds" and used as tokens for their paper. The Chinese used Chop marks to confirm authenticity or claim ownership. Some were also governmental - indicating a re-valuation or the use in subsidiary or revolutionary organisations. Many early Caribbean coins are counter stamped versions of other country's money. Engraving tends to be more personal, individual and so difficult to track down. When I first started collecting again in the early 2000s I picked up a cartwheel penny at an antiques shop, which, in the terms of the vendor, had been "Vandalised as someone's written all over the back" As a result it was cheap. The wording was something like "When this you see, think of me, J Bond 1827" - it was a transportation token created by or for someone about to be shipped to the colonies! I put it on Ebay, and it sold for a tidy sum, going to Australia. Sadly I no longer have a picture. Here is a Brazilian 20 Reis counter stamped by the government to revalue as 40 Reis.

I found this interesting and some lovely hammered coins pictured: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2yerrqel7o

It maybe - I am not sure I would know how to find out. The link I have is this: http://www.steppeulvene.com/index.george_iii.html Based on the similarities I suspect this may have been @seuk's site.

There was a website for these, which I have bookmarked, but when I tried to visit it just now I think it has been deleted.

With the Sri Lankan coins, bear in mind that very similar designs were used on their coins for several generations of rulers. They can be distinguished by the real experts, but that is beyond me! If you want to be precise, I suggest you join Zeno and post good quality pictures there. You will usually get chapter and verse back within a few hours. (Do read the requirements for posting - they have strict guidelines.) Here is one I had years ago but sold to a collector in Thailand:

For the Asian coins I recommend this website: https://www.zeno.ru/index.php - far and away the most extensive resource on Asian coins. For example, I think the ones I suggested as Sri Lankan are similar to this: https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=371736&cat=3449&ppuser=&sortby=d&way=desc

Welcome to the forum @sambevan77 An interesting selection, but as you say nothing I think of startling value. It would take a long time and a lot of effort to fully ID all of those. A few shots: Row 1 - first is Roman, second looks to be "Hollandia" - ie Netherlands 18thc, third might be an Indian temple token, fourth and fifth I think are Ancient Sri Lankan, sixth looks byzantine, seventh no idea. Row 2 - first may be another byzantine, 2nd, 3rd, 4th look to be Indian , 5th maybe French, 6th, 7th and 8th Roman. Row 3 - 1st, 3rd and 4th look South American, 2nd might be the most valuable as it maybe an Indian gold Fanam, 5th and 9th no idea, 6th, 7th and 8th Indian or Middle Eastern. I hope that helps. You will have to do much more research in your own time, but hopefully those thoughts will get you into the right areas.

I admire all your work and dedication to this subject. I would love to make a more positive contribution, but unfortunately I have little detailed knowledge on these matters, and do not find them interesting enough to invest the time to learn more about the topic. Please don't be put off - I am sure others must be much more interested than me!

I hadn't realised GIV Crowns had got so high! This is my best, picked up about 15 years ago as part of an old family collection:

A nice selection! What dates on the Charles II and William III?

I was fortunate enough to pick up mine before the prices went completely crazy:

I had a very similar experience in about 2018. I spent best part of £1k on a huge collection of 50p, £1s and £2s with multiple duplicates. The scarcer pieces sold fairly easily - one Kew Gardens and a handful of Jemima Puddleducks, some of the £2 coins. The rest became a millstone around my neck and I ended up taking the bulk of them to the Post Office in 2023 at face value. Hence my advice above.

There are four approaches I can see: 1. Break it up and sell it in single lots or small groups on Ebay. This requires quite a lot of effort on your part and will take some time, but gives you the best chance of recouping your investment, or even making a profit. The Coin cases and storage materials my do best. 2. Sell it through a local auction house who will break it down into maybe a handful of lots. It will be bought by dealers, who will break it down and sell to private collectors to make a margin. (Collectors don't generally buy bulk lots at auction.) By the time you have allowed for auction commissions and dealer's profit margins you will be lucky if you get face value for the coins. 3. Find a dealer who is interested and do a direct deal. The price will still not be great but at least you take the auction house commission out of the equation. 4. Sell the best pieces - some individual coins and the storage material - on Ebay and take the rest to the Post Office at face value. It sounds brutal but you will save yourself a lot of effort and end up with broadly the same as options 2 and 3. You have to look at it as making the rewards from enjoying the collecting process rather than profit. Sorry if that all sounds a bit disappointing but I think it is a realistic answer.

Those are much better pics - well done. As to the original question - whether it has been cleaned - still seems unresolved. I can see no hairline scratches, but it may well have been dipped at some point. It has some wear, so short of the higher grades but very presentable. I am not sure what one would dip Nickel in. It stays so bright anyway, I'm not sure it is necessary...?

Acetone is very expensive from chemists! Try Ebay/Amazon or some hardware stores. Don't use the Nail Polish remover, which is Acetone based but has other chemicals added.

I think it depends a bit on your mindset. I get more pleasure out of filling a gap in a difficult date run with a reasonable example than I do from picking up a common coin in Unc.

Not a file format my Windows machine can recognise. Is it possible to convert it to jpg or something similar?

I think you need to Scale your image down rather than just crop it, so we can see the whole coin. As to whether that Nickel has been cleaned - difficult to say from that pic. It would not be surprising if it has. There is quite a lot of wear, but equally Nickel doesn't tarnish so the surfaces are likely to remain quite bright.

You need to ensure the photos total no more than 500Kb per post. You may need to acquire a suitable photo editor to achieve this - On Windows machines Photoscape, which is free, is a good option and the one I use. Also, once you have posted a picture in a particular thread, the system remembers that and won't let you post another straight away. Simply come out of the thread and back in and it should then let you.

Welcome to the forum! Storing a growing collection is always a headache and largely done to personal preference. I have a very similar target collection to yours and have kept mine in a growing number of the WH Smith's "Magpie" albums, which are reasonably cheap and secure. The double action ensures coins do not slip out, and the plastic is coin safe. They are not good for display and the folders gradually fail under the weight of coins. The range of Lindner coin trays are another alternative. They are good for display and very adaptable, but each tray is expensive. Many new collectors start with coin flips and long boxes, which is simple and practical, but viewing your coins becomes tedious. Traditionally the serious collector would use the custom made coin cabinets. Others may be able to point you to current suppliers, or you can keep an eye on the auctions. These are much better for display and the cabinets look appealing, but the coins are more open to the environment, and they can become inflexible as your collection expands. Of course if you are following the American trend towards graded and encapsulated coins, you need an entirely different approach and I have no idea how they tackle that. P

I'd say definitely 1735. This is what the 1733 date looks like:

I think all these alterations add to the history. A plug means someone thought it interesting enough to use as a medallion or touch piece, then someone later felt it was interesting enough to repair. Engravings are often love tokens or claims to ownership. A split or fragment means it has been in the ground for some time. I think that is why I find perfect proof coins a bit dull.