Paddy

I have messaged the seller - we will see how honest they are. I suspect the "Customer Service Person" at Ebay was an AI bot!

Welcome @Elmo to the forum! An interesting set and intriguing that it is so difficult to find on the net. Individual coins are mentioned on Numista: https://en.numista.com/182480 but they would not list full sets anyway. Not sure we have many members here who are into Chinese coins as our focus is on British issues. It might be worth posting your query on Cointalk at https://www.cointalk.com/forums/world-coins/ as I know they have quite a few Chinese and bullion coin collectors there who may be able to help you.

I recall that in 2016 and 2017 the new £1 coins appeared with a variation in the rim. The milled section at the base of the portrait could be either left or right of the point of the neck and I think lefties were deemed scarcer. From 2018 they seemed to have sorted out the error and all coins were Righties. However, I have seen that the 2025 £1 occurs both Leftie and Rightie. I wonder if this is really an error, or will be another Ebay fad.

Mine matches the left hand version and @secret santa's, so I guess is the normal one:

Yes, I am not sure where AI came up with "Arabia Shelf" - makes no sense from what I know of Ancient history. I think the reverse legend starts "DEM..." so could be the Greek Goddess Demeter? but it may be "DEMNA.." which I can't relate. (The H is the Greek letter Eta - a long ee sound.) The only book I have on these is "Greek Imperial Coins" by Sear, but it has few illustrations and rather assumes you can read most of the inscription!

I always like to see them, and have got better at Identifying them, but I have resisted collecting them. That is one huge rabbit hole to go down!

I think I can see the remains of "IMP TRAIAN ..." on the obverse, so Trajan? Reverse legend seems to have some Greek letters, so possibly Roman provincial.

Yes - 'fraid so! Wallowing in the luxury of retirement now.

When I had a market stall 5 years ago, this one seemed to be the least common of the Shakespeare series and commanded a slight premium in top condition (£4-5). I suspect a batch has recently come out of the Royal Mint's back log of £2 coins as a number have turned up in change.

Welcome @perry123986cook to the forum. 2008 was the year of the change over from the portcullis design to the broken shield issue. See https://www.royalmint.com/collect/collector-resources/uk-coin-mintage-figures/1p-mintage-figures/ for the figures - about 180 million of this design and another 507 million of the new one. So sadly not scarce or an error!

Certainly looks like transfer of newsprint to me.

Definitely odd! As a "one-off" it is only ever going to have curiosity value. I wonder if it could be a blank from another country with reeded edges that has got jammed into the UK 1p dies? How do its dimensions and weight compare with a regular 1p?

Ah, but I asked AI and it confirmed I am Spartacus! So it must be true!

Very interesting items! Not something I would collect, but definitely intriguing. I suspect when they were made unscrupulous dealers were rooking credulous pilgrims. Nothing has really changed!

Not sure, but I don't think Indian. The writing appears to be using Roman letters but the style is crude for Roman Imperial. Maybe Roman provincial?

@coinkat's OP mentioned "blue book" so I assumed the blue folders were what we were talking about. I have encountered the posher Bookshelf albums that @Bronze & Copper Collector refers to, but I don't recall the colour of those? They were an improvement in storing coins, but seem to have been much less popular - possibly much more expensive? The blue folders were a great way for a young collector to get started, particularly when many of the coins could still be picked up in circulation.

They were certainly popular in the UK and still turn up at auctions here occasionally. I have seen all the way from farthings to Half Crowns, with the earliest catering for coins back to 1860 I believe. I can't say they were a great way to store coins, frequently losing their grip, and I have seen many coins sticky taped into place! I don't believe they ever went decimal, so I guess they ceased in the early 1970s.

I'm not the expert on these, but that looks like Lauer toy money.

Site seemed to be down most of the morning - only just got back in. Any ideas what caused the issue?

I got my first Charles III 5p in change today - 2023.

I don't have Gouby and I haven't really got into these date width varieties, but I get from the above that mine is Ba?

There are hole drills without the centre drills - like these: A hole punch would leave different damage and would certainly have deformed the reverse.

Someone has started drilling it with a hole drill and given up. Or maybe it was being used as a backstop when they were drilling something else.

Now I know how non-coin people feel when they see our conversations on varieties!

I messaged them too and have just had a reply - thanking me and saying they have taken the item down.