Stuntman

A 1913 penny in VF would cost somewhere between £2 and £5 to buy, I reckon. Keep it if you like it and it makes you happy!

I think the coin looks slightly more worn in the CGS photos too, but I agree with IanB that it's a nice, straightforward honest coin that I would be happy with if it were mine. NEF for me on those second photos perhaps. I've probably got stricter since I've been reading this forum... Which brings me to the good point that Mick raises for relative beginners like himself and myself. When people like us buy from a reputable dealer such as the one who sold Mick this farthing and the coin is given a grade by them, we probably assume that their opinion of grade carries a certain amount of weight and isn't going to be miles away from what a TPG might say. We then probably look at some of the price guides for the coin in the grade and this will influence a purchase decision. I've bought a few coins from this same dealer, and am happy with the majority of them as objects to enjoy owning, but ... maybe they aren't really as described? And in no way is that dealer the most over-optimistic. I won't name names of some others!

It would get an EF from me. I wouldn't pay to get it slabbed either, but I fully respect your right to do so and understand why you might want to. Anyway - where to next, Mick, once you've completed your 1899 and 1951 sets? Keep buying whatever takes your fancy, or are you going to focus on something more specific?

Here are my similar coins - bought about 35 years ago at a coin fair when I was a schoolboy! The 1946 is a bit better than the 1949 I think, but both are of similar grade to yours. I still like them...

The 1949 looks a good honest coin. Agree about the 1946 being cleaned, it doesn't hold that much eye appeal to me I'm afraid. GF sounds about right although I suspect some may say F. As to price - somewhere between £5 and £10 for the 1949, maybe £5 for the 1946?

Hehe! Can't believe she said it looks nice

Got one today. AA18 serial number. It looks nice, feels different and is smaller in size!

The champions are getting battered!

They've gone on the homepage on my computer Chris, but I can't click through to the coins for sale page from the homepage, nor the forum page from the homepage. The dropdown menus work fine. I had a similar problem on the forum over the past week, which appears to have been solved.

It works for me today, so thank you to whoever fixed the problem. I got the big horrible ads from about Thursday last week, and even after installing ad-blocking software I couldn't open threads or post. All good now though

Great minds...

Some fabulous coins there Azda. Love the 1911 Florin and the 1845 Crown in particular. Is the Florin a currency coin or a proof?

I think it probably depends on the type of collector you are (no pun intended). I'm similar to you in the sense that I'm not setting out to obtain different varieties of the same denomination and date, but reading about them here certainly raises my awareness of them. I suppose it's a spectrum really - I mean, most coin collectors probably know about things like the H and KN pennies of 1912, 1918 and 1919, the 1926 ME penny and the 1902 low tide penny for example. Coming on here opens your eyes to further varieties, such as different versions of a number (1903 open 3 penny for example) or different date widths (1889 penny for example, I think). Then I doff my cap to the real Forum Gods especially the penny collectors when they show pictures of even more micro-varieties and/or impacts of die wear evolution! I think if you're into collecting certain denominations, the varieties keep it interesting and give you something to try and find. But someone like me, and for a given budget, would rather have examples of different types of coins in my collection rather than different varieties of the same coin. It's an adventure either way!

Here's my only LIMA coin, what I think is a reasonably serviceable 1745 Shilling bought from the Midland Coin Fair in June this year!

Slabbed Panda would be a good name for a punk or metal band I think.

I'd say it's up to you, Sleepy. After all, you're the current custodian of this coin. If you think it might have more appeal to you without some of the gunk on it, by all means experiment. I'd probably give it a couple of weeks in Olive Oil followed by a good wash with de-ionised water and then a careful pat dry with a clean white cotton cloth. That should remove some of the gunk but not too much. After that, see what you think, and perhaps go down the acetone or ammonia routes as suggested by others above.

I saw that episode but I missed the first one. I thought it was interesting too, and I'm sure that you would have noticed how she had her hair braided(?) in the manner of the gothic head!

It's interesting that your girlfriend got a 1986 £2 in her change recently, as I thought these older style £2 coins were demonetised about 20 years ago! Nice find. You learn something every day. I still have the 1986 commonwealth games, 1989 bill of rights and 1995 50th anniversary of the end of WW2 £2 coins that I picked out of change at the time!

Will you really stuff and mount the winning beans? Fair play if you do, a proper taxidermy display like a prize catch! Congratulations, by the way. Would it be unkind to ask how many other mad eccentric fools entrants there were?

Good for you, and I think that the decimal £2, £1 and 50p coins are a good place to start whetting your appetite as you can enjoy looking for them in circulation as well as finding them from dealers or on eBay etc. Maybe after a while you'll dip your toe into the world of predecimal UK coins. For instance, for the cost of a Kew Gardens 50p you could buy quite a few common predecimal coins (say for 1937,1953 or 1967) in top grade, with those years representing the coronations of George VI, Elizabeth II and the date on the last circulating predecimal coins. Although where to start is all down to personal preference! For instance you might prefer to have a little bit of everything, or a lot of the same denomination like you currently have with your decimals. I'm relatively new collector (well I collected as a schoolboy about 35 years ago, but I've come back to the hobby in the last couple of years) and I started off collecting a little bit of everything, but like most of us here I suspect, I prefer the look and feel of certain denominations more than others. Have fun!

They are good honest coins that have seen plenty of action over their lifetime. You could enjoy speculating about whose hands they passed through, and what items they were exchanged for.

Hi - I tend to upload my coin photos to a sharing site (Photobucket for me) and then post the link here - for example: The 1824 AEF sounds interesting although it might be a little too rich for my blood. For the Large Jubilee Heads I would be more interested in a common coin with nice eye appeal than something more rare. I'm looking for a decent serviceable example of each main type and my own examples of the three coins I mentioned are Fine or worse!

I might be interested, don't have any halfpennies to exchange I'm afraid, only got a few myself I would be particularly interested in seeing what you have for George IV (garnished reverse and gartered reverse coins of 1821-25), and Victoria Large Jubilee head (1889-92). Stick some pictures up anyway, I'm sure many of us would like to see what you have! Good luck with the halfpennies, I like them as a denomination too, especially the copper ones of 1799-1859.

I like it. I would say at least NEF, probably not quite a pure EF for me. I would be tempted too, although it is the commonest year for the Wiliiam IV halfcrown and the price is reasonably full, I think. Good luck with your decision!

I have an early milled shilling with what appears to be a carbon spot on it. Can carbon spots be wholly or partially removed from sterling silver?