some initial questions

[Guest mitsuko]

Hey everyone!! You don't know me but I feel like I know you, having browsed this forum extensively over the past few days. The reason for my browsing: last year I inherited a massive coin collection from my granddad. Although he didn't profess to know much about coins - and neither do I - he was wealthy and a great traveller and consequently many interesting items ended up in his collection. Unfortunately for his collection, I am unwealthy and untravelled and hence have already converted the gold sovereigns and other top specimens into plane tickets. Sad, but granddad would have wanted me to, I swear. What I am now left with is [a] a genuine fascination for numismatics and the history/value of the remaining collection and a remaining collection mostly made up of modern coins in current usage from about 25 different countries, worth I presume little more than face value. The exceptions are:

- numerous 19th century American and Canadian pennies, twopences, nickels and dimes

- sacks upon sacks upon sacks of 20th century pre-decimal British coins

- about twenty assorted English halfpennies, pennies and farthings, 1699 - 1806

- assorted 19th century silvery coins of low denomination from Scandanavia and continental Europe

This website has been of enormous help in my efforts to identify the 1699 - 1806 English coins. What I don't feel confident about is judging their condition and whether they are forgeries, which of course are key value factors. So later on I'm going to scan some of them in the hopes you'll provide me with condition and value estimates (I know they won't be worth much at all but as I said I'm fascinated with these things).

But before I attempt the scan, I have a few questions that are killing me.

1. Am I the only girl on here? (as in 'regular' members)

2. I have a fascination for silver/gold English coins with *very* early dates written on them (in clear, Arabic numerals). Can you give me some examples of the earliest English date-bearing coins? What are some that I might be able to purchase in not horrible condition for £50 - £200?

3. I am getting ill from sorting through all the pre-decimal 20th century UK coins, which hold no particular fascination for me. There are tons from 1900 onwards - halfpennies, pennies, threepences, sixpences, the lot. The best look to be in AUC condition but I have no experience in judging this. My eyes are going funny from examining dates, marks, design variations etc and when I blink I see a million purple shimmering circles. Is it really worth sorting through them one by one? What are the main things - unusual dates etc. - to look out for when sorting through bulk amounts? I'm sure the information is clearly presented elsewhere on this site and I have looked through some of it, but it's all a bit too much at once - I'm wondering if you could point out the essentials.

That's all for now; I'll bug you some more later on

cheers!!

[TomGoodheart 403]

Hi Mitsuko - welcome to the site!

I was just browsing and your post caught my eye.

Q3 - I shall leave to others since I'm sure someone has an easily accesible list of 20c rarities. I'd have guessed however that your Granddad would have picked out any obvous ones and set them aside.

Q1 - quite probably!!

Q2 - the first English coins with dates are from the reign of Edward VI but these will be pricy! The first with arabic numerals are the Crown and Halfcrown, but this practice stopped in Philip and Mary's reign when the Shilling and Sixpence were dated instead!

Things changed again with Lizzie, with only the Sixpence, Threepence, Threehalfpence and Threefarthings bearing a date. The good news is that Elizabethan coins from 1561 can be had within your budget. Sixpences are a reasonable size and worth a look.

I'm afraid the larger denominations, including gold, are undated until you reach the very expensive provincial and siege issues of Charles I. The last hammered coins to bear a date are those of the Commonwealth (1649-60).

Hope that helps!

[Chris Perkins 228]

And for Q3, have a look at my page here:

http://www.predecimal.com/key_dates.htm

Q1: Wow, a female, don't see many of those do you. You're bound to get endless amounts of assistance, as have most other girls that have popped in from time to time.

[Geordie582 18]

Welcome to the site (and the hobby?). I've suspected for some time that some of the macho people posting on this and Coinpeople sites are really females! (ESPECIALLY THE LATTER). The trouble with the internet is that it can be very anonimous! Many of the members here would give their eye teeth to have sacks of coins to sort!

I think Tom and Chris have answered your questions.

Again welcome and good luck with the searches

[Guest mitsuko]

Thanks very much for the welcome and helpful advice, Chris, Tom and Geordie!

Chris, using your date reference page I painstakingly sorted through my pre-decimals and found an Edward VIII threepence!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, ok, what I actually found was sod all but it was an educational experience nonetheless. I did figure out that a lot of my pennies and halfpennies are from Guernsey.

Tom, I'm now excitedly e-shopping for Elizabeth I sixpences. The better examples are tempting despite some being being over twice my budget. Incidentally, does this specimen - http://www.onlinecoins.co.uk/viewcoin.php?itemid=35491 - look like it's been too-aggressively cleaned? Is that what "fields tooled" means? But no, I must stick to budget...

I'm now ready to post a scan of some of my coins but am unable to attach the images to this message. To what address should I email the .jpegs?

[Chris Perkins 228]

You should be able to post an image with the 'File attachments' prompt.

If not, email to cp@predecimal.com

[TomGoodheart 403]

Tom, I'm now excitedly e-shopping for Elizabeth I sixpences. The better examples are tempting despite some being being over twice my budget. Incidentally, does this specimen - http://www.onlinecoins.co.uk/viewcoin.php?itemid=35491 - look like it's been too-aggressively cleaned? Is that what "fields tooled" means? But no, I must stick to budget...

Cleaning is separate from tooling. Tooling is a process by which you use a tool (obviously) to cut into the surface of the coin to leave the design in higher (and sharper) relief than it would otherwise have been. While it does happen, like most mucking about, it's generally best avoided and in most people's eyes lowers the value of a coin. The coin shown does look a bit dull which would put me off. Whether it's been cleaned or not I'm not sure (it could be how the photo was taken), it's just that I prefer a bit of original toning where possible.

While I quite sympathise with your enthusiasm to spend those pennies (we've all been there!) it's worth taking some time to look around to check out what's available. Only when you've seen an exceptional specimen will you have a benchmark for everything else.

By the way, did you realise the coin you posted is actually milled (ie made by an early machine process?) For almost the same price of the coin you quoted you could have this hammered coin with (I think) rather more character (and tone!).. Lizzie 6d .. not that I'm trying to encourage you to spend more, just showing what's out there. I think with a bit of work you will be able to get some pretty decent coins within your budget.

Good luck (and don't forget Charles I coins!) - let us know how you get on!

[Chris Perkins 228]

The following text and attachment is from mitsuko:

My scanner is crap and resists all attempts to adjust its settings, so the image quality is slightly less defined and detailed than the actual coins. For example in good light, the fainter dates are all readily made out. From left to right the coins are: (top row) 1754 George II farthing; 1747 George II halfpenny; 1735 George II halfpenny; 1699 William III halfpenny; and (bottom row) 1795 merchant token 'Duke of York' halfpenny; 1807 George III halfpenny; 1806 George III halfpenny; 1772 George III halfpenny.

I have more 1806 halfpennies in the same condition as the example here and also some 1773 in the same condition as the 1772 shown. I have yet to sort through the remainder of the 18th century coppers but I think some are Irish.

At what grade and value would you put these? I know they're not up to much, and probably worth (Elizabath II circulated) pennies, but I think I'm hooked!

- thank you

[Chris Perkins 228]

And the other sides...

[Rob 3,152]

With the exception of the 1806 they are all poor to fair condition and not worth much. The 1806 is considerably better and if it has some original colour remaining as it appears to in the scan is probably worth £5-10 and I would grade it as VF with the reverse a bit better and approaching good VF. If the copper colour is as a result of it being cleaned then it is not going to be worth much as these are common, even in high grade. There are two varieties of 1806 halfpennies, one without berries on the olive branch as this one and one with. The with berries version is scarcer. The berries if present can be found as follows. 2 on the left hand side of the branch, one opposite the hand and the second below the top two leaves. The other is on the right side half way up the olive branch.