When is a Coin OLD?

[azda 979]

This was sort of started in another thread and it got me thinking. I have a 1913 Halfcrown which next year will be 100 years old..........So when and where in the coin collecting world do we consider a coin as being OLD?

[scottishmoney 29]

When you scarcely see them in circulation anymore. But in the past year I have managed to find over a dozen 100+ year old coins from roll searches of bank wrapped rolls of coins. Most recent was a 1911 a few days ago.

[TomGoodheart 400]

I think that's a subjective question Dave. (Sorry!) Obviously, there are ancient coins, like Roman and Greek. But after that it's sort of in the eye of the beholder. Most people divide up time into slices, such as Celtic/ Saxon coins, then early hammered/ mediaeval. I personally talk of modern coins as being after 1660 or so, but of course, they are still old.

And while the word is bandied about for pretty much anything pre-1960 on ebay, 'antique' used to only denote an item over 100 years old. So your coin is an antique. But clearly not as old as the sort of thing I collect. My coins are older than America (well, sort of!). But then so was the school I went to (founded 1597). Which is quite recent compared to say, the Tower of London! Get my drift?

[Debbie 58]

Yes and my boys think the half penny to be "old"!

[SEnumis 0]

I would consider anything before the current coinage to be old, such as the 5p that was the same size as a shilling and the 10p the same size as a two shilling piece. Maybe even the bronze penny and 2p and the cupro nickel 5p, or those with the Christopher Ironside designs. Of course if 'old' means 'meritorious' then the selection of items might be rather different. But for a classic definition of old I think my definition would hold up.

[ski 1]

So when and where in the coin collecting world do we consider a coin as being OLD?

i think its a personal view that goes with age, i donth think a 1967 penny is old, my son thinks its ancient, my 1554 tanner, now thats old......to me......but not to my mother-in-law who can probably remember the day it was struck .

sorry debbie....but coming back to cars......

arent there veteran and vintage classes, a moving scale based on age of the vehicle......i think thats how we look at age, with a coin, the scale moves with the owner/viewer.

ski

[Accumulator 52]

So when and where in the coin collecting world do we consider a coin as being OLD?

i think its a personal view that goes with age, i donth think a 1967 penny is old, my son thinks its ancient, my 1554 tanner, now thats old......to me......but not to my mother-in-law who can probably remember the day it was struck .

sorry debbie....but coming back to cars......

arent there veteran and vintage classes, a moving scale based on age of the vehicle......i think thats how we look at age, with a coin, the scale moves with the owner/viewer.

ski

With cars there's 'classic' too, which fills in between modern and the most recent that could reasonably be described as vintage.

As far as coins are concerned 'old', to me, simply means pre-decimal or post-decimal that has been withdrawn (e.g. large 5p & 10p, 1/2p). Other descriptions such as historic or ancient would better describe early examples of coinage.

Debbie... not sure whether you are referring to the 1/2p or 1/2d with your boys? My girls were born more than a decade after the 1/2p was in circulation (it was withdrawn in 1984) so have no memory of it whatsoever. A Remy Martin bottle full of them does make a nice doorstop though!

Edited September 12, 2012 by Accumulator

[Peter 615]

Being born in the 60's "old coins" had to be pre 1901.

It is frightening to think one of my great grandmothers was born in 1870.

My relations and parents friends always gave me Victorian bronze as I loved old coins.

[Peckris 579]

I would consider anything before the current coinage to be old, such as the 5p that was the same size as a shilling and the 10p the same size as a two shilling piece. Maybe even the bronze penny and 2p and the cupro nickel 5p, or those with the Christopher Ironside designs. Of course if 'old' means 'meritorious' then the selection of items might be rather different. But for a classic definition of old I think my definition would hold up.

No, for a subjective definition of old I think your definition holds up. The original question was sufficiently vague in its terms, that there would be a different definition for each member of this forum. For me, anything that wasn't legal tender when I began collecting - silver before 1816, copper before 1860 - would be "properly" old.

[FiftyPercentSilver 0]

If its pre decimal