Go Easy On Me

[fletch88 0]

Hello to one and all.

I'm new to this forum and joined up to share my recent acquisitions and to see if there is anyone out there who has similar interests as me.

I'll start by saying this though - I am only really interested in coins that you could expect to find in your change. I've been collecting since around 2006, when my dad, myself and the local landlord raided all his change bags for a 1988 £1 and found just one. Add this to a few other rarities and we have a nice little collection going. (I had considered the username 'philistine' when I signed up, but I thought that would be pigeon-holing myself )

I couldn't help but noticing this forum tends to deal with pre-decimal coins and the sheer number out there baffles me, which is probably why I've never considered starting a collection of pre-1972 coins.

Anyway, here is our little collection so far. Does anyone know whether they're worth much, if anything at all?

- 10 x 1988 £1 coins. All in decent but 'circulated' condition

- Full set of 2012 Olympic commemorative 50ps. Again in circulated condition

- 1 x 1987 Falkland's £1 coin. Circulated condition, but I have heard they only minted 2,500 of these!

- Kew Gardens 50p. Can't believe the recent hype there has been around these. Held on to it though, foolishly or not?

- Every commemorative 50p coin since 1997, except for the 2013 Ironside one and the 2003 WSPU one.

Finally, does anyone have any tips where would be the best place to start a casual collection of older coins? And I do mean Casual!

All the best,

F

[declanwmagee 122]

Best thing to do with the casual collecting of older coins, is to try and put some date runs together starting at 1967 and working backwards. That way it won't get too serious too quickly, as it might if you started collecting by type. You'll soon find out which dates are the tricky ones, and working like that you'll e able to be very choosy as far as grade is concerned, which I wish I'd done right from the start - would have saved me years of repetitive upgrading!

Decimal stuff - no idea! Someone here will though...

[azda 979]

Welcome to the forum Fletch. Many people ask the same question as you "what should i collect" Its down to the individual and personal choice. Take a look through the thread "coin aquisition of the week" there is over 200 Pages of purchased coins showcased there and maybe 1 or 2 pictures will tweak an interest.

As regards to the decimal, well i just recently sold (on fleabay) a 1983 Piedfort proof £1 which is obviously the first £1 coin minted, i don't know if the proofs interest you but there's mamy of those out there. I think the earlier ones but not counting the 1983 are fairly cheap in proof.

[Gary 7]

Hello fletch and welcome to the Forum.

A quick search of completed listings on ebay produced the following,

1988 £1 sell for a £2 - £7.50 depending on its condition. Realistically I would say double its Face value.

2012 Circulated Olympic Set £24-£37

1987 Falklands £1 although low mintage will have little value due to the demand for this coin, may be corrected on that

Kew Gardens 50p...... this one shocked me! From circulation it seems to sell for around £40 give or take a few pounds.

Sorry but I could not be bothered to look up all the other 50p's

As for your question about a casual collection of older coins it all depends on your budget. Most people start of with the Bronze coins with the most popular being the Penny followed by the Farthing and then the Halfpenny.

Before you start you will need info. A good buy is Collectors Coins 2014 which is easily available on the Net. Will not cost you a fortune. If you can get hold of an older version it will also include Decimals!

Edited February 26, 2014 by Gary

[Gary 7]

A quick update. Apparently the mintage figure for the Kew Garden 50p is just 210 000 for circulation. There are was also another 234 696 produced for the BU Sets etc which gives a total amount of 444 696. As this information is in the public domain it is likely that nearly all these coins will survive in good condition as every tom dick and harry is out there looking for them! This is comparable to the 1950 Penny of which there were only 240 000 coins minted again nearly all survive in high grade and have a value of between £18 in EF and £50 in Unc condition. I suspect that once the hyp has died down then the value of the Kew Gardens 50p will settle at around the same value or less than for the 1950 Penny...... All these figure do not include Proof issues of which there are 34 438 50p and 17 513 1950 1d.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Gary

[Peter 615]

Rotographic (the owner of this site Chris Perkins) Is working on his latest decimal coin book.

I keep all the top quality coins that come my way.

[Peckris 579]

In the first place, please let me disabuse you of an urban myth - 1988 £1 coins aren't rare! Pre-eBay, no-one cared two hoots about them, and that's not surprising given that over 7 million were struck (that's over twice as many as the seriously underrated 1981 10 pence). By comparison, the 1985 50 pence is scarce at 600,000 minted, and 1992 50p even scarcer at little more than 100,000.

The market for decimals is still in its infancy really, so no-one can give you considered advice about the long-term future of it. However, looking for scarcities in your change is not at all a bad idea, as each only costs you its face value. By comparison, the Royal Mint charges quite ridiculous premiums for its modern commemorative issues and proofs, most of which can be picked up later at a huge reduction, e.g. provincial auctions and eBay.

As for predecimals, yes why not start a casual collection? The only thing is, as nothing is circulating anymore, do you have any idea at all where you would like to begin? You could, for example, put together a complete collection of Elizabeth II predecimals in EF condition, and it would only cost a modest amount (EF is the grade below Uncirculated, but few coins after 1937 cost much in that grade - only the scarcer George VI brass 3ds and the 1952 sixpence come to mind; the 1954 florin - very scarce in UNC and costing £40 or £50 - could be got for less than a tenner in EF.)

Let us know your thoughts and we'd be happy to advise.

(LOL yes, I forgot the 1950 and 1951 pennies! Not surprisingly. )

Edited February 26, 2014 by Peckris

[fletch88 0]

Firstly, thank you all for your responses so far. It has shed a little bit more light on your world

The 88 £1 coin thing has become a bit of an obsession over the last few years mainly due to their scarcity (not rarity, I gather!), the fact that the design is quite nice (probably the finest £1 coin design) and the fact it's my birth year. A vintage year indeed.....

I suppose an Elizabeth II collection would be a good place to start. Do you guys recommend scouring eBay? I'll need to do my research of course, so thank you for the advice regarding Collectors books. I shall definitely have to take a look.

For now, we'll start small. A collection of all the current £1 coins in circulation shouldn't take too long, and we'll kick off from there I guess.

Looking forward to contributing to the community at some point in the future

[Nordle11 564]

In the first place, please let me disabuse you of an urban myth - 1988 £1 coins aren't rare! Pre-eBay, no-one cared two hoots about them, and that's not surprising given that over 7 million were struck (that's over twice as many as the seriously underrated 1981 10 pence). By comparison, the 1985 50 pence is scarce at 600,000 minted, and 1992 50p even scarcer at little more than 100,000.

The market for decimals is still in its infancy really, so no-one can give you considered advice about the long-term future of it. However, looking for scarcities in your change is not at all a bad idea, as each only costs you its face value. By comparison, the Royal Mint charges quite ridiculous premiums for its modern commemorative issues and proofs, most of which can be picked up later at a huge reduction, e.g. provincial auctions and eBay.

As for predecimals, yes why not start a casual collection? The only thing is, as nothing is circulating anymore, do you have any idea at all where you would like to begin? You could, for example, put together a complete collection of Elizabeth II predecimals in EF condition, and it would only cost a modest amount (EF is the grade below Uncirculated, but few coins after 1937 cost much in that grade - only the scarcer George VI brass 3ds and the 1952 sixpence come to mind; the 1954 florin - very scarce in UNC and costing £40 or £50 - could be got for less than a tenner in EF.)

Let us know your thoughts and we'd be happy to advise.

(LOL yes, I forgot the 1950 and 1951 pennies! Not surprisingly. )

Sacrilege!

[Chris Perkins 228]

A quick update. Apparently the mintage figure for the Kew Garden 50p is just 210 000 for circulation. There are was also another 234 696 produced for the BU Sets etc which gives a total amount of 444 696. As this information is in the public domain it is likely that nearly all these coins will survive in good condition as every tom dick and harry is out there looking for them! This is comparable to the 1950 Penny of which there were only 240 000 coins minted again nearly all survive in high grade and have a value of between £18 in EF and £50 in Unc condition. I suspect that once the hyp has died down then the value of the Kew Gardens 50p will settle at around the same value or less than for the 1950 Penny...... All these figure do not include Proof issues of which there are 34 438 50p and 17 513 1950 1d.

Where'd you get those numbers Gary? I haven't previously been able to find the annual numbers that are packaged into the BU singles etc.

[Paulus 1,975]

Welcome along Fletch! I would echo others' comments, and add that you might want to grab one of these 1970 proof sets from eBay. You can normally pick them up from an auction for around a tenner delivered, tremendous value for what they are I think, and will help get you acquainted with pre-decimal Liz II coinage:

link

Edited February 26, 2014 by Paulus

[declanwmagee 122]

Another new collector! This is good...

For all our scoffing at the Royal Mints tactics, it does seem to be working you know...

[Gary 7]

Chris, I found them on the Royal Mint Blog at this address but it deals purely with the Kew Garden 50p only.

http://blog.royalmint.com/keeping-an-eye-out-for-the-kew-gardens-50p/

[Accumulator 52]

Another new collector! This is good...

For all our scoffing at the Royal Mints tactics, it does seem to be working you know...

Just what I was thinking, Declan. Lots of new collectors visiting us in 2014, which is great.

Welcome to the forum!

[Chris Perkins 228]

Thanks Gary. I've incorporated those numbers into Collectors' Coins - Decimal Issues of the United Kingdom, which should go to print next month.

[Gary 7]

Glad to be of assistance