Collectors' Coins 2014: Great Britain

Collectors’ Coins Great Britain

Pre-Decimal Issues. By Chris Henry Perkins

A wealth of numismatic information and a compilation of averaged selling-prices drawn from the online Rotographic database, dealers’ lists, coin auctions, numismatic magazines and experience in the trade. Special thanks to London Coins (www.londoncoins.co.uk) and Colin Cooke (www.colincooke.com) for making their price data available to the author.

The preceding 2012, 39th edition of this book was ISBN 978-0-948964-81-7

Collectors Coins 2014: Great Britain. Copyright Christopher Henry Perkins 2013 - Published by Rotographic International at Smashwords

No part of this book may be reproduced in any format printed or electronic without prior permission from the copyright holder.

Errors and Omissions:

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information and price data contained within this book is accurate and complete. However, errors do sometimes have a habit of creeping in unnoticed, and with this in mind the following email address has been established for notifications of omissions and errors: [email protected]. Readers within the UK can also call the telephone number below.

Special thanks to everyone involved.

This book is dedicated to Sue Bennett.

www.rotographic.com

020 308 69996

In Association with

* This book is not endorsed or supported by the British Numismatic Trade Association, it has simply been written by one of its members. See www.bnta.net for further details on the BNTA.

CONTENTS

Introduction and The Layout

How to use this book and important notes

Main Section: Circulation Coins and Mass produced Proof Coins

Fractional Farthings:

Farthings

Half Pennies

Pennies

Three Halfpence

Cartwheel Twopence

Threepences

Groats

Sixpences

Shillings

Eighteen Pences

Florins

Half Crowns

Three Shillings

Double Florins

Dollars

Crowns

Gold Section: Guinea & Sovereign based denominations 1797 - 1968

Introduction, Guineas, Half Guineas and Third Guineas

Introduction to Sovereign based denominations

Half Sovereigns

Sovereigns

Two Pound Coins

Five Pound Coins

Proof sets, 1826 to 1970

Maundy Section: Maundy sets and single Coins

Appendix I - A Glossary of Numismatic terms

Bibliography/Cover Coin / BM Copyright notice

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to COLLECTORS’ COINS GREAT BRITAIN 2014. CCGB is the most comprehensive British coin book covering British coins from the industrial revolution to the last of the old money (pre-decimal coinage) in 1970. If you already own a previous edition, then thanks again for your continued patronage.

The price of the printed version has gone up to seven whole guineas! I do apologise for that. The price was unchanged at just six guineas for 5 years and it was felt that a small rise of 16 per cent was due. Sales remain strong, but printing costs, storage and shipping etc have all crept up in price over the years.

You may have discovered and indeed be reading this book as an eBook, which is a new first. It’s not technically a first, first, as the full range of Rotographic books were available as eBooks in PDF format nine years ago. Over the last few years and after many innovations to the eBook market and the devices used to read them, PDF files have generally fallen out of favour. For me personally, their biggest drawback was the ease at which they could be copied and sold illegally, and piracy was an issue, particularly for the titles that are not updated annually. This title, and soon all other Rotographic titles will initially be available in .mobi format and will probably also be made available in .epub format, depending on how well they do in the .mobi format. With the increased popularity of Smart Phones, it will be interesting to see if I can spot people looking at Rotographic books on their phones while out and about at coin fairs!

Printing physical ‘proper’ books on paper remains the mainstay of the Rotographic range of books and will no doubt remain so for many years, so please don’t be alarmed if you prefer holding a real book and turning real pages! Printed Rotographic books will always be available to those that prefer them.

The astute among you may have noticed the new look cover design. I thought it was time for a change, and I hope you agree that it looks fresh and eye-catching.

For feedback on the new cover, or any other element of this book or any other Rotographic title, please don’t hesitate to contact me via www.rotographic.com or by calling the number on the first page.

Good luck with your collection or your price research.

C H Perkins, November 2013

THE LAYOUT

Collectors’ Coins Great Britain is laid out in three sections:

The Main section covers the period 1797-1970 and contains the main Collectors’ Coins, that is; all non-proof coins that were issued for circulation and the common mass produced proof coins. This section also covers some of the extremely rare coins of Edward VIII.

The Gold section covers Guineas, Half Guineas and Third Guineas 1797 to 1813 and Half Sovereigns, Sovereigns, Two Pound Coins and Five Pound coins struck from 1817 to 1968

The Maundy section contains Maundy sets and singles. These were never meant for circulation and are not proofs, so they too have been moved away from the general circulation section. As a bonus the proof sets from 1826 onwards are listed before the Maundy section.

HOW TO USE THIS PRICE GUIDE

The first (Main) and second (Gold) sections of this book are arranged in ascending order of face value, starting with the Fractional Farthing and working right up to the gold five pound coin. Each denomination is introduced and the average size and weight data is also specified. Each denomination is arranged in ascending date order, with each change in monarch clearly stated as well as major changes in the coin type.

All listings are split into columns, with a column each for the Date, Reference number (see next page), Mintage figure (also see next page) and the market values in 2-4 different grades. The Gothic florins have an extra column to show the date in Roman numerals and some of the Crowns have an extra column for the regnal edge year.

MINTAGE FIGURES

It is very important to realise that the mintage figures quoted in this book are very rarely accurate. Until the 1950’s the Royal mint did not record the number of coins with a given date, but rather the number of coins struck in a particular year. So for example, the mintage of 1836 Farthings may be quoted as 1,290,240, but it is perfectly possible that a large proportion of those could have been dated 1835 (or even 1837). The mintage numbers do not record the number of coins that for certain types were re-melted either, so don’t place any real relevance on the mintage numbers. They are just there to give a general feel for the numbers of coins produced.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE REFERENCE NUMBERS

Throughout this whole book, usually in the second column, you will notice there are reference numbers. The column in which these numbers appear will either be labelled ‘PECK’, ‘FMAN’ or ‘ESC’ and those abbreviations represent the books from which the reference number is taken. Many dealers will quote the numbers in these books when selling coins, as well as the date and condition. Although they are not normally referred to with newer coins. Every pre-decimal non gold coin in this catalogue has been labelled with its reference number from the following publications:

PECK = English Copper, Tin and Bronze Coins in the British Museum 1558-1958, by C Wilson Peck. All the Peck numbers in this book are preceded with a ‘P’ and all the Copper and Brass coins in this book are cross referenced with the Peck volume. Peck Numbers are sometimes referred to by other publications as ‘BMC’ (British Musuem Collection).

FMAN = The Bronze Coinage of Great Britain, by Michael J Freeman. This book, which is generally thought of as more up to date with Bronze coinage has been used to provide the reference numbers for all the Bronze coins in this book.

ESC = English Silver Coinage since 1649, by P Alan Rayner. This book has been used to provide reference numbers for all the Silver coins and Cupro-Nickel coins.

It is also important to bear in mind that not all of the coins listed in this book are referred to in the listed reference volumes, and where this is the case the initials ND (Not Distinguished) will appear in the reference number column. The initials MV are also used in places to indicate that Minor Varieties are in existence.

AN INTRODUCTION TO BRITISH COIN GRADING

The columns containing the market values in this book are headed by 2-4 Standard British coin grade names. Even novice coin collectors will probably realise that coins that are in better than average condition are always worth more than coins that have seen lots of circulation. Grading coins accurately takes a lot of experience in looking at the same types of coins, but, just as a rough idea this is what the grade columns stand for and mean:

Poor: These are not just smooth disks but actually identifiable coins. However, the list of shortcomings can be extensive, ranging from a few letters obliterated in the legend, to coins in which virtually the only detail visible is the date. Very few coins will still retain a value over and above the metal content, but they would need to be pretty rare.

Fair/Good: Heavily worn, but with readable legend and major points of design identifiable. It would be reasonable to say that the vast bulk of 20th century coins in this condition are worth no more than their metal value. Generally speaking, it has never been the practice to produce price data for coins in Fair condition.

F = Fine: Fine coins show considerable wear to all raised surfaces. Some detail should be visible on the designs and some of the main hair volume should be visible on the Monarch’s head. Not individual strands, but maybe a parting or signs of head-dress. Many of the coins in your pocket even after just 30 years or less of normal use would probably be Fine or less.

VF = Very Fine: A coin with some wear to the highest areas of the design but which has seen limited circulation. More hair detail is evident and also detail on the other designs. Just as an average guide a coin that has been in normal circulation for approximately 5 years may qualify for VF status.

EF = Extremely Fine: A coin with little sign of being circulated. There may be only the slightest wear to the highest areas and minimal scratches and other marks. Often some of the mint lustre is visible on coins of this grade. As a rough idea a coin in your change would probably be an EF if it had been lucky and was minted just 1 year ago.

UNC = Uncirculated: Like the name suggests, the coin should be as it left the mint with no signs of circulation or wear. Not necessarily perfect though, because coins can pick up scratches and what are known as ‘bag marks’ during mass production and contact with other coins at the mint. The coin should have most of its lustre present and some dealers may expect 100% lustre on coins stated as Uncirculated. An Uncirculated