Post Your United Kingdom (Great Britain) Coin Acquisitions.

Thanks, I am a very proud owner of it! Hammered and early milled English coins are full of history and under-priced in my opinion, at mid-grade! This one was quite expensive as fairly rare, but you can pick up Fine+ Charles II and William III crowns in a decent grade for £50-£150 quite readily (for example)

Another 'not-a-coin' from me I'm afraid! And not actually an acquisition .. not yet anyway!

But I'm hoping it will be another addition to my reference library come Christmas day.

The sale catalogue of Helen Farquhar's coins and medals. I've been looking for a copy for a couple of years, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Well ... I sort of see what you're saying Anjohl. But really it all depends on the final price. I've seen plenty of auction coins going straight onto dealers' lists at a premium and selling.

Auction sales aren't all like ebay. Yes, you get the dross and bulk lots .. but there are also coins that don't come on to the market any other way. So if you want one ...

The way I do it is to think of it as a straightforward purchase. What is the coin worth to me? And that's what I bid or pay.

Yes, auction fees are split between buyer and seller, but coins that dealers sell are marked up so they can recoup costs and make a profit, as are those on ebay. It could be argued that at least auction fees are openly publicised. You might be surprised at the eye-watering sums some dealers add to coins they have picked up for a song!

You say it's your principles, but I don't quite see how (other than being aware of what everyone is pocketing) it makes a difference. Auctioneers need to publicise their sales, many with expensive and glossy catalogues. They need to maintain and run the systems for telephone and internet bidding as well as staffing on the day in the room. These things are no different from renting shop premises.

You might prefer to buy direct at a set price up front. Most times I do myself! But to say auctioneers do nothing is a bit harsh I think!

Another shilling of Charles I for me.



Not very exciting to most but scarce with this (Bell) mint mark as a currency coin. In that I know of three others.

... and now for something completely different.

This is completely cheesy (cheddar). I think I overpaid for this at $20 and I sincerely doubt that it was minted in 1937, but I still love it.





If anyone knows anything about it, please fill me in. Thanks.

Yet another shilling of Charles I!

Might not look it, but a rather better than average example for this mint mark ((P) struck under Parliamentary authority between 1643-44)





It's a bit contrasty because it's a hoard coin and currently close to 'blast white'. A couple of years toning will sort it out.

Aaaand ... another book. No, I shall spare you photos this time, Partly because a photo of a book looks like, well a book! And partly because I've not yet received it having only bought it this morning.

But it's another auction catalogue I've been after for a while, this one from the 1920 sale of Grant Francis' coins. The main point being that between 1916 and 1920 Grant Francis wrote a series of papers in the British Numismatic Journal setting out his observations and revising the earlier classification of coins of Charles I issued by the Tower (of London) mint.

When his collection was sold all of the shillings (my particular area of interest) were illustrated in the catalogue. This was unusual for those days, since adding good quality photographs considerably added to the cost of producing a catalogue and the normal practice was to only show the best and rarest examples. Fortunately the auctioneers, or Francis himself, must have felt the costs were justified in this case, to provide a record and reference for collectors of the series.


Needless to say, I'm looking forward to receiving it and having a chance to study it in more detail.