Post Your United Kingdom (Great Britain) Coin Acquisitions.

More of these pennies

1869, enough survives to show the date clearly


1868 Penny, a low mintage of barely 1 million



1867 and 1871 pennies, both quite desirable - both fair and close to fine.

I know these coins are not shiners, but 99% of pre 1885 pennies are worn discs with barely visible dates, these are above average pieces.



All 4 1874 Pennies with both types of head. The coins are in the same location in each shot.

The older head pennies have the Queen with a thicker neck and more aquiline nose.


1875 Heaton Penny, a very scarce coin under 800k and this is a full fair and a bit better.


1880 and 1877 coins, close to fine and more scarce dates.

Overall a good buy in for the price, the 1875H and 1869 are probably worth more than that alone.

1887 double florin. Yet to receive. Not the best pics. It looks like the seller was having a hard time controlling glare, so he took the photos in low light at angles. I really think I did well on this - $41.00

1872 UK
1 Florin - Victoria 1st portrait; 'Gothic' type.

A nice half crown I just bought. Seems to show almost no wear. The high areas of the coin look like the metal oxidized a bit.

Slight double post as I wrote about this on the Tudors & Stuarts page but for those that don't frequent that, here's a recent purchase. A hammered shilling of Charles I. Spink 2804, Sharp H3/2. The Sceptre privy mark dates it to some time after 15 February 1647. Pictured with the old collectors/dealer tickets it came with (though at least one more is sadly missing, lost many years ago).

Stunning piece Tom - well struck and on a good flan too.

Great upgrades, Princetane!

I agree with you that most George V 50% silver coins are hard to find in EF or better condition. The exceptions (at least in the UK) are silver threepences, probably because they went out of circulation in the 1940s, and coins of 1935 and 1936: I don't know if some of these got stockpiled and released into circulation after the War, but they do seem more plentiful in dealers' trays than earlier dates.

My guess would be is that 1935 was the silver Jubilee and a few people brought the crown and thought it might be a good idea to get all the other 1935 dated coins to make a full set as I don't believe the UK put a proof set out in 1935 (NZ did and look what happened there!).

For 1936, maybe it was because it was the last year of his reign and people stockpiled them in expectation that Edward VIII coins would come out and they could have coins of the year of the 3 Kings.

Plus mintages of most denominations in 1935 and 1936 were high, especially 1936 dated pieces.

Also 1935/36 was the beginning of a huge collection mania, stamps blastered into massive popularity with the Silver Jubilee issues and in the British empire at least, gazillions of new stamps appeared and the First Day Cover craze began too. Some of this hysteria probably reached over into coin production as Commemoratives started being produced in ever greater numbers (The USA went bananas with half dollars in 1936).

Finally 1935/36 was the end of the Depression and people were spending money again.

Even with that group, the 35 does seem a bit better than the 33/34, my 35 and 36 Florins and Halfcrowns are mediocre, but the Bronze coins seem to be easier to get VF/EF ones for those years than the usual Fine.

With the shillings, they will join my EF 1932 and AU 1936, but my 1927 to 1931 selection is mostly VG to Fine with an exception for goodFine 1927 and 1930 (That coin did cost more). Even my KGVI shillings excepting a nice 1940 English and my Proof 1937 Pair, are mostly bare VF at best.