Are British/Uk Coins Fun To Collect?

Anything before 1946 is fun to collect. That was the year that silver was withdrawn from the circulating coinage system.

That is just me.

In fact, I apply the same rule to all countries; (again for me), that date for United States is 1970, and for Australia, 1966.

Ignore the rule that I apply to myself. Just have fun collecting whatever interests you.

I enjoy collecting examples from all the Commonwealth countries as well, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc . . Including the various territories past and present which comprised the British Empire.
As it's been stated many times . . Follow your interests and collect what you like . .

Legally, the U.K. started in 1707, although the islands were known to the Romans as 'Britannia'.

The Celts widely circulated coins before the invasion of Julius Caesar.

There are lots of very good reference books that have been published on the subject of British coins.
British coinage is arguably better documented than that of the United States.

As people have said, there's a huge scope. We have modern decimal coins going back to the 1970s, machine made coins dating from the mid-1600s (and a few scarce examples earlier than this) in a variety of metals from gold to tin. Some coins, like the decimal halfpenny, were produced for only 13 years. Others such as the silver penny lasted from about 755CE to 1797. So it's whatever excites you Omegaraptor.

The key things to remember about collecting UK coinage is 1) that TPGS are not a big thing over here. The vast majority of coins are bought and sold raw and so you need to learn to grade coins for yourself. And we don't have the micro-grading of the Sheldon scale. Good, Fine, Very Fine, Extremely Fine and Uncirculated largely cover it.

2) While varieties often have specialised classification, most coins are listed by their Spink Number (Spink's Coins of Britain and the United Kingdom, a price guide published annually) so it might be useful to get a copy if you're going to collect seriously. Though there are other price guides of course.

3) Broadly, British coinage is split into Hammered (hand struck), Milled (machine made) and Decimal and guides may cover one or all of these areas. And

4) While there is a fair bit of expertise here, there are UK based forums that can go into far more depth, should you require it.

Me? I collect shillings (12 pence) struck at the Tower of London mint, during the reign of Charles I!

As someone who has completely given up on US coins and moved completely into British coins, I can say that it is MUCH more fun to collect British coins. There is a lot more history and variety, ranging from Roman times through to Modern. The US is rather boring in comparison. Also, British coin collecting is much less expensive, relatively speaking, even if you are located in the US.

One interesting aspect almost completely missing from US coins** is the availability of "British" coins from many countries around the world/empire--Australia, Seychelles, Sarawak, Canada, Isle of Man, etc.

**I guess something similar could be said for US coins in Philippines, Marshall islands, Hawaii, etc.--but it ain't the same.

Regret I must respectfully differ with Augsburger, since as a historian I am compelled to argue that political turmoil in UK (or England & Wales, Scotland and Ireland, separately, as applicable) has been immense and is thoroughly reflected in our hammered coinage, which is why I maintain these coins are so interesting. Notwithstanding what happened in the period before - which is also overflowing with strife, the Plantagenet/Lancastrian/York then the Tudor and Stuart periods are so, so, full of political upheaval and this can all be seen in the coins produced at the time. For instance, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there were seven forced changes to the English Monarchy - five of which happened in the period between 1461 and 1485, which covers the time of the Wars of the Roses. Just before this, we also have the Hundred Years War with France and then the Dual Monarchy, when joint French/English coins were minted under Henry VI who then went and lost everything his father, Henry V, had achieved - remember Agincourt! Calais is all that remained, until Mary Tudor finally lost it.

The events of the Tudor period are also full of turmoil and whenever I hold a coin from that time, I am reminded of the English Reformation - what happened under Henry VIII, the boy Edward, Mary (and Philip) and of course Elizabeth. This history is so rich and turmoil, upheaval and strife are at its core! Then in the seventeenth century, we have the 'Wars of the Three Kingdoms' - more commonly, but inaccurately termed the 'English Civil War', when Scottish and Irish factors were extremely influential to the outcome. As many will know, the coinage of Charles I during the wars consists not only of that struck at the Tower Mint that subsequently under the control of Parliament continued to strike coins bearing Charles's head right up to his execution, but also that of many provincial mints and some siege towns. Such siege money is sometimes found as (rare) odd-shaped coins (i.e. Newark, Scarborough, Pontefract, etc.) and made from scrapped silver plate that may have graced the dinner table of some unknown lord - some items even showing engravings and markings from the original domestic artefact - this is indeed, real history brought to life by numismatics!

I do agree with Augsburger that compared to Europe, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had much less upheaval in the British Isles, the difference being that following the French Revolution, the map of Europe was redrawn and the consequences reverberated through Europe for a hundred years or longer with revolutions and the formation of new nation-states. As an island nation, on the whole but not without some tensions, Britain escaped such trauma - in any case they had done it and 'got the T shirt' two hundred or so years earlier!

So Omegaraptor, as far as the fun and interest element in collecting British coins - in my view, by a long, long, way, go for the 'hammies' and enjoy!