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 Replies: 14 / Views: 3,341 |
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New Member
United Kingdom
1 Posts |
When I was growing up in New Zealand (20+ years ago), I enjoyed taking a trip in to the city to go around the coin dealers and dig through their 25c bins. My favorite finds were always the pre-1800 UK ones, especially if the date was still legible, but often they were so badly worn that you could only tell it's rough age by which king was on it. They still all went in my collection though. And I'd go though their albums of coins in the cardboard holders grabbing the occasional one for a few dollars (or even $10 as I got a bit older). When I moved to London 10 years ago, I thought I'd see a lot of coin dealers, and UK coins of that age might be more common than they were in New Zealand. But any dealer I've randomly stumbled on here and gone into, seems a little fancy for my sort. Not the type of place with a 25c bin. I'm sure inflation has hit, and over the years a 25c bin is now at least $1 bin (or £1 here in London!), but do they even exist over here? I was considering getting my son and nephews a few coins to spark their interest. Just looking for a some copper coins pre-1800, for a few pounds each. I've looked on ebay and put a some bids on a few that started at £1, but have been outbid every time so far. I happy to pay a little more and win a few bids if that's what it takes. I only need a few, but buying them all individually from different dealers, having to adding on postage to each cheap coin, brings the price up quite a bit more. But I also wouldn't mind a trip into a dealer just to look around and see what sort of things are available if someone could recommend me a dealer in London who stocks those sort of low quality old coins in the £1-5 range. Thanks! |
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
312 Posts |
Hello MewTwo, Sadly you might be hard pushed to find a dealer in London that has these sorts of coins these days. Soaring rents and overheads have almost pushed them out of existence, but there may be a few tucked away somewhere. There's a really nice little shop directly opposite the British Museum called Coincraft. https://coincraft.comI'm sure some of the regulars on here know about them. I was in there yesterday on a trip to the smoke to make a collection from someone, and they had some nice pieces in there. Pricewise, about right, quality wise, very good. I've bought from them online before and their staff were very interested in helping out. Trouble is, it's a small shop and being opposite the Museum, it gets a bit busy with tourists. Just outside London in Hemel Hempstead, there's a fella called Roy who runs a shop called Libritz Stamps. It's like stepping back in time walking into his shop, it's fantastic. He's been there in the same spot for 50 year. He may have some coins that could be of interest. Failing that, ebay would undoubtedly be the best option Good luck with your endeavour |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
My experience was the same as the OP's, but that more than 30 years ago. 'Cheapie cherry picking !  around local dealers, and at coin shows in Sydney. That was when I was feeding a mortgage. Can't do that any more. Those sorts of cheap bargains are almost non existent these days. All collectors, have a cherry picking tendency; we all try to look for best value for money. House long since paid off. My reaction to this situation was to expand my collecting interests to across the whole spectrum of numismatics, so that bargains would continue to be relatively easy to find, but in much higher price brackets, and thus, I have shifted a long way up through the price brackets, and my annual numismatic budget is much larger. But I still have a fierce tendency to search for best value for money, across the whole range of coin conditions. And I have formed life long numismatic friendships. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
856 Posts |
To be honest Mew, the only place I've seen that sort of thing is either markets or antique/junk shops. As others have said, the overheads of running a coin dealership probably mean any junk coins might as well go to melt for metal value.
Whereas I've been in 'antique cellar' places and seen bowls of old money of the sort that still circulated when I were a lad. Sounds like that might be more that sort of place you're after? Maybe check out somewhere like Bermondsey .. or car boot fairs, though it's a bit late in the season for those?
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17919 Posts |
I don't know of any places like that in London. There's an antiques centre called the Malt House Arcade in Hythe in Kent which is open on Fridays and Saturdays. There's a coin dealer called Colin who has a big box of miscellaneous coins for 25p each. It's fun to sort through and he occasionally 'seeds' it with things like George V silver threepences and Churchill crowns. Might be worth a trip down as not all that far from London - straight down the M20 or train to Folkestone then a short bus ride.
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Moderator
United States
188197 Posts |
 to the Community! |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1610 Posts |
@MewTwo - I too became a collector only a few years ago and have read about the bargain barrels at coin dealers that the long time collectors would spend fun filled hours rummaging through. Alas, most coin dealers and their bargain barrels had disappeared long before I started collecting with the few remaining dealers dealing mostly in high end coins with nary a barrel in site. I'm in Brisbane, Australia but I suspect it's a similar story in the UK.
Edited by David Graham
09/26/2022 6:06 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2517 Posts |
you can buy pre-decimal bulk coppers on UK ebay - I kg of mixed monarchs for 10 pounds...or best offer....that's about 10p each....is that the right conversion? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/37426411...9SR5zNgL_vYAedit: but I seriously doubt there will be pre 1800's amongst themThe Ox moves slowly, but the Earth is patient.
Edited by ttkoo
09/26/2022 11:32 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1610 Posts |
Quote:you can buy pre-decimal bulk coppers on UK ebay - I kg of mixed monarchs for 10 pounds...or best offer....that's about 10p each....is that the right conversion? Or for almost half price you could try a local scrap metal yard. Scrap copper is currently £5.7 per kg and they do get bulk coppers from time to time. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2517 Posts |
Quote:
Scrap copper is currently £5.7 per kg and they do get bulk coppers from time to time.
That's thinking outside the box.....nice. The Ox moves slowly, but the Earth is patient.
Edited by ttkoo
09/27/2022 7:24 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Turkey
870 Posts |
Is the small weekly coin market in the parking lot near Charing Cross station still active? I havent been to London for a long time but I remember there used to be all kinds of numismarics there at reasonable prices. (But that was back in 2008-2010)
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17919 Posts |
Quote:
Is the small weekly coin market in the parking lot near Charing Cross station still active? I havent been to London for a long time but I remember there used to be all kinds of numismarics there at reasonable prices. (But that was back in 2008-2010) As far as I know, yes. They sell both coins and stamps. Not much chance of a bargain, but some of the dealers have a decent selection. |
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Pillar of the Community
4628 Posts |
One of my local dealers has a cheap coin bin, but the coins in it are ultra cheapo. 20c each but you can only buy 1 cent American modern coins, 1ps, old 1 and 2 cent NZ and Aus and 1 cent and 1 sen Malaysia singapore etc. Plus all the aluminium 10 centavos of spain and 1 penni of Finland etc.
I would like to see decent coins like quarters and old 50ps in a dollar or 50 cent bins.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1610 Posts |
Hi folks,
Am bumping this topic back up as I'm heading to the UK for 6 weeks in September/October starting in London and ending up in the Orkneys (before flying out from Edinburgh). Will be travelling via rental car along the west side via Dorset, Wales and then north. Only a 35min walk and tube from the British Museum (which we intend to visit anyway) so could look into Coincraft however being a touristy spot with London rent I'm a bit hesitant of pricing. Has anyone been there recently and can still recommend them? As others have suggested, better pricing may be had from dealers and markets outside of London. That being said, can any punters recommend dealers and markets along the west side of UK? I'm also planning to visit some penny pusher arcades and hopefully swap some notes for bulk 10p and 25p coinage to noodle so any arcades with friendly and obliging staff that can be recommended I would also be thankful.
Cheers
Edited by David Graham
03/24/2023 9:23 pm
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Replies: 14 / Views: 3,341 |
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Posted 09/24/2022 10:39 am
