First off, it must be mentioned that in determining the value of a coin, condition is just as important, if not more important, than age and rarity. Without pics, it's impossible to be too precise about "what a coin is worth". I'm basing my estimates on you're description that they're "used".
It should also be noted that you should not, under any circumstances, clean the coins. Cleaning will not make them appear more valuable to anyone wanting to buy them; quite the opposite in fact. People pay less money for cleaned coins. Anyway, on to your coins:
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1887 queen Victoria coin, has a crest crown on top then 4 squares .top left 3 running lions, right lion on haunches, bottom left, lion playing harp. right 3 running lions.
You're describing the coat of arms of Great Britain; that could be just about anything British. If it's small and golden, it could be a gold coin (sovereign or half-sovereign. If it's silvery, it could be a sixpence or shilling, or maybe even a halfcrown. If it's coppery, it could be a medal of some kind. Without some more description (or a pic) it's impossible to say what this might be.
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1937 Australian one crown coin
Australian crowns are made of sterling silver (.925 fine), so it's not worthless, but unless it's in better than usual condition, it won't be worth much above bullion value. I think the selling price at the moment is AU$25 to $27.
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1945 new zealand half crown
This coin is made of .500 fine silver; again, condition will determine whether or not it'll be worth much more above bullion value - currently about AU$4.
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1966 round Aussie 50 cent piece
These are made of .800 fine silver, and contain almost exactly a third of an ounce of silver. Again, if it's not in absolutely pristine condition, dealers will tend to offer only bullion value for them (currently about AU$5.80).
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English pennies..1903 Edward 7Th..
An extremely common date; not too valuable. Probably around 50¢ at most.
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1912/13/27/ George 5th pennies.1947 George 6th
I assume these are Australian pennies; none of these are scarce dates. Dealers get so many coins like these they buy and sell them in bulk, by the kilogram. Individually, again probably no more than 50¢ to $1 each.
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the strange thing is the Edward 7th penny when turned to the head, it faces right where the others face left.
This isn't strange at all, though the reason why this is so may sound strange to some people. Britain has, for several hundred years now, maintained a tradition that whenever a new monarch has coins made, they will face the opposite direction on the coins to the direction their predecessor faced. Other countires which use the portrait of the British monarch on their coins (such as Australia) also respect this tradition. Thus we have:
William IV - facing right
Victoria - facing left.
Edward VII - facing right
George V - facing left
Edward VIII - had no coins with his portrait struck during his very brief reign; it is unknown whether he would have faced right as the tradition dictated (apparently he thought this tradition was silly and preferred the part in his hair to be visible, thus wanted to face left, too). As far as the tradition is concerned, it assumes he would have faced right.
George VI - facing left
Elizabeth II - facing right
When coins are eventually issued featuring Charles as king (or whoever eventually succeeds Elizabeth II), he will, as per this tradition, face left.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
Posted 08/07/2009 08:49 am
