Gigantic Thankyou

A returning customer in Chile has placed a gigantic 1.7kg order of coins and it's ready to send! All packaged up. This is actually the first time I've used a cardboard box to send an order because my big jiffy bags won't hold this weight! So so exciting. 

Thanks once again Ignacio. Hope these get to you quicker than the last one!

Off to Denmark - 1966!

The chap on the coin is Frederik IX, King of Denmark at the time. Looks like a cool guy! He was King between 1947 and 1972. So he took over just after World War 2... The Prime Minister in 1966 was Jens Otto Krag.

The coin is 15 grams of copper-nickel with a 33mm diameter. In other words it is quite a hefty one. Wouldn't want many of these in my pocket! The coat of arms is the Royal Denmark coat of arms... with two oak twigs. 5 Kroner is equal to £0.51 wow it's basically a £0.50 coin!

Seriously Old Coins For Sale For £1.00 Each

I never advertise my coins in my blog posts but I'm going to make an exception here because I never sell coins this old!

I'm selling:
2 x 1775 Half Pennies
and
2 x 1799 Half Pennies

All are £1.00 each so let me know if you need any. ALL dates are visible! (May not look it in the photos but they are to the human eye)

1775 Half Pennies

1799 Half Pennies 

1 Sol - Louis XVI 1777-1791

There's no date on this coin I found and the monarch made it even harder! I thought it was an English monarch but it turned out to be French - Louis XVI. This means that this coin is between 1777-1791.

1 Sol which is the equivalent of 1/20 Pound. 12 grams of copper however this coin is a little lighter due to the wear on it!

Now my oldest French coin! How exciting!

1843 Farthing United Kingdom

I'm really surprised at the condition this is in. It's 173 years old and parts of it are untouched. Unfortunately it looks like it's got some sort of disease though! What ever caused that?!

4.6 grams of Copper. It almost looks Gold doesn't it? Like a Sovereign? (Yes please)

In the year 1843 -
Monarch - Victoria
Prime Minister - Robert Peel (Conservative)
2nd September - The Economist newspaper first published
1st October - News of the World newspaper first published
6th January - Antarctic explorer James Clark Ross discovers Snow Hill Island

1806 Half Penny... Discovered!

Normally when I'm sifting through my shrapnel bag I get a good few undated/unrecognisable coins that I have to throw into the 'ultimate unreadable shrapnel bag' (hahaha). But this afternoon the first coin I looked at, I could recognise it!

This is a United Kingdom 1806 Half Penny. Great structure still in terms of weight, faded though which is a shame but what do you expect for a coin 210 years old!

In the year 1806 -

20th March - Construction of Dartmoor Prison to house prisoners of war begins.
November - Napoleon declares a Continental Blockade against the British.
The Monarch was George III.
Prime Minister was William Pitt the Younger of The Conservative Party.

AND THE NEWWW... OLDEST COIN IS

Still sifting through my shrapnel bag this morning and I've found a beauty!

This is a William III Half Penny, England. I can't identify the date however these were minted the years 1695-1701 so it's my new oldest coin. 10 grams of copper with a 28mm diameter. So so exciting!

To put it into perspective this coin is 315-321 years old wow.

My Oldest Farthing... BEATEN

Looking through my bag of near/unreadable dates, also known as the shrapnel bag, I found this coin. Got into the best lighting I could find to try and catch a glint of light bouncing off some numbers and there we had it!

1789 Farthing. United Kingdom. George III was the monarch. The Prime Minister was William Pitt the Younger.

Interesting facts about this year -
19th March 1789 - Catherine Murphy, a counterfeiter, becomes the last woman in Britain to suffer a death sentence by burning
12th May 1789 - William Wilberforce makes his first major speech in the House of Commons on the abolition of the slave trade

1789 Farthing United Kingdom

William Tell - Switzerland's National Hero of Liberty

I'm finding that when I research these coins I actually am learning more about the world than I ever knew before. Like the other day I learnt that Indians have different shaped coins because it's easy for illiterate people. Still can't get over how fantastic that idea was but anyway onto this coin.

1974 5 Franc from Switzerland. Not silver of course. 13.2 grams of copper-nickel. The chap on the right is a herdsman wearing a hooded shirt. Assimilated to William Tell. According to legend this is the man that shot an apple off his son's head.

If you want to read more into his legend there's a nice link below for you. Actually very interesting. As a British man I never knew he existed! This is so exciting.

My coin

William about to murder an apple!

http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/william-tell-switzerland-hero.html

Threepence - Transition from Silver to Nickel-Brass in 1937

The threepence represented 1/80th of a Pound. Before decimal day in 1971 there were 240 pence in One Pound Sterling. Crazy! I thought decimal day just meant we put decimal points everywhere. Yep I really am still uneducated on coins.

What I really wanted to look at was the transition from silver to nickel-brass in 1937.

The reign of King George V (1910-1936) featured several changes to the threepence:
In 1920 the metal content went from 92% silver to 50% silver, 40% copper and 10% nickel.
In 1922 the metal content went to 50% silver 50% copper.
In 1927 the metal content went to 50% silver, 40% copper, 5% nickel, 5% zinc.

George why did you change it so much?!

The nickel-brass threepence took over the bulk of the production of the denomination being produced in all years between 1937-1967, except 1947. The metal content went to 79% copper, 20% zinc, 1% nickel. WHY BOTHER WITH 1% OF NICKEL?! I need to research this at a further date!

Comparison: Here's two of my threepences. Whoever bent the silver one, I am not impressed! 

On the left has 50% silver, 40% copper and 10% nickel.

On the right has 79% copper, 20% zinc and 1% nickel.  

Square Indian Coins? Huh?

I was looking through my Indian coin collection today and thought I'd take a look at this coin, and give it a good research!

This is a 2 Annas from 1944. 2 Annas is 1/8 of a Rupee. The coin is Nickel-brass and weighs 5.74 grams. With a diameter of 25mm it's not a small coin, nor too overpowering. What strikes me about it is the shape! Square?! Fantastic.

Research that I carried out suggests that they used to have triangle, square, hexagon and octagon Indian coins. This was because most Indians were illiterate. If all coins were the same shape they could get confused. Is this true?

It sounds like a brilliant idea if it is. I couldn't think of that!

15 grams of Silver for the Queen's 90th

I'm mostly into old coins, they're my favourite. However I do make an exception for The oyal Mint who continue to make these beautiful coins, notably the £20, £50 and £100 coins. I buy them all! I can't resist. The fact that their legal tender makes it even better. You pay £100 for a £100 coin, you pay £50 for a £50 coin and you pay £20 for a £20 coin. And they are 99.9% silver. Does that seem like a good investment? 

Nevertheless if it's not a good investment I can't wait to get to 90 years old in the year 2084 and say wow, look at this £100 uncirculated coin from the year 2015. That's what I'm doing it for. 

Happy Birthday once again Your Majesty. 

My Oldest USA One Cent

USA this evening! Here's my 1907 One Cent! Pretty good condition considering it's 110 years old next year! It's my oldest one cent! 108 mil were minted. 3.11 grams of Bronze! 

The 'Indian Head Cent' finished in 1909 replaced by the 'Lincoln Wheat Penny'. 

My 1920 Farthing - Amazing Condition

I didn't even realise coins this old came in this condition! When I was recently sorting through my latest batch of farthings this caught my eye immediately. It almost looked gold! Obviously not but... wait it might be... *checks*... nope it's not.

You know those moments when a coin catches your eye though. You have a browse over the general selection of coins and bam! A ray of light bounces off the virtually unconditioned piece of metal! What an amazing feeling!

By the way for any of you guys needing United Kingdom farthings shoot over to my 'United Kingdom' page on this blog... there's loads all for sale at £0.10 each!

Ever Seen A £50 Coin? You Have Now!

I'm keeping it modern again today with this fantastic coin from the Royal Mint. This is a £50 coin from the United Kingdom. It is .999 Silver! 31 grams of SILVER! Does anybody think the price of Silver will be the same as Gold in 50 years time? Will that happen? I hope so!

Britannia facing the left holds a trident and shield with a lion at her feet.

Again like the £100 coin I posted yesterday this is legal tender! If I paid for a bus ticket with this the bus driver would still be pretty annoyed!

One Of My £100 Coins - Legal Tender!

The only time I really buy new coins is for special occasions or very cool coins! This is the first ever £100 coin issued in the United Kingdom by Royal Mint. They're out of stock now and sold out pretty fast. It's a commemorative issue celebrating the British Architectural icons. This is Big Ben!

This coin is .999 Silver and weighs 62.86 grams. I know, that's a lot of silver! What's cool about this though is it's legal tender. So I can go into a shop and buy stuff with this! Obviously I wouldn't!

I've got another one too, a different £100 coin, so stay tuned! 

A Small Pile To Sort Today

Hope you all had a cracking bank holiday weekend. Mine was the same old stuff really I don't drink or go out much it's not really my thing. I just think about the day after being a complete hungover waste of time! Don't get me wrong once in a while is great but wow it's not my thing.

Today I'm sorting through this pile of coins I kindly received from a friend on instagram. He's a silver collector and he sent me out the old foreign coins he didn't want! For that I will forever be grateful! If you're into your silver coins please go over to instagram and follow @WRIGERZ1