The British Are Coming!!!Post British Empire Empire Coins.

From the Ionian Islands a 1957. Lepton coin

 

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Perhaps there is a better thread to ask the question (or perhaps the topic has been covered elsewhere), but I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice regarding what might be a good entry point into collecting British coins. I've waded fairly extensively into American coinage but I've always admired the variety and uniqueness of British coins. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about them.

I'm looking for ideas about what might be a fairly accessible set to pursue that would help me get my feet wet without breaking the bank. I typically focus on 19th and 20th century sets, as they're reasonably aged (nothing too new) and I tend to prefer coins of silver (or gold, when I can afford it) composition). I'm open to type sets and year/mint sets. FWIW, I'll be buying from the U.S., primarily through eBay, as there's not many LCS options where I live.

I appreciate any suggestions or advice you might have.

 

why not start by forming a portrait gallery-one from each king or queen going back as far as you like

 

Thanks for the idea. Is a type set like that more typical for British coin collecting than pursuing complete year/mint sets for a particular denomination? It seems like there are so many different places to start.

 

I think that most british collectors start collecting one type,such as shillings the variety is huge with a lot of historical interest,and not too expensive.i don't know of too many people who collect year sets

 

I started semi-seriously collecting British coins a few years ago after a couple of visits to England piqued my interest, and since then I've begun to branch out into British Empire coins as well (I'm still struggling to figure out exactly how I want to attack the latter, but that's another post).

I'm by no means an expert, but I'll share what little I've learned about starting out.

First off, it may go without saying, but don't waste your time with modern British decimal coinage. It's even more uninteresting than modern U.S. coinage, if such a thing is possible. Focus strictly on pre-decimal (1967 and prior).

British coinage presents a fairly vast landscape. They've been doing it a long time, and every time a new monarch ascends the throne, they start all over again. Get started by marking off a small area of that landscape and exploring it. For example, you can easily and inexpensively assemble an uncirculated QE2 type set — counting major varieties, that's about 22 coins.

Or, as Wyvern suggested, choose a denomination like the shilling and collect one from every monarch as far back as you can afford to go. You might also look at pennies. British pennies are beautiful coins, and the larger copper ones before 1861 are particularly nice. You could work your way back to George III (circa 1800) in F/VF without breaking the bank.

If you get hooked and are well funded, you can pursue British coinage all the way back to the 8th century, but that's well beyond the limits of my knowledge.

Hope that helps.

 

Sorry, forgot to cover this question in my previous post.

To each his own, of course, but no, I don't think complete year sets would be the best way to enjoy collecting British coins.

But I haven't been interested in complete year sets since I was a kid plugging Lincolns into a Whitman folder, so maybe I'm not the best one to offer an opinion on that.

 

Thank you both for your insights. The collecting style for British coinage does seem to be very different from that of American coinage. I can admit that I've typically been a "completionist" when it comes to American coins, pursuing each mint and year of a particular series, but that can sometimes be unrewarding (particularly when you have a taste for high grades), as it takes years to complete a set and some never get completed.

I really like both ideas of exploring a particular denomination like the shilling, as well as the coins of a particular monarch. But you're definitely right about the broad landscape - the variety of designs and denominations in British coinage makes American coinage look pretty narrow in comparison.

One last question and I'll quit clogging up this thread - Ebay doesn't seem to offer a broad selection of choices when it comes to non-American coinage. Does anyone have a favorite site to buy British or European coinage outside of Ebay (that is easily accessible in the States)?

 

Two of my latest acquisitions:

British North Borneo - Half Cent 1891

And a Mauritius - Quarter Rupee - 1935

 

While world coins in general are hit-and-miss on Ebay, I haven't found that to be the case with British coins specifically. There are many to be found — I know, because I've been chasing a few of them recently.

You might also check vcoins.com and wybrit.com.

 

Very nice! I'm envious!

 

Company rule issues are awesome !


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1679 Groat
I traded for last night at Hsv coin club.

 

1960 South Africa Penny

 

Nice golden penny JJ!

 

1906 Maundy set graded ok 1p was the lowest MS 63 2-4p MS 65+66

 

Here one I am looking at . Gopen is his first name he from Switzerland .he grades it at Unc

 

Just on 6o'clock on the obverse seems to have a knock ok it may not be circulated but with the not so nice tarnish I would try and get him down to an XF price !


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Hope you get it then

Here's my latest.




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