1935 English Crown coin

Hi,
I found this 1935 English 5s. coin at my local coin shop.
My father gave me a similar one he got for Christmas in 35 as a child that I still have.
The weight is 28.40 grams.
What are your opinions on this coin?

 

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This coin had just over 700,000 minted and was made out of .500 silver ( or 50% ) . As the eye of the horse is well visible, i would grade it as a good VF due to being handled and possibly cleaned but not done well.
When it was issued, it weighed 48 grams but due to usage, part of it has worn down as you said it was just over 45 grams...The dirt in the rim tells me it is cleaned.... At the grade of VF to g/VF in my eyes Book price is $15.00 and EF is $20.00. It has to be taken down a grade for the bad cleaning. Also has toning under the 3. The kings high cheekbone shows a bit of wear... I estimate the book value to be anywhere in there but in realistic terms, it is only worth what a person wants to pay for it. However dealers buying price may be 50% of that value as it is not rare. I have only added the scan for the many disbelievers out there....OIO

 

Much obliged.
I'll pick it up due to the historical and sentimental value.

 

Just remember it is not mint

 

A really cool design.

It looks like an attractive, circulated specimen.

If you don't care about it not being UNC then go for it.

John

 

it is not mine...it is the big bad wolfs coin

 

28.40 grams ?, 48 grams ?, 45 grams. ?

The coin should weigh 28.275 g and no more, it was never put into circulation so even though they have been handled there should be no weight loss.

2500 were also struck in 92.5% silver.

 

Hi there..i see you are from the UK and possibly have handled more of these than me...However the book says .500 silver and unless the books are all wrong, i am disregarding your comment..... Notice the .925 silver item has raised lettering on the side and not oncused or etched...Unless the person can take a pic of the sides lettering, an onlooker like us has to go for the cheaper.... The fact it has been cleaned , does not help.... here is a notation about the cleaning of coins as stated in the Mcdonalds Catalogue of Coins..... have a lovely day...OIO

 

It says 28.275 grams under the KM number in your picture and if you scan down a little further in your book you will see KM 842a which shows 2500 were struck in 925 silver.
You put 48 & 45 grams in your reply.

 

My mistake....I looked at the .4545oz and did not put the metric down..

 

So is the coin in the OP post fake?

 

I doubt it, check or calibrate your scales.

 

I would be surprised if it were fake - these are pretty common here in the UK and hardly worth the effort of faking - maybe the OP's scales are a little out, or there is dirt on it? (You do see crude imitations from the far east - these are usually well under weight, not in any form of silver and impossible to confuse with the real thing.)

The scarcer varieties with the raised edge are much rarer and the values quoted in the various books cited are probably too low.

The reverse design - typical 1930s Art Deco design - has given this coin the nickname "The Rocking Horse Crown" in this country. A good coin to have if you are collecting Worldwide Crown size coins.

 

Paddy...would it be on par with the 1938 crown from Australia???
The mintage of the 1937 crown was 1,008,000 whist the 1938 only had 101,000 pieces made.

To give you an idea, you cannot pick up a low graded 1938 crown for under au$100.00...Please note that this information is from the 2011 book. 6 years old.

 

I assume you are asking if the Raised edge version of the British 1935 Crown compares to the 1938 Australian Crown in value?

I think it is really rather different - none of the 1935 coins were intended for circulation (I don't know about the Australian ones) so they really are only worth more than Silver value if they are Unc (and of course only 50% Ag). The Raised edge version was a collectors piece only - I don't know its mintage but on the rare occasions I have seen one at auction it has made a good deal more than the USD125 quoted in Krause.

Not sure if that helps?

 

Just out of curiosity, many of the 5s. pieces I have come across are very worn down, did they circulate any?
The coin my father got as a Christmas gift from his mam is at least AU-55; I'll upload pictures of it if I get the chance in the morning.

 

I believe the last year released in Britain that was intended for circulation was 1902. Thereafter:
1927 to 1936 except 1935 were the "Wreath Crowns" issued on request to your bank in limited numbers. Commonest is the 1927, which would start around GBP120 now, and scarcest is 1934, of which only 932 were made and prices for a genuine one start around GBP5k.
1935 "Rocking Horse" Crown - as originally posted in this thread. Struck for George V's Silver Jubilee.
1937 George VI coronation crown, also 50% silver and about the same value as the 1935.
1951 Festival of Britain Crown, usually found in its box of issue, cupro-nickel and worth only a few pounds.
1953 Elizabeth II's coronation crown - a couple of pounds max.
1960 British Exhibition in New York - scarcer than the 1953 but still over 1 million issued.
1965 Winston Churchill Crown - the bane of dealer's lives in the UK. Over 19 million issued, every one has got one and the general public are convinced they must be worth a fortune when in fact they rarely make more than GBP1.

Thereafter we decimalised and 25p Crown were issued in 4 years (1972, 1977, 1980 and 1981) all very common. Five pound value crowns have been issued since 1990 in increasing varieties as the Royal Mint seeks to make more money out of collectors.

 

I agree with most of what you said until you cane to the 1953 and churchill... Those in Australia are in abundance and not worth placing into the junk trays.... I used to buy them only by weight.... I paid 3.50 per kilo of coins which works out to about 20p each and i used to add them to my ebay packages for free if the customer spent more than 25.00 excluding shipping costs....As you will possibly know, the aussie penny has a kangaroo on it.... I bought up about 15 kilos of them and sent them to my mother in law in arizona before i left for the USA .. As they were nothing much but copper back home, i used them to give out as souvenirs and the service that my wife and i got was fantastic. There was even one time the boss of a diner said that i am not allowed to give to my server a coin if the rest of the staff dont get one...I then said so if i give to all your staff, what is in it for us??? he then said if you have 18 to give to my staff and i, you can have your meals for free...i went out to the car and got them.... needless to say, we got a free lunch...lol... he took me for a dumb aussie but i was prepared for people like him. To think there is 63 coins to a kilo and i paid 5.00 per kilo for them.... Those meals cost almost $2 the lot...ha ha ha OIO

 

Ah, well, a Churchill WITHOUT BAGMARKS (!!!) is worth a substantial premium. PM me if you have one for sale in fact.

The usual ones are probably only worth 20 - 80 p anyway.

I bought a 1938 Australian crown in a Baldwin's auction some time ago for greater than 300 pounds, but it had superb lustre and would grade likely at least MS63 (in fact may take this for grading). It is much scarcer in lower uncirculated grades than a 1935 Rocking Horse crown in currency, excepting of course if you could find one in MS66 or 7. The specimen "Rockers" are nicer and used to be fairly cheap, but now MS65 specimens can go for 300 or so...

 

The only reason you pay so much for the 1938 crown is that there is 10% of them minted to its counterpart being the 1937.... Just think obiiut it. There is not enough 1938s for all the coin collectors alone in australia forgetting the rest of the world.... It is hard to find a 1938 in lower grade but the high grades are as common as mud as they were seldom used