I know this probably belongs in the What's It Worth section, but I wasn't sure where to post it. I was given a box full of my uncle's childhood foreign coin collection recently. I didn't think there was anything worthwhile in there until my wife told me to look them up on eBay (as a way to "prove" to her that they're worthless) and I found a bunch of eBay-labeled "key dates". I would love to have some opinions on these. All grades are estimates. 1940 Canada 1c - V.G. 1946 Canada 1c - V.G. 1932 Germany 5p - F. 1969 Mexico 20c - V.F. 1959 Mexico 20c - V.F. 1918 Australia 1c - V.G. (cleaned!) 1927 Australia 1c - F. 1936 Australia 1c - V.G. (cleaned!) 1922 Australia 1/2c - V.G. 1936 Australia 1/2c - V.F. (cleaned!) 1931 Britain 1c - F. 1936 Britain 1c - V.F. 1940 Britain 1c - F. 1961 Britain 1c - V.G. 1955 Lebanon 10p - V.F. 1948 Turkey 1L - E.F. 1940 Denmark 1K - V.F. 1962 Italy 100L - E.F./A.U. (blemishes, little wear) 1964 Italy 100L - E.F. edited Thanks!!
For the British, none of the penny dates listed are "key". They were mited in large numbers, so no penny after the 1870s is 'rare'. For the rest, they are very collectable, but only in Unc or gEF grade. The key dates for pennies since 1860 are: 1864, 1869, 1871, 1875H, 1882 no 'H', 1902 low-tide, 1909, 1912H, 1918H, 1918KN, 1919H, 1919KN, 1926, 1926 modified effigy (especially), 1933 (7 known!!), 1954 (unique!!) Hope that helps with the British aspect!
Hmm, are you sure about that one? In 1932 they issued a 4 Pf coin but no 5 Pf. Also, the mint mark would help ... Christian
@andy: I have no idea what the mint marks are, nor where to find them. @chris:I just checked that 5pf coin, and it's definitely 1932. Here's a picture...
Cti, None of the dates you list would contain a mintmark. The only mintmarked UK pennies are as follows: H ... 1874, 1875, 1876, 1881, 1882, 1912, 1918, 1919 KN ... 1918, 1919 For C19th ... the "H" is located below the date in exergue, bwtween the 2nd and 3rd digits - see (*) below. For C20th ... the "H" or "KN" is located to the left of the date, again in exergue - all these command a premium over non-mintmarked coins. (*) Pennies were produced both with and without the "H" mintmark in 1874, 1875 & 1881. 1876 pennies were only produced with the "H" mintmark. For 1882, the ones without mintmark are of the utmost rarity - the vast majority have the "H". Beware of well-worn coins where the "H" may have worn away.
Your 5 Pfennig is not from Germany but from the "Free City of Danzig". Made of Aluminum-Bronze, KM #151.
thanks... linguist that I was, I do not speak nor read German; Arabic & Spanish were my languages. But since I got the country wrong, it bears this one question: is it worth anything? lol... Okay, I see that now. Questions... what does the "C19th" and "C20th" refer to? I know <b>nothing</b> about foreign coinage... and the "KM #151"? Same thing... plus, I have 27p worth of those British pennies. What should I do with them?
C19th and C20th are abbreviations for "19th Century" and "20th Century", respectively. The KM is a catalog[ue] reference - I don't use Krauss myself (I have UK reference works for my collection), I believe it to be a Krauss reference number (but I could be wrong). Many series and even individual denominations have references that are considered "standard" for that type. For example, pre-decimal UK silver coins are given ESC (Seaby's "English Silver Coinage") numbers; bronze UK coins have both a 'Peck' number [until 1963 only] and an "F" (Freeman) number [as an example, your 1931 penny is F205, and the 1936 is F214). US coins will, no doubt, have similar abbreviations and references.
The 5 Pf coin from Danzig is not exactly expensive. Here for example is one in ss/VF that would cost €3. This is a one-year (1932 only) type ... Christian
I just found a site for Australian coinage: www.bluesheet.com According to this, my 1918-I penny is worth about $4, and my 1927 penny is worth $2. Well, they've both been cleaned somewhat, so probably not.
