I rec'd an old (2000) Spink catalog of British Coins yesterday from an Amazon seller in Canada. What a tremendous storehouse of knowledge! Down side is they only list prices in a couple of grades - has this been changed in the latest catalog? I only have a few British coins (mostly Victoria/Edward/Geo V pennies) but I was interested in the history of British coinage. Does anyone here know when the 2013 edition will be released?
I got my copy of The 2011 British Coins Market Values book in April of 2011. It was available in the UK at an earlier date. Here is the thread: http://www.cointalk.com/t168258/
I just got my copy of SPINK 2012 last December, so as I know 2013 copy will be released on December 2012.
They list prices for the grades in which you are likely to find a coin. If you'll notice, the older the coin the fewer grades they list. And prices in Spink work kind of like the Red Book does. They can be used to see if a date or mint stands out as being generally more expensive than the other dates, but that's about it. You can use Heritage to check on values of British coins, they sell quite a few of them. But you can also use this site - http://www.coinarchives.com - it will give you pretty accurate information.
Thanks for the information everyone. Like I said, I'm more interested in the history of British coins, which is fascinating. I may try to assemble a set of pennies from each monarch, which shouldn't be a budget buster, save for the extremely early ones. They don't have to be pristine, VG will be OK for the very old ones. I expect that the more recent monarchs will be more affordable in better condition (F or VF is acceptable to me). I'd also like to get Maundy sets from as many different monarchs as I can. I realize these sets will be costlier but I may try to acquire one or two every year.
I have the 2011 edition on my desk at the moment and I have been using it as my guide to buy post-1970 decimal sets issued from the latter half of the 1990's up to 2011. I believe all decimals are graded and priced as uncirculated and/or proof FDC (fluer-de-coin). As you go back in time, through the pre-decimal era, extra-fine, very-fine, etc. emerge and states of preservation expand up to four grades. One of the lovely things about buying foreign coins is the uncomplicated nature of descriptions. Reminds of the good old days when I began collecting without the 70-point scale. If you can grade and the coin has eye-appeal and the desired price, it belongs in a collector's cabinet.
That kind of depends, are you talking copper only or are you going to include the silver pennies too ? Now those can be tough, especially if you go after the original sets vs individual coins. Either way they are more a bit expensive. I often paid over $500 for an original set and those were still in Victoria's (I) reign. And surprisingly enough, some of the more modern sets are even harder to come by, and more expensive. There is a little known book on Maundy Money that you might want to try and find. It's called Royal Maundy and is written by Robin A. Popple. He has several yearly editions, mine is the 2004, and the book contains tons of information and goes back to Charles II. And it even includes realized auction prices for the coins from ebay. Back in the day when ebay prices meant something. I have no idea if the guy is even still alive or still publishing yearly editions. But perhaps you can track it down with the info I've given.
firstly the maundy sets will set you back at £70 each. now the pennies to get one from every monarch will cost you a fortune, you have the pre 1066 pennies from the likes of athelstan, aethelred, cnut and harold. then to assemble the next phase from 1066 to charles I, then the commonwealth penny which starts around £50 (my area of real expertise) no pennies were actually issued from 1660 to 1797 save the maundy pennies, and from 1797 to 1967 is the final phase that is unless you want to include the6 decimal types, i wish you luck and hope that you have a bottomless wallet, it took me 48 years to collect at least 1 penny from each monarch and the commonwealth of england............
