I came across one of these at a show yesterday and it was priced right. Most I've seen are quite worn and banged up. At 56 grams, I imagine that if you drop the thing on a hard surface it gets a rim ding. Does anyone else have any nice examples for show-and-tell?
George III (1760 - 1820 A.D.) Æ "Cartwheel" 2 Pence O: GEORGIUS III D G REX, Laureate, draped, and armored bust right. R: BRITANNIA, Britannia seated left on rocks, holding branch and trident; shield to right; in background, ship under sail right upon waves. Soho (Birmingham) mint, 1797. 41mm 54.73g 6h Peck 1077; SCBC 3776; KM 619.
Great pick-up @John Anthony and nice coins Mat, furryfrog, and Chris. These cartwheels are one of my favorite world coins. They have such a nice weight to them. I have one in my collection. Interestingly, in their day the coins were unpopular. People complained that they were too heavy to carry around any quantity more than a few of them. Also, at two pence, they didn't alleviate the lack of small change that was plaguing the economy of Great Britain.
I sold my 1d and 2d, so I need a new one. Historically, they are probably the most important coin since the steam press was introduced to the minting of coins. James Watt wanted to make a statement of how powerful his new press was, and what a statement he made!
This is one of my favorite coins for sure! I picked up one recently that is pretty nice after wanting one for years. Feels great in hand. Big and THICK... just the way I like 'em!
These are hard to find in nice condition. I have a couple, but my nicest one was incorporated into a wine-tasting thing - it might have rim bumps, who knows? Despite most of the silver plate being worn off, it appears that the coin was not subjected to polishing - the surfaces are pretty nice, considering.
That's a very special item, because it's entirely possible that the tastevin is contemporary to the coin, and just as old. It looks Georgian to me, anyway, not that I know anything about vintage Georgian tastevins. (In fact, I had to look the word up- "wine tasting thing" is what I previously called these myself.) That would possibly have as much value to a professional sommelier as it would to a numismatist.
Tastevin! I was pretty sure there was a name for the "wine-tasting thing" but I was too lazy to look it up. Thank you, lordmarcovan!
I did not have to look up the word "sommelier", as I work for a fancy resort where we have such people on staff. (In fact, if you watch the video slideshow on that homepage, you can see Thomas Roberts, one of our sommeliers, pouring a bottle of wine in the Georgian Room. I don't see him using a tastevin there, but I have seen some of the sommeliers wear a small silver one on a chain around their neck.)
Not a Cartwheel but I have a similar piece. Not sure what mine was used for but it resulted in a highly polished obverse.
Wow! That is fancy. I am sort of a screw-top wine drinker - I think a sommelier would find me contemptible!