Hello CoinTalk! I would like to share some photos I have taken of my coins from my collection. The coins in question are: a Victorian Florin; an Edwardian penny; a George V florin and sixpence and a George VI threepence and shilling, so without further ado, here they are. The first images is my Victorian Florin, minted in 1900, I bought it from my local dealer (Corbitts) for £15.00. The observe displays the "old" style head of Queen Victoria, the last style used in her reign, the other two main styles being the "young" head (1839-1887) and the "jubilee" head (1887-1893). I believ the other two main styles were the "gothic" (so called because the writing was in old gothic, 1847-1853 I think) which was found mostly on Florins and on Crowns. The reverse displays the three shields of England (three lions), Scotland (standing lion) and Ireland (the harp), with a pair of cross swords behind the shields and the crown above them. The Florin was worth two shillings, or 24 pence, and I think it is one of the most beuatiful coins in the world, with several minor details that one doesn't notice at first glance (the dove and cross above the swords' hilts, or the rose, thistle and clover of England, Scotland and Ireland in-between the swords.
The second coin I wish to show you is the Edwardian penny. Minted in 1908, this penny is sadly, not quite the same ranking as the above Florin. However, I do like this coin, and it is the largest coin in my collection as the penny was one of the largest British coin. The observe shows King Edward VII, who is facing the opposite way of his mother, as is the tradition in British coinage. The lettering along the side is unkown to me for all these coins so, if someone could enlighten me, I would be much obliged. I believe it means "Edward VII, by the grace of God, King of the Britains," and Victoria's inscription is similar, but as I say, I am unsure and would be very thankful for any help. The reverse shows Britannia, seated with her spear and shield. A similar design remains upon most post-deciaml two pences, however she is holding out a palm leaf I believe, and her spear is leaning on her arm; she also has a lion by her side. The wording is simply "one penny," and "1908," but it does the job. I think that this coin, whilst not as pretty as the above Florin, is still a nice design.
The third coin is my George V Florin. In many ways, the design differs little from Victoria's Florin, but there are several differences, and I don't think it is as elegant as Victoria's Florin. I aplogise in advance for the poor image quality. I was a bit shaky when taking these photos. The observe bears the image of the king himself, facing the opposite way to his father. There is a few words missing off the observe which have been moved to the reserve to save on space. I do like this image of his majesty, he looks terribly British to me, with his stiff moustache and stern apperance. The reverse displays the year of mint (1931), and I have taken a close up of the date, as the 1 does look quite a bit like a 7. The two shields on the top and bottom are the three lions of England, the left shield is the harp of Ireland and the remaining shield, the Scottish lion. These are seperated by the royal spectre with a crown on the end.
This coin is the George V sixpence, minted in 1933. This coin isn't one of the best coins in my (admittedly small) collection, but I could do with one or two bits of infomation about the coin itself. The observe contains the same image of George V as above, however, "F. D. Ind. Imp." are on the observe. As you can see, the face is, sadly, quite worn and smooth. However, I am strangely attracted to this coin, and I keep it in my album, rather than a plastic envelope like the other sixpences I was given by my step-brother (who gave me all the coins in my collection apart from the Victorian Florin). The reverse is what is causing me most problem; if anyone could tell me what the acorns and the oak leaves/branches are suppossed to represent, if anything. Also, what does the "A" stand for in the bottom left corner? I know the "D" is the abbreviaton for pre-decimal pennies (rather than p now). I would be most grateful to any help.
These last two coins are my George VI shilling and threepence coins. The shilling's observe, omits part of the wording around the outside, and this is more to do with space than political changes. The observe of this coin is quite unusual, a lion sitting a stride the crown of Britain, with the date wrote across. The reverse also has the remaining words omitted from the front (due to space issues). I quite like this coin, mostly due to it's reverse. The threepence coin is a dodecagon, or twelve-sided shape, an unusual design, and we British still use a multiple-sided coin today (the fifty pence piece is a heptagon). The observe has all the typical wording, whilst the reverese displays the coin type, mint year and an image of several flowers, which I believe are poppies growing (for anyone who doesn't know why poppies are significant to the British, it is because poppies were the only flowers which grew upon the battlefields of the first world war, and are now worn on armistice day (11th November, the end of WWI), which is a day for remembering those who have given their life to defend our shores). If you are wondering why George VI is facing the same way as his father, George V, this is because he actually succeded Edward VIII who abdicated so he could marry Wallis Simpson, a divorcee. He was forced to abdicate as, whilst their love was known, if he married her, he would now longer be allowed to inhierate the throne, as the hier to the British throne is not suppossed to marry a divorcee, nor can they divorce and remarry unless the previous spouse is deceased (this is why his royal higness Prince Charles was allowed to marry her royal higness Camila), so Edward VIII's coins faced towards the right, then George VI succeded him when he abdicatted, so he faced the left.
This final photo is to show you how the coins scale up to one another. As you can see, the penny towers over the other coins, whilst the sixpence is one of the smallest coins there (it is a bit bigger than the five pence coin now used in Britain).
Good idea with the pen. Nice backs on all the coins. I like the lady obverse on top too! - Thanks for the pics.
Thanks for your replies. Sunflower - I like the Victorian coins too, I prefer her jubilee heads though, hopefully I will be purchasing one at an auction soon, and I'll post that/ swish513 - Thank you very much!
Very close, Sir, it's King of ALL the Britons (BRITT:OMN). A reference to the other Britons in the far-flung empire, not just those at home. As the Empire shrank in the late '40s and early '50s, they removed BRITT:OMN in 1954, so 1953 coins are the only Elizabeth II coins with the inscription. Along similat lines, you'll notice IND:IMP on all British coins before 1949. That stands for Emperor of India, and was removed (a bit late!) after India's independence in 1947. Your 1908 penny is not as uninteresting as you might think. There are 4 varieties of 1908 Penny, and yours is not the commonest. It's not the second commonest either, it's the second scarcest. They are very slight and subtle differences, but if you're interested, I'll give you the details. well done, and keep collecting! This hobby never stops. Declan
declanwmagee - Thank your for the translations! I did not know what IND:IMP meant, and I am very grateful for your help. I would be very interested in knowing the differences between the four types and also approx. mintage of them if you know it. Thank you very much!
OK, here goes. This information is from the standard work on British bronze coinage by Michael Freeman. I strongly recommend it, if you're going to get into this, as you may not know if you have a rarity without it. There are 3 obverses (heads): Obv 1: the colon after BRITT is much closer to the T than to the O of OMN, and points between border teeth Obv 1*: the colon after BRITT is much closer to the T than to the O of OMN, and points at a border tooth Obv 2: the colon after BRITT is almost central between the T and the O of OMN, but not quite, and points between border teeth ...and there are two reverses (tails) Rev C: the E of pEnny, seems to be out of alignment - tilted clockwise slightly, so that the upright is more or less parallel with the uprights of the following N. Yours is one of these - take a look at that E and see what I mean. Rev D: lots of differences which you couldn't see on a coin as worn as yours, but the alignment of the E has been corrected. So the Four combinations that exist, and the numbers that Mr Freeman reckons are out there (NOT mintage) are as follows: 1+C : 1-2 million 1*+C: 50,000-100,000 2+C : 3-5 million 2+D : 25-30 million yours is a 1+C. the published mintage for 1908 pennies in total is 31,506,048, but these figures can be misleading. They refer to the number of pennies the Royal Mint knocked out in 1908, not necessarily the number of pennies dated 1908. It's not always the same thing as they don't always use the current years date. all the best Declan
Thank you very much for your help declanwmagee! I have certainly learnt some very interesting things about my coins.
Thank you physics-fan. I like most British coinage, which can be a problem when choosing what to buy next! I woud like my collection to be focused mainly on mid-range coins (i.e. shillings and florins), but I'll probably end up buying a five guinea coin on impulse . For my collection, I would like to have a "godless" Victorian florin, a Victorian gothic florin, a Victorian jubilee florin, an old head Victorian florin (I do love vicky!), an Edwardian florin, a George V florin, an Edward VIII two shilling (after his short reign, the coin became knowon as two shillings rather than a florin), a George VI floirn and a florin from our current monarch, her majesty Queen Elizabeth II (long may she reign!). One fact my Grandad told me today about the florin (or two shilling coin as he would've known it) is that it was called a "two bob piece" or "two bob bit," one bob being slang for shillings, much like quid for pound nowadays.
