1826 British Shilling!

A shilling, 12 pence, 5 cents they all mean the same thing. That's right, this U.S. Quarter-sized, 92.5% pure silver coin was to Britain what a nickel is to Americans. 20 of these coins would make a big gold 1 Pound coin just like 20 U.S. nickels would make a tiny gold 1 Dollar coin. I got this coin at the flea market for only $4.00! It's pretty worn, but much better than my 1927 Shilling. It's also worth about $15.00! Not bad for $4.00.

U.K. 1957 Sixpence!

One of three sixpence coins I have and this is the only copper-nickel one. So far, shillings are the most common pre-decimal coins I have, and it's not hard to see why. This coin is much more interesting than one of those boring old shillings, and has a much better design, too. As you can see, this one's was improperly metal content was improperly mixed leaving some streaking visible.

Now here are some interesting facts about the sixpence coin (from Wikipedia):
"As the supply of silver threepence coins slowly disappeared, sixpences replaced them as the coins put into Christmas puddings; children would hope to be the lucky one to find the sixpence, no doubt also encouraging them to eat more pudding.
They have also been seen as a lucky charm for brides. There is an old rhyme which goes "Something old, something new / Something borrowed, something blue / And a sixpence for her (left) shoe."

The above coin would have been worth 2.5 New Pence back in the day or 28 of today's pence. But that's not much compared to its $0.75 numismatic value.

1910 British Penny!

Nothing really interesting at all here. Just that this coin was from the last year of Edward VII's reign. Not sure if it's because of that or because British coins just have high prices, but this coin is worth a nice $4.00 at best. I probably wouldn't have bought it for more than $3.00 and just by looking at it and knowing nothing of it's value, I would have guessed it to be worth closer to $1.00. It was quite the bargain, though, as I bought it for less than $1.00 ($0.25, $0.50 can't remember).

1948 British Florin!

Here's a coin with a somewhat interesting story. Not really historically interesting, just the way I got it. As I was walking through the flea market, I passed by the junk/world coin bin of a dealer I don't usually buy from and saw this coin. I thought it looked interesting and decided that when I was done buying from my regular dealer, if it was still there and I still had money, I would buy it. When I came back around, I still had $3.00 and this coin was sitting right where I left it. I then bought it, as well as four other coins, for $1.00. Not too bad as this coin alone is worth $0.25.

1892 British Penny!

Not in the best condition but it's got a nice effigy of Queen Victoria and it's from the 1800's. If this coin was in just a little bit better condition, it would be worth a few dollars more than what I got it for. In this shape, it's only worth $1.00 and I got it for half that. There's been a discussion on Numista, going on here and here but regarding the same thing, about coins only being worth what someone will pay for them. I definitely would not have bought this coin for $1.00 by itself, but with a few other coins thrown in and a discount, I got it. I doubt anyone would actually pay $1.00 for this and as such its value is ≤, less than or equal to, the $1.00 price. Beauty and price is in the eye of the beholder.

1965 British Churchill Crown!

 This coin is a monster! It is Ike Dollar sized for those of you who know how big and heavy one is but the scary thing is, it was a quarter of a British Pound! Its official face value was 5 shillings or 60 Pence. I know, old British money is confusing. It features the first, and best, portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse and Sir Winston Churchill on the reverse. It's worth about $1.00. Not bad for an huge, old, 60 Cent copper-nickel quarter!

Above is a comparison between a shilling and the crown. The shilling is the same size as a U.S. Quarter or British 10 Pence coin. The crown is quite a bit bigger.

1953 British Half Penny!

This is my second favorite British coin. I haven't posted my first favorite yet but I will soon. I'm not sure how it managed to stay in such good condition except it being one of the first coins to have QEII on it meaning someone may have saved it for the occasion. My favorite element of this coin is definitely the ship. It was designed by Thomas Humphrey Paget in the 1930's and his initials are on the coin as HP. He lived until 1974 so he saw the death of his awesome design which lasted for an amazing amount of years. QEII's protrait lasted for 11 years before it was changed and changed again and again. Soon the queen will leave forever and sone of the other royals will be put on the coins and currency. But that's a story for another day so I'll end by saying this coin is worth $1.50.

1942 British 6 Pence!

I got this at the flea market for silver value along with a few other coins that have been shown already and a few that have yet to be shown. It is a little dirty and worn but not enough to bring it to only be worth silver value which leads me to wonder why I got it for so little. Well, it's only worth $2.50 and has a silver value of $1.54 so not that cheap but still. Here's a link if you want to read more about it.

1983 Britsh Pound!

The dreaded pound. These coins are heavy, wear easily, and almost always look like they've been run over a few times. At least that's been my experience. Economically they are doing good with ₤1.00 equaling $1.60 here in the states. Since this coin is so worn it is only face value.

1993 British 20 Pence!

These 20 pence coins are some of my favorites. The design is struck inward and outward and the coin itself is seven-sided. I especially love the 20 on the reverse which is struck outward on top and inward on the bottom. I suppose I just like the inward struck element of it all. It's something that America hardly uses and definitely not with such prominence. Despite all of its fanciness is it worth only $0.35.

1927 British Shilling!

Only 12 'pence' so why is it quarter-sized? Well, it is only 50% silver so that 12 pence is the silver value. The copper value is worth about 2 (American) cents now while the silver is around $3.00. Back in the day a British Penny looked like this and was about the same size as a half dollar making the copper amount in this coin highly insignificant. For all of that silver value and some collector value this coin is worth about $4.00.

2005 British 10 Pence!

Probably the shiniest British coin I own. Shiny, few scratches, high mintage, and low value are key to a new collector which is what I was when I got this. Of course, now I look for shiny, low mintage, high value, but also affordable coins as I have gained more knowledge and experience over the years. Like I said it has low value and is worth $0.16.  

1976 British 10 New Pence!

Remember waaaaay back when I got that British 2 Shilling coin well you don't have to since I put that link there. However, if you did I got this coin when I got that one. It's in UNC although, there is light verdigris on the reverse and "something" around the rim on the obverse. It's the same size as the 2 Shilling coin which is odd since 2 shillings = 24 pence. If you don't already know, you're probably wondering: "What's the difference between pence and new pence?" Well, the British used pence in the time of the shilling, it was just another system. to differentiate between old and new money they labeled these "New Pence". Once everyone was used to the new system and designs and most of the old money was out of circulation, most coins were reduced in size and the word "New" was taken away from "Pence". This not so new coin is worth about $0.16.

2002 British 5 Pence!

                                              BE SURE TO VISIT MY NUMISTA!

Got this as a gift back in '06 I believe. That's the great thing about having friends and family that travel: they almost always bring back something appealing for each family member/friend. This is the newest 5 pence coin I have followed by one from the '90s with that one being followed by another from the '90s and so on. It is also in the best condition, although that is not because it is the newest. It is because it saw the least action in circulation. I found a 2002 nickel once that looked at least 70 years old and I've found 1960's and 1970's quarters in UNC. Like I said it's about the action seen. Fortunately because this one saw very little action it is worth $0.10.

1980 British 2 Pence!

Got this as a gift a few years back. It's pretty dull with some wear, staining, and marks. The one thing I thought is pretty cool is the words "Ich Dien" which means ''I serve" in German. To finish this extremely short post it is worth $0.05.

2001 British Penny!

Got this as a gift a few years back. Not much of a story to tell about it. It's a bit worn and turning that brown color that happens to most copper and copper plated coins. This coin has the the old reverse design used from 1971-2008. Unfortunately this is the newest British Penny I own. It is worth $0.02.

1980's British £1.00 Bill!

Remember those posts that were all gifts a little over a week ago? This is also one of those gifts.  The obverse has the Queen Elizabeth II, a neat little design of sorts, and all of the standard stuff. The reverse has Sir Isaac Newton and some sciencey (<---Not a word) stuff. Both sides show the watermark in the far right (reverse) and far left (obverse). This note is worth about $2.00.

1966 British Two Shillings!

Got this as a gift the other day. It is a 1966 British 2 Shillings coin. It is fairly worn and has a big scratch on the Queen's head. However, it is still a beautiful coin. I love this early Queen Elizabeth II design. It's far better than the ones on today's coins. Anyway it is sadly only worth $0.20.

1942 British 3 Pence!

A coin on a cylindrical can there's a difficult shot! Well I suppose it's not as dificult if you have two-sided tape like I did. Anyway this is a British or English 1942 Three Pence coin. It's got some staining of some sort on it and is pretty worn. It is worth about $0.50. Today's background is a can of Coca-Cola.

1901 British Penny!

Got this at... uh... nevermind. It's a 1901 British penny as it says clearly in the title and not so clearly on the coin. It's got Queen Victoria on the obverse and Britannia on the reverse. If I remeber correctly this coin is worth about $0.20-$0.30 so I find it ridiculous that this coin in the same to lower grades is going for anywhere from $0.76 to almost $40.00 on eBay. Oh and today's background is a card of some sort.