let's start some buzz on the coin thread!

[unclemac]

We get used to US coins where everything is documented, mintage, varieties, estimated population, getting into some of these other areas of numismatics can be a real shock! Another of my eclectic areas of interest are the fleur de lys 1640 countermarked coins. Long story short, Louis XIII had the old billon douzain coins recalled and countermarked to revalue them. Along with the royal French issues almost anything of similar size and composition that was in circulation may have been done along with the others, so coins of other countries as well as counterfeits and coins that were already centuries old and wore slick also got the stamp. These are often collected by undertype and it is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible to ID some of them. References on French coins of the period are hard to come by and very incomplete, I guess French coin collecting is not that popular and after centuries many are still undocumented.

I have some real nice ones in my Canada set! I will post stuff when I get out of the hospital...sucks to get old!

 

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[unclemac]

While I never really looked into the value of these coins, I was offered over $8,000.00 for them last year (Not the quarter which is for size). Found by my father in the early 1960's using a modified WWII Mine detector.

1795 dollar is sweet in any condition!

 

[unclemac]

I’d run as fast as I could and get that $8,000. 🤣

get them certified in any case!

 

[unclemac]

I suspect the 'scratches' are from die polishing rather than coin polishing.


Silver at .900 fine is essentially the same as coin silver, but with one difference. These coins were produced from silver which had been assayed at 90% minimum silver content. Coin silver was originally from melted-down coins, often of Mexican origin, but also with other defunct foreign coins thrown into the mix where it was assumed that the silver content approximated to 90% but without any assay to prove it. As such the fineness was regarded as nominal. Subsequently, 'coin silver' was also purpose-made for production of silver articles but, again, at a nominal .900 fine without any official assay to support it.

there was a time when a lot of dealers "wizzes" there coins.

 

[unclemac]

Here’s another of our splendid coinage oddities from my collection… the ‘double-florin’ (valued at four shillings):

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It was introduced in 1887 as part of a coinage redesign in 22.62g of .925 silver, with an updated portrait of Victoria whose ‘young head’ on coins no longer bore any resemblance to her features. The new portrait was publicly ridiculed for the tiny crown incongruously perched on top of her head.

The reverse depicts the shields of England (twice), Scotland and Ireland separated by sceptres, and earned the popular description of ‘tea trays and pokers’ after the author Gertrude Rawlings disparagingly referred to it as such.

There had been political pressure to issue a large denomination silver coin to reduce dependence on the gold half-sovereign (valued at 10 shillings) since it was expensive to produce. The silver crown valued at 5 shillings had proved unpopular as a circulating coin because of its size and weight.

The double-florin failed to meet the requirement and was abandoned after 1890. There had been public criticism that it was too close in size to the crown and easily mistaken for it since neither coin carried any indication of face value. In dimly lit pubs and taverns it was often passed off as a crown, earning it the nickname “Barmaid’s Ruin”.

Despite the UK moving to decimal currency in 1971 with 100 new pence to the pound, the double florin (48 old pence) was not demonetised and remains legal tender for 20 (new) pence.

image being a kid in Britain In even the 1930's or so.... farthing, half pence, penny, 2 pence, 3 pence, 6 pence, shilling, florin, double florin, half crown, crown, sovereign, multiples of sovereigns, occasional guinea, not to mention Maundy sets!

 

[Red-Coat]

image being a kid in Britain In even the 1930's or so.... farthing, half pence, penny, 2 pence, 3 pence, 6 pence, shilling, florin, double florin, half crown, crown, sovereign, multiples of sovereigns, occasional guinea, not to mention Maundy sets!

Those would have been exciting times indeed for coin collectors. here's a few of my Maundy oddments, but I have a bunch more filed away.

For those unfamiliar with these coins, in a tradition dating back to Thursday 15 April 1210, English monarchs have given silver coins to the poor (as well as food, clothing and other gifts which has a longer tradition dating back to around AD 700). On that day, King John gave 13 pence to each of 13 poor men at a ceremony in Rochester, the number being symbolic of the 12 apostles plus Jesus. The ceremony has come to be known as “Maundy Thursday” (held on the day before Easter Good Friday, but also at various other times) with the name "Maundy" deriving from an instruction (“Mandatum”) by Jesus at the Last Supper that his followers should love one another.

Originally, the monarch also ritually washed the feet of these selected people in need, but the last recorded instance was by James II in 1685. The monarch was sometimes represented by a deputy and, after 1698, there is no record of a monarch being present at such ceremonies until 1932.

The tradition of making the number of recipients equal to the monarch’s age started in 1363 when the then fifty-year-old King Edward III presented gifts to fifty poor men and by the time of Henry IV in the 15th Century, it was decreed that the number be determined by the monarch’s age, with recipients only being of the same sex as the monarch (ie male) until the joint reign of William III and Mary II in 1689. It then reverted to men only after Mary’s death.

Beginning with the reign of George I in 1714 both men and women were included, each sex in a number corresponding to the monarch's age and each recipient receiving that number of pence. The amount given has then varied over time and was increased to a larger fixed sum when it became apparent that the recipients who generally preferred to have money were often selling the additional material goods they were given at lower than their actual value. Elizabeth II firmly re-established the tradition in 1952 when the 26-year-old Queen gave 26 pence to 26 men and women.

The monetary part of the gift was intended to be spent by the recipients, and the coins used before 1670 were no different from those struck for circulation. From then onwards, the coins were specially struck for the occasion in sets comprising a fourpence, threepence, twopence and penny. In 1689 the reverse designs were changed to include a crowned numeral indicating the value in pence and since 1888 have remained essentially unchanged. Even after we went decimal in 1971, the old currency system of 240 pence to the pound has been retained. Technically, they’re still legal tender although it would be problematical to spend them and, in any case, the very low mintages in modern times makes them highly sought-after collector items.