Coin expert needed

maybe_baby

I have a 1883 halfpenny with the words "Victoria Queen of Great Britain" cant find it on the net...why?

ps. Plain on the reverse side but stamped with small flowers.

Fanny Fanackapan

Is it made from chocolate ?

Greenie Junior

Ferdinand is your man

maybe_baby

Fanny Fanackapan said:

Is it made from chocolate ?

Fanny, don't be silly...that's my job.

ShootersHillGuru

Perhaps try ringing the Royal Mint or perhaps ask to speak with one of the coin experts at one of the big auction houses ? Let us know how you get on.

hawksmoor

I've found a few links here. Don't know if that helps:

http://www.waldercoins.co.uk/search.php?coinSearchString=victoria halfpenny's&orderBy=mostRelevant

http://www.coinwiki.co.uk/index.php?title=Half_Penny's_Victoria

http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/80615/coin-halfpenny-queen-victoria-great-britain-1882

maybe_baby

Good shout shg...will announce it, solving mysteries is as good for me as a few hundred quid.

RalphMilnesgut

http://www.goldcoinexchange.co.uk/shop.php

Charing Cross road shop if you work/live near London

soapy_jones

maybe_baby said:

I have a 1883 halfpenny with the words "Victoria Queen of Great Britain" cant find it on the net...why?

ps. Plain on the reverse side but stamped with small flowers.

Blimey Maybe, that's a Victorian "bouquet", they are extremely rare with the run curtailed by the Royal Mint after only a week in September 1883 due to a change in internal policy in the stamping office, therefore literally only 5,000 made and very few made it into circulation. One came up for auction in Sotherby's in New York in about 1997ish and went for a reported $500,000.

http:/www.iamtalkingcompetebollocks.com/victoria-bouquet

Friend Or Defoe

I thought this was going to be a thread about achieving the greatest throwing distance. :-(

Half Nelson

Good try soapy.

carly burn

Anyone else keep reading this as 'Colin' expert needed?

maybe_baby

Nice one soapy but after two days on the net I know the whole freaking history of half pennies...well all except this annoying piece of metal.

eaststandpeter

just buy a gold sovereign and watch it quadruple in price in the next 4 years.

eaststandpeter

also completely capital gains tax free

maybe_baby

eaststandpeter said:

also completely capital gains tax free

I dont want to buy a coin, I just wondered what the origins of this one were.

maybe_baby

Half the mystery solved. It was common practise late nineteenth century for a man of lower income to rub down one side of a coin and stamp a design and his initials that he may give it to his girlfriend as a proposal of marriage. There are thousands about so no value, but the history of such a coin is priceless. Now to solve the odd wording.

maybe_baby

Mystery solved. It's actually a gaming counter. The guy must have been on his uppers if he couldnt even give his girlfriend a proper coin of the realm.

Siv_in_Norfolk

@east stand peter

you serious?

wanna explain why?

what's the going rate?

AlastairJones

Hi I am a coin dealer. The sites which are linked to above "coinwiki & waldercoins" belong to me. Do you have any pictures of the coin they would help a lot with shedding more light on the coin. Love Tokens like yours are as you say quite common but the better the quality of artwork or the more romantic the inscription or even poem the higher the value. They were often given to loved ones by military personnel who were on active service. The quality of artwork can be stunning as soldiers and sailors often had a lot of waiting around with nothing to do so making such things was a great way to pass time.

The fact that its a gaming counter could mean it was all the man could get his hands at the time he made it rather than being a lot he could have been a prisoner of war.

Don't worry if you don't have a camera a scanner can get great quality pictures of coins.

J BLOCK

@maybe_baby

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2266967/Rare-200-year-old-half-cent-coin-discovered-matchbox-attic-clear-sells-Wiltshire-225-700.html

nth_london_addick

I have a coin ( well its the biggest coin I have ever seen its Atleast 5 inches in length) that seems to have something to do with ww1 it was given to me with my great grand fathers medals but I have no idea what it is as I can't find one that looks the same on the net I can see similar but not the same

Addickted

Can you post a picture of it up on here NLA?

nth_london_addick

Will try mate might take a while

adrian

nth london addick said:

I have a coin ( well its the biggest coin I have ever seen its Atleast 5 inches in length) that seems to have something to do with ww1 it was given to me with my great grand fathers medals but I have no idea what it is as I can't find one that looks the same on the net I can see similar but not the same

At 5 inches it can't be a coin. It's got to be a medal.

nth_london_addick

I will dig it out looks like no medal i have seen perfectly round about the depth of a pound coin maybe slightly more

Just looks like a huge coin

Half Nelson

@nla it is probably a death plaque, was your ggrandfather or other relative killed in action if so it is probably a death plaque (also known as a dead mans penny i think)

Alex Wright

or possibly a coin used for playing Shove ha'penny which used to be a popular pub game in years gone by. Would fit in with the 'gaming counter' explanation.

nth_london_addick

Nah he made it back from ww1 and was home Gaurd in ww2

C.Walsh'sLoveChild

Alex Wright said:

or possibly a coin used for playing Shove ha'penny which used to be a popular pub game in years gone by. Would fit in with the 'gaming counter' explanation.

Would have to be a rather large shove ha'penny board with 5" coins

Alex Wright

C.Walsh'sLoveChild said:

Alex Wright said:

or possibly a coin used for playing Shove ha'penny which used to be a popular pub game in years gone by. Would fit in with the 'gaming counter' explanation.

Would have to be a rather large shove ha'penny board with 5" coins

Ah! Missed that bit of info.