Coin Collecting – a fascinating and rewarding hobby PART III – Collecting Made Easy
Look at the change in your purse or pocket and you’ll see some coins are bright and new looking, while others look worn and battered. For collectors, the condition of a coin is very important – the difference in price between a “Fine” condition coin and an “Uncirculated” condition coin can be huge. The grading system used in the UK is:
- Poor – considerably worn, of little value to the collector unless of very rare type or date
- Fair – Worn but with dates and legends still visible
- Fine (F) – Considerably worn on raised surfaces, caused by circulation or faulty striking in older coins
- Very Fine (VF) – some limited circulation wear
- Extremely Fine (EF) – very little circulation or wear, only visible on close examination
- Uncirculated (UNC) – in new condition fresh from the mint, probably not absolutely perfect because of mass production and handling methods
- Brilliant Uncirculated (FDC) – absolutely flawless, produced and handled apart from the main coin production line – sometimes known as “Fleur-de-Coin”
- “Proof” coins are produced in limited quantities – called an “Edition Limit” in a separate process from that used to produce circulation coins. They are struck several times with special highly polished dies and usually have a mirror lustre back ground, with frosted relief.
These aren’t hard and fast rules and even experts might disagree on differences but as you build your knowledge and examine more coins, you’ll learn to recognise and assess coin quality. It’s a good idea to get a good magnifying glass to examine your coins for signs of wear and damage and assess their condition.
Displaying and protecting your coin collection
As you add to your coin collection, it’s likely to grow in value so you will want to protect it. Normally your collection should be covered by your household insurance, but if you have high value coins, especially gold coins, these will have soared in value so you should notify your insurers. They might advise you to keep them in a bank but you may want to protect your coins at home where you can enjoy them. Avoid keeping coins jumbled together, as they will become scratched. The Westminster Collection usually supplies coins in some form of protective capsule, sleeve or presentation case, depending on their value.
Albums with protective transparent sleeves, including individual coin envelopes, are a low-cost starting point, protecting your coins while allowing you to examine them. You can later progress to plastic or wooden display cases. When storing copper or bronze coins it’s important to keep them in a dry atmosphere, since damp may turn them green. In fact, avoid cleaning if possible, since even minute abrasion can affect values. Dirty gold and silver can be gently washed in soap and water. Avoid handling coins, but if you need to, handle them by the edges.
Useful coin collecting terms
- Obverse – the side of the coin with the monarch’s head – hence “Heads”
- Reverse – the other side, “Tails”, usually bearing an emblem or other design
- Type – the main design on a coin
- Field – the part of a coin between the Type and Legend or edge
- Legend – the words around the edge of a coin, often the monarch’s name and a motto or title
- Exergue – the section of a coin containing the date, usually on the reverse below the main design
- Die – the block of hardened metal with a design or effigy engraved on it, used to impress the design onto a coin blank
- Hammered Coin – the earliest method of striking a coin, by placing a coin blank between two dies and hammering the top die. Used in Britain up to 1662
- Milled Coin – a machine made coin struck in a coining press. First used in 1560, hand powered, steam powered from c.1800, electrically powered from 1895
- Mint – an organisation authorised to strike coins and medals. The British Royal Mint is one of the oldest and most respected in the world dating back to the 7th century
- Condition – the state of wear on a coin, graded inBritain from “Poor” or very worn, to “Uncirculated”, or fresh from the mint
- Proof – not a coin grade or condition but a type of coin, struck using polished dies in a separate minting process, to produce an immaculate coin
Coin Collecting – a fascinating and rewarding hobby PART II – What to Collect?
There is a lot of satisfaction in collecting coins, be they ancient or modern, struck from gold, silver or base metal, from the Royal Mint or any other mint. Sign up to The Westminster Collection’s mailing list and you will receive regular information and offers on many different kinds of coins.
You may however specialise in a particular type of coin or choose current UK coins. You’ll be offered the most current non-precious metal coins in uncirculated condition at an affordable cost. You can opt for commemorative coins or special issues from the various mints commemorating great events such as royal weddings, or the London 2012, special anniversaries such as a royal jubilee and even great people such as Winston Churchill.
You could concentrate on historic coins. Although the rarest coins are probably best left to museums and millionaires, some very old coins can be surprisingly affordable. The Romans were great coiners during the four centuries they occupied Britain – and great hoarders of coins. Hoards of Roman coins are still uncovered by archaeologists and metal detectors. Collecting these old coins, handled by legionnaires, wine merchants and peasants almost 2,000 years ago provides a unique insight into and link with the past.
There are many books on general and specialist aspects of coin collecting. The Internet is also an excellent source of information, though the quality and accuracy is sometimes unreliable.
Collecting Sovereigns: risks and rewards
In the past ten years, the price of gold has increased by hundreds of percent. Good news for anyone who has been collecting gold sovereigns, but it has also placed them beyond the reach of many
collectors.
The sovereign was first issued in England in 1489, though the modern sovereign containing 7.988 grams of 22-carat gold dates from 1817. After stopping production in 1917, the Royal Mint started sovereign production in 1957, producing bullion sovereigns mainly for investors. “Bullion” sovereigns are essentially sold for their gold content value.
The Royal Mint strikes “Proof” sovereigns in limited numbers for collectors, often to commemorate a special event. The Royal Mint annually issues limited numbers of full sets of gold coins – half-sovereign, sovereign, £2, and £5 gold coins, which make a spectacular addition to your collection or a once-in-a-lifetime gift.
Next time – Part III – Coin Collecting Made Easy
Coin Collecting – a fascinating and rewarding hobby PART I – Where to Start?
Coins are all around us, not just in Britain but all over the world. There are 28 billion circulating in this country alone! Your collecting adventure could take you anywhere – and as far back as 700 BC – and you’ll find yourself picking up a wealth of knowledge about geography, history, economics and even politics. It’s a world of fascination just waiting to be discovered!
The great thing about coin collecting is that you can collect exactly what you want, when you want. Reach into your pocket or purse and take out a handful of coins. There will be different values – perhaps pence, two pence, five pence, 10 pence, 20 pence, 50 pence, one pound, and two pounds. They will have different dates, different portraits and be in different conditions.
You can start right there, collecting circulating UK coins from your loose change. Later you can add coins that are in perfect condition – proof or uncirculated – that you don’t find in your change. You could go deep into history – many Roman coins have been unearthed over the years and are surprisingly affordable. You could save particular sorts of coins such as pre-decimal pennies or sovereigns. One fascinating field is to collect “commemorative” coins, struck to celebrate a particular event or anniversary. The first step, though, is to establish a relationship with a coin dealer you can trust.
The Westminster Collection – a helping hand
A small error in striking or a rare mint mark can hugely increase the value of a coin. This has led to people altering or forging coins and offering them for sale to unsuspecting collectors. Dealing on the internet needs particular care as some offers may not be quite as good as they seem.
There are of course many reputable coin dealers who can guide and assist you every step of the way. The Westminster Collection is one of the largest and most established collector-facing companies in the UK. Founded by Stephen Allen in 1987, The Westminster Collection is an authorised distributor and principal UK agent for several of the world’s leading mints. This means that you will be one of the first to buy before an issue sells out and receive pre-release notifications, often at special collector prices. When you buy from Westminster, you have complete quality assurance, enjoy interest-free credit and the right to return any purchase within 30 days. For the beginner or experienced collector, The Westminster Collection provides a safe and rewarding path on your collecting journey.
Coins – a brief history
Coins last a long time – especially if they are made of gold. Which means that we have still have the first ever coins from Lydia (now in modern Turkey) minted around 650 BC. From there they were spread by the Greeks and Romans around the known world. Coins circulated in Celtic Britain, but the Roman occupation from 43 AD to about 410 AD, brought in a flood of Roman coins and later, coins from local mints. After the Romans left Britons went back to bartering. Not until the 7th century did the dominant Anglo Saxons start minting coins.
Hammered coins
At this time all coins were made in roughly the same way: you started with a round blank of gold, silver, copper, bronze or a mixture. You put this on a die (a piece of hardened metal engraved with a reversed-out pattern) and put another die on top. Then you hit the top die with a hammer. Finally you remove your finished coin known as a “hammered” coin.
The milling revolution
Hammering persisted until the sixteenth century, when a new method was tried in France. It was known as “milling”, using a screw press rather hammering, and produced coins of much better quality. For the next century it was tried in Britain but only fully replaced hammering after the 1660 restoration. Coinage had entered the machine age. The next leap forward came in 1796 when Matthew Boulton used his steam engine to power a new coin press – this was just in time for the Royal Mint to meet the massive demands of the great recoinage of 1816.
Decimalisation
This brought in “token coinage” – coins with intrinsic value less than their face value. Even so, gold and silver coins still circulated in Britain until 1917 when gold was withdrawn. The last silver coins were replaced with cupro-nickel in 1947. Then in 1971 came the end of centuries of tradition when the pounds, shillings and pence system was replaced by today’s decimal based coinage.
Next time – Part II – What to Collect?