British Coins 101

[Jester]

Good Afternoon/Evening All,

I hope you're having a great weekend and if you celebrate it, Happy Easter.  A recent post on the Silver board by @ShaolinStacker regarding a Double Florin and Shilling he'd received and @shortstack68's reply with a higher grade Dbl Florin for comparison really intrigued me.  What draws me to UK coinage is the monarchy and the heraldry.  That 1887 Dbl Florin's REV is a very attractive design as are the shield sovereigns.  

While I'm very willing to educate myself about British coinage and am in no way looking to be spoon-fed, I would be very grateful if anyone has any advice to offer.  For example, at first glance if you're not familiar with the denominations (sovereigns, florins, schillings, farthings, etc.), you can quickly get overwhelmed .  After doing a bit more reading about the Dbl Florin, it seems one of the shortest lived denominations with minting from 1887-1890.  Would that be a good place to start?  Are there any definitive reference/guide books to pick up to familiarize myself with the various coinage?  Any finally, any suggestions on more rare (yet not completely unobtainable) denominations/years to pursue?  I know many of you collect sovereigns but my budget may not allow me to pick those up as frequently given the price point.

Thanks in advance to each of you for your time and feedback.

[SilverTanner]

As mentioned the best place to start is one of the price guides - the rare dates/varieties will stand out as much more expensive. They will not be cheaper than sovereigns! (apart from rare sovereigns - for an example a good grade 1854 sixpence recently went for £5K, a good 1905 halfcrown is now £10-12K and I dread to think what a 1831 proof crown is now, >£25K?)

I would go to a coin show and look at a range of denominations and designs and see which ones you like.

Looking back I wish I had just collected key dates and not tried to do complete date runs, or identify new varieties, although adding the prices for these up from the price guide may be a shock?

[Jester]

1 minute ago, SilverTanner said:

As mentioned the best place to start is one of the price guides - the rare dates/varieties will stand out as much more expensive. They will not be cheaper than sovereigns! (apart from rare sovereigns - for an example a good grade 1854 sixpence recently went for £5K, a good 1905 halfcrown is now £10-12K and I dread to think what a 1831 proof crown is now, >£25K?)

I would go to a coin show and look at a range of denominations and designs and see which ones you like.

Looking back I wish I had just collected key dates and not tried to do complete date runs, or identify new varieties, although adding the prices for these up from the price guide may be a shock?

A poor assumption on my part and a reflection of how little I know at this point about the varieties!  I'm with you on collecting key dates with the few exceptions like the U.S. Peace Dollar (beautiful coin) only minted from 1921-1928, 1934 and 1935 that I'm working on.  I think based on the advice so far, I need to hit Amazon next for a price guide (so I make fewer ignorant comments like I did in my original post).  Thanks for your feedback gentlemen.

[Jester]

Thanks for the tip re: the CCGB books @shortstack68.  I just picked up the "Collectors' Coins: Great Britain 2016: British Pre-Decimal Coins 1760 - 1970" from Jan 2016 and "Collectors' Coins: Decimal Issues of the United Kingdom 1968 - 2017" just out last month.  These should keep me busy for a while. One last question and then I'll leave you good folks to your own pursuits...

If I was interested in collecting Sovereigns, would it be best to good ahead and pick up the 2017 Pistrucci Sovereign Proof and go from there?  Even at the inflated prices on the secondary market, this seems to still be one to obtain (there I go with my assumptions again!).  Have a great rest of the weekend everyone.