a little bit of silver for you guys to look at

[gavinfry]

Hi guys thought I would show some old English coins to look out for most are 925 silver so always worth picking up if cheap enough 

[Jay2]

I love the Victorian veiled widow coins. Do people generally only pay slightly over spot for the ones you've just shown? Or are they way more numismatic than precious metal.

Got any crowns with st George vs the dragon?

[KDave]

Pre1920's British silver is great. They can be picked up for near spot in worn condition. I have a crown collection which is slowly increasing in numismatic condition by swapping out the worn coins for nicer ones. These are my favourites;

[CarlosSilver]

29 minutes ago, Jay2 said:

I love the Victorian veiled widow coins. Do people generally only pay slightly over spot for the ones you've just shown? Or are they way more numismatic than precious metal.

Got any crowns with st George vs the dragon?

Here's some I picked up recently.

In poor condition I can sometimes get these at lower than spot. I love crown sized silver coins. 

[gavinfry]

hi guys some nice looking coins there im trying to pick up any old silver coins that are worn when i get a kilo or over i will get them refined into pure silver by the way i pay way under spot for  junk silver  so hopeing to make a good profit when i reach my goal.

[Roy]

Gotta question....not taking the p.

If you refine a kilo of 925 silver to 999 silver, what weight do you end up with? A kilo minus 7.5%? 

[gavinfry]

send in over a kilo of 925 to get 999 is my plan

[Roy]

Sure. Are you paying at least 7.5% under spot for your coins?

[KDave]

I shudder at the thought of all of those pieces of history being melted down. Mostly at the loss of history, but also because refining sterling into fine silver then pouring into a bar is going to cost a fair wedge. 

Why not sell the coins and use the proceeds to buy a bar? Some of those 3 bits look in decent condition and probably worth a lot more than melt. 

[gavinfry]

thanks for the advice on the coins i keep any decent condition coins i find  i have only been looking for silver and gold for the last six months so any advice is well recived most silver i come across is thimbles spoons forks ect thats what i will get refined i have a friend that will do it at low cost.

[Jay2]

@gavinfry I also feel a tiny bit of dread at the idea of mass melting these silver coins.

Unless you're talking about a kilo of coins of all sizes that have been worn so badly you can't reasonably tell what their dates are, etc. That's good fodder for melt.

Sometimes a combination of the portrait, a partial mint mark, some lettering on the reverse, etc. can indicate a worn off date too. It can be a bit of work, but some of these could be well worth it. I think a good George III Shilling could buy you a couple ounces of 999 silver by itself, for example. Browse ebay for your coins. 

I don't think anyone needs to insist or beg you to preserve their history, because I think you'll preserve your own wallet if you consider selling them to collectors, flippers or a coin store. Even fairly worn ones must be worth more to a collector than their silver melt value. It's lucky to get them at or below spot, so I'd say don't blow the luck by literally melting the gains you made on their potential value.

 

@KDave That one on the left looks pretty sharp! What did it set you back, if you don't mind my asking? It seems the torso of the dragon and George wear off the worst but I can see the full neckline of the cape and such on this one.

@CarlosSilver If I saw these below spot (factoring in that they're not .999 of course) I think I would buy them all up! That 1900 looks pretty good. Was that below spot? 

[sixgun]

What is the cost of having Sterling refined to 999?

[Roy]

And then assayed?

[Jay2]

A silver community pouring member might do melting for you, if you were interested in having a '925 bar or molds made. You could contact them for their rates. I know Backyard Bullion in the UK does this as a paid service, but it might be a while before he does single heavy pours. And you'd have to factor in postage both ways. BYB can also get things assayed now, if that was important to you.

[KDave]

@Jay2 Found it on my eBay purchase history £29 March 2015.  

The obverse brooch and veil are quite worn, still some detail but not enough for me to be satisfied with it. I will need an AU one at some point which cost a fair bit more. The 1844 is nice both sides though, good detail on both head bands and hair which are the first details to go with wear. (Picture isn't great sorry);

 

 

[Jay2]

I think since I'm just starting out on historical silver crowns, I'm going to focus more on getting a good obverse, for displaying. A faded veil wouldn't bother me much, or would actually benefit me by bringing down the overall price, I suppose.

 

In numismatics, do collectors generally attribute more value to the obverse or the reverse, or is it equal.. or maybe it depends on each coin's wearing patterns?

In some old copper coins, I really like a sharp portrait, but on others I just want all the detail on Britannia's shield, or the Golden Hind's galleon portholes. A proper grading authority can probably tell me what I 'should' be on the look-out for, value wise, but I'm an amateur who knows what he likes, even if it's not the best for slabbing.

Always learning.

[CarlosSilver]

44 minutes ago, Jay2 said:

@gavinfry

@CarlosSilver If I saw these below spot (factoring in that they're not .999 of course) I think I would buy them all up! That 1900 looks pretty good. Was that below spot? 

The 1900 and 1892 were above spot but still quite reasonable.

[CarlosSilver]

25 minutes ago, KDave said:

@Jay2 Found it on my eBay purchase history £29 March 2015.  

The obverse brooch and veil are quite worn, still some detail but not enough for me to be satisfied with it. I will need an AU one at some point which cost a fair bit more. The 1844 is nice both sides though, good detail on both head bands and hair which are the first details to go with wear. (Picture isn't great sorry);

 

 

Lovely coins. 

Got any of the double Florins? I've got a1887 and 1889. Just need the other 2 years. 

[KDave]

I did have some worn double florins along with loads of half crowns (too many) and other sterling silver coins but sold them all a while ago and bought silver kilo coin bars with the proceeds. Storage space became a problem with lots of coins of different sizes and bars are much easier to store and easier to sell. I would like some good quality double florins eventually they are nice coins, good size too. The trouble is there are so many nice milled coins to buy and its just hobby money I let myself spend on these. I can't afford top quality of every type yet so I focus on the crowns with the odd piece here and there.  

This is the side effect of stacking older coins like this; the exposure to them has a high chance of turning you into a collector of them whether you intend it to or not. 

[NewMSmatist15]

6 hours ago, CarlosSilver said:

Here's some I picked up recently.

In poor condition I can sometimes get these at lower than spot. I love crown sized silver coins. 

Love that 1935! Great design

[Jay2]

What's going on with the Charles stamped inside Charles? Did they reuse the same coins in a different year with a slightly updated portrait?

[KDave]

Some deep pocket silver right there! Stunners all of them.

[sovereignsteve]

44 minutes ago, Jay2 said:

What's going on with the Charles stamped inside Charles? Did they reuse the same coins in a different year with a slightly updated portrait?

Emergency issue trade dollars, overstamped Spanish Reales from various South American mints. The original portrait is Charles IIII of Spain.

[Jay2]

Thanks for the info, Steve. I thought the smaller one looked a bit.. pudgy, heh.

[gavinfry]

Some great looking coins on this site I've never seen some of them before keep the pics coming