I saw it and i couldn't resist it. Now this is why i love hammered coinage, there's alot of well rubbish out there and pieces of dubious quality. In fact quality is all across the board. But occasionally you can stumble upon one of the gems littered here and there.

This is the best struck Edward I penny i've ever seen. Pity about the slight edge chip but despite that this coin looks as good as it did when it left the mint in 1280. There's nothing really rare about this coin, the only thing which marks it out is the strike.

It's Class 2a (and Class 2 seems a good class strikewise) and it's from London (the common mint).

Slight ghosting as is usual for the series, i generally try to get as little of it as possible, but it's something you have to compromise on. Weak strikes don't show it but weak strikes aren't as appealing, strong strikes well ghosting goes with the territory.

Gorgeous Edward I, my good man
Great strike on that one.

It's a beauty....don't let our American buddies know Eddie pennies are cheap as chips (to coin a phrase)

What a great coin. I wish they were "cheap as chips" so I could buy a bunch of the little guys.

Well regular ones cost between £25-£35.

The one above was £48 which was worth it for the look i though.

The most embarrasing thing is i don't actually collect these, i just buy them because i like them. So far i've got Classes, 2A, 2B, 4 something, i can't narrow it down any further and class 10A.


I'm not going to make any plans to collect them by class because that'll jinx the whole thing. Should that happen 'unplanned' then well didn't see that coming did i?

I make that only;

1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E, 3F, 3G, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B, 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B, 9A, 9B, 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E, 10F, 11A, 11B, 11C, 12, 13, 14, 15A, 15B, 15C & 15D to get...



Of course you could also approach it by mint i suppose, which would mean i'd have to get;

Bury St. Edmunds (Robert de Hadelie)
Bury St. Edmunds (just the mint name)
Chester
Durham
Exeter
Kingston Upon Hull
Lincoln (this is the mint i'm looking for)
Reading
Newcastle
York
and Berwick Upon Tweed


(I have; London, Canterbury and Bristol)

I just stumble into Eddie 1ds.....ONLY 1 & 11. I need to sort 111 out.
My main interest is Bury St Eds (being local....local coins for local people).

Currentlly I have S1377...A dog of an issue but a Colchester hoard coin
S1417...Monsuier de Hadelie class 4b
S1418 Class 10cf
& a clutch of S1465's

I have also got examples of Canterbury,London and Durham....and a few that still need full ID.

I find the easiest to identify London (DOH)

I was trying to work through the monachs...Plantagenets onwards (earlier a bit pricey )..and then you hit Henry IV.

I've made sure all my hammered are in coin holders .....imagine mixing up coins in a tray.

PS I've paid less than a fiver for a coin which beats Colin cookes GF
dE Hadelie was a bit more

I can beat a fiver! I got the Class 10A free from a coin dealer many years ago in Rotherham.

(I also got my imitation ducat free from him as well). I was fairly young though, i must have been about 9 at the time. You could say it took a while for me to catch the hammered bug, 10 years to be precise. Now they are pretty much all i buy.

You think Henry IV is a problem? Does Edward V not concern you!

Yes Henry IV is a real tough cookie indeed, i can't say i've ever seen an Henry IV coin actually. Not that it looks any different to a Henry V one (except it might be heavier if it's from the heavy coinage).

Henry IV coins are rare because in the 1400-1420 period there was a general scarcity of silver in Europe and prices went up a fair bit and thus they didn't coin them. Gold likewise was a bit scarce if i recall correctly.

What also hinders the collector is the fact that Henry IV's coinage was divided into two types, the first is the heavy coinage, the second is the light coinage. The weights being reduced because the bullion prices had gone up. So as you can imagine most of the heavy coinage got melted, what little of it was struck in the first place.

Unfotunately Henry IV died only two years into the new light coinage. Not long after they discovered new silver mines in Europe, i forget if it was Germany or Hungary but they were mined extensively for many centuries because they were quite large deposits. Much of the silver flooded the market in the 1420s and this explains the proliferation of Henry VI coinage.

Of course with a monarch run the Richards can be tough. Richard I pennies seem to be always cut, Richard II if you want anything half decent it's not cheap, Richard III well yeah...

I'm finding Edward II pennies hard to source though, i've seen a few but they were in my opinion truly ghastly.

As for post hammered monarchs, James II is the one to watch out for.

I'm buying a few hammered "European" as the mood takes me.
The lack of reference books in English is a big stumbling block.
Still I got a pretty Hungarian silver 1549 & a Spanish 13/14C Burgos mint
(bronze) both the about the size of halfgroats.
They were about £5 each via EBAY.
A task for those long winter nights.

This is true.

I too have been encroaching further towards continental issues. I've got a Gros of Phillipe IV already, and i was thinking about buying an Ecu d'Or of Charles VI of France, who incidentally was quite mad IIRC.

This is just great! Another coin I DON'T HAVE in my collection. My list keeps getting longer and longer but my dreams are really getting crowded with all that history I don't own.

Well i'm taking a break from collecting again for a while now. I've got to redirect my funds on getting copies of hard to find history books that are selling for well ALOT of money.

If you're having a sale???
I need to trim down my collection(s) and buy a few quality pieces.

Duplicates to go first...then maybe a whole denomination....do I hold back a few specials...yes this seems a good idea.

I don't think i'll be selling anything this time around. I'm saving my wages to buy books rather than coins...

I might still end up with the odd Edward I penny here and there or maybe a Roman coin for my gods collection... but not much more expensive stuff for a while.