British Coin Collecting

[Art Salmons]

I was wondering how to structure my British coin collection as strange as that sounds. I have been buying British coins since the early 90's and I have just been buying them as I see a nice coin with not any thought at forming a collection. I cataloged my holdings today and thankly I don't have any dulicates in the same date of a coin so that's good. My thought process after thinking about it today is to pick a coin type like Farthing and then buy one each of each coin design from around 1800 to say 1920. When I look at my set that way I do have many duplicates and I feel I should keep the best coin in each coin design and move the rest and use the funds to buy the other coins that I would need for this type of collection.

 

So my question is seeing that British coins are a second tier collection for me as the US coins are my primary collection focus. That said, my US coin collection is almost complete as I don't see me starting another set in my collection. I'd like your imput on whether my thought process is flawed in my thoughts on the British coin collection I want to put together. The only one I can see right off is that I would be forced to pass on coins I really like if I already have a great one of that type and design.

 

Thanks in advance

[ccg]

Myself, I collect bronze/copper farthings and halfpennies by type. I like copper.

[sandy3075]

Many people, probably most, do collect coins, including British, by type. It is also usually easier to find a more common year with in the type. Some, like myself, collect by the year which I know is going to take many years and eventually limit what I will have. If your means are not unlimited, then you will probably have to be content with collecting by type and maybe some of the unusual representative ones, like a 1927 proof set thich is still relatively affordable or a complete type set of 1887 Victoria which are available in nice condition without forking over a significant amount of money. having a focus on certain denomination/type/issue can be fun and easier to look for out of tens of thousands of coins on the market, but I feel that when I buy on eBay I find it cheaper to pursue several different directions, otherwise the urge to fill that particular hole in my collection sometimes overcome reason and the fact that there will always be another coin like that, tomorrow, next week, month or year. And I was finding myself paying more that the coin was worth on the reasonable market.

 

For British coins I think pennys and fractional farthings are most interesting issues. I personally also like maundy and 3 half pence pieces but that's simply because they are so unusual and I like everything scarce. Jersey, Guernsey and IOM also provide for a good variety and are quite affordable evn though Guernsey's designs are not really piece of any art.

[ScottO]

farthings, pennies, and general interesting pieces are what i get

if you do farthings i wouldn't bother stopping after 1920, you can fill those other dates up very cheaply indeed

[Art Salmons]

After thinking about it for a few days I've decided that the collection will be a type set collection of Pennies, half pennies, Farthings, and Shillings from 1800 to the switch to Decimal coinage. In the set I will try to buy the best example that I can afford of each of the coin designs with little regard to mintages and key dates. As a part of the collection I will also buy florins, half crowns, and crowns but this part of collection will happen in the future and be completed way down stream. The other thing is that if I find two coins of the same design and type I will keep more then one if the quality of the coins and eye appeal of them merits it. The collection will be housed in 3 inch binders with pages that hold 2x2 flips as this makes it easy to add and remove coins and to do updates.

 

I think this will be fun and I doubt that I will ever complete this set or limit it to the time period mentioned because I already own a few British coins from the 1700's.

[banivechi]

You can also organize your coins in the old style: in Whitman folders. Cheap and easy. Like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SET-OF-HALFPENNIES-1...6#ht_500wt_1182

[ScottO]

i would start pennies at 1797 and halfpennys at 1799 btw

[Brian2]

I enjoy starting with a Crown and then collecting each lower denomination of the same year to make a set. After that it is a challange to find each one in a better condition untill they are all at least "Almost Uncirculated" . Then I move on to try for another set of a different date. I must admit I often digress from this when I see a bargain in an interesting coin. (Don't we all ?).