so how come no one likes Great Britain decimal coinage?

laurentyvan

Should they go Euro?

trozau

Personally, I like the UK Pound coin with its 10 different reverses. Also, beginning 2004 they will feature 4 famous UK bridges as reverse for the next 4 years (could not find a picture from their site but I've seen the reverses from their mailer).

nwcs

I think it's because it is like everyone else's decimal coinage. Nothing distinctive.

shirohniichan

The system of 12ths had its appeal in its oddity to all of us used to the decimal system.

I still look forward to finishing my 1887 Jubilee set one of these days. Having a florin, half crown, double florin, and crown in the same year is kind of cool.

lordmarcovan

It isn't just British decimal- you can add Australia and Ireland to the list, too (among others!)- nobody seems to want decimal coins.

I would imagine that it's sort of like the clad Washington quarters our friend Sam ("cladking") has been squirreling away: sleepers. Somewhere there are probably wise folk who are tucking away BU decimal coins for that possibly impending day, when the sleepers awake. I think when the Statehood quarters made their debut, Sam's clads took a leap. Maybe the advent of the Euro will have the same effect on those boring "modern" issue world coins.

I still think it will be a very, very long time before circulated decimal coins will be of interest to people, but the UNC's are certainly due for some climbing, if it hasn't already happened.

harasha

I actually like the round pound. I may consider them for a future "project."

cladking

There is incredibly little interest in many coins from the last fifty years and the
British decimal coinage doesn't really constitute a standout in this regard. Look
at the prices of some of the early 50P. These sell for a few dollars or more so
there must be a few collectors. One of the problems with the Brirish decimals
from the price standpoint is that there are no denominations of the correct size.
Smaller denominations like 10P are fairly inexpensive to set aside in quantity, and
a few people did. Large denominations like the 50P are popular and many people
tend to save a few. 20 or 25 Pence would have been an ideal size but the 25
didn't circulate and the 20P was probably issued too late.

Ten years ago it was very difficult to find any evidence of people being interested
in any later date (circulating) coins from just about anywhere. This was primarily
because these are typically minted in such incredibly large numbers and are often
percieved as commonplace and boring. But each passing day seems to bring more
explosive growth to many of these areas. While demand is still tiny compared to
most of the older issues, there are growing numbers of people who are seeking
these coins. Collectors are finding that there is huge variation in the availability of
the coins and seeking them is a lot of fun. It would seem likely that these segments
of the market will continue to thrive as more collectors seek the coins they used when
they were young.

While none of the US regular issue coins were made in restricted numbers, the number
of survivors are in some cases is as low as the world issues which were made in small
numbers in many cases.

wybrit

Euros? Pah! That's just a European couterpart to the state quarter program.

Decimal coinage is mass produced and just plain dull. Granted, some dates in BU are quite difficult to locate. True gem coins pre-1982 are tougher (except 1968 Cu-Ni and 1971 bronze). Starting in 1982, mint sets were produced, which pretty much puts any speculation about gems from the later dates to an end.

Aethelred

Some of it is o.k. I like a few of the £5 coins.

Lloyd

Laurent
I don't understand the question. Are you referring to the collecting of decimal coins or the monetary system?

If the first, there are plenty of dealers dealing decimals. Look at Colin Cooke's. The thing is that the slabbing system hasn't begun over here so we can't slab our pocket change and charge the earth for an MS1000000000069. Which hardly unsettles me.

If you're talking about the monetary system.... well, there are some of us who still believe we have nothing in common with continental europe. Language, culture.... Oh I forgot - we do have a lot of history in common. This is nothing against them - in general they're better sorts than us. There's nothing like being confronted by the ignorant Londoner or taking a trip after dark to one of our towns or cities or getting some cash out to pay for Petrol/Gas. (You would all love that).

Being in close proximity to the French coastline does not make me feel European. Now in fact THAT unsettles me.

From a trading point of view, less than 2% of my sales revenue comes from continental Europe.

Think On

L
PS: have you seen the list of countries due for entry into the EU ?

1jester

Poland's joining! I can't figure out why, but they want to....ostensibly.

Darkhorse

Maybe people would take more of an interest in collecting 'em if they were slabbed by PCGS.

canadiancoinguy

Interesting, I've only seen/had seven of the 1-pound reverses.

SYRACUSIAN

Lloyd,

once Blair is re-elected and Britain joins the euro, I'll give you a printed copy of your reply to eat it ! Would that unsettle you ?

cosmicdebris

Are we talking circulating coinage only? If not what about the Britannia coinage?

newbiecollector

Just a little something I have had for a while. A well traveled mint set from '72. History below after the photos (bad photos):

The package they were sold in

newbiecollector

To compound my interference on this thread here is a short history og the "traveling" this set has done.

It was mint by the Royal Mint and sent to a very small bank in Scotland
This fella bought it there for next to nothing
It stayed with me in 4-5 different places in Scotland and then
We move to England
Back to Scotland we went. After a while,
Back to England we went,
Then we went to Norway for a couple of years,
Back to England, then
To Scotland......... yes sevearl more place we lived there, then........
Back to England..... 3-4 years there and only a couple of moves... and then,
To a little place called Houston, Texas, a short stay......
Then to San Francisco....... approx 3 1/2 years........ yes..

Back to Houston .. at home for 6-8 months and then in storage for 6 months....... then........

To Norway in 1987....... whewwww!

I bet the lady is tired of moving around. I was so we have been here since then.


Edited to add: sorry to hi-jack your thread and yes..... I like my little set. It carries a lot of memories for me..

laurentyvan

I probably asked a vague question-I was referring to the very low prices I see for decimal coinage circulating British proof sets and individual coins. Much of the personality of what is (was) arguably the worlds greatest coinage (from an historical and varietal standpoint) seems to be gone.
This is just my opinion but it seems to be shared by many... non-circulating issues and the Britannia's continue to hold my interest.
I have some silver proof one pound piedfort issues from the mid-80's that I love!

Lloyd, thanks as usual, for an interesting perspective. Cladking, your responses are always thorough and make sense.

cosmicdebris

The modern UK NCLT coins definately have some great coins ( I like the piedforts too ) The DNA coin is one of my favorites.

Speaking of modern UK stuff anyone ordering the Silver Bridges patterns?

Dennis88

<< <i>Euros? Pah! That's just a European couterpart to the state quarter program. >>



Very well sad. I use those ******* coins every day, and after two years, I still HATE them. They don't smell nice, they don't feel nice, they don't look nice and I can so on and on about them.

You're are lucky that you live in the US.

Dennis

Shipcoin

Here is a link to "British Euros":

British Euros


Nice ships, by the way!
Wayne I like your British set!!

Trozau, I also like 1 pound coins ang dlad to know that them plan to make new ones. If you'll find link to their pic. , let us know please!

MSD61

No, No, please don't go the way of the Euro! Most of my family still lives in Ireland and curse the Irish verison of the Euro. They feel it has taken away some of our heritage, individuality and nationalism!

Shipcoin

And here is a link to those guys who didn't see all pounds'rev. design--pictures from fantastic Severo's Gallery:
1 pound coin set


I'm still looking for two varietis, some of them not so spread and I'm not agree with Lord Marcovan, that collectors don't interested in Decimal coins---they have nice pounds set and nice comm. ones!

Bruce

I have no problem with the decimal system. Heck, My British collection goes right up to today. My most recent acquisition was a 1984 proof set.