Rarest GB George V Halfcrown in High Grade?

agraded

There's a lot conflicting data on these coins so Whatdayathink...George V specialists please help me out. Both Spink and Krause have the 1925 Halfcrown priced above all other George V dates in Unc. but the lowest mintage belongs to the 1930. The 1930 Halfcrown is rated R2 in Unc. by Cope & Rayner (English Milled Coinage) whereas the 1925 rated only R. The 1926 Older Bust is also acknowledged as a difficult date and is rated R2 in EF & Unc. by Cope & Rayner. Very oddly the high mintage date 1923 (which is considered by most a common date) is listed R2 in EF & Unc. in Cope & Rayner together with a special notation that the 1923 date is rarer than the 1925...how could it be with nearly 15 times the mintage!!! The mintages are as follows 1930 810K, 1925 1.4M, both varieties of the 1926 4.4m and 1923 26+m. Cope & Rayner says the 1923 is rarer than the 1925 yet I've pick up nice Unc. 1923s for $40-50 and a nice Unc. '25 (if you could find one) will set you back several hundred dollars.

TIA for your input

spinaker2000

Welcome to the forum!!


WYBRITTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!

agraded

Thanks Wybit, from what I've read here I thought you might have some thoughts on the Geo. V Halfcrowns.

spinaker2000

Wybrit should be along soon.

wybrit

There is no way the 1923 is rare or harder to find than the 1925 - absolute poppycock.

You can find 1923s easily. These days, though, even that date isn't very cheap. Your Rayner ratings are off target. My Rayner edition has a similar confusion about it, rating 1923 as "S", 1925 as "S", 1926 (1st obverse) as "R", 1926 (second obverse) as "S" and 1930 as "R²." I would guess N for 1923, R² for 1925, R² for 1926 (1st), R for 1926 (2nd) and R² for 1930.

The 1925 might be worth more because the first obverse wears down more easily than the second. Otherwise, I am a bit confused by the logic as well.

I also fail to understand why the 1926 is so inexpensive relative to 1925. I have not found that date in high grade yet. I would lay pretty good odds that it would greatly exceed catalogue if auctioned at the right house.


Here's a 1925:

agraded

Spinaker, sorry 'bout that and thank you for the welcome.

agraded

Wybrit, what year is your EMC book and is the 1925 Halfcrown pictured raw or slabbed? NE Numismatics and Am. Heritage have had slabbed MS 1925 Halfcrown on ebay in the last few months (but the prices gave me a nosebleed). I agree on the 1926 as it's seldom seen and seems quite undervalued in comparison to the others. The 1913 and 1912 Halfcrowns are not growning on trees either.

Here's a 1926

wybrit

Wybrit, what year is your EMC book and is the 1925 Halfcrown pictured raw or slabbed?

My book is actually "English Silver Coinge," by Rayner, published 1992. Tell me more about yours.

The 1925 is the one NEN had for sale. I made them an offer.

You are right about 1912 and 1913. Surprisingly, 1911 for-circulation is somewhat difficult as well.

wybrit

By the way, welcome to the forum, agraded!

Here's your picture as a courtesy. Glad you could find a '26.




You can also turn on your PM (private message) feature by clicking the profile button and clicking "yes" for PMs.

shirohniichan

You are right about 1912 and 1913. Surprisingly, 1911 for-circulation is somewhat difficult as well.

I'm surprised the 1911 is hard to find in high grades since it is the year of George V's coronation. Aren't first year coins generally saved in higher numbers than subsequent years? I'm trying to put together a set of silver 1911 and 1935 GB coins to mark his coronation and silver jubilee, and some of the coins are out of my budget range at present in higher grades.

On the flip side, which are the easiest 0.800 fine and 0.500 fine George V half crowns to find in high grade? (Sorry, I don't even have a Spink book).

wybrit

I'm surprised the 1911 is hard to find in high grades since it is the year of George V's coronation. Aren't first year coins generally saved in higher numbers than subsequent years?

Absolutely true. The 1911 proofs are easy to find (but expensive), but the for-circulation 1911 florin and halfcrown in really nice grades (>= MS63) have been difficult to locate in recent years. They are not rare, but have become trickier than dates like 1914, 1915 and 1916.

laurentyvan

Excellent thread gentlemen! These are the kinds of posts that forum members can learn from.

agraded

Wybrit, the other book is The Standard Catalog of English Milled Coinage in Silver, Copper & Bronze (first edition 1975) by Geoffrey Cope & Alan Rayner. EMC is the only book to give rarity by grade (up to As Struck) for all non-gold issues from 1662 to 1972. I have English Silver Coinage too and it states the rarity scale on the more modern issues (including Edward VII and George V) is for EF specimens and doesn't cover coins in mint state. As you know there are a multitude of sliders for every true Unc. Edward VII Shilling and Florin and Halfcrown, so the rarity scale (in English Milled Coinage) is much higher for mint state coins. And the same is true for the rare date George V Halfcrowns, no doubt. English Milled Coinage has been out of print for a long time but show up occasionally on Ebay, I think I know where I can locate one if you're interested. By using the two above mentioned books and online population reports aginst one another a person can get a pretty good handle on the true rarity of the more difficult Edward and George V issues...not to mention that it's quite an enjoyable pastime. The only fly in the ointment is the occasional glaring error (such as the 1923 Halfcrown being R2 in mint state) that needs to be ironed out. I would think this was a typo but for the notation "the 1925 Halfcrown is rarer than some but not as rare as the 1923". I would like to know if someone else has a different edition than mine and this error has been addressed. Cheers

agraded

On the flip side, which are the easiest 0.800 fine and 0.500 fine George V half crowns to find in high grade? (Sorry, I don't even have a Spink book).

A rough guide is to just use the mintage figures in Krause. Any date with a mintage over 15-20m is not going to be too difficult in high grade (except Ch. Unc.). From my experience, ALL well struck George V Halfcrowns in nice Uncirculated condition are very scarce, especially the debased .500 silver issues from 1920-1926 or second coinage and, of course, the rare dates.

wybrit

On the flip side, which are the easiest 0.800 fine and 0.500 fine George V half crowns to find in high grade? (Sorry, I don't even have a Spink book).

A rough guide is to just use the mintage figures in Krause. Any date with a mintage over 15-20m is not going to be too difficult in high grade (except Ch. Unc.). From my experience, ALL well struck George V Halfcrowns in nice Uncirculated condition are very scarce, especially the debased .500 silver issues from 1920-1926 or second coinage and, of course, the rare dates.

I agree. The only easy one in 1920-1926 is the 1923. Lots of 1923s have been put up - although some may have been AU being pawned as UNC.

I recently published a thread or three about the debased coinage, focusing on the funny alloy of 1920-1922:
1920 florin
1920 halfcrown
1921 shilling

MacCrimmon

What Laurent said......

Nice thread; I also have the EMC Cope & Rayner book. A nice addendum to the library to guage relative rarities, but probably more accurate with pre-1900 issues.

Also, welcome to the DARKSIDE, agraded.

agraded

Thanks to all for the welcome and the input. Not to get too slobbery but you seem like a great bunch here having some fun with a common interest. I think posting could become habit forming...let's hope it doesn't cut into the golf too much. Oh well, it's getting cold anyway. Cheers

Askari

Welcome, Agraded!!

You need to keep in mind that in many references, relative scarcity is based on that author's experience at the time. A new hoard release can quickly change that or some dates not available for a while suddenly do. Over time, with a lot of watching, gives good experience at determining relative scarcity, but surprises always occur. Nor is it a bad thing, for those who realize it first can get scarcer specimens in higher quality for less ... until the market catches up.

agraded

Askari, that's a good point...what was rare ten or twenty years ago is not always rare now. I know I've looked 'til I'm blue in the face for a particilar coin without success and after I've all but given up two or three will pop up at the same time. Which reminds me of my listings on Ebay...I put up something I think is super scarce then four other sellers list the same coin that day #$%^*#$%^. But I guess that's another story.