Underrated Rarities from England

coinkat

Lets discuss the most underrated coins of England-some worthy of discussion are the following:

1697 Crown
1751 Crown
1751 Shilling
1701 Shilling
1854 Shilling
1903 Half Crown- this is not a typo- I mean 1903 and not 1905

Please add your nominations and feel free to comment why or why not the ones mentioned above should be considered

And please add some 6d, 3d, 1d and 1/2d coins

bidask

High grade east india company gold guineas.

7Jaguars

Well, I like to keep favorites to myself, but will say that a lot is condition dependent, in my opinion.

In mint condition, I will still root for the 1905 2/6 over the 1903, but not in higher grades of circulated (GVF - EF)
1905 shilling, non-counterfeit undamaged and unmolested above EF
1922 rev. of 1927 above VF penny
Mint Red Unc 1926 ME (does this exist? I know of a PCGS MS65RB which is very close)

I think the 1854 shilling is quite rare, but tied by its 6d cousin and outstripped by the 1848 6d in GEF and better. Killed by the 1850 shilling in GVF or above




1882 London Mint Penny in VF or above - this coin should be valued out of the park in my opinion. Rare below but an unloved coin.
1839 2/6 True currency and not later strike proofs
1854 Florin in GVF or above
1863 Florin in GVF or above
1847/6 4d Britannia rev. in GVF or better and esp. with well struck obverse.
True currency and NOT Maundy 3ds of many dates (e.g. 1841, 1842, 1847, 1848, 1852, 1853, 1855, 1857, 1862, 1863) Almost all offered as currency even by no less than Spink are NOT currency.
1845 1/2 d undamaged and above VF

Well

Walter

Proofs from non-standard years (i.e. archive proofs) sell for a fraction at what Australian archive proofs sell for, and they aren't all that much scarcer.

Wreath crowns, other than the 1927 have that combination of scarcity and a beautiful design (in my humble opinion). They never seem to be toned attractively though.

wybrit

Underrrated rarities (mostly in high grade):

1915 Farthings of the first type (the T's in BRITT are closer together) in any grade.

Nice (EF or better) Victorian halfpennies of almost any date except 1838, 1841, 1853/4/5/7/8/9, 1860/1/2, 1884/5/7/8, 1890/1/3/5/6/7/9, 1900 and 1901. 1892 and 1898 may be quite available dates but in top grades they are tougher than people realize. The comments in Freeman about why the halfpenny in general is quite a bit scarcer than the farthing and penny make a lot of sense.

1934 pennies, which were darkened by the mint, are very tough in the top grade - I mean glossy UNC. This year was largely ignored because it was toned.

For silver, I find it interesting that many dates, especially in Victorian times, are very tough for several or all denominations. 1848, 1851, 1854, 1862, 1863, 1869, 1882 and 1905 are all such dates. 1894, 1904, 1908, 1909, 1912, 1913 and 1930 are also challenging MS date sets to assemble.

Young head Victorian currency threepences in high grade are notoriously tough, save for a few later dates (like 1873, 1875, 1876, 1879-1887 except 1882).

1848 and 1854 sixpences are very tough of course, but so are other dates in the series like 1858, 1862, 1863, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, 1872, 1876, and 1882. 1893 Jubilee Head is as tough as 1848 and 1854. 1904 is also tricky to find in high grade.

Most of the difficult YH shilling dates are well known, but 1882 and 1887 are tricky as well. 1909 appears to be much more difficult to find (at least for me) than 1905 or 1908, even though it is only rated "S" by ESC. 1930 is an interesting scarcity often overlooked. Interestingly, 1850 was not thought of as rare until recent times - it catalogued at a very low price in the late 1960's.

Underrated Gothic florin dates are 1862, 1863, 1867, 1869 and 1887. Other underrated dates are 1892, 1908 and 1909.

In the halfcrown category, I agree with 'Kat - 1903 is a very underrated rarity in top grade. The 1905 is well known and thus has been notoriously faked. An underrated George V rarity is 1926 (first head), considered rarer than 1925.

Crowns: I don't collect them, but I predict that in some far future date, Churchill crowns will become rare, as they are becoming ever more popular as metallic substitutes for clay pigeons. I wonder if Blackhawk has any more bags of them for sale - "PULL!!"

coinkat

Wybrit-

Great commentary-

I stopped at the shilling because I believed that there were others more experienced to offer comments in connection with farthings through 6d

Also, part of the exercise is to share from experience what is tough and not seen as often as collectors would anticipate

ajaan

<< <i>Crowns: I don't collect them, but I predict that in some far future date, Churchill crowns will become rare, as they are becoming ever more popular as metallic substitutes for clay pigeons. I wonder if Blackhawk has any more bags of them for sale - "PULL!!" >>


So true! Buy them now before the price goes up.

SaorAlba

In all my hoards of many thousands of British predecimals I have not but a mere six examples of the Churchill crown. I do have circulation finds of the 1951 and 1953 pennies though.

Hussulo

I don't know about calling them rarities but a lot of the fractional farthings are low mintage and underrated IMHO.