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    The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins
    The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins
    The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins
    Ebook473 pages1 hour

    The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins

    By Derek Francis Allen

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    About this ebook

    "The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins" - the 'Where's wear' of British numismatics! The first book of its kind. A detailed photographic and descriptive record of the grades of all British modern milled pre-decimal coins (1797 to 1970). The grade of a coin dictates it's value. The age, type or specific date are all of less importance than the condition. But what is Fine, VF, EF or Uncirculated? If you are new to coin collecting or specialise in different coin types, how can you say without doubt that a coin is a certain grade? Until now you could only guess. Now, at least you can make a very educated guess based on the images shown in "The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins". The photos of every obverse and reverse type are illustrated at 2x or greater magnification and the text describes where to look for the wear first. An invaluable guide to anyone who collects coins, especially at the moment, with huge amounts of over-graded coins being offered on the internet.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRotographic
    Release dateJul 24, 2017
    ISBN9780901170255
    The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins

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      Book preview

      The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins - Derek Francis Allen

      The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins

      By Derek Francis Allen. 1st Edition © 2009

      ISBN: (printed version) 978-0-948964-83-1

      eBook version © 2013, ISBN 978-0-901170-25-5

      A pictorial and descriptive record of British coin grades, covering all types from 1797 to 1970

      This book is dedicated to the memory of my parents:

      Owen Allen (1922-2003)

      Ethel Allen (1924-2006)

      Copyright Notice:

      No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced in any format, printed, electronic, now known or hereafter invented, without prior permission from Rotographic.

      Errors and Omissions:

      Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained within this book is accurate and complete. However, errors do sometimes have a habit of creeping in unnoticed, and with this in mind the following email address has been established for notifications of omissions and errors: info@rotographic.com. Readers within the UK can also call the telephone number below.

      www.rotographic.com

      020 308 69996

      In Association with

      predecimal.com

      contents

      Introduction

      Using This Book

      Grading - Some Further Points

      Non-Grading Damage

      Bi-Grades

      Coins in ‘Poor’ Condition

      The Obverses:

      George III Cartwheel Obverse (1797)

      George III Copper Obverse 1799

      George III Copper Obverse 1806-7

      George III Bank of England Dollar Obverse

      George III Bank of England Token - First Type (Millitary)

      George III Bank of England Token - Second Type Obverse

      George III ‘Bull’ Head

      George III Small Head 1817-20

      George III Minor Silver 1816-20

      George III Crown Obverse 1818-20

      George IV Laureate Head (Pistrucci)

      George IV Farthing Obverse 1821-6

      George IV (Wyon) Silver/Gold 1824-30

      George IV (Wyon) Copper 1825-30

      William IV 1830-7

      Victoria Young Head 1838-87

      Victoria Gothic Head 1847-87

      Victoria ‘Bun’ Head 1860-95

      Victoria ‘Jubilee’ Head 1887-1893

      Victoria ‘Widow’ (Old) Head 1893-1901

      Edward VII 1902-10

      George V First Obverse 1911-26

      George V Modified Effigy 1925-36

      George VI 1937-52

      Elizabeth II First Effigy 1953-70

      The Reverses:

      Britannia

      1797 Cartwheel penny/twopence

      1799-1807 Copper

      1804 Bank of England dollar

      1821-6 Farthing

      1825-88 Copper/Groat

      1860-95 Bronze

      1895-1936 Bronze

      1937-70 Penny

      1902-10 Florin

      George & Dragon

      1817-20

      1821-date Crowns/Sovereigns/Half Sovereigns

      1935 Jubilee Crown

      Lion & Crown

      1825-9

      1902-26

      1927-51 Shilling (includes George VI English reverse)

      1937-51 Shilling (Scottish)

      Rose Florins

      1937-51

      1953-70

      Shields:

      i) Conventional

      1816-17 Halfcrown

      1816-20 Shilling/Sixpence

      1817-20 Halfcrown

      1820-23 Halfcrown, Shilling, Sixpence

      1823-4 Halfcrown

      1823-6 and 1887-92 Shilling, Sixpence

      1824-9 Halfcrown

      1831-7 Halfcrown

      1838-87 Sovereign, Crown, Halfcrown

      1838-92 Half Sovereign

      1887-92 Halfcrown

      1893-1901 Halfcrown

      1902-26 Halfcrown

      1927-51 Halfcrown

      1937 Crown

      1953-70 Halfcrown

      1953-70 English Shilling

      1953-70 Scottish Shilling

      ii) Cruciform Shields

      1847-87 Godless and Gothic

      1887-92 & 1911-26

      1927-36

      iii) Triple Shields

      1893-1901 Florin

      1893-1901 Shilling

      Wreaths

      1811-16 Bank of England Tokens

      1831-1910 Shilling, Sixpence

      1834-1926 Minor Silver (threepence and less)

      1866-1913 Third-Farthing

      1927-36 Wreath Crowns

      Miscellaneous

      1839-56 Half/Quarter Farthings

      1927-36 Sixpence

      1937-48 Sixpence

      1937-45 Silver Threepence

      1949-52 Sixpence

      1953-70 Sixpence

      1937-52 Brass Threepence

      1953-70 Brass Threepence

      1937-70 Halfpenny

      1937-56 Farthing

      Glossary of Numismatic Terms

      introduction

      There is no subject in the coin world more controversial than that of grading. Even well-established dealers vary slightly in their assessment of how a coin should grade, and as for coins sold over the internet, I have seen pieces for sale which I would class as being a full two grades out (e.g. a ‘fine’ coin being described as ‘extremely fine’). I felt therefore, that there was room in the market for a pictorial guide to help collectors grade the most common coins currently collected in the UK – i.e. British coins produced from 1797 to the end of the pre-decimal series, usually taken as 1970.

      So to start from basics, the following is the description of the main states of condition which affect milled circulation currency* (and this book is mainly concerned with circulation coins) taken from the companion volume to this, ‘Collector’s Coins Great Britain’:

      UNC: Uncirculated: Like the name suggests, the coin should be as it left the mint with no signs of circulation or wear. Not necessarily perfect though, because coins can pick up scratches and what are known as ‘bag marks’ during mass production and contact with other coins at the mint. The coin should have most of its lustre present and some dealers may expect 100% lustre on coins stated as Uncirculated.

      EF: Extremely Fine: A coin with little sign of being circulated. There may be only the slightest wear to the highest areas and minimal scratches and other marks. Often some of the mint lustre is visible on coins of this grade. As a rough idea a coin in your change would probably be an EF if it had been lucky and was minted just 1 year ago.

      VF: Very Fine. A coin with some wear to the highest areas of the design but which has seen limited circulation. More hair detail is evident and also detail on the other designs. Just as an average guide a coin that has been in normal circulation for approximately 5 years may qualify for VF status.

      F: Fine. Fine coins show considerable wear to all raised surfaces. Some detail should be visible on the designs and some of the main hair volume should be visible on the Monarch’s head. Not individual strands, but maybe a parting or signs of head-dress. Many of the coins in your pocket even after just 30 years or less of normal use would probably be Fine or less.

      *You will however see the occasional reference to coins in FDC, a condition which applies only to proof specimens. FDC stands for fleur-de-coin and means absolutely perfect in every way, without wear, scratches or hairlines etc.

      Fair: Heavily worn, but with readable legend and major points of design identifiable. It would be reasonable to say that the vast bulk of 20th century coins in this condition are worth no more than their metal value.

      Poor: These are not just smooth disks but actually identifiable coins. However, the list of shortcomings can be extensive, ranging from a few letters obliterated in the legend, to coins in which virtually the only detail visible is the date. A very few coins will still retain a value over and above the metal content, but they would need to be pretty rare.

      These are good clear descriptions which give the reader an idea of how a coin should be graded. Nonetheless, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ and many observers have commented that the coin world has long been in need of a fully illustrated guide to grading British coins. Following discussions between myself and Chris Perkins on the www.predecimal.com forum, I offered to start work on a pictorial grading guide and this book is the result.

      However, to return to the mechanics of grading, the coin community refines these descriptions by appending the basic terms with the words ‘good’ or ‘almost’ (sometimes interpreted as ‘about’ or even occasionally ‘nearly’) to describe coins better or worse than the stated grade e.g. Good Very Fine, Almost Fine etc. This can be a little confusing as some numismatists, principally but not exclusively in America, tend to use the term ‘Good’ and ‘Very Good’ in place of the British ‘fair’.

      Now, as well as a love of coins, I would confess to a love of the English language and it is my personal view, that any grading term which runs counter to the accepted meaning of words should be discouraged, hence even if ‘fair’ often overstates the case, I prefer it to variations on ‘good’ which in numismatic terms means pretty much the opposite of its accepted definition. To go to ridiculous extremes, you will see that technically the term Good Good is theoretically possible even if it isn’t a particularly good coin.

      As a general rule, I believe ‘nearly’ to be a more honest term than ‘about’ which simply serves to sugar the pill that a coin isn’t quite the stated grade. The accepted definition of the word ‘about’ is ‘approximately’, or ‘more or less’ and always carries a degree of uncertainty. As such its use in a numismatic context is capable of causing all sorts of linguistic confusion (‘What grade is that coin?’ ‘Oh, it’s about very fine,’ ‘Do you mean about very fine or about very fine…?’). I would concede however that the uncirculated grade can reasonably be prefixed with ‘about’, if only for the reason that it makes no sense whatever in common parlance, and therefore the chances of confusion are lessened. Undoubtedly however, the most logical way of describing coins which fall between grades is by the use of the symbols ‘+’ and ‘-’. Although this is used by some dealers, the industry in general has been slow to adopt what

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