Crown Collecting - Recommended reading?

[1817Karl]

Hi All. Ive been hoping to develop a crown collection for a while and know very little about silver crowns. I think i'm going to look at full crowns and would like to receive recommendations for books that would improve my very basic knowledge of the coins. 

Recommendations on must read and resource publications would be really appreciated. As would any other advice!

[Gypsy]

Hi Karl. Iv bought quite a few crowns for grading. A lot came back “cleaned” so just be wary when buying. 

[TeaTime]

I'm a crown collector - my aim was to buy a coin from every monarch from the restoration to present day. Needles to say it got quite expensive...

The only resource i used was the coin yearbook by Token Publishing and a local BNTA registered coin dealer. It's a facinating hobby and a good way to invest if you can buy well (my local dealer guaranteed to buy-back any coins for the sale price for 12 months - i never used this option and most of the coins i have purchased in the last decade have massively increased in value.

Condition is everything on historic coins and buying from Ebay is not recommended (unless from a well established dealer) for serious value coins, the difference between a Fine and Very Fine coin can be hundreds of pounds. The difference between VF and EF can be thousands. The temptation for sellers to 'upgrade' a coin is too great and it happens with dismaying regularity....

[sovereignsteve]

Crowns are both facinating and a nightmare.

I am not aware of a definitive publication but I think I have seen mention of a couple of old books that looked interesting but couldn't find copies.

Best resource is the internet, Spink and specialist auction house catalogues.

I don't think there's that much to learn about them that a good reference catalogue won't tell you.

The main issue as others have pointed out is you must learn to accutately grade them and be able to spot cleaned examples. Fakes can be common but tend to be easy to spot as, being silver, the alloy used is usually incorrect.

[1817Karl]

10 hours ago, Gypsy said:

Hi Karl. Iv bought quite a few crowns for grading. A lot came back “cleaned” so just be wary when buying. 

Yes will do, I’m assuming the same tell tale signs as with gold… I’m guessing harder to spot with silver from a fine lines perspective, as I assume silver doesn’t show cleaning hairlines as much as gold, due to being a harder metal alloy. Also assuming you would need to see nice even toning on silver. 

[1817Karl]

9 hours ago, TeaTime said:

I'm a crown collector - my aim was to buy a coin from every monarch from the restoration to present day. Needles to say it got quite expensive...

The only resource i used was the coin yearbook by Token Publishing and a local BNTA registered coin dealer. It's a facinating hobby and a good way to invest if you can buy well (my local dealer guaranteed to buy-back any coins for the sale price for 12 months - i never used this option and most of the coins i have purchased in the last decade have massively increased in value.

Condition is everything on historic coins and buying from Ebay is not recommended (unless from a well established dealer) for serious value coins, the difference between a Fine and Very Fine coin can be hundreds of pounds. The difference between VF and EF can be thousands. The temptation for sellers to 'upgrade' a coin is too great and it happens with dismaying regularity....

Many thanks, I’m not an eBay fan either from a buyer or seller perspective, so likely keep away from the platform. I’m pretty ok with condition and grading so should be ok to spot realistically graded coins. Good offer from the dealer you bought from. I think I’ll get a copy of English Silver Coinage by Bull. I see there is a recent 7th Edition out early this year so likely use that as the reference text. 

[1817Karl]

8 hours ago, sovereignsteve said:

Crowns are both facinating and a nightmare.

I am not aware of a definitive publication but I think I have seen mention of a couple of old books that looked interesting but couldn't find copies.

Best resource is the internet, Spink and specialist auction house catalogues.

I don't think there's that much to learn about them that a good reference catalogue won't tell you.

The main issue as others have pointed out is you must learn to accutately grade them and be able to spot cleaned examples. Fakes can be common but tend to be easy to spot as, being silver, the alloy used is usually incorrect.

Many thanks. Fakes will be the most difficult to get to grips with I guess as with Sovereigns it comes down to experience and handling to build the knowledge. 

[TeaTime]

If you get the opportunity to view some genuine coins (that's where a local dealer comes in handy), you can spot most fakes out there - 90% of them these days are Chinese made and have obvious errors. In fact it wouldn't hurt to invest £20 on obtaining some from such as AliExpress as examples. 

A friend of mine actually collects contemorary forgeries - that's a market in itself.

Cleaning is a difficult subject - how can anyone tell if a circulating coin from the 1600's has been cleaned or if it has recieved scratches from general use. I think when most people say 'cleaned' it generally refers to a coin that has been obviously 'spruced up' using an abrasive. I would not be surprised if most 400 year old coins have recieved some degree of cleaning at some point in their history... Sometimes it just doesn't matter.

I will often buy lesser grade coins - there is nothing as satisfying as holding an historic coin in the hand for a fondle.. 😁

 

[1817Karl]

10 hours ago, TeaTime said:

If you get the opportunity to view some genuine coins (that's where a local dealer comes in handy), you can spot most fakes out there - 90% of them these days are Chinese made and have obvious errors. In fact it wouldn't hurt to invest £20 on obtaining some from such as AliExpress as examples. 

A friend of mine actually collects contemorary forgeries - that's a market in itself.

Cleaning is a difficult subject - how can anyone tell if a circulating coin from the 1600's has been cleaned or if it has recieved scratches from general use. I think when most people say 'cleaned' it generally refers to a coin that has been obviously 'spruced up' using an abrasive. I would not be surprised if most 400 year old coins have recieved some degree of cleaning at some point in their history... Sometimes it just doesn't matter.

I will often buy lesser grade coins - there is nothing as satisfying as holding an historic coin in the hand for a fondle.. 😁

 

Agree cleaning is a very difficult area…