Going through my Grandad's old collection

[EvilLandlord]

Some time ago, a few years before he passed away during the first covid wave at 96 years old (he was playing golf six months before!) I received a collection of coins from my grandad. He didn't tell me much about them at all other than that he enjoyed collecting and ordering them. As well as these there are lots, and lots of others I may have questions about but these are the boxed ones, some of which contain gold coins so if it's okay I'll post them here and ask later on the silver forum about the other peculiar individual silver ones he had (as well as loads of the old silver half crowns, sixpences and all sorts of other stuff). 

Any comments, advice etc on any of them are welcomed, even if it turns out some are copies, not collectable, junk etc. I won't take offence. I have just started going through them and find them fascinating. Looking to do a bit of collecting and stacking after reading up on it all and am looking forward to the journey!

There are a lot so I have created a shared an imgur photos album and have linked the main overhead shots of these selected coins/sets here as an overview. Can take more pics of reverses etc if it helps!  

Here is a link to the shared album with some shots of each set. https://imgur.com/a/drDpW5u

Thanks!

Edited April 22 by EvilLandlord
spelling and adding the link to the shared album, another to change the google pics link to an imgur link))

[EvilLandlord]

Also possibly of interest are a couple of newspaper clippings he had.
Here's one that's a snapshot of the time

 

 

[Aldebaran]

A lovely collection, so nice to see - thank you🌞

[EvilLandlord]

Thank you! 

I plan on taking my time going though it all and carefully going through the collection of pre decimal silver and putting aside the better condition ones he has and continuing the collection from there. Also possibly stacking some fractional gold over time from now on as well. I know the prices are high but planning on buying a bit now and then over time until I (hopefully) reach a ripe old age too

Edited April 22 by EvilLandlord

[ZRPMs]

Instantly draws to the top left. Nice long set of 1887 Jubilee i think. Looks like you have an extra half sovereign instead of the sixpence. Pictures are quite grainy so I could be wrong. Nice collection though.

P.S. Welcome to the forum

Edited April 22 by ZRPMs

[westminstrel]

Your granddad had a lovely choice and the 1887 set is one that immediately stands out.

The 1951 Festival of Britain and the Coronation / Jubilee medals also stand out.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy cataloguing them. 🙂

Edited April 22 by westminstrel

[westminstrel]

40 minutes ago, EvilLandlord said:

Also possibly of interest are a couple of newspaper clippings he had.
Here's one that's a snapshot of the time

 

 

This is also interesting ephemera for someone like me who likes these sorts of things. 😎

[Britannia47]

As above, top left caught my eye!  Looks like it’s a made up set, not original box. 
Taken a screen shot with a bit of editing for others to view. As is, could be worth a few £££…

Got many of these sets, but not the gold. Well done!

 

[EvilLandlord]

Thank you for the welcome! I took some pictures that are a bit more of a close up here: https://imgur.com/a/drDpW5u
 

Happy to take them out and photograph them if that helps. I'm totally new to all this so I'm nor sure which coins you mean in that set sorry!

Just looking through some silver he had wrapped in paper and there are some real oddballs in there. There's a 1976 quarter that looks in amazing condition to my untrained eye that has the D mark on it which after looking it up might be quite rare in the condition it's in. I'll start putting some of that stuff in the silver forum. 

Looks like I won't be getting much work done this week! 😄 

[EvilLandlord]

5 minutes ago, Britannia47 said:

As above, top left caught my eye!  Looks like it’s a made up set, not original box. 
Taken a screen shot with a bit of editing for others to view. As is, could be worth a few £££…

Got many of these sets, but not the gold. Well done!

 

Being a made up set might make sense as I found this too (the coin envelope was empty and I was hoping I hadn't lost it but it might be in here)! 

Edited April 22 by EvilLandlord

[westminstrel]

1 hour ago, EvilLandlord said:

Being a made up set might make sense as I found this too (the coin envelope was empty and I was hoping I hadn't lost it but it might be in here)! 

£60 for that set hehehheheh. Your granddad left you something amazing for sure. 

[LightningSilver]

Did Peter Schiff just sell his gold and buy BTC? 

[JamesH]

1 hour ago, EvilLandlord said:

Thank you for the welcome! I took some pictures that are a bit more of a close up here: https://imgur.com/a/drDpW5u
 

Happy to take them out and photograph them if that helps. I'm totally new to all this so I'm nor sure which coins you mean in that set sorry!

Just looking through some silver he had wrapped in paper and there are some real oddballs in there. There's a 1976 quarter that looks in amazing condition to my untrained eye that has the D mark on it which after looking it up might be quite rare in the condition it's in. I'll start putting some of that stuff in the silver forum. 

Looks like I won't be getting much work done this week! 😄 

This is great to read. Surely, this is what it’s all about. Another generation discovering a grandparents collection and enjoying learning all about it. Hopefully doing well out of it as well but nice to read stories like this that aren’t just about accumulation of wealth 👍🏼

[pricha]

Interesting collection.  As others say the 1887 lot stands out.  ( The only set I've seen is in the Ashmolean museum in Oxford ).  When I read the title Granddad's collection I cringed.  I half expected a lot of c**p from those "" mints "" that prey on old people with over priced tat. Thankfully this is a big boys collection. Very nice. 

[sellerstacker]

6 hours ago, Britannia47 said:

As above, top left caught my eye!  Looks like it’s a made up set, not original box. 
Taken a screen shot with a bit of editing for others to view. As is, could be worth a few £££…

Got many of these sets, but not the gold. Well done!

 

There would be some serious takers on the forum for stuff like that. Well done and a really nice collection may I add?

[kimchi]

5 hours ago, JamesH said:

This is great to read. Surely, this is what it’s all about. Another generation discovering a grandparents collection and enjoying learning all about it. Hopefully doing well out of it as well but nice to read stories like this that aren’t just about accumulation of wealth 👍🏼

Absolutely! A story like this is priceless (and unless desperate for funds may I suggest this inheritance is too?)!

Someone joining up to properly catalogue and research their dear late grandfather's beautiful collection (giving it a second appreciative run through the family)?

Brilliant!

 

[EvilLandlord]

Thank you everyone! That's very kind! Knowing my grandad he would have haggled hard for them all as well..

He once told me a story of when he went out with his dad to buy some bathroom furniture for a warehouse they were moving into and his dad kept "arguing" with the guy that was selling it. It made him feel really awkward and afterwards he asked him why he didn't just buy it. 

His dad said, "Alan.. I was there for 15 minutes and managed to knock off £X (1930's prices and I can't remember the figure, he told me it was the equivalent of about £100 today..) from his asking price.. Think about it.. If you times that by 4 that's over an hour. If you can go out and earn that in an hour you'd be a happy man, and that's what we just did.."

He always used to come into my office (family business) and ask how the "buying" was going.. Reminding me that buying right is as good as making money in the first place.

Edited April 22 by EvilLandlord

[Stuntman]

As others have already said, the vast majority of the value resides in the 1887 set.  You have gold quintuple, double, full and half sovereigns there, in high grades.  Assuming the coins are genuine (the 1887 £5 and £2 are often faked, and perhaps these two coins in particular might be worth sending off for Third Party Grading if you are considering selling) - these would perhaps fetch around £6k on their own.

Personally I would keep them exactly as they are and just enjoy the thrill of ownership.  Only sell them if you really need the money would be my advice.

[Stuntman]

The rest of it is a nice, interesting collection (1950 and 1951 proof sets, 1887 silver, maundy coins etc) although nothing there is of particularly high value.  Definitely worth keeping if you find them fascinating.  I'd certainly enjoy owning them.

[Stuntman]

6 hours ago, westminstrel said:

£60 for that set hehehheheh. Your granddad left you something amazing for sure. 

It appears that the 1971 receipt is just for the £2 coin, rather than the full set.  Even so, £60 for 0.47 troy oz of numismatic gold seems like a steal in today's money!

[EvilLandlord]

12 minutes ago, Stuntman said:

As others have already said, the vast majority of the value resides in the 1887 set.  You have gold quintuple, double, full and half sovereigns there, in high grades.  Assuming the coins are genuine (the 1887 £5 and £2 are often faked, and perhaps these two coins in particular might be worth sending off for Third Party Grading if you are considering selling) - these would perhaps fetch around £6k on their own.

Personally I would keep them exactly as they are and just enjoy the thrill of ownership.  Only sell them if you really need the money would be my advice.

The envelope and receipt posted above from the dealer makes me think he may have got hold of this without the £2 in it and bought the uncirculated condition coin to complete the set and kept the receipt to show that.. Possibly anyway.. Once I get the whole collection researched (There's quite a lot of it all) and sorted out the wheat from the chaff so to speak then I'll ask advice on here about how to go about an appraisal if that's okay? I don't intend to sell any of these really interesting items but he has a lot of duplicated of the others so I may look to use the sale of those to stack and possibly add other interesting sets or coins to the collection.

I'll put a link here when I start the thread on the silver forum about the other coins in here as there are some right oddballs I've already come across that I may need help with, as well as the usual dozen or so of each of the Churchills and coronation crowns that I understand are pretty common.

Edited April 22 by EvilLandlord

[CoinCupboard]

Lovely collection your grandad left you. 🙂

[Stuntman]

1 minute ago, EvilLandlord said:

The envelope and receipt posted above from the dealer makes me think he may have got hold of this without the £2 in it and bought the uncirculated condition coin to complete the set and kept the receipt to show that.. Possibly anyway.. Once I get the whole collection researched (There's quite a lot of it all) and sorted out the wheat from the chaff so to speak then I'll ask advice on here about how to go about an appraisal if that's okay? 

I'll put a link here when I start the thread on the silver forum about the other coins in here as there are some right oddballs I've already come across that I may need help with, as well as the usual dozen or so of each of the Churchills and coronation crowns that I understand are pretty common.

I agree with your hypothesis 🙂

Regarding the other coins - especially if there are other particular halfcrowns in the collection - have a look at these two sites, they will give you a good idea of values of particular UK predecimal coins, by denomination and year:

https://www.allcoinvalues.com/united-kingdom/uk-coin-values---1801-to-1967.html

https://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/values/

And you're quite right about the (lack of) value in the Churchill/Coronation crowns.  Keep one of each, give the rest away!

[EvilLandlord]

4 minutes ago, Stuntman said:

I agree with your hypothesis 🙂

Regarding the other coins - especially if there are other particular halfcrowns in the collection - have a look at these two sites, they will give you a good idea of values of particular UK predecimal coins, by denomination and year:

https://www.allcoinvalues.com/united-kingdom/uk-coin-values---1801-to-1967.html

https://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/values/

And you're quite right about the (lack of) value in the Churchill/Coronation crowns.  Keep one of each, give the rest away!

Fantastic thank you. I'm going down a right rabbit hole here aren't I? Seems like I may be a chip off the old block!

There seem to be an awful lot of half crowns.. and all sorts of smaller silver.

 

Edited April 22 by EvilLandlord

[Stuntman]

8 hours ago, ZRPMs said:

Instantly draws to the top left. Nice long set of 1887 Jubilee i think. Looks like you have an extra half sovereign instead of the sixpence. Pictures are quite grainy so I could be wrong. Nice collection though.

P.S. Welcome to the forum

@EvilLandlord This is worth confirming - the coin in the bottom left of the 1887 set, is this a gold coin (half sov) or a silver coin (sixpence).  If gold, worth at least £250.  If silver, £20-30 perhaps!