Every now and then there’s a coin with a story that’s so remarkable I end up telling everyone – the wife, friends, colleagues, even the cat if she listens… The Peace Dollar from 1926 is such a coin. It’s a coin that shouldn’t really exist. Click on the points below to find out why… If […]
Undefeated in battle, Alexander the Great is one of history’s most successful military leaders. By the age of 30 he had built an empire stretching from Greece to north-west India. His coinage was key to the expansion of his empire and the design of the Silver Drachm holds fascinating reflections of his mythological beliefs and claims. […]
The record price paid for a British coin has just been broken with the sale of a rare Gold £5 in Texas. The £5 coin was never officially issued, being one of just 3 prototypes known to exist. It carried the year “1937”, which is the key to this coin’s attraction and record price. Edward […]
One of a coin expert’s most important traits is the ability to notice small details that can make a big difference to a coin’s collectability and value. You get the chance to test your skills today by looking at the same coin issued in consecutive years, but other than the year changing, what makes one […]
A Sovereign will be going under the hammer tomorrow that requires the bidder to pay £20,000 just to have the chance of owning it. It’s over 500 years old, is one of the earliest gold Sovereigns a collector could ever hope to own and it’s one of just three in the world that are not […]
“When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.” Undefeated in battle, Alexander the Great is one of history’s most successful military leaders. Succeeding his father as king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon at the tender age of 20, by the time he had […]
The Sovereign is one of the most storied coins in the world, including coins that shouldn’t exist, some that offended Kings and Queens and even one that contained a poisonous substance… But have you heard about the one that spent over 100 years on the seabed? The Shipwreck Sovereign In Victorian times, the Sovereign was […]
With the 50th anniversary of Decimal Day fast approaching, it has brought a lot of the pre-decimal coins back into the spotlight. When Britain went decimal on 15 February 1971, coins like the florin, shilling and half-crown became obsolete, but one coin endured into the next decade… The Sixpence. Worth 2.5p, it remained in circulation […]
The famous 1794 Flowing Hair Silver Dollar is widely acknowledged as being the first ever silver dollar coin. An example has just sold at auction for over $1m – one million times the coin’s face value. How does a coin with a scrap value of just $12 for its silver content become for millionaires only? […]
Every coin’s design tells a story, but sometimes if you look a little closer, you’ll see an additional feature in the form of a “mark”. But what are mint marks and privy marks? And what do they tell us about a coin? What’s in a mark? Marking a coin is not a new phenomenon. It […]