One of the first things a collector learns is that condition is king. However, “condition” is not a single, static standard. The way we judge a machine-made milled Crown…
No collection of English coins is complete without “The First Lizzie”—Elizabeth I. This tiny hammered silver coin represents the day-to-day currency of the Elizabethan age. While the rich…
We have traveled from the modern milled coins of the 20th century, past the hammered copper of Charles II, all the way back to the Early Medieval period. This coin…
To round off this session, I am posting one of the most historically significant pieces in my collection. It represents the “Year of Three Kings,” the Abdication Crisis,…
Following the bronze 5-cent piece, I am adding a higher denomination from the same region: the 50 Cents (or Half Shilling) of British East Africa. While the previous coin featured…
Continuing the tour of the Heaton Mint’s global output, my collection lands in British East Africa (a currency union that covered modern-day Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika). This coin is a…
My collection returns to the output of the Heaton Mint, but this time we are looking at a coin born during the chaos of the First World War….
To finish this update, I am posting something that technically shouldn’t exist. In numismatics, we differentiate between “Modern Fakes” (made recently to fool collectors) and “Contemporary Counterfeits” (made at the…
Having explored the “White Rajah” territory of Sarawak, my collection now moves slightly north to its neighbour: British North Borneo (modern-day Sabah). While Sarawak was ruled by the Brooke family,…
Every collection needs a curiosity—something that makes you look twice. At first glance, this looks like a standard penny of Edward VII. But if you flip it over,…
Following on from the previous post about Rajah Charles Brooke, we move forward in time to the reign of his son, Charles Vyner Brooke. He ruled from 1917 to 1946,…
My collection now takes a journey to the island of Borneo, though the roots of this coin remain firmly planted in Birmingham. This piece belongs to the fascinating…
Not everything that glitters is gold, and not everything in a coin collection is legal tender. As I expand my “Type Set,” I am making room for Tokens—unofficial pieces…