Modern Day Numismatics by Dr Adrian Kiermasz

The Market

According to Mhojhos (ref1) the annual numismatics market is quoted at $17.59 billion in annual revenues. I initially was shocked at it being this large, but the report goes on to state there are 615million coin collectors in the world with 140million in the US, so when you consider the number of collectors maybe the market size is not that surprising, perhaps even an underestimate. The report can be downloaded for a few pounds for anybody who is interested. Market Insight Solutions (ref2) claims this will increase by a 10.2% CAGR.

Becauseofthe internet and socialmedia, itiseasierthan ever to download information on almost anything. Who is selling what and how much for is just a few keystrokes away at any time of the day or night. This is so different from just 30 years ago where all research had to be done in libraries, accumulating expensivelimited-edition booksand/orjoining a numismatic club. Identification tickets which show provenance were handwritten and it is not unusual to find them 100 years or more old. In the days before the internet readily finding out about value, grading, mints and die variations was not like it is today. As an example, between 1860 and 1863 there are nearly 40 different Victoria penny die pairings created from some twenty obverse and reverse die types. This wasn’t the sort of thing you could find out by asking somebody or reading the local paper, or even probably going to the local library. Added to this complexity were recently discovered variations entering the equation. Identifying the rarest penny can mean a difference of many hundreds of pounds. Coin collecting today meets this very dynamic situation head-on with social media and the market is responding with coins being collected as an investment.

What To Collect

Without wishing to state the obvious, there are many types of coins all over the world and therefore almost unlimited options on what to collect. For example, I know collectors who gather foreign change from overseas travel, collect Saxon coins with York mints, Aethelred pennies & modern 50p bits. Others I know only buy coins from hoards and Roman Denarius. The motivation can vary from just simply loving the texture, tactile nature, and history to saving as an investment hoping to sell for more later. There is a plethora of variations, and each person has their own preference and reason why they started. In my case, I started with predecimal British pennies 1797-1970 because my late dad used to collect them when I was an infant. He would collect them just by date from pocket change. Back then it wasn’t unusual to have Victorian, or even earlier coins in your change (makes me feel old …). He wouldn’t worry about what an H or K type meant, he just liked looking at the detail & differences and talk to me about them. Nonetheless he got a lot of enjoyment out of collecting them and one day hoping to find the well-publicised elusive 1933 … and that is what it is all about, enjoyment, fun and just maybe that elusive 1933 equivalent, depending on what you might collect.

Towards the end of my working career, I decided to collect British pennies. There were a few reasons why I chose pennies. Two of them were nostalgia and cost, but a close third was that British pennies are typically not counterfeited which should be a reassuring point for the beginner. Collecting pennies is a very low-cost way of getting into numismatics as they can be found in almost any antique or bric-a-bracshop. Formejustcollecting dateswasnotenough and I would photograph and catalogue each Penny I bought, highlighting which variants they were.

Georgevi Reversea

After I had a few in my collection and decided I wanted to continue, I upgraded pennies as I went and when I came across a reasonable priced one. All the photographs shown in this article were taken with my iPhone and editing done with a free download App called Photoscape X, mainly to remove the background.

To give an example of the sort of variations available with pre-decimal pennies, I have picked a George VI 1937 penny as an example (Figure 1,2,3,4). It’s not particularly scarce or even massively expensive to purchase in an uncirculated state. You can find them on the internet for between £10.00£25.00 depending on the configuration. The point is this almost common penny has several variations which a collector of such coins would want to understand and add to their collection.

I would always create a small spreadsheet of all the possible variations, ticking the line off when I had the coin in question. By doing the research I would fully understand which pennies were available for collecting and therefore understand what I needed to look for. I also now had a quick way of knowing what I had already collected. For me producing these slides and doing the research was part of the fun. In my career I had trained as a physicist and was used to carrying out research and both documenting & writing technical papers for whatever topic on which I was working. This in-built methodology naturally spilled over into coin collecting. When I travelled in my job, if time allowed in the evening, Iwould spend itsearching forthatspecificvariation or an improved grade.

To be fair this was usually in the hotel bar with a pint of beer in one hand and my iPad in the other … Most collectable coins can be bought on auction sites, but there are other optionsavailable. Iwouldgo intosecondhandshops, antique shops, local markets, car boot sales asking if they had any coins. I would do this in the UK and even markets when I have been working abroad. It is quite surprising what you might find.

A great specialist book to help with understanding British pennies & Half-pennies from 1860 to 1970 is by Michael J Freeman (ref3).

I liked to research and understand different die types using all the modern-day search techniques available. I should say here that you don’t necessarily have to collect pristine uncirculated pennies as shown in the pictures. Circulated pennies show exactly the same variations and cost a lot less!

At some point I started metal detecting and soon medieval hammered coins began to surface along with Roman coins. Initially I put them in boxes and didn’t pay them much attention. Far too interested in British pennies I guess; but one day I took all the coins out and started to identify them. Igothooked!Thiswasfarmorecomplexandinteresting than British pennies and I decided to start looking deeper initially into hammered coins.

I had collected almost all the variations of British pennies realistically available anyway, so this new opportunity offered another challenge.

Collecting medieval hammered coins taught me that collecting isn’tjustaboutobtaining coinswithdifferentdates and variations. There is a massive amount of history surroundingeach hammered coinandit’sagreatway to learn about history. As I started to identify the King or Queen associated with a hammered coin, I would learn when they reigned, how long for, which famous battles were they involved in, who bumped off who to become monarch and how all this featured in the landscape of the current monarchy. This is very different from pennies spanning 1797-1970.

Medieval hammered coins simply ooze interesting features, but sometimes it can be difficult to identify and read the legends. Before going onto books, we are fortunate as metal detectorists to be surrounded by experienced knowledgeable people who have a wealth of knowledge. Don’t be afraid to ask and get advice. While I have definitely improved, I am bynomeansanexpert. However,givemeacoin and theright books and eventually … hey presto! To those of you who are beginners, after identifying enough coins and getting enough expert advice it really does start to get easier.

A plus with medieval hammered coins is they usually are precious metals, so they can be in reasonable condition when they come out of the ground. Unlike their bronze or copper counterparts. The caveat is if they have been hit by a plough or clipped to death. There are lots of articles and books available to identify medieval hammered coins.

The ones I use (in order of which to go to first) are:

• Spink - Coins of England and The United Kingdom

• J. J. North – English Hammered Coinage Vol I & II

Both book types can be found for sale on internet web sites. Spink is especially useful as an initial step because the coin photographs are actual size so if your coin doesn’t fit the picture, it’s not that coin! If you want more detailed identification, then North is the next visit, but it can be more difficult to use until you are used to it. My Spink book is dated 2021. The previous edition I owned was 2018 and I ‘recycled’ it to a fellow detectorist. As they are in the £40 region buying one each year is expensive. However, currently on a well-known internet site a 2023 version (predecimal & decimal) is £50, and a 2021 pre-decimal Version is £13. No doubt this will change before the reader investigates prices. As we are dealing with coins which are typically many hundred years old the 2021 version will certainly suffice and older versions as well. The values quoted will not be up-to-date and some of the pictures might have changed, but it’s not worth another £40 in my opinion and the relative values between coin variations will be close. The internet is always available to find an up-to-date sales price. The same goes for North. I am using a 1975 edition. There are later editions, but they are very expensive.

If you want to collect world coins, then the following picture might help. These books (Figure 5) are published each year and are 7cm thick! Every coin post-1600 you ever hope to own is in this collection, but each book is priced at £60 or so. However, by looking on the internet you can find much older editions for a lot less. I think the most I paid for one of these was £13 for a 2013 edition. They also issue them for banknotes as you can see.

ForRomancoins, thereareagain specialistbooks. TheDavid R Sear five volume collection of books, published by Spink willretail atabout£250 ifyoupurchasethem alltogetherand there are over 20,000 coins documented. They are fantastic, but again expensive. Spink - Coins of England, mentioned above has a small Roman coin section; but Roman Silver coins by H. A. Seaby can be accessed and downloaded via an internet archive (ref4) and ERIC (The Encyclopedia of Roman Imperial Coins) can be downloaded for free (ref5).

There are also a host of places on the internet to use as identification aids. A few of the sites I really like are as follows: For Hammered coins, I particularly like PS Detecting (ref6) which lists what legend to expect on various coin denominations and also provides very useful translations of hammered coin legends from farthings to shillings. There is a similar website from PS Detecting for later Milled coins. The United Kingdom Detector Finds Database (ref7) has an amazing section on identifying Edwardian hammered pennies, while UKdetectornet has a great article that focuses on identifying Henry III pennies. UKdetectornet is also a great resource to post pictures of unidentified finds, and usually several members will provide opinions. When it comes to Roman coins, understanding various inscriptions can be difficult at the beginning. The website forumancientcoins.com offers a wealth of knowledge and particularly the section on coin legends (ref 9). If you think you have identified the coin but want to see comparative coins, then the PAS database (ref10) is again an excellent source of information

Cataloguing

As you have probably guessed from my British penny templates shown previously, I am almost obsessive about organising things. With the use of computers, internet, spreadsheets and mobile phones with cameras, it is very easy to record your collection. I personally think a record is essential. It could be a list on apiece of paper and some hardcopy photographs but if you have a rudimentary familiarity with computers then I think using a spreadsheet (Figure 6) is the way to go. It can be backed up and easily changed/added to. I use Microsoft excel as this is what I haveused for years, and I am very familiar with it. There are other spreadsheets such as Numbers (Apple) etc which are also capable ofdoing the job. The columns need to be carefully chosen to suit your requirements. Below are the headings of the spreadsheet I use. It is obviously divided in two to fit on this portrait style page. Notice I have given this coin and all the coins in my collection acataloguenumber.Formethisnumberstayswith the coin, even when I might sell it. That way I have a permanent record. When I found or bought it and what I got for it when I sold it along with a lot of identification data. I use my phone to take a photo of the coin and store that on my computer

When it comes to the coin photos, Idocument the pictures on my computer for Obverse and Reverse as follows, showing the moneyer and the mint.

021 s1344 HENRY II (WILLELM, LONDON) Penny OBV [or REV].png

023s1351 JOHN(WILLELMT,LONDON)PennyOBV[or REV].png

I use free ‘Photoscape X’ to remove the background, so I have a clear picture of just the coin’s Obverse and Reverse. The number at the beginning is my catalogue number for the particular coin and the Spink & North numbers also recorded. I don’t always get it right, but this is the beauty of software… correctionsareeasy!TheMoneyerand Mintsare recorded within the brackets and Obverse/Reverse following. I have a very similar format for Roman coins.

The other thing I sometimes do where it is difficult to read the legend, is to show the detail of the legend by drawing. It is surprising how much detail becomes obvious when you have to define a letter or a ligated series of letters and have to commit a line to a page. If you feel it’s wrong, you can erase it and start again.

Making a drawing like this might look difficult, but it is very easy with a few tricks. Firstly, you need to import the photo of the coin into PowerPoint. Go to the transparency tab in the picture menu and increase it until the image is ghost-like.

Using a drawing App such as ‘Paper’ which is free to download, you can import the picture and your tablet can now be used as a drawing pad and the features of the coin you want to be more visible can be traced by using the ghostlike image as a template. (Figure 7 and 8)

This results in a ‘sketch’ of the coin. This can be exported back to your computer. It might be that the drawing can be done on some of the new Windows computers, but I use Apple Mac. Where this technique starts to become really useful is for silver coins which are really black due to a lot of sulphurisation and worn in areas. The ghost-template can beexpanded, and contrastchanged to revealfeaturesdifficult to see. It takes time, which not many people have these days, but the results can be worth it.

Grading

Grading is one of the most difficult things to gauge and one of the key things to influence coin value. Here is my simple guide which I use (Figure 9). However, I will never guarantee my assessment, it is just a guide. Because grading is merely a judgement there is a lot of room for error. In my opinion confident grading needs to be left to a respected expert (Baldwins, Hansons, London Coins, Noonans, etc) or transferred with the coin via a sales ticket. Because of the amount of judgement used when grading coins, an absolute standard does not exist. Several well-respected systems are used such as CGS, PCGS, NGC which use a point system for each part of each face of the coin (ref 11).

The points allocated to each part is again a judgement call, but as each part is given a numerical value there is at least some documentation.

There are other forms of damage which can occur to coins which should be part of the grading process. These should be mentioned by the seller if not obvious and would almost certainly affect the bidding price in an auction.

Bag Marks

Small scratches or knocks which are only considered in the grading of EF and UNC coins. But in excess they can be downgrade coins from UNC to EF or lower.

Cleaning

This can range from complete removal or patina with an aggressive technique to removing the sulphurisation on silver coins using a silver dip process. Please don’t …

Edge damage

A cartwheel penny is a good example of this, although clipping of hammered coins could well be included

Metal Defects

Small irregular circular surface features which are caused by air bubbles in the metal during the manufacturing process

Streaky toning can occur in Bronze coins due to an uneven mix Carbon Spots in high quality Copper and Bronze coins, but the cause is unknown

Non-Flat Coins

What happens when a coin is placed on a flat surface. Very common for those coins found metal detecting, however this can also be a function of proud features and non-uniform metal thickness on milled coins

Scratches & Graffiti

Notice in the table (Figure 10) above the headed column mentions ‘old’ scratches. This is not ideal but is acceptable for a very old Roman coin with a limited circulation and comes out in the grading process as the scratch has a similar patina. For a recent scratch which digs through the coin and exposes the underlying metal the value can be decimated.

Graffiti can be treated differently as the coin can become a love-token or even an historical reference. However, it does depend on the quality of the engraved feature and the circumstances.

Verdigris

Present on Copper Alloy coins, it can be treated. Should be declared at point of sale.

Weak Strike

Somecoinsaredowngradeddueto aflatspotoraweak strike when in fact the cause is due to poor manufacturing. Some Elizabeth 1st coins are notorious for this in the

Worn Die

More wear will appear on the face of the coin which is affected. This was part of the cause of why 40 different Victorian pennies were minted between 1860 and 1863. The poor dies eventually broke before Die wear was observed

Storing And Displaying

There are many ways to display your collection. The diagram here probably covers most of the options

A) Standard Album with clear pockets

B) Sealed cardboard coin pockets

C) CGS style plastic cases

D) Boxes with specialist coin compartments which exactly fit the coin or capsules in which the coin is placed

E) Stackable trays with varying size of compartments and shape of compartments. The coin can be placed in the compartments directly or put into a capsule

F) Capsules can be used in conjunction with other storage/display methods or on their own

There are a host of companies which provide coin storage solutions (Ref 12). But whatever method is used, the quality of the material used to store the coin needs to be fully checked. Poor quality storage or inappropriate materials might well lead to serious problems and harm to the coin. You usually can’t go far wrong with well-respected companies who specialise and supply storage solutions for the hobbyist including acid free materials, airtight containers/clear envelopes. Quality does cost more, but the difference would probably be less than that expensive coin you have stored, so I would avoid less expensive copies. Some good overviews on eco-friendly products are also available (Ref 13) and interesting information on available materials.

Counterfeit Coins

There are a lot out there! This is why it might be a good choice to choose something which is less expensive to buy and sell, but much less risky. Saxon coins are a major area of counterfeiting. Seethe Abramson book entitled Anglo Saxon Counterfeits (Ref 14) or Counterfeit Coins of Roman Britain by Ken Peters (Ref 15). There are a lot of counterfeit coins for sale on social media auction sites. Not all are forgeries of course but care must be taken. Ideally purchase from a reputable auction house such as Baldwins, Hansons, London Coins, Noonans, etc. Unfortunately, with such a purchase can come a hefty fee of 20-30% so be prepared. Not always, but sometimes coins come with prevenance tickets showing where they have been sold before. This is where the internet once again can be a major help. If you find a coin for sale on an auction site that has a poor reputation, then search a reputable sales site for that exact coin (past ot present). Check the sales prices, average diameter, weight (3 significant figures) and compare it to the example for sale. Check the legend and lettering style and compare. You can even take a ghost image as mentioned above and superimpose it to see how the features align. There is a lot of judgement here, but if after carrying out due diligence you are still not sure then there is an old adage should always be remembered ‘if the deal is too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true’. Walk away.

Cleaning

I have dabbled with cleaning, non-expensive coins where the results don’t really matter. Just to see the effects. But if you have nice coins whether expensive or not, I advise not to clean them. Very often the results are not what you would have intended and it is obvious the coins have been cleaned

References

Ref 1 The annual numismatics market https://mhojhosresearch.com/2020/05/06/coin-collectingmarket-analysis-global-and-europe/

Ref 2 Market Insight Solutions https://www.marketinsightsolutions.com/report/global-coincollecting-market-size/

Ref 3 The Bronze Coinage of Great Britain (1860-1970) Rotographic

Ref 4 Seaby Roman Silver Coins https://archive.org/details/h.-a.-seaby-roman-silver-coins-2tiberius-to-commodus/H.%20A.%20Seaby%20%20Roman%20Silver%20Coins%20%281%29%20The%2 0Republic%20to%20Augustus/

Ref 5 Encyclopedia of Roman Imperial Coins http://www.dirtyoldbooks.com/eric.html

Ref 6 PS Detecting http://www.psdetecting.com/Inscriptions.html

Ref 7 PS The United Kingdom Detector Finds Database https://www.ukdfd.co.uk/pages/edwardianPennies/Edwardian%20Pennies%20P1.htm

Ref 8 Identifying Henry III pennies http://www.ukdetectornet.co.uk/H3%20Booklet%20%20RP%20Jan%2027th%202018.pdf

Ref 9 Roman Coin Inscriptions https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?k ey=Roman%20Coin%20Legends%20and%20Inscriptions

Ref 10 PAS database https://finds.org.uk/database

Ref 11 Coin Grading https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/coin-grading-uk-cgs-pcgsngc-uk-and-us/79

Ref 12 Storage https://prinzuk.co.uk

Ref 13 Storage issues https://www.preservationequipment.com/Blog/BlogPosts/How-to-store-coins-full-guide

Ref 14 Counterfeits

Anglo-Saxon Counterfeits by Tony Abramson ISBN 978-09569433-0-9

Ref 15 Counterfeits

Counterfeit Coins of Roman Britain by Ken Peters

ISBN: 9780954348748

Our club was founded in 1977 by a group of like-minded detectorists, amazingly we still have one member who attended that first meeting. We meet once a month at a local rugby club to share information, help identify, and show finds and vote for both coin and artefact of the month. We also have digs on club land about once a month or when the ground is available.

As a club we have we have been detecting on the Isle of Wight forthe last 23 years. We have an annuallong weekend trip which are always successful with one of the better finds being a hoard of bronze age axe heads, which after going through the PAS process, were donated to Newport Museum (IOW) for display.

Over the many years we have established good relationships with many landowners on the island. The pictures (Figures 1 and 2) show that the club will detect and fossil hunt in any area in any conditions, are they mad?

Since the early days, the club has evolved somewhat into a club with more diverse interests but still with detecting at its heart. Occasionally whilst on Isle of Wight we may go fossil hunting on the beaches for a change. The pictures (Figure 3) show a fossil of a limb bone of a juvenile Iguanodon which was found on Brook Beach

The club also organises day outings, such as mud larking on the river Thames foreshore (eyes only). The picture (Figure 4) shows a large, enamelled cast iron emblem for London County Council found on the bank in central London. Makes you wonder how did something like it find its way into the river in the first place.

In addition, we visit cities with interesting museums in our locality, so far visiting London, Oxford, Cambridge and lately Leicester where the Richard 3rd exhibition centre was well worth the visit. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get into the cathedral to visit the tomb as it is closed until next autumn for major refurbishment. The picture (Figure 5) shows the trench where his body was found as the centre was constructed over part of the carpark.

For the members who like to eat (don’t we all) we occasionally get together for an evening meal in a local restaurant.

Finally, as a club, we joined AMDS when it first started and sit in with the Western Region ARMD (how that happened we don’t really know as Northampton is hardly in the west), However it is an active region, and we are content to be part of it.

We are open to new AMDS members from our local area who share the same interests as ourselves and would like to join a club. Contact the club secretary, Derek Clarke (dmcchester@hotmail.com) for further information.

The Western Region ARMD (Affiliated Regions for Metal Detecting) covers a large area of England and Wales, and clubs and individuals wherever based are always welcome to apply to join. It is a democratically run region, overseen by an elected committee of volunteers and there are regular regional meetings throughout the year.

Thankyou tothemanymembersthathavedecided tosupport theAssociation forMetalDetecting Sportfor2024and2025.

The membership cards for these years will be posted out to members in the preceding December ahead of each New Year. Do check out the AMDS merchandise available to our members with full details on our web site.

This the link: Merchandise | AMDS