Piling British Pre 1947 Silver Coins! When I was a boy prior…

19 thoughts on “Piling British Pre 1947 Silver Coins! When I was a boy prior…”

1. I am a dedicated stacker of pre 1947 “real” coinage. I fully agree that owning plenty of 1920s, 30s and WW2 coinage is an awesome way of owning a bit of history. During the second world war, the royal mint melted down vaste quantities of pre 1920 sterling silver coinage and restruck it as 50% coinage. Wartime demanded recycling! Wartime production was massive as well, due to demand for hard cash. 20 million Half Crowns were struck a year on average during the war, including 1946. Then the royal mint more or less secretly went bankrupt: complete debasement was rather abrupt in 1947. Loads of Wartime issue coinage in very fine condition can be bought for spot price. The beautiful coins are basically a bonus. Modern bullion coins are overpriced and overrated.

   1. Where do you buy for spot price

2. I personally love to collect these types of coins simply because of the history behind them. I also like to photograph them, so the more signs of wear they have, the better! Makes the photos more interesting in my opinion. I’m showing my ignorance here, but what is ‘stacking’? I’m new to the hobby!

   1. Stacking is the process of hoarding precious metals as an investment for the future, rather than putting your money in a bank. You might buy silver bars, bullion coins, or large quantities of half silver pre 1947 circulated Half Crowns and store them away for sale in later years. The idea is that the price of Silver will go up with time and your investment will increase in value. Buying gold as bullion, such as spot price Sovereigns, is normally done as a short to medium term investment. Silver is a long time investment. Whats great about stacking, is that you physically own the precious metals yourself.

3. As someone so interested in History, and as a stacker and coin collector, I have amassed 3 canvas bank bags full of pre 1947 circulated Half Crowns, Florins and one shilling peices. Most date from WW2 and the 1930s, with a bit of 1920s. Its possible to buy this style of historical constitutional silver for spot price. I have a lot of very good condition coins in this stack, bought for spot price, and its awesome to rummage through them and think about their stories if they could tell you. Its far better value than overpriced, shiny, modern silver bullion coins.

4. I can see these getting back into circulation in the “informal” economy (system D). They are more durable for everyday use than the “fine silver” (99,9% Ag) Britannias, which are soft and pure and need protective casings.

   1. I agree, I stack 50% silver for that reason, I see them as barter for less priced everyday Items, (for when our (US) currency collapses), compared to 90% US junk or bullion fine silver which are for larger barter items like tobacco, or liquor or even land, but for everyday items I see silver real coinage taking off. plus in a hyperinflated world; bullion will be to high for low barter items, I see silver going to $3,000 p/oz, so a 1oz silver round is not a good trade for a loaf of bread, where as a British 3pence will make more sense at 0.02275 troy oz of silver, it will still have a high value of $68, and even that is to much, so I believe that copper will reign supreme amongst the people once again, like it did back in Victorian England, where a loaf of bread cost 1 Penny which is 17 grams of copper(95%), which today has a purchasing power of $0.66 cents, but in a hyperinflated world it can have a purchasing power of $18.00, thats a copper to silver ration of 100:1 or $1.06 p/gram, so a farting or a copper US cent will make more sense, some people may say well you can clip a shilling into 4 pieces or bits, like they did in the 17th and 18th century, a shilling has 0.0909 troy oz of silver in it, so cutting it into 4 pieces will give you in essence a 3pence in weight so you will have to cut it into 8bits which is 0.01136 troy oz at a hyperinflated currency world of $3,000 p/oz silver thats $34 dollars, so copper is a better choice for lower cost goods. Like they say gold is for kings, silver is for gentlemens and copper is peasants, copper will be the money of the people in a hyperinflated world. Sorry for a lengthy comment.

5. When Iwas a child I was taken to another country by my mum (her homeland) while I was there I found it difficult. The one thing I loved doing was looking at the old coins she had most were heavily worn away but if my memories are right they dated from late 1800’s (all copper).
   Fast forward … They were stolen from me. I adored them coins, Sh!t happens.

   1. I do love old copper coins, I have a few, mostly Victorian pennies and half pennies, I like them better then america pennies and Im american, just something about large foreign copper coins, really put the feeling of history in your hand. Have you ever started collecting coins like the ones from your childhood?

6. I think I’ve got a few of these saved away since I was a kid (inherited someone’s piggy bank & the coin collecting started from there) … wished I looked into this earlier.. have been hoarding the copper pennies in my change

7. can you show a ping test of the pre 1947 british 0.500 silver coins please? cant find one on youtube many thanks

8. Thanks for sharing your helpful information, I shall have to look at the shillings, two shilling and half crown coins that I have. Keep up the good work 🙂

9. I love collecting “foreign” silver. I love the history behind them plus it’s something different than what everyone else has. I’m in the U.S.

10. Am I hearing this word correctly: “copper” ?

11. Do u mind telling us the content of silver in the half crown ??

12. I’m still trying to find half decent condition 1887 1888 double florin.. love historic coins but can’t have to many, for me anything after 1920 is to much bulk..2 years to late, my bad……….

13. 1919 was still full silver

14. May be only 50% silver, but they are wonderful. Each coin is a piece of History and the period between the wars with all it`s changes is a very rich one. Lovely coins!

15. So what is last year of produce of silver coins for circulayion in UK? 1946 or 1947?

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