Sterling Collection of British Coins

Set Description
A collection of high quality pre-decimal British coins of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Set Goals
This is a collection of Great Britain pre-decimal coins of the 19th and 20th centuries. The intent is not to create complete date or type sets, but rather to focus on high quality individual coins across the broad spectrum of British numismatics. This is particularly challenging because high end British coins are very scarce - even among the most common dates and series. Lower grade mint state coins up to MS-64 are fairly easy to find, even 65's in some cases are fairly common. But true gems are scarce pretty much across the board. Just try putting together a type set of George VI coins, business strikes in MS-66 or better. You might expect that since these are generally inexpensive coins, even in top grades, that they would be fairly easy to acquire. And they are up to about MS-64. But try finding MS-65 and better coins! They are almost non-existent compared to U.S. coins of the same era which can be routinely found in MSS-66 and better grades. Copper and bronze coins displaying full red mint luster are particularly difficult to locate, even among the more common 20th century issues. Coins without toning, fingerprints, or spots are truly rare and often command significant premiums. I have spent the better part of twenty years in pursuit of this goal. This collection is the result.