R. Ingram Coins Located at
206 Honeysuckle Road, Southampton, Hampshire, https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/R.Ingram+coins/@50.939045,-1.385804,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x9aab6e3ea5b9202e?hl=en.
R Ingram Coins Phone: 02380 324258

R. Ingram Coins,
2 Avonborne Way,
Chandler's Ford,
Eastleigh,
SO53 1TF
ENGLAND

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R. Ingram Coins News

A BOOMING coin market!

Posted by: R. Ingram Coins on November 5th 2021

The coin market is extremely buoyant. We are acutely aware of this as day after day we have people e-mailing, phoning, and writing to us in record numbers. It’s not just us, we speak to other dealers regularly and everyone says the same thing. In a nutshell we are selling out of stock and it’s impossible to get new stock in. Recently we have been supplying dealers on a daily basis; this has never happened before.

https://www.ringramcoins.com/

And if you want further proof of just how “hot” the market is I can give you some recent hammer prices of major auctions here in the UK. Bear in mind these are HAMMER PRICES. The buyer will be paying 24-28% extra on top of these prices.
Undated Maundy set slabbed AUNC £1450
1829 Maundy set slabbed UNC £925
4d 1840 Slabbed UNC £220
11/2d 1836 Slabbed UNC £230

Now it is true that some of these slabs had high numbers and you might put the high prices down to that. If so, feast your eyes on these entirely unslabbed hammered prices. Remember to these prices the buyer paid around an extra 25%!

https://www.ringramcoins.com/.../ringram-coins-catalogue.pdf

Shilling 1827 GVF hairlines £260
Shilling 1829 About EF cleaned £380
Sixpence 1836 About EF £420
Crown 1847 Gothic About VF £1700
Crown 1893LVI GEF £420
Florin 1854 Fine £1000
Florin 1862 VF Cleaned + marks £850
Florin 1866 About EF cleaned + marks £320
Florin 1877 AEF £220

These are just a few examples, and they are really quite staggering figures. As any economist will tell you, what goes up, must come down, and the boom time for coins will not last forever, but right now prices are higher in both real and relative terms than at any time since the 1970’s.

Covid 19 . An update

Posted by: R. Ingram Coins on May 15th 2020

We hope you are all well and staying safe, in these very trying times. We do appreciate all the messages we have had. Please be assured that R. Ingram coins is continuing as normal. We are here and available to be contacted Mondays to Fridays, from around 9-5.

https://www.ringramcoins.com/media/pdf/ringram-coins-catalogue.pdf

We are processing orders in the normal way and you can buy coins online, or over the telephone. Post wise there have been some delays, but post is coming in. At the moment we are collecting our mail twice a week from the sorting office, so please do allow allow a couple of extra days whether you have sent something to us or are awaiting a package from us.

Thank you very much to those who have continued supporting us throughout the Covid crisis. Should anything change, we will of course tell you. In the meantime it is very much business as usual.

Spink 2020

Posted by: R. Ingram Coins on January 14th 2020

A few days ago we purchased the new Spink. People who follow us on Facebook will know that we take a very keen interest in what Spink say, because however wrong they might be 90% of collectors believe what they say and we have to deal with the consequences of that. Over the next few weeks, I will look through it with a fine tooth comb, to see exactly what they have changed, and how their prices have gone up or down. I have however had time to have a brief look and will make the following observations:

1) There are a lot more pages in both books. The regular has grown from 546 pages to 602; the Decimal has grown from 256 to 272.

2) The Milled grades and values are now done as a single column, rather than as two previously. This looks pretty shocking initially as I am just not used to it. The result however is to make the pages look less cluttered and it seems to me a good thing

3) For the first time you can buy the Decimal book on its own, you no longer need to purchase both. Price wise most retailers are charging about £30 for the main book and £10 for the Decimal book.

4) I have only had a very brief look at the prices, but what I have seen is prices edging downwards rather than up, although the introduction says overall prices have remained stable throughout the year. For the first time in a long time Spink has actually priced Maundy sets post 2005, they have however seriously underpriced them! Just one example - they have the 2019 set listed at £400. You cannot get that set anywhere for less than £1000, so expect some irate collectors to be having a moan as the year progresses.

Our January 2020 catalogue has now been uploaded, do visit the site and see what wonderful goodies are on offer. https://www.ringramcoins.com/

Coins of Edward VIII

Posted by: R. Ingram Coins on November 29th 2019

We always get many queries about coins of Edward VIII. A number of copies, reproduction and fantasy pieces do exist, some better than others; all of them are sought after. Its not often that the real thing is up for sale. One such piece did come up a few weeks ago in Spink.

https://www.ringramcoins.com/

Then a very rare Edward VIII 1937 Pattern Penny sold for £111,000. Competed for via the internet and phone, the winning bid came from a British collector in the room at The Waterbird Collection of Choice Numismatic Rarities auction on September 24. The total price was £133,200 including buyer’s premium, more than double the £60,000 estimate.

The coin is rare as it was made as a trial, never released for circulation as a result of the king’s abdication in December 1936 to marry American socialite and divorcee Wallis Simpson, ending his 10-month reign.

A set of Edward VIII Pattern coins was added to the royal collection, but the remainder were stored in a safe of the deputy master of the Royal Mint and not rediscovered until his death in 1950. It was then that a second set of coins was created. Some were given to the British Museum and the Royal Mint and a few privately transacted with collectors. Edward, then the Duke of Windsor, also asked for a set of ‘his coins’ but his request was declined by the king.

Spinks Gregory Edmund said: “It goes without saying that Edward VIII coins do not appear at auction very often. Indeed the last time this particular coin appeared was in 1978, so the sale becomes an occasion in itself. It is no surprise, therefore, that collectors the world over have fought tooth and nail to obtain this example.”

The current world record for a British Penny is held by the 1933 Penny of Edward VIII’s father King George V, which last changed hands in New York in 2016 for around £150,000.

I am grateful for The Antique Trade Gazette for some of the above facts.

Our new list 140 is now online...

Posted by: R. Ingram Coins on September 17th 2019

Our Autumn 2019 coin list has now been uploaded to our website. It contains around 12,400 coins, many of which are brand new to this list. This includes a whole bunch of new Gold, large amounts of Silver, including a very extensive range of Half Crowns, Florins, and Shillings. We have a large collection of new Irish and Scottish coins, a stack of new Decimals, and for good measure a very impressive selection of Pennies.

R. Ingram Coins latest PDF

We get asked about Five Guineas a lot. These wonderful coins evoke an image of the UK, when it really did rule the waves. Below follows a brief history of these splendid coins. We have a number listed.

  

The 5 Guineas was a machine-struck currency coin produced from 1668–1753. It was a gold coin 37 millimetres in diameter and weighing around 42 grams. Although we know it as a 5 Guineas, during the 17th and 18th centuries it was usually known as a five-pound piece, as during the reign of Charles II a guinea was worth twenty shillings. Its value was fixed at twenty-one shillings by a Royal Proclamation in 1717.

The denomination shows the year of striking on the reverse; but also the edge inscription DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO REGNI — An ornament and a safeguard, in the year of the reign... — is followed by the regnal year of the monarch, in Latin words.

In the case of Charles II, the regnal year is calculated from the execution of Charles I, so 1668 is ANNO REGNI VICESIMO, the twentieth year of the reign. The edge inscription was put on the coin before the other two sides were struck — in the early years the blanks were cut out from a strip of gold which had been produced by horse power, then the blanks were sent to have the edge inscriptions impressed by a secret process devised by Pierre Blondeau, a former engineer from the Paris mint who jealously guarded his methods. The blanks were then returned to the mint to have the obverse and reverse struck in a hand-operated press. Samuel Pepys gives a long and detailed description of the rolling, cutting, and striking of the blanks in his diary entry for 19 May 1663.

Many of the coins produced up to 1699 have an elephant and castle beneath the monarch's head, indicating that the gold was provided by the Africa Company. Coins of 1703 (Queen Anne ANNO REGNI SECVNDO) have the word VIGO under the Queen's head, indicating that the gold was captured from Spanish galleons in the Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702. Very few of these coins exist. When they do come to auction they fetch anything up to £500,000.

Settling in at Avonborne Way

Posted by: R. Ingram Coins on August 30th 2019

We have been in our new premises now for seven weeks. So far it has gone better than we had feared. We have been receiving post, seeing people, posting out orders to people and buying coins. All good news.
People have found us easily, and we do like to see people so if you want to sell us your collection, want to see some of our stock in the flesh, or just want to have a chat then we would love to see you. Do bear in mind that we do not store coins on the premises though, so we always need notice if you want to see anything.
Our new posties are as great as our old posties, very reliable, and friendly. I know some of you are nervous about the postal service, but you don't need to be, in 22 years, we have had very very few problems. Its as safe as houses (in truth these days probably safer!) .
Remember the new telephone number 023 80275079. We do have a mobile now as well 07730 782810. Do call us.

We have moved - but things still mostly the same

Posted by: R. Ingram Coins on July 24th 2019

  

Well those of you who follow us on social media or are visitors to us, will know that for a LONG time now, we have been preparing to move. Not very far as the crow flies, but an hours journey by public transport from our old Honeysuckle Road address. I am, now a commuter, for the first time since 1977.
Our first day in the new premise was Friday July 12th. As I write these notes 12 days later, it seems like a long time ago, because so much has changed. There is a long way to go before we have everything as we want it, but the computers and printer work, our franking machine works and we are able to do our day to day activities, pretty much as we always have.
We are seeing lots of people at the new place, and we'd love to see you. If you have something to sell, or would like to look at some of our stock it can be arranged; do bear in mind though we need notice to actually arrange the item for you to see.
The July catalogue is pretty new and without doubt the best we have ever issued, so do have a good look.

New List

Posted by: R. Ingram Coins on May 22nd 2019

Our Summer 2019 coin list has now been uploaded to our website. It contains over 12,500 coins, many are new and we have picked up some superb collections of Gold, Silver, Copper, US, Australian, Foreign and much else besides. In particular we have listed many new Sovereigns, Crowns, Shillings, hammered, and Scottish.

https://www.ringramcoins.com/media/pdf/ringram-coins-catalogue.pdf

We are often asked where we obtain or coins, and our sources are many and varied. One source is from metal detectorists, and if you are keen on detecting, you might find the following story of interest. I am thankful to Wikipedia for it:

It concerns the Lenborough coin hoard. It was discovered, on 21 December 2014, on farmland in the Buckinghamshire hamlet of Lenborough, between Buckingham and Padbury, during a metal detectorist rally organised by the Weekend Wanderers Detecting Club involving approximately one hundred people. One of the participants, Paul Coleman, located the coins inside a lead container buried 2 feet under the ground.

Coleman said that he "found a piece of lead and thought it was junk. But then I looked back in the hole and saw one shiny coin. Then I lifted a larger piece of lead and saw row upon row of coins stacked neatly." According to Pete Welch, the founder of the club, the coins were in remarkably good condition: "They're like mirrors, no scratching, and buried really carefully in a lead container, deep down. It looks as though only two people have handled these coins, the person who made them and the person who buried them." They were found covered in clay and silt that had seeped though holes in the lead, but otherwise, they were pristine.

Buckinghamshire County Museum archaeologist Ros Tyrell, the Buckinghamshire Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, was present during the rally to record any objects discovered, and excavated the hoard immediately after it was found. The hoard was taken to the British Museum for examination and conservation.

The hoard consists of 5,252 silver coins. The coins, date from the first half of the eleventh century, and include many coins from the reigns of two Anglo-Saxon kings, Æthelred the Unready (978–1013 and 1014–1016) and Cnut (1016–1035). The coins were wrapped in a sheet of lead.

As the hoard consists of precious metal more than 300 years old, it had to be assessed by a coroner under the terms of the Treasure Act 1996 to determine whether it is treasure. The coins are in such good condition that their total value has been estimated at £1.35 million.

The reasons for the burial of the hoard are unknown. Simon Keynes, Professor of Anglo Saxon at Cambridge University, calls the hoard "difficult to explain" at present, and he wonders whether it is "a hoard of a Viking—his accumulated wealth" or something else. A fuller explanation may be possible when the coins have all been cleaned and it is clearer from which reigns the coins date

Bucks County Museum hopes to save the hoard for the public and must raise the money.
That is what you call a lucky day.

Record price for UK coin

Posted by: R. Ingram Coins on March 1st 2019

Recently at a Baldwins Of St. James auction in New York a price of $1,080,000 (£845,000) was paid for a 1703 VIGO Five Guineas. The price is a world record for a British coin sold at auction. It was sold in a slab and graded MS62.

https://www.ringramcoins.com/

The coin is a very famous and historic coin. The VIGO coins came about because just as Queen Anne ascended the throne, the War of Spanish Succession broke out. The war was, in essence, a conflict between two sides that were each seeking dominance in Europe. On one side were the Habsburg Empire, the English and the Dutch Republic, on the other the French and the Bourbon Spanish.

One of the earliest engagements in the war was the Battle of Vigo Bay, situated off north west Spain, on October 23, 1702; it was a major disaster for the French and Spanish, with all of their ships either destroyed or captured, in fact so decisive was the victory for the Anglo-Dutch that it was instrumental in leading the Portuguese King Peter II to turn away from his alliance with Spain and go over to the other side! Not only was the victory a huge boost for morale, but it was also good for the war effort too, as the captured ships yielded a large amount of Silver and Gold. Admittedly there wasn’t as much as the allies were hoping for as a great deal of it had already been off-loaded, but it is estimated that somewhere in the region of 4,500 pounds of silver and seven and a half pounds of gold was captured.

This was subsequently delivered to the Royal Mint and, at the behest of the Queen, coins made from it were stamped with the mark VIGO so as to “Continue to Posterity the Remembrance of that Glorious Action”. As well as a small number, fewer than 20, of the Five Guineas, Guineas and Half-Guineas were also struck and from the Silver came Crowns, Shillings and Sixpences. All VIGO coins are sought after and command a substantial premium over unmarked coins of the same year, but they do so not simply because they are rare, but because of the story behind them.

We shouldn’t be surprised of course, think of the other record breaking coins—the Coenwulf Penny (the first time the name London was used on a coin); the 1933 Double Eagle (from the Farouk collections, the only one allowed to be owned by a collector); the 1933 Penny (struck at the behest of King George V even though Pennies weren’t needed that year); the Edward VIII coins (the coins that never were); the 1794 flowing Hair Dollar (one of the first dollar coins ever made) and so on. Each is a rarity in its own right yes, but there is more to them than that—each has a story behind it, something that takes its appeal beyond that of just a lump of metal, no matter how rare or beautiful, and on to a different level.

It is always worth remembering though that coins have stories too and whilst not every one will be as interesting as the VIGO or 1933 Double Eagle tale, there may be more to the pieces in your collection than you realise. So next time you’re checking condition, die varieties et al think bigger, wonder what story that the coin you now own might be able to tell you, see beyond the metal into history. You’ll be amazed at what you may find.

I would like to thank Coin News from which this is an abridged version of their March editorial

Christmas is here (almost) - So...we have uploaded more coins

Posted by: R. Ingram Coins on December 7th 2018

We have today uploaded a stack of new material, noteworthy material includes a remarkable collection of USA, some lovely Canadian, and a good range of early banknotes. We hope you'll have a look.

We now have to accept that 90% of the population are in Christmas mode, I know several people who stopped for the holidays on Friday 7th December -  Yes really!

We have been asked when we will be working over Christmas. I can't really answer that as I don't know. if you want to buy a coin, have a chat, sell some coins or ask some questions, the simple answer is call, e-mail, or Facebook/Twitter us. I won't be offended if you contact us on Christmas day (I probably won't reply to you, but I am quite hard to offend, and you get a reply and probably sooner than you think). All we ask is that you don't call Sundays, we don't work on Sunday.

Apart from that, if I am here, replying to e-mails, picking up a phone or posting on here, then you know I am working.

Contact Us

R. Ingram Coins,
2 Avonborne Way,
Chandler's Ford,
Eastleigh,
SO53 1TF
ENGLAND

T: 02380275079
E: [email protected]