How to sell old British coins: a beginner's guide

Most people use 'old' to mean pre-decimal — anything before 15 February 1971. The reality is more nuanced. Pre-1947 silver coins contain real silver and have intrinsic value regardless of date. Pre-1920 silver is even purer (sterling, .925). Bronze pennies and ha'pennies are usually worth pennies — except a handful of key dates.

Anything dated before about 1816 (the Great Recoinage) sits in a different bracket again — most pre-Victorian silver and copper has collector value beyond metal weight.

Sovereigns and half sovereigns — always (see our sovereign guide).

Pre-1947 silver — half-crowns, florins, shillings, sixpences, threepences. Sold by weight at the silver spot price.

Crowns (large 5-shilling coins) — varies enormously by date. 1847 Gothic Crowns can be £1000+; 1953 Coronation crowns are £2.

Key-date pennies — 1933 (extreme rarity), 1869, 1882 no-H. Most pennies are worth pennies, but check before discarding.

eBay: maximum return on identifiable, photogenic single coins, but you absorb all the fees, postage risk and bad-buyer hassle. Realistic only if you know what you have.

Coin fair: low-stress for small lots, but you'll need to walk between several dealers and you may not get top money on bulk silver.

Specialist auction: the right home for genuinely rare coins (£300+ each). Expect 8-12 weeks and ~30% in combined fees.

Local home-visit buyer: the path most sellers actually take. One visit, full collection valued, paid the same day. We do this across South West London and Surrey.

Cleaning. Don't.

Posting coins to mail-in services without insured tracking — their offers are notoriously poor and disputes are slow.

Throwing out the 'modern junk' — a single 50p Kew Gardens is worth £150-200 and looks like normal change.