My husband is a professional numismatist. He only buys and sells top quality British coins dating from 1702 to 1936. Also gold coins. The coins market is extremely strong at the moment and a brilliant investment. Do you have a collection to sell or are you looking for a particular piece? If so, please get in touch.

When decimalisation first came in my Mum sent for a set of commemorative coins. They were shrinkwrapped in a carboard wallet....I have just been up into the loft to search for them, but as DH is the loft tidier from hell they could be anywhere. When he comes home I will ask if he can remember seeing them, I feel sure their were other coins as well....my Mother used to send for commemoritive stuff when it came out!

"When decimalisation first came in my Mum sent for a set of commemorative coins. They were shrinkwrapped in a carboard wallet..."

We have 2 sets of these + the same in IOM coins and a set of Maltese ones as well. My uncle used to give them to my son. He has several different crowns as well. I inherited some silver ones from my uncle all depicting the Queen and Queen Mother. They are from various places round the world - they look very much like something you would have collected monthly from a Sunday supplement. Each one is encased in a plastic box to protect them. I don't know whether they are worth anything except their weight in silver perhaps.

I have asked my husband about this. Unfortunately, these commemorative coins have no particular value. If they are made from silver, then, obviously, they have the silver value. They are probably made from cupro-nickel, which is not silver. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Thats probably just as well, because the box in the loft that DH claims they are in doesn't contain them, so I think they may have been got rid off the last time he decided to tidy up!

The biggest joy I get from the coins I have is the historical "value" more than anything. Even the coins I have that are 100+ years old aren't really worth any fantastic amount. Just having, say, a dime from Hong Kong from the first year of that 99 year lease is cool.

The sets I own are going to take a lot longer than I have on this earth to come into their own, except for a few. My Stanley Cup coin may do all right depending on the sale and who is there as it is a commemorative sports piece.

Usually only coins that have some defect that wasn't caught will sky rocket. Example a Canadian Dollar coin that went through for a bit before someone noticed, oops, the Canadian goose is flying upside down!