ABOUT A BAWBEE. LOCAL MUSEUM "HELD UP."

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 41, 18 February 1908, Page 3

ABOUT A BAWBEE. LOCAL MUSEUM "HELD UP."

Yesterday,' when a representative . o,f 'The Post visited Mr. ' A. Hamilton's .office at the museum, • he- found , tiro director poring over a bawbee, -a real bawbee. Sir. Hamilton was not fondling the coin in the way that the" miser is supposed to embrace his ljeloved gold ; no hao! merely a sqientific interest in the little: bit of thin sliver, about' ths diameter of a halt-penny. It- was just a "wafer, a debased, thimj issued for circulation in Scotland by. Charles I. \ The bawbee was one of a- number of old_ coins .presented by-, a lady, in Dunedin .to, a, Scotch church, for conversion into current- coin pf the realm. Like many other ppss,essors of ancient coins, 'this, lady imagined 'that the relics •of other days would be worth eoroparati\ely large siims of modern money. That" is 'A mistake; the "bawbee, which is not, in first-claea condition, has probably only melting-pot value, , tho merest, trifle. ■ • As a matter of fact, collectors are not williug; as a rule, to . give . large suras (or old „ coins unless they are in excellent "order. The romance of a coin that has passed' from one hand to another in other centuries has no cnarm for them; they prefer the bloom of tho mint. They prefer to be the first that^cver burst upon the metal. Therefore values are usually based upon the condition of the curios. A ' noble of Edward 111., dated about 1354, a very fine specimen, , may be bought for £1 15s ; about half thVt amount is intrinsic value, and the balance is for antiquity, about 3s 6d per century— "dirt cheap." An angel, that beautiful coin issued by Henry VIII., may 'be had in very fine condition for £1" hi. The guinea--.piece of George 1., in excellent order, can be secured £or £2 7s 6d. If i*. is wanted, just as it came from the mint, the piece is £4 15s. The guinea of George 1 HI. — the spade guinea — can be got. almost new, jfor~£l ISs; 'mint specimens fetclr£2!7s,6d!\ Th'-e 7s gold 'piece of George 111. x ~a. very curious tittle, coin, seldom seen," ,can "tie had -for 10s, hut if a specimen 'of 1813 is sought —a; year in which very few were minted — the quotation is £1 10s. The £5 piece of Queen ' Victoria, ' struck in 1887, can be obtained, in mint condition, " for £5 7s 6d. The coin publications do 'not give quotations for specimens that are not in fair order.