Bag's Rants

Looks like my investments have doubled in value.

Unfortunately, it's not as exciting as you thing and a major disappointment to me.

It seems that the old copper coins, pre 1992 versions of the 2p and the 1p, are made of pure copper. Copper has now increased in value so much that they are now worth double the face value of the coins. This means that they are worth more melted down than they are worth as legal tender. Of course we have been warned against melting them down. It is illegal you know. Read more here. So the odd coins I have in the big bottle by my bed have doubled in value. Whoopie Do Da. Still not enough to retire on though.

Of course it is not unusual for currency to be worth more than it's face value. Old British notes, still legal tender, can be exchanged for face value at the Bank of England. Selling it privately is a better way to go as many old notes are worth many, many times their face value. This £10 note is worth £42 at the moment with many being worth much more.

I've collected notes for a long time now. Since the Times started a collection set back in the 198x. It's amazing how many well illustrated foreign notes you can purchase for a few quid. I'm going to scan mine and put them on the web but I've not had the time so far. I've build the web site and put the notes details on but so far no piccys. I've got a reasonable collection but don't really get too much time to chase more specimens.

posted by Bag @ 4:01 pm