Antiques Roadshow gives verdict on old coins

Jun 1 2009

Roy Butler examines the coin collection at his last ever Antiques Roadshow

The Herald's Steve Bax takes a collection of coins along to the Antiques Roadshow, which was filmed at Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, on May 31. But will any of them be his ticket to riches?

The secret of the Antiques Roadshow's long-running success, according to host Fiona Bruce, is that “everyone has something in their loft they want to bring along”.

In my case it was a collection of old coins which were left to my girlfriend by her late grandfather William Buckingham.

He had no idea if it was worth anything, and we were even more clueless, so it was a great privilege for us to sit down with the roadshow's Roy Butler who was filming his last Antiques Roadshow programme, after joining at the very beginning in May 1977.

Roy, 86, could have been speaking about himself when he said the trick to coins is not their age but their condition. We had no idea he was in his 80s.

Of special note was a one penny coin inscribed with the words “payable at Weybridge 1812”.

Apparently during the 22-year Napoleonic wars copper was in short supply, as it was needed for armaments, so chambers of commerce would buy the metal where they could and create their own coins. Sadly ours is only worth £10.

Roy valued most others at under £10 so there's no chance of us giving up the day job, but having sifted through several books of coins, we saved the best to last.

A 1797 penny piece in great condition worth about £100. Result! Trouble is, now we face the same dilemma of all Antiques Roadshow visitors: keep it in the family or sell.