The recommendation that newcomers to coin collecting should concentrate on a single denomination rather than spread their early efforts across a range of types certainly gets my support. However, the advice far too often funnels newcomers towards the better known English varieties; especially the shilling, the sixpence, the silver threepence and the copper and bronze penny. That’s because the names of those denominations were familiar to many of us during the final decades of our pre-decimal years.
Groats certainly had a long run in our currency; from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century; and one or two regularly fetch several thousands of pounds at auction. On the other hand, you can make a start on a groat collection with a few judicious bids in the lower tens of pounds range and