I collected silver thrupenny bits for many years until I had a complete set from the first Victorian one until the last one issued.   Several dates I had a few  I had three from 1869 which is a particularly valuable one to collectors.   When I had the complete set I sold them for a little over £2500.

When I was in the police one of my men called me to an old people's flat where the milkman had called him to as the milk hadn't been taken in.   We broke in and found the old guy dead in bed.   We couldn't find any relatives so we searched the flat to remove any valuables to safe custody.   There were two wardrobes and each had about five suits inside and every pocket had banknotes in.   On top of the wardrobes were two of the old big sweet jars that sweet shops had.   They were full of what we thought were the new three pence pieces.   That was until we tried to lift them down.   They were full of sovereigns.   Can't remember what the total value was but it was a small fortune.   Although we hadn't been able to find any relatives and the neighbors said he had never had visitors, when we put an advert in the local paper, relatives came out of the woodwork.

32 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Well I'm intrigued now, what did you do with them?  

According to my Mrs, who used to work for a bank (though we usually tell people she was a call girl as it's more respectable😃) banks will generally accept old coins for quite some time after they cease to be legal tender (though they have no obligation to do so) and have (or did in her time) an arrangement to return them to the Bank of England. It's a long time ago now, but I suppose we must have done that. I still have a few somewhere, after seeing @Bobr's post I might check and see if they're worth a few groats!

4 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

According to my Mrs, who used to work for a bank (though we usually tell people she was a call girl as it's more respectable😃) banks will generally accept old coins for quite some time after they cease to be legal tender (though they have no obligation to do so) and have (or did in her time) an arrangement to return them to the Bank of England. It's a long time ago now, but I suppose we must have done that. I still have a few somewhere, after seeing @Bobr's post I might check and see if they're worth a few groats!

Old coins are very saleable on eBay.   People collect one particular coin usually (like farthings).

1 hour ago, Bobr said:

I didn't know Custom House as the borough of Newham was formed after I left London.   I left in 1954 to join the forces.

I think the area was still called Custom House before the borough was formed, I know they were right on the docks.  I suspect her Dad was probably a docker...though thinking about it now, can't remember her ever mentioning him!  She also joined the forces and spent many years doing police work and then security, though in Essex so I doubt your paths would have crossed.  She'd have been 90 next week but I'm glad she passed before Corona, she was very stern and didn't take crap from anyone (including the grandkids!  ) but she was a constant worrier, she'd never have coped with this!

Not to take this thread any further off topic, but Ancestry are giving free access to some records for Remembrance Day.  I've been looking through a few this morning myself.  Turns out one of my Great Grandads was a rifleman in WW1, which might explain my Call of Duty prowess...    They were also Londoners, living in Kentish Town on the 1911 census...though he also had 3 siblings that I never knew about!

26 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

According to my Mrs, who used to work for a bank (though we usually tell people she was a call girl as it's more respectable😃) banks will generally accept old coins for quite some time after they cease to be legal tender (though they have no obligation to do so) and have (or did in her time) an arrangement to return them to the Bank of England. It's a long time ago now, but I suppose we must have done that. I still have a few somewhere, after seeing @Bobr's post I might check and see if they're worth a few groats!

Ah, if they'd been worthless I think I'd have buried a couple of jars to confuse future archaeologists…     

Headlines on 03/10/2326 - 'Mysterious coin hoard discovered in Yorkshire!  Why were they buried here?  Who buried them?  They must have been very valuable at the time!'  

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Not to take this thread any further off topic, but Ancestry are giving free access to some records for Remembrance Day.  I've been looking through a few this morning myself.  Turns out one of my Great Grandads was a rifleman in WW1, which might explain my Call of Duty prowess...    They were also Londoners, living in Kentish Town on the 1911 census...though he also had 3 siblings that I never knew about!

I lost a grandad on the Somme.   All my family were Londoners although I now have both my sons living in Yorkshire.   My father was mayor of Bethnal Green 63 / 64

 

There's a story in that

27 minutes ago, Bobr said:

I lost a grandad on the Somme.  

Had a very interesting (but also very sad) tour there a few years back, kind of fulfilling a promise to my Gran whose youngest brother (so my great uncle) died there on his 21st birthday. Quite a few of my family members are commemorated on the Thiepval memorial to those who have no known grave.

25 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Had a very interesting (but also very sad) tour there a few years back, kind of fulfilling a promise to my Gran whose youngest brother (so my great uncle) died there on his 21st birthday. Quite a few of my family members are commemorated on the Thiepval memorial to those who have no known grave.

This is part of the Thiepval memorial

3 hours ago, williamweb said:

Two bob is better 😀 just remember the old imperial currency, showing my age now, or two shillings 👍

Haha...nearly posted a similar message to you 🙂

1 hour ago, Bobr said:

This is part of the Thiepval memorial

Here's one of me taking a photo of the memorial, taken by my mate who was stood under the memorial taking a photo of me!😃 

 

 

There's always the thought that, if your ancestor's name is on that memorial, there is the faint possibility that he is the unknown soldier.

2 hours ago, Bobr said:

There's always the thought that, if your ancestor's name is on that memorial, there is the faint possibility that he is the unknown soldier.

Yes, that thought crossed my mind at the time I was there - several of my family on there to choose from. However I think I read somewhere that the Unknown Warrior was selected from those who fell early in the conflict, which if correct I suppose would rule out those who died on the Somme from July 1916 onwards.

Whatever, I have always thought the Unknown Warrior was a fine idea and been deeply moved when visiting Westminster Abbey.

22 hours ago, Bobr said:

There's a story in that

My dad wrote to me (we didn't have phones in those days) inviting me to attend the mayor making ceremony.   I applied for leave but it was refused.   I wrote back telling dad I was sorry but my leave had been refused.   A couple of days later I was called into the superintendent's office.   He was hopping mad.   He asked me why I hadn't specified what the leave was for.   'Nobody asked me' was my reply.

Apparently dad had told his town clerk that there would be one less at the ceremony and why.   The town clerk had contacted the Nottingham town clerk (they had phones) and told him that he wasn't impressed.   The Nottingham town clerk had told the chief constable who had torn a strip off the superintendent and told him to grant me three days special leave to attend the ceremony.

He was the last full term mayor of Bethnal Green before it became Tower Hamlets.

16 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Yes, that thought crossed my mind at the time I was there - several of my family on there to choose from. However I think I read somewhere that the Unknown Warrior was selected from those who fell early in the conflict, which if correct I suppose would rule out those who died on the Somme from July 1916 onwards.

Whatever, I have always thought the Unknown Warrior was a fine idea and been deeply moved when visiting Westminster Abbey.

On November 7th, 1920, in strictest secrecy, four unidentified British bodies were exhumed from temporary battlefield cemeteries at Ypres, Arras, the Asine and the Somme.