The Very Highest Quality Gifts for Special Years ...


Coins as Gifts for Special Years CoinsChard 24 Carat Home Page

St. George & Dragon Reverse of 1980 Gold £2 Coin
St. George & Dragon Reverse of 1980 Gold £2 Coin

Coins as Gifts for Special Occasions

A Long Tradition
Coins have long been a traditional gift on many special occasions.
It was customary in ancient Rome, as it also had been in Greece, to present coins as gifts on festive occations, a tradition which Ovid recorded.
The historian Suetonius (in Augustus 73) records that Emperor Augustus would distribute on the occation of the Saturnalia festivities, among other precious gifts, various unknown foreign coins or coins with portraits of ancient kings "...nummos omnis notae, etiam veteres regios et peregrinos."
As long as we can remember customers, usually grandparents, have asked us for gold sovereigns as gifts for newly born babies. They are equally popular as christening gifts too.
Of course, other coins also get used as gifts, whether it be a bagful of newly minted coins to see in the New Year, or a special coin such as a crown.

Coins Have Become Even More Popular
In recent years, we have noticed a strong trend for people wanting all sorts of coins to mark special years and events in peoples' lives. We aren't sure why this has happened, it's perhaps because since about 1970, coins and coin sets have been marketed each year in special display and presentation packs. Possibly it's because of decimalisation in 1971, or the impending approach of the euro, probably a combination of all these factors.
For whatever reason, most days we get asked about coins of special dates not for collectors but as gift items.
One obvious reason for coins as gifts, is that they can stand the test of time. Some gifts are intended to be useful immediately, but these often outgrow there usefulness, nursery toys for babies for example. Others get broken, wear out, or become outdated and redundant to to new technology, records and computer games spring to mind.
A gift of a coin or coin set may not be an instantly practical gift, but it is one which stands a chance of being kept and remembered, perhaps even treasured along with the memory of the giver. Because coins bear a date, they will always be instantly recognised for the year and event they were originally given to celebrate.

Packaging and Presentation
Until very recently, it was fairly simple for us to make up a coin set for a particular year, but very difficult for us to find any suitable display or presentation packaging for it. In the past few years, we have partially solved the problem, and can now offer attractive display cases for all years of British coins from 1887 to date. There are also a growing number of commemorative coins which have been issued for particular events, and which are often packaged in attractive cases, often with an informative leaflet or booklet. For older coins it's still quite difficult for us to provide relevant display packaging, but we can usually find something suitable to fill over 90% of the enquiries we receive.

Do-It-Yourself Display
Interestingly, we find many people buy coins from us without display material, intending to create their own. Ideas we we heard include making birthday and other cards using a computer, and incorporating one or more coins into the design, using picture frames to create custom made displays incorporating coins, sometimes with banknotes and stamps, coffee table tops, entire walls covered in pennies. We are sure there are many other ideas we have not mentioned.

Which Years Dates and Events?
Almost all would be one answer, but there are certain events which seem to be particularly well marked as suitable for coin gifts. These occasions include:-

How We Can Help You
As one of the leading coin dealers in the UK, we have much experience in helping folk to find a suitable gift idea within their price range. Sometimes it's quite difficult, perhaps because someone wants a date of gold sovereign which doesn't exist. We would probably get into trouble if we started making our own, so we try to find alternatives wherever possible.
We have put a lot of effort and research into this, and we can point you to links for every single year from 1817, showing which gold sovereigns exist, which don't, and giving alternatives.

Which Type of Coins or Sets?
The most popular ideas for coins as gifts include:-

Gold Sovereigns
Gold sovereigns are the 21st birthday gift we most often get asked about, and are also popular for 18th birthdays, new babies, christenings, golden weddings, 50th birthdays.
We keep in stock almost every date of gold sovereign, and have a complete list of years from 1917, listing which sovereigns do and don't exist, and we gives alternatives for almost every non-existent years.
They make great gifts just as they are, but many people choose to have them mounted into jewellery.
We can supply a compact selection of quality ring and pendant mounts for gold sovereigns, half sovereigns and other coins.

Half Sovereigns
Half sovereigns are the second most common requested item for gifts.
They are less expensive than sovereigns, and make are a more suitable size for use in rings, as sovereign rings are too large for many people.
We have not yet managed to research and create a complete list of which half sovereigns exist similar to the one for sovereigns, but we do have a page listing our stock of half sovereigns by date.

Krugerrands
Although we don't get asked for special dates of krugers as frequently as sovereigns, they are a suitable and unusual alternative.
They are available for most years since 1967, although some dates are more difficult to find than others.
Since 1980, fractional sizes of krugerrands are available for most years. These are on our Tax Free Gold website, and can be found using the above link.

British Coin Sets
We stock British coin year sets for most dates from 1887 to date. From 1970, there are Royal Mint proof sets available, and from 1983, there are also Royal Mint Uncirculated sets. these are attractively packaged, and many are accompanied by informative packaging about events during that particular year.

Other British Coins
In some years there are other British coins which can make interesting and unusual gifts which can become treasured mementoes. Click on the "Coins Index" button above right.

Other World Coins
Although we specialise mainly in British coins, there are many other world coins and coin sets, some gold, some silver, which can make great gifts especially if the person has a particular affinity or connection with that country.

A Few Specific Years
We have prepared pages with gift suggestions for certain celebratory years:-
18th Birthday Gifts
21st Birthday Gifts
30th Birthday Gifts
40th Birthday Gifts
50th Birthday Gifts
60th Birthday Gifts
70th Birthday Gifts
80th Birthday Gifts
90th Birthday Gifts
100th Birthday Gifts

Althougth we have called these pages "Birthday Gifts" they are obviously suitable for any other celebratory occasion.

For silver wedding suggestions, please see our Silver Wedding Gifts page.

World Silver Crowns
A selection of dollar sized silver coins of various years from many different countries. If you are looking for a difficult year, this might be worth trying.

World Silver Proof Coins
Various silver coins, struck as proofs (special high quality finish) from different countries and different years.

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If you want to find the value of a coin you own, please take a look at our page I've Found An Old Coin, What's It Worth?

If you have an enquiry about coin as gift ideas,, we'd be happy to answer you, but please note it may be quicker to telephone us. Please see the Contact Us page of our website.


...at the Lowest Possible Price

32 - 36 Harrowside, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY4 1RJ, England.
Telephone (44) - (0) 1253 - 343081 ; Fax 408058; E-mail:
The URL for our main page is: https://24carat.co.uk
Chard(1964) Ltd