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Nice to see another Languagelog watcher.

I've got one somewhere. I replaced it with one in about UNC a few months back. It's certainly in pretty worn condition - say NF. If you are interested, I'll see if I can find it in my shoe box of swaps/duplicates. If you ike I could PM you photos, although I won't be able to take the pics until tomorrow.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the hobby

You might get around £40 quid for it.

Beautiful coin. Are you looking to sell?

Since when has such minor details got between a student and a beer.

You don't need to get more replies, it's on the right, at the bottom of where you're typing (picture attached)

Scan? That would be less than 500kb. Hosting sites such as photobucket, tinypic etc would all work.

It might be struck on the wrong flan. What is the weight (to 2dp if possible)? You can add a picture up to 500Kb using the more reply options, or alternatively use a hosting site and link to the image.

The 1911 proof sets in boxes seem to all(?) tone to a blue green colour. This consistency suggests to me that it is the internal padding material, or at least the dye with which it is coloured which is responsible.

So I decided to try and see if I could get a better 1887 Shilling that I already had. This was my original shilling: This is my 'upgrade'

I wouldn't disagree in principle with anything people have posted on here about buying the best you can afford, and trying to get a minimum of EF grade. It's a perfectly sensible and practical way to go. However, there are a couple of caveats. Firstly, that's only really a workable policy for readily available coins and dates, unless that is, you have infinitely deep pockets, something most of us don't have. To give an example, if you are a collector of all coins Edward VII, you may well be able to obtain most coins in EF or better for reasonable money. However, if you are a completist, you will want a 1905 halfcrown (and florin and shilling) and you are not going to get these for reasonable money in EF. A halfcrown in Fine alone will likely set you back £500, whilst in UNC you could have to pay around £10k for the best. In this situation you have a choice. Either ignore the hole in your collection or accept that you have to lower your grading goals, at least for this one date and type. Most of us who are completists have this dilemma from time to time and we usually compromise our grading ideals. Only today, there's an example on another thread where davidrj has managed to complete a date run, but the final coin is in pretty low grade, but I bet he's happy to see the gap filled. http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/9947-still-a-completionist-at-heart/ The other point is that those who say that buying lower grade means an upgrade later with more cost are quite right for common coins. However, for less common ones, filling a gap and waiting for an upgrade may be the only way to have the satisfaction of achieving a collecting goal, but it may not cost you money either. For instance, I have a complete date run of halfpennies back to 1672. Of these just about the most difficult to find is the 1689. I bought a River Thames find in near fine condition for £400, some years ago and filled the gap. Eventually, I bought Nicholson's example which is in GF maybe NVF, as an upgrade. I have no expectation that I can find an EF example, and even if I could, that I could afford it, so I have to remain satisfied with the one I have. However, the Thames find subsequently sold for £450, so there was even an up side to the upgrade. I guess the point I'm making is that when it comes to rarities, the idea that upgrades will cost more than buying the best you can doesn't always apply. A final thought and that is that although you can see the ideals for collecting on here, don't run away with the idea that every coin collector only collects in absolutely top grade. It may seem so based on people's comments, but in reality most collectors compromise on some coins some of the time. If they didn't, you wouldn't see the volume of sales on ebay that you do, and dealers wouldn't even bother offering lower grade material, but they do, all the time. It doesn't make you a less serious collector, just because you don't always collect high grade. And finally, finally, for what it's worth, your half farthing seems a perfectly reasonable buy for £4 to me. No, it's not top grade, but it's not the worst either. Based on your pictures, wear is very even all round and the colour looks nice, and I reckon you'd easily get your money back on ebay if you wished.