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Might translate to "It's not a fake. I'm a Portuguese [staying] with an English family. Please contact me If you want provenance of the product [coin]. Thank you. However, I am not at home at the moment." Anyone selling a fake which once belonged to his "grandfather" probably know what he is doing.

Sword, I reckon that's probably a fair translation. Your skills in deciphering that deserve praise! Perhaps pretending to be a poor English speaker is also a good guise for peddling fakes.

Apologies. Typo. I meant styca. (Northumbria saxon) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styca

Not only newbies! I have an incomplete peseta collection, a sort-of-comprehensive British 20th century type collection, a couple of albums of international coins of all sorts, a concoction of horrendous silver bullion pieces, and for the last couple of years I've put together a succint Victorian type collection that I'm very proud of. And now I'm veering towards Spanish colonial... who knows what I'll be hoarding in 5 years' time! It's just really good fun, and reading about coins and their history is fascinating. And it may even be a good investment! Incidentally, to complete your starter kit of predecimal British coins you may want this and this and also a loupe.

Indeed, Numis relates more to the specific dimensions of the album being a bit more snug than the optima. There may also be a difference in materials but I'm not very sure of that. I suppose you have purchased a set of classic-style sheets, where you insert the coins in the slider? I think it's the best option for the beginner as it gives you great flexibility. Make sure to place cardboard separators between the pages so the coins don't hit each other when you flip the pages. You won't regret havind spent a bit more than what you initially expected; coins are heavy and albums and plastic sheets take a fair amount of stress when being manipulated.

I've only used it on low value bronzes (stychas) that where breaking out. Obviously after I've cleaned them up. If i had anything of any real value I'd probably not do it. Renaissance wax is used by museums for preserving almost everything once its under gone preservation. I've even heard of people using it on guns.

Could be shellacced or lacquered. Was quite common in old days for preserving coins in collections. Some people use ren wax on there bronzes also. I've used treborius balm on a few of my bronzes that where showing green spots.

Thats normal. The heart shapes on all of them for that year , think its meant to be a pleat. I've no concerns what so ever about it. Looks great.

The heart shape is just a normal wear pattern, but looking at a few images there does appear to be some detail differences in the hair arrangement around the shoulder and also on the drapery. There's a cheap project for someone if they want to take up the baton. The old head sixpences are common enough to buy in quantity.

I suggest you look at the Lighthouse catalogue. Whether you go for this brand or a cheaper one, they all follow the same principles. Numis and Optima are pretty much the same thing, I think the Optima is a bit bigger so it's capable of taking slightly bigger sheets. You buy the sheets separately so you can choose which pages suit you better. In the 'classic' type of sheet, the coins go into strips of pockets that slide in the pages' bays. it's great because you can always get the coins out and re-arrange them again and again. The bad thing is that the level of protection is not great, and the pages have quite set sizes so you can't mix big and small coins in the same page. The other system is put the coins in 2x2 carboard flips and then place these in special pages K50. The advantage of this is that the coins are permanently protected from the atmosphere and fingerprints, You can also arrange coins of different sizes in the same page. The bad thing is that once you put a coin in a carboard flip, you can't take it out unless you break it. All my low value collection is in Numis albums with K50 pages, therefore in 2x2 flips. Better coins demand fancier solutions - Quadrum capsules in Volterra box for instance.

Hi. Can anyone tell me if there were two different types of 1757 George II Sixpence or are there fakes of this coin? Only i have this one and it has the heart shape you see on fakes on the shoulder. Also the middle line at the top of his shoulder is a V shape instead of straight up and down. Thanks.

He eventually pulled it for a 2nd time. Not sure why. Perhaps he's planning on relisting it in the future as genuine. He copied and pasted the title from another similiar genuine coin that was listed on ebay. I shall keep my out for it resurfacing again. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/322761216842 The real listing he filched his title from http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/R054-Henry-VIII-Hammered-Silver-Groat-posthumous-issue-under-Edward-VI-S-2404/201528050660

Lol. I guess we will be seeing it again after all! Someone will buy it and relist it as genuine no doubt. Oh well we tried?

Looks a bargain now at £2 or best offer. ?

Like any hobby, coin collecting requires a small expense to start with. You can get a good, solid, made in Germany lighthouse album and an assortment of pages for £40. And it will last many years. If you are starting with the hobby you will want to show your collection to friends and family; do it in a proper good album that won't break apart the second day. I know the price of that album you have found may be tempting, but I can see straight away it's not fit for purpose. It's very thin to hold more than 3 or 4 full pages of coins - it claims 120 coins but I doubt you will fit more than 50, bulging open - and also it has no separators so whenever you flip a page the coins will hit each other and get damaged. The size of the pockets is probably a problem as many pre-1900 coins are quite large so you won't fit anything bigger than a penny.

I agree with Ian. What sort of quality do you expect for £1.66 and free delivery? No doubt the plastic will split soon. The plastic might react with your coins too. The pockets are also so small and a coin bigger than a £2 won't fit. Would suggest buying a proper album of the trusted brand Lighthouse. It is worth spending a bit more than a tenner.

Stay away from them. You have answered your own question, they are cheap and you have no way of being certain what they are made of and they could potentially damage your coins. If you want to put them in an album then I would go with a quality make such as those recommended by Upinsmoke. The 2" x 2" holders that fit the album are cheap and if you buy the non sticky ones are reusable. You say your collection is of relatively low value but it will not be long before you start to buy coins that are a little bit more valuable. I think it's best to start as you mean to go on and start housing your collection in a proper album. welcome to the forum and carry on collecting.