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On balance though it is going to be mostly silver and kosher, or no silver and iffy.

It's not entirely conclusive, of course: it shows there is some silver, but not how much.

OK, I thought you had to be a member of Facebook and a 'friend' to connect to others. Thanks, so it's not necessarily malicious and could even possibly be a sensible discussion. That hadn't occurred to me.

Ebay here we come: LOOK MUST SEE RARE gold proof 2p mint error (wrong mettle used). I've never seed another so it must be uneek. Super rae investmant. Happy bidding.

Christ, dying his hair at 8...poor you, John! My boy's 9 and fortunately things are still agreeable at home, so it's a lot easier to guide him. He went to a 'big school' open day the other day and came back with a 2p he'd electroplated 'gold!' Got me proper thinkin' it did! ?

David, I have always thought it might have been a modified "5", to make it pass as a 3, when a 3 punch was not available.

Cheers John. I'll look forward to it. Bad luck on not getting the 0%.

As the fake market takes a greater grip, the provenance could one day mean everything. For some of the big faked coins (the gothic crowns of Victoria and, say, the Northumberland Shillings, for example) if you have provenance that pre-dates the best of the copies, then you have gold. Don't throw tickets away, ever!

Can be either. I know pretty much where my 1601 pledge halfpenny has been since 1601. I also know of a Rawlins Oxford crown that can be traced back to the Governor of Oxford, Sir Henry Gage, who was killed in action, January 1644/5. You can't beat a roughly 400 year old continuous provenance. That has to add value - that is, always assuming you have a desire to sell. Otherwise the coin is worth the same sunk cost in perpetuity. On the pleasure front, the acquisition of the annulet marked Ed. IV halfgroat last spring, gave me immense pleasure in having deciphered the 1874 dated ticket and traced the source back to Hugh Howard (d.1738). Provenances are fun to work out at the time and give a real feeling of success on completion. It is why I would probably sell my coins before my books.

I received my Quadrum Intercept cases today and I'm very happy with the way they hold my sixpences. The fit is quite tight and I found it a little bit fiddly getting the coin in without touching the face. I ended up fitting them in mostly with my hands holding the rim and then making minor adjustments with a clean cotton bud to press on the edge of the coin faces to get everything neatly installed. Now that they're in, the coins are held very securely so it's safe to pick up the cases and admire my coins. Thanks to everyone in this thread for their advice!

As I understand it it's not about the ice cube melting but the thermal conductivity of the metal. So when you hold the coin by the edges and put the ice cube in the middle you should feel the edges become cold almost immediately if it's silver.

Coin collectors are by definition coin collectors . Too my mind it does not matter the coins value either , while a collector with a collection worth £150 is still a collector he should not be derided and abused JUST because his collection is of little interest to a serious collector . Out of little acorns mighty oaks grow . PS I hope this arguement stops here now

It depends what kind of muck it is and how long you leave the items in it. I've got a Lighthouse mains unit (I'd not bother with a battery one) and it works well on certain things with just soapy water. On most types of coins it sometimes starts to make a difference but you have to leave it on for hours.