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OK, we appear to have an issue here, so let's debate it. You appear to have a problem with Simon Willis - that's a specific issue between yourself and him. 'Dealers all deal between themselves'. - they do the world over. Every dealer has a list of customers and coins they require. They are hardly going to say I am not going to buy a coin for you that you want because it comes from another dealer! They usually have a good sense of underpriced coins, and also have to buy to offer a broad range of items when stock is short. i.e they have to buy coins, but other dealers are only a small section of the market place. 'set up price fixing between themselves'. Example? If a coin is common there is no way that the market can possibly be rigged. If it is rare or highly desirable, then the number available is unlikely to exceed one or two in any instance. The only instance I can think where there is some attempt to link coin pricing, is where the coins are slabbed, with a given number equating to a certain price. If people will buy coins unseen based on the slab number, that is a form of price fixing because (leaving aside the ability to resubmit to receive a higher grade), the grade is deemed to be set despite only forming one opinion amongst many. The same can not be said for raw grading whereby it is accepted that opinions differ and so the price for a given grade has more flexibility. If a coin comes from another dealer, then the selling price must inevitably be higher than the purchase price for the new owner to make a profit. 'shuffle customers like cattle'. Not sure where we are going here. I can't think of any dealers who consciously try to move their customers on to the next table. They certainly keep their list of customers to themselves, which is normal for any business. A dealer might tell a good customer where he can get a specific coin, but that is doing someone a favour on the back of past sales. 'lie on eBay'. Don't know as I haven't bought on there for well over a year. I haven't the patience to trawl through the more than 100K British coins listed. 'don't really have as much knowledge as they wish they had, but do they HAVE to be so nasty???' Again, a bit of evidence would help would help if you want to throw stones. We all wish we had more knowledge. Every area has someone who knows more than the next person. Judging by your post on my profile I assume you have included me in this section. For those who haven't looked it reads 'Gosh ain't you a fine example of the nasty arseholes I said populate this forum....negative nelly should be your name......you are certainly no expert in anything except bullshit'. If you would care to elucidate with specifics, I can make a reasoned response. If it was in relation to my reference to the NNC slabs. As 'Centisles' on eBay, he acquired a reputation on both sides of the pond for grading things much higher than anyone else. If it was with regard to the 1911 slabbed by a company neither of us have heard from, then the uplift in price from a PCGS or NGC 65 rating should be enough to cover the cost of slabbing. I also note you mentioned trolling on the MP thread. I made the not unreasonable assumption that you too were trolling. Your first 8 or 9 posts promised much, but then on Christmas Eve you managed to populate the entire first page (but no more) of the 'Free for All' forum topics in the space of a few minutes with replies, many comprising a few words with little in the way of punctuation or properly formed sentences. They hinted at sensible replies, but said nothing informative as there was no corroborative evidence or reasoned argument for the statement. A post asking for an Ansell sovereign is ok. You then listed 10 or 11 coins in the 'Items for sale'. For someone with less than 50 posts in total, nearly half of which were the mechanical replies made shortly before followed by listing items for sale, you were following a tried and tested method used by people trying to ingratiate themselves with a view to selling coins via something resembling a pyramid scheme. Overpriced silver slabs are the most popular product in this area. I think our friend Henry was the last person to try this on here. As I also mentioned, Chris is kind enough to provide this forum FOC. Whilst he has included a For Sale section, he is first and foremost a dealer and publisher, so we don't flood his website with adverts for our own wares. Certainly not with what is virtually an introductory message. Reasoned debate is always welcome here.

Those dealers in the UK I have done business with have been honorable and ethical. That is because I've avoided the minority who are not. You would find the same situation with dealers in the US, Canada or any other country.

Why on earth do you ask that? You have had an unpleasant experience with one dealer, and have described your side of the story on this forum. You now seem to be insinuating that bad practice is endemic in the profession. This is totally unfair of you, and I have personally never found a dealer other than fair and courteous, and I attend coin fairs and buy on line regularly. There are a number of dealers on this forum who provide freely of their time and expertise for the benefit of all whom I am sure would not take kindly to the implication in the question. You complain on another thread of the activity of “trolls” on the forum, in fact one individual who made unwise alcohol fuelled comments for which he later apologised , then you follow up with this sort of statement. I see little difference. Jerry

I don't think the coin business is all that different to any other. Over 30 years experience as an auditor taught me that 99% of businesses are above board and try to do the right thing by their customers. Unfortunately, the 1% (in fact, usually a lot less than 1%) tend to get an inordinate amount of publicity, give all the good businesses a bad name and leave a public impression that there is a generalised problem. I make regular acquisitions of coins. I have auction houses that I trust and know how I wish to deal with and I have dealers that I trust and who have never let me down (including Rob from whom I have made several acquisitions). My disappointments have come mainly from one auction house and because of my own mistakes. I still buy from that auction house and I have worked out how to manage my risk there and I am working diligently on not making mistakes going forward.

Forgot I had this lying around I wasn't aware it was a rare coin. well if I done my homework correctly. British India Bengal Presidency 1795 Copper pice. NGC list 4 types all rare. With mint state @ $2200. Whoda thunk eh

And the rest.

OK, I'll go with that. The remainder of his collection including James & Charles' silver was sold through the Circular commencing Feb 2001. His tin, copper and bronze was in the same issue, but there is no mention of a no date in exergue coin unless it was listed at a later date. First bit attached.

I first got into numismatics with this idea that coins could be an investment. I quickly lost that view and then bought coins for the pleasure of it, enjoying holding them, imagining the history of who had used them etc. I have made a decent sum from trading recent decimals, but only through constantly scouring eBay, reading the mintage figures released by the RM and following trends and identifying possible future growth coins has that been possible. Coins like gold will never produce anything, they’ll never pay a dividend and are driven by fashion in terms of the price they will yield, so any investment is purely a punt that there’s someone who will pay more for the coin than you did in the future and is therefore not an investment but speculation. Like stuntman, my investment monies go on accumulation passive trackers and growth shares (buy Bango BGO!) There will be a downturn, but I’ll still get my divis/ greater buying opportunities.

Nicely done Rob! I am from the United States, but I am on your side of this conversation!

I think you'd probably be better off on Cointalk.

Here's a few which make me look carefully. Font of inscription - fake seems to be thinner. Goggles - Real one has a more defined inner incuse ring. Lines across the face - more wavy on the real one, better defined ear. The TM next to the Olympic logo is narrower on the real coin.

http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/11554-rare-aquatic-50-pence-copies/#comment-154624

"The coins in the slabs go round and round, round and round, round and round; the coins in the slabs go round and round, all day long!"

Exactly the reason for posting, serves to help those trying to purchase a genuine coin not to get ripped off. There was one on Ebay using a photo 'borrowed' from previous genuine listing, ask Seller for additional images and be specific as to the image required, any Seller wanting to sell their coin will oblige, get no response or an excuse, leave well alone. Everyone is different, each will find a feature that stands out to them, for myself IRB on the Obv and gap between swimmers breast and waves on the Rev,