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Nice 1863 penny - one day only - sensible offers only.

Had some kind of Royal Mint reply regarding the 1953 VIP proof set and i'm guessing it could count for all the cameo/VIP proofs, one of my questions was in regards to the 1953 cameo set i have and the cameo crown which i have seen described as VIP proof when they are frosted, , these are the coins in question the Royal Mint Museums reply is as follows Dear Mr Cook Thank you for your patience in awaiting a response regarding the subject of the 1953 proof sets. The frosting on these so-called on these VIP sets is difficult to comment upon, however we do know that the finish varies from set to set. With this in mind, we cannot be sure that the set we have in the Museum’s collection corresponds to the VIP version identified by coin dealers and any photographs we could supply you with would be misleading. I would, however, recommend that you show your set to one of the large London coin dealers to see if they may be able to enlighten you on the finish of your set. The Members page on the British Numismatic Trade Association website has a list of reputable vendors, including those in London, and I would encourage you to contact them with your enquiry. Kind regards Fiona so even the Royal Mint cannot answer this question, so i guess without sound provenience there is no way of separating these, although some people say you can tell by the sharpness etc, i'm sure the mint museum would have commented on this if that was the fact and the comment about varying from set to set says it all really, the enigma continues

Maurice Bull's Charles I Half Crowns vols. 3, 4 & 5 covers that denomination. Morrieson's articles in the BNJ cover the various mints, Lyall's Chester in the SNC, Allen's W/SA in the BNJ, Hird's work on Newark, specialist denomination volumes will have the appropriate coins. Then there is private research.

Something's gone wrong (for me) in the Copper Tokens thread, so I will post this newbie here, seeing as it's a penny ... 1796 Birmingham copper penny token by Thomas Wyon

Quite a pleasing 1849 shilling

I wouldn't touch these with a very long pole. IMO, there are just too many around both graded and ungraded with likely some very nice ones out "in the wild". Even more mystifying are the proof late Vicky gold from 1887 and '93. Yikes!

Agreed. He identified mine as a pattern (on the left below - note the position of the '7' and the first 8 struck over a higher 8). A very small variation but typical of the year, which is probably why so many have gone undetected.

I never slab anything so I am unfamiliar with the issues. The 1877 I can agree their point. The 1911 maybe, but a bit harsh. The 1898 does not look particularly cleaned to me - at least not in an unpleasant way. Confirms my decision against slabbing I'm afraid!

I dropped my South Sea Bubble and it burst.

As well as making sure that you have good virus protection in place (I use Avast, which is free, and seems to be pretty good) there is a useful tip that not everyone realises: If you hover the mouse pointer over a link without clicking, you should see the actual address it is linking to at the bottom of your browser. (At least that is where it appears on my Chrome browser - it may vary with others.) If the address that appears does not match what you are expecting, don't click! So if you are expecting a link to Barclays Bank and the address that appears starts ivans.bank.ru - you know what is going to happen!

Well I have achieved another upgrade to my farthing collection today, so here it is - 1882H 7+F (nothing fancy I think).

I was speaking with an 88 year old coin dealer earlier today and the subject of 1951 crowns was discussed. This dealer told me that he got married during the Festival of Britain celebrations in London. He explained to me the reasons for the two different colour boxes that the Crowns were issued in, Green & Magenta. The Green boxes were sold only in the Festival Hall, The Magenta boxes were sold in the Festival Pleasure Gardens on the opposite bank of the Thames.

I agree 100% with what you say, but have issues with the TPGs who won't call a spade a spade. If a coin is hairlined from cleaning, then call it hairlined. If a coin has been polished to death, then call it polished. If a coin has been cleaned without damaging the surfaces then it has still been cleaned. Just be honest, that's all I'm saying. After all, they offer a cleaning service in all but name. They also seem happy enough to slab coins that have been dipped, and more than the odd repaired coin has passed the audition.

A rose by any other name... It's cleaning. They call it "conservation" because cleaning sounds bad. I'm with your grandfather. But if there is a problem which is only going to get worse (e.g. verdigris, bronze disease, zinc pest) then I think intervention is necessary. After all, if you do nothing it will eventually destroy the coin. So what choice is there?

Having picked up the rough old BP1874Nn (1874H 7 over 7) above only a couple of weeks ago, Bernie kindly pointed me to a superb example (not described as such) on Baldwin's For Sale list which I snapped up immediately.

A few of my very best that, like Rob, were on Photobucket at one time ...

The royal mint have just announced a new set of four NEW potter 50p coins , groan What a surprise, NOT! I wonder if there is any betting at ladbrokes on these coins becomeing an annual event

My take is that it's NOT the same coin and you'd be justified in returning it on those grounds. There are many many signs that get my suspicions going, but here's just three: 1. the teeth on the right coin (from the V anti-clockwise to the left hand edge of the bust) are thin compared to the greater wear on the left hand coin 2. the totally different style of the JEB - particularly the E which is curved like a reversed 3 on the left, and a normal E on the right, sloping to the right 3. the upper knot on the pendant ribbon has a complete incuse line on the right, which can barely be seen at all on the left. Add to that the scratch on the last A of GRATIA (not present on the left), and a faint doubling of the ear lobe on the right, and I'd say you've been the victim of possible malpractice.

unlike this piece of crap that landed on my doorstep this morning. How on earth they can make a picture look so different is beyond me. Hard to believe it's the same coin

1887 continues with the somewhat harshly treated 1+A Shilling ( I love the way it photographs though!)

well they ain't the prettiest ever seen but £20 wasn't a bank breaker

Picked this up. Unlisted EBRITANNIAR 1881 sixpence. Although very subtle I hope you can see the underlying E beneath the B it's a little offset tilting anticlockwise

Yep

With the increasing plethora of off-kilter stuff the Royal Mint is producing I have decided to restrict myself to coins from circulation only. I feel I am being taken for a mug when they bring out more and more outlandish products at exorbitant prices. I think they are in danger of "killing the goose that lays the golden egg" in the same way the Post Office has killed the First Day cover market.

Not sure how common it was, but I understand it was done to preserve lustre. If so, it's not worked in this case ! Frightening what used to be recommended for coins.