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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

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!

Just a few more threepences and a couple of sixpences added to the collection for today.

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!

We prefer to deal in real hard currency on this forum. I don't have any trays that will accept cryptocurrency.

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.

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?

Here's the best one, from the Copthorne auction. Went for £7250, hammer:-

Managed to grab a day out detecting today. Had this little beaut, Not bad condition saying its been rolling around in a ploughed field.

This is a table I use for my customers and myself. It is not 100% perfect between the grades but as good as I can determine. (Sheldon Scale is the 70 point grading scale that was created by American Bill Sheldon) and is what is used in the United States and around the world now. CGS Numerical Grade Average Raw UK Grade Average Standard USA Sheldon 100 FDC MS70 99 FDC MS70 98 FDC MS70 97 FDC MS70 96 FDC M69+ 95 FDC MS69 94 AFDC MS68+ 93 AFDC MS68 92 AFDC MS67+ 91 AFDC MS67 90 NFDC MS66 88 BU -NFDC MS65+ 85 Choice UNC - BU MS65 82 Choice UNC MS 64+ 80 Choice UNC MS 64 78 UNC MS 63 75 UNC or near so MS 62 70 AU MS62 65 GEF MS61 60 EF AU58 - MS60 55 NEF AU55 50 GVF AU55 45 GVF AU 53 40 VF AU 50 35 NVF XF 45 30 GF XF 40 25 GF XF35 20 F XF30 15 NF XF20 10 VG XF15 8 VG VG10 5 GOOD VG8 4 FAIR G4 3 FAIR G3 2 FAIR G2 1 FAIR G1

If you can use eBay use it. 1000's of collectors and dealers buy from eBay. I often have lists of 'Wanted-Coins' from my customers and search eBay for them. It gives you the chance to get a better price as someone may pay more if they are looking for it. Only use PayPal and stick to the eBay rules dealing and communicating through eBay only and you will come to no harm. If you post out, only use the Paypal address and get a signature. Good luck

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 ...

This coin is impossible to photograph. Such is the unusual toning . I guess because it's just starting . Although I can clearly see the lustre the effect of the toning makes it look matt like in pictures and does no justice to the coin at all. here are 1945 Shilling scottish arms and scarcer D2121 1946 english arms

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

In case anyone's interested.

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

Dont know if you saw /or bought this .https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jamaica-2002-Proof-8-Coin-Set-1c-Silver-25-Dollars-Women-039-s-Hurdles-500-issued-/391949805523?hash=item5b420767d3%3Ag%3A82UAAOSwFSxaPif5&nma=true&si=HzbUnNJvllh6fzDe9ENxSPogZgc%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 they do exist .and a bit pricey at that .

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

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.