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Good luck to everyone that participate (or those that would like to do so) in tomorrow's auction of my collection by Heritage Galleries. I'm certain that I've thoroughly enjoyed being a collector of British copper and bronze, and I hope that the high bidders for my coins will feel privileged to own the best that I could find in the marketplace during my search for perfection. Salvador Dali said: "Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it." I've always tried to find the "best of the best"; when I've failed to do so. it wasn't available!

You will find that the essential standards as enumerated in the book are applicable to any coin being evaluated..... What this book (or any specialized grading guide) does, is list specific points to look at when grading a specific coin. The essentials, as I stated earlier, are applicable to any coin....

Thanks for all the helpful advice gents. Much appreciated.

You'd think they would do by now. Not to mention live auctions on the internet.

Not true - if you have left a postal/commission bid, then the auctioneer will announce it just like a room or telephone bid, so if the last room bid was £1500, he'll say something like "I've got £1600 on commission - Fair warning" and if there are no other bids, you'll get it at £1600. Which is exactly what you said - stupid me 😡

Always do, Jon. The live auctions are great to listen to.

Not true - if you have left a postal/commission bid, then the auctioneer will announce it just like a room or telephone bid, so if the last room bid was £1500, he'll say something like "I've got £1600 on commission - Fair warning" and if there are no other bids, you'll get it at £1600.

Yes, that's right. The auctioneer would open - if he had a bid on the books - at the reserve or estimate. Then if there were bids in the room, the auctioneer would raise (often by pointing at his book) with the next highest bid. If the room cleared what was on the book he would say something like "I'm out" and point to the overbidder.

Yes - but if your bid is the only commission bid he has it should start with something like "I have £300 with me..." and then each time another bid comes in, online or in the room, he can take the next increment "with me" until your bid is passed. At any point that the others give up, that is the price you should get it for. If he has two or more advance bids, then he starts at the first bid that clears the others. If he starts at £2000 when yours is the only bid he has then he is breaking the law and risks losing his auctioneer's licence or worse. If he starts at £300, has no bidders online or in the room and starts taking non existing bids to try to bump the price up to your bid, he is also breaking the law - this is referred to as "taking bids off the wall". Some auction houses have bad reputations for either of these illegal practices and regular bidders avoid leaving bids with them.

If you get chance Mike, it's worth listening to the live auction. The auctioneer would refer to your £2000 bid as "with me" until the bidding exceeded your amount, then it would be "in the room" or "on the internet" etc.

If there were no other bids you should get it at the start price or reserve price! No matter how high the commission bids auctioneers are legally obliged to sell at the lowest possible amount. With an estimate of £300 to £400 it would imply that the reserve is around £300 or less (they are not allowed to have a reserve more than 10% over the lower estimate I believe), so with no other bidding you should get it for around £300. The only way you should be paying £1900 is if another bidder has put in a bid of £1800. (Or, to be pedantic, one of £1900 but lodged after yours.)

Wouldn't you get it for whatever the auctioneer started at Mike - somewhere near the estimate? You'd only pay £1900 if someone else had bid £1800. Or have I missed your point? If it was LCA you'd get it for £2000.

Fur muff...? Oh I see. There's a nice kinky boot on the reverse.

I think this pretty much right - there are plenty of mules were the intent at time of production is unknown and whether it was deliberate or an accident I think it's still obviously a mule. Intent at the design stage is where the right way is meant to be decided.

The height of fashion in 1794 Norwich. The items on the obverse are a ladies' fur muff and tippet

You can still get a very good idea as to comparative overall circulation, eg: hair detail, extent of wear, rubbing of lettering etc, even if the actual coins you are looking to grade, don't appear in Derek's book. The basic principles are the same with all coins.