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He's very good at sleeping, is Frank.... He came in the workshop recently, when I was really busy, him miaowing his head off as usual, pretending he was starving to death, so I quickly grabbed the pack of cat treats, poured some out under his nose, and he looked up like I was an idiot. I was. I'd poured him a neat pile of ground coffee......

Ian Blackford - without naming him explicitly - called him a racist. The Speaker warned him, then invited him to continue with his question. Ian Blackford didn't withdraw the 'insult' and wasn't warned again. Says it all really.

Colin's "update" - was a handwritten list of each item number that had been sold off the list which he then photocopied on his fax machine. He would send this to anyone that was unlucky when they phoned up for an item. Inverted commas to emphasise it was his special touch of customer service.

Monte. Our next door neighbor's cat keeping the hot water service warm. A firm favorite around our units. Plant in my courtyard. Strophanthus gratus a source of arrow tip poison in tropical Africa.

Sometimes rarity alone is almost enough. Look at picture postcards (which are now sent as a tiny % of olden days), and vinyl records even before the resurgence of interest in new vinyl releases. Numismatics I believe is the oldest hobby going back hundreds, maybe 000's of years?

Another "Know your dealer", this time from Coin Monthly August 1969:-

Hi, Production at the Royal Mint increased sharply in the early 1870's for nearly every denomination produced. In my opinion an employee could be assigned a range of die numbers or die numbers taken from a particular range. Lets take the 1879 half sovereign as an example, we know that production of this rare half sovereign was completed on one day the 6th December 1879 amounting to mintage of approximately 35050 (my figures) with 10 different die numbers being recorded. Gold being a soft metal this would give an average production of 3505 per die which appears very low especially if compared to the previous year, where the mintage was 2,317,558 and 89 recorded die numbers so far, giving an average of 26,040 per die. if the dies were handed out to more than one operative this would make more sense. Die numbers recorded for 1879 are: 57 & 58 (57 also recorded in 1878 but not 58) 88 & 89 (not recorded in either 1878 or 1880) 95 (not recorded in either 1878 or 1880) 112, 116, 119 (119 also recorded in 1880) 161 & 180 (only recorded on the 1879 coin) How many different operators are involved in this production run could be 1 could be 10 but more likely 2 or 3 I think by 1873 the futility of using die numbers had become apparent to the Royal Mint and this is why the the new Sovereign and the re-introduced half crown did not have die numbers.

My late wife phoned Colin about a Peck....he put her in touch so when I appeared from London one day I was greeted by a 2nd edition with dust jacket. Blimey really fond memories.

Hi, die numbers relating to operators looks possible up until 1871 and 1872 where suddenly there would appear to be literally 100s of new employees producing half sovereigns as 100s of new die numbers appear. Any thoughts on that?

Sometimes I look into our Roo's eyes and think, yes, humans, we're f**kin' useless, aren't we. 60 million of us, and Piccaninny Watermelon Smiles Letterbox is the best we can come up with? Really? To hell in a handcart, and it's no less than we deserve.

Still digging, still finding…. I've found this, from ten or so years later. Why is "update" in in inverted commas? Reads like some kind of secret code. Noting I'd lost out on choices to people who had 'telephoned'? Well, the past is a foreign country….

Just as well. Unfortunately, there's still an abundance of twat.

Across the road from Liverpool's glorious Philharmonic Hall (saw T.Rex there in 1971, 60p!) Phonetics has a lot to answer for…..

I remember that Coin Monthly used to have a regular feature on dealers, featuring a different one every month.

Hopefully not in a three coin set with the Gruffalo and the Snowman.