Leaderboard

Are you calling me a nerdy type ? Surely that must be classified as a hate crime ?

Who promoted you to pedant in chief? Peck's still in office as far as I am aware.

You've been pencilled in for a guest appearance on "Fun With Flags".

Even London Coins have a fairly decent picture of a die number 3. Looks nothing like the one on ebay, unsurprisingly.

After my eventual success with the threehalfpence, it has been suggested I list the few threepence dates I still need. Any readable condition considered as long as the price is commensurate with the condition! 1853, 1852, 1849, 1848, 1847, 1842, 1839 I am ashamed to admit I have all but given up searching on Ebay - either no hits at all or ridiculously high prices for the condition, or mis-identified groats. (The 1839 at auction on Ebay at the moment I am already watching.)

Here's an original:-

And today's "Fun With Flags" is being presented by a special guest, Secret Santa...

I don't think so...I think it's just a surface lamination or even a gouge...it's so totally unconvincing it's hard to imagine anyone considering a successful "doctoring" ! The "3" is not even in the right place. But the price is shocking; let's hope it's the vendor bidding against himself (he can do that without scrutiny because it's a private listing sadly).

No it's a comparison of equals. We're all nerdy types, just our subject matter is different. Typically, when someone visits the table and asks if you have a particular type of coin, you point out the desirability of a particular variety at which point most shrug their shoulders and tell you they are just looking for a cheap, decent basic example. Maybe 10-20% are looking for the more esoteric.

"overcome with indifference" - I like that oxymoron!

Lukasz clearly has a good knowledge of coin rarities, or he could not mis-describe them so regularly; I think it must be a deliberate sales ploy, as it enhances the prices and even if some are returned he wins; it is not a victimless pursuit however, as less knowledgable collectors/investors can be guided by the supposed good reputation of an established EBay seller, and whenever this trust in ‘experts’ is broken genuine honest dealers are likely tarred with the same brush and overall trade suffers. Not to forget the many enthusiastic but less knowledgeable collectors happily enjoying their expensive though ‘ bargain priced‘ trays of ‘mint errors’, rarities and Saxon pennies from Poland where they are now ‘found’ in greater numbers than the Vikings ever took over. They will end up bitten. Jerry

I'd rather recommend Chris Perkins' Check Your Decimal Change - Spink are absolutely way out in their decimals pricing.

My friend, who is very wealthy, asked his son what he wanted for his birthday, and his son told him he wanted a cowboy outfit, so my friend bought him Hermes.....

It comes up when you click on "contact seller". You get the following range of queries:- Details about the item (2) Postage (6) Combined postage (0) Make an offer (1) Pay for the item (2) Returns (1) Other (1) If you then click on "make an offer", you get asked if you want to look for an "answer" - which then comes up with:- Make an offer: We found 1 answer(s) How do I make an offer? The seller hasn't enabled offers for this item. See if they'll consider — send a message with your best price. Although you could of course ignore the looking for an answer bit, and just go straight into sending a message to the seller.

Looks like you were right, Paddy. Thanks for the tip. I made an offer of $300 on this coin The seller made a counter offer of $345, which I accepted. Met me in the middle. It's about in line with what a such a coin would trade at in the UK, and it's certainly a lot better than the current small date 1857 I've got which shows signs of old cleaning. At the original price it was one of their better priced coins. That'll have to be the last coin I buy this year, given what I've spent recently. Just hope it manages to reach here OK.

Higher grade specimens can have fuller breasts! I believe that the 1860/59 is a single die pair. Reverses always have the weak legend, especially in BRITANNIAR, and even on higher grade pieces. The clover is also detached from its stalk, although that feature is also seen on other years. Obverses, whether full 6 or partial 6, always have identical marks under Victoria's chin, and again under her pony tail. They also have the doubled tie ribbon.....which isn't really a tie ribbon but a clashed die, as explained in Peck Page 404, and better on MG's website.

I'm going to hazard a guess and say nobody important in numismatic terms. 'Very Rare Ancient British Coin' suggests a person who doesn't know too much about coins given the numbers known even in the 19th century, though I suppose the individual die pair is probably relatively rare