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18 successful bids with LCA, 13 at my maximum bid. Nothing suspicious there then.

https://coinsweekly.com/ccg-hires-new-senior-grading-finalizer-and-no-end/ I hope hes not in to brandy and champagne like his namesake. Mind you judging by some of the recent grading anomalies some graders might be.

Hmmm, I don't think that 13 of the bids would be won at maximum out of the 18. That doesn't compute well. Maybe three to five at most.

The likelihood of winning for your maximum bid varies a great deal depending on where you pitch your bid with respect to the reserve/lower estimate, book value of the coin, whether you tend to go one bid over round figures and I am sure many other factors. A simplistic example would be some-one who makes bids at the reserve prices on multiple offerings. He may not expect to win many, but he knows that those he does win are at a sensible price, and all will be at his maximum bid. Without knowing the figures involved it is really not possible to suggest foul play. Estimates of value are not dissimilar amongst people who do their prior research, and therefore many bidders are likely to drop out at around the same figure in an auction. The generous valuer will pay more and win more, but at higher prices and closer to his maximum. Some bidders bidding patterns will dictate that when they do win, it is more likely to be at or near the most they would pay. My thoughts, anyway. Just praying that Covid regs are relaxed soon, and I can go to a Coin Fair and purchase in less frenetic environment. Jerry

Sorry, but the issue of the COBR meetings is a complete red herring. In any emergency, unless it needs an immediate response, there is an initial planning and organisation phase. At this point it is unnecessary to directly include the boss in the planning, since he usually lacks the knowledge and expertise to contribute very much in the early stages. The people who are included need to have sufficient seniority to be able to make decisions and to direct the planning, and in the case of the pandemic this would be the Health Secretary, who did attend these meetings. Also, of course, he will have briefed the PM/Cabinet on what was happening, and will have sought any decisions he wasn't able to take for himself. It would have been a complete waste of the PM's time for him to sit through all the detailed material and briefings in those early stages. If anybody wants to understand the depth of detail, go the the Cabinet Office website and search for the SAGE Meeting minutes. You will quickly see exactly what I mean.

If you think obverse 5,6 and 7 are difficult to differentiate, try establishing difference between obverse 11 and 12. I have tested out this difficulty with leading halfpenny collectors. Including Iain, No agreement could be reached whether coin was 11 or 12. My conclusion is that if the differences are that unclear, there is no justification for 11 and 12 to be considered separate varieties!

I've never spent a great deal of time pawing over freeman's victoria halfpennies but, one thing's for sure, if he got rid of those useless images, he could've saved an awful lot of paper! Sacrilege I know! Apologies in advance to all that may offend!