Chris Perkins

There is a long thread about signatures in here somewhere.

Yes, it kind of should be there even if it doesn't look right, as it indicates an UNC price.

The Romans were pretty quick to put AD1 on that coin weren't they, considering the Romans weren't main stream Christian until Constantine the Great. And what a wonderful picture. The lister is either a bloody idiot or a child.

You have an Irish Penny, and just like the British 1967 version it's the most common Irish penny ever. Probably worth about 20p if it's in mint condition.

They're convenient, but I wouldn't trust them for nice coins. I've taken bronze coins out of them that have been spotty on the side that touches the paper/card. I don't suppose they even thought much about coin preservation and the chemicals in the card in the 60's. (thanks for your custom!)

My Nan always used to try her very best to do the keep fit every morning with Lizzie. That was TVAM wasn't it? I remember when the Big Breakfast was launched. It was actually very good at first with Chris Evans, Gabby Roslin and Paula Yates. It made such a nice change to have something aimed more at the young, rather than the very serious news type programmes.

Yes, I'll need to find all your addresses now. So far HPJ, Sylvester, Geoff, Wybrit, DAS and Edward are sorted. If you know any of the others (or are any of the others), please ask them to email an address. cp@predecimal.com

Why you little pesky sarcastic gits!

Yes, the double T variety should be scarcer than the normal version. It depends how many are sitting in the printers, the normal version might end up the rarer!

It could be cast or hammered. It wasn't until the British set up proper mints in India that they were able to make coins to modern standards.

Just to add to this: I recently purchased 3 slabbed UK coins from the people that I think Kuhli (or another observant American) mentioned before. They have set themselves up as the first seller of slabbed UK coins, and promote themselves by saying that the slabbed bug is just about to come to the UK from the US...So get them cheap while you can! The 3 coins I purchased with an investor customer in mind were: 1826 Plain edge Proof Half Crown PCGS PR63 1898 Half Crown PCGS MS64 1902 Half Crown PCGS MS63 I got them today and I'm not very pleased because: The 1826 Half Crown is a nice coin, but it does not have a plain edge. It's fiddley to see with it being surrounded with plastic, but at the right angle I am able to determine that it does not have a plain edge. Nice coin though so I think I'll probably keep it. The 1898 Half Crown (supposed to be MS64) has the most awful black carbon spot type mark on the truncation and another less severe one on the reverse. It's UNC and lustrious, but there was no mention of the black marks in the listing and the pictures were not good enough to see them. The 1902 Half Crown has unbelievably ugly patchy toning that is not visible in the picture either. I wil probably keep it. So my lesson today is that slabbing is all very well, but if you're going to sell slabbed coins you cannot just list the grade and have done with it. Descriptions of many coins are not complete if they just list the grade. And Slabbed coins are hard to take accurate pictures of. And god alone knows how a coin with horrible black marks Obv and Rev got away with MS64! (unless it happened in the slab, which is perhaps more scary!) And perhaps most importantly; slabbed coins are not always a great investment for people who know nothing about coins. I can imagine lots of people buying coins purely on pictures and PCGS (etc) grade only....Tucking them away and finding when they come to sell them that the coins are less attractive in the eye of a collector than the grade led them to believe. Any coin investment has to involve someone that knows lots about coins regardless of whether they're slabbed or not. I'm not saying the seller (who shall remain nameless) is dishonest, but I do feel that they are aiming themselves at non experts from the angle that a 'slab with a grade is all you need', and I believe that to be wrong. Also, they seem to be PCGS and NGC authorised...So if they're slabbing the coins themselves that's even more 'hmmmm'.

I don't like football, have better things to do. I do like a nice pint sometimes, but very infrequently. I can't remember the last. I don't trust people that use Lindner trays, as they must have money to burn My Lighthouse range is compatable, and so much cheaper!

Yes, I'll echo that. Go for sterling silver (all pre 1920 British Silver coins will be ok). I do hope that your first purchase will be from me!

Usually that's because people know very little about them and are cautious to get involved....Like jumping out of a plane for the first time. Plus the fact that there are plenty of newer coins to collect. I have a little collection of just over 30 identified Roman coins. I have them arranged by date. None are worth more than perhaps £25 and most are worth less than £5 but I like then. There is still a collector in me somewhere.

Yes sovereigns are always worth BV, it's just the high graders that are usually worth a bit more. For example bullion value is about £52 per sovereign and I've been selling 1925 S UNC sovs for between £58 - £79. They catalogue at £75, but usually go for less on ebay.

I reckon it's probably a forgery.

The mint letter M will NOT be in the exergue, it'll be just above it on the ground below the horses right rear hoof. It's important also to stress that 90% of half or full sovereigns are worth around £26 and £52 respectively unless they are alsolutely one of the best examples available. Always be careful with quoting raw catalogue values at people JMD, as coins have to be judged on their merits and doing so often raises artificial hopes.

(oh and Geoff, your Half Crown was posted yesterday. I say 'your' when I mean hopefully 'your' of course)

If you register, you can attach a picture, I thinks that's the best thing to do.

I had some maundy odds like that...Sold them as scrap!

There are also investor/collectors....People that buy big money coins that they find atractive, with the hope that they will increase in value.

Did you get my message Alex? Ciao

Thanks Custard, it justifies the price I paid for the other one quite nicely. I shall have a quiet word in someones ear about that coin and may well go for it. Thankyou very much for bringing it to my attention.

My No.8 Newsletter is scheduled to go out in 20 minutes. It contains 180 New coins in list form (no pictures this time round because my time has been taken up by the book). It also includes a discount on Collectors' Coins GB 2005. And here it is: http://www.predecimal.com/newsletter/number8.htm

Great, but I hope you haven't just copied Coincraft or Spink (i doubt it). It has to be your own work. What is is, .doc format?