Chris Perkins

It was exactly this day 10 years ago that the 17th real member joined the forum. With the exception of me, I think he's the only remaining early member from those early days that is still very active. He keeps an eye on things here a lot better than I manage to. Ladies and Gentlemen - Our moderator, pillar of the community, informed friend, Charles I shilling nut. It's TomGoodheart. Thank you for being here for a whole decade.

More info today: It was a mixture of coins and no banknotes. The victim estimated the value as £7000. So they couldn't have been from the WWI era (silver and gold), unless they were all copper denominations, which is also unlikely because 10,000 Roubles in copper you'd probably need a crane and HGV to steal. Something doesn't really add up. Either the victim had absolutely no idea what was stolen, or he's being dishonest about what actually was stolen.

My art teacher would ask if you were suffering from 'verbal diarrhea' (or in this case the written equivalent).

A contact of mine that normally buys books said: 1971-1982 4.00 quid each as long as they have there outers depends on if there red or blue prices are as follows up til 2004 without a 5 pound coin i will pay 5.50 each with the five pound coin i will pay 11.00, the 1989 i will pay 11 for aswell after 2004 i will pay 15-20 pound per set.

That had occurred to me too initially, but the proper Metropolitan Police email address re-assured me!

And my reply to DC ****: Dear DC *****, 10,000 Roubles as in 10,000 One Rouble coins, or 10,000 Roubles in total face value made up of a mixture of Russian coins? The 5, 10 and 25 Rouble coins were gold. The 1 Rouble down to its 10th part were silver and the very small denominations were copper. Or, were there banknotes among them? In normal used condition the vast majority of the silver and gold coins are just dealt with for the value of the metal they contain. The large quantity to me, indicates that the coins were probably in normal used condition because collectors tend to have far fewer examples (e.g. one of each year) in the best possible condition and would have no use for such a large amount. So it would be very likely that whoever stole them did so for the silver/gold value rather than any (if any) collectable value. Whether gold or silver, it's a huge amount of coins to have in the first place! I would be a little bit suspicious about the victim perhaps confusing the face value of the number of items etc, as anyone that has 10,000 or anything would surely have some kind of rough idea about what they looked like. If they are mainly banknotes, then banknotes, even 100 years old, tend to very rarely be worth much at all (despite many owners believing them to be valuable)! If they are coins, then I would imagine the thieves would try to sell them for the metal content. A huge amount of Russian coins offered as collectable coins would cause any dealer to be very suspicious. To address your questions: 1) No. Not heard of any huge quantities of Russian coins recently. 2) Probably not, especially if they were sold as gold/silver. Although the quantity would also make most reputable metal dealers very suspicious too. 3) As mentioned above. I would think this unlikely as even the most prolific collector wouldn't have 10,000 face value of anything because that would involve duplication! I can't however rule out that they could have been stolen to order by someone who wanted the metal. 4) Yes. If you provide more details of how many actual coins it was and if many/any were gold and silver then I can pass the text and your contact details to the British Numismatic Trade Association who represent the 80 or so leading UK coin dealers. The BNTA will send a message to all the members and will also post details on their website to get the message out. That might help. If the crime happened months ago then I would think any recovery chances would be slim. Mr C H Perkinswww.predecimal.comwww.rotographic.com

Posting this here to raise awareness. It seems a lot, so I wonder if a lot of the 10,000 face value are banknotes: Good Evening Sir I am DC within the CID at Hammersmith & Fulham and I am investigating the theft of around 10,000 Russian Roubles from around the time of the First World War. As I know very little about this area I am hoping to use your expertise to assist my investigation. I have come across your website through Google and I am hoping any suspects may have done the same? Could you please help me with the following: 1) Have you heard of anyone trying to sell any Russian Roubles to this approximate value in the past few months? 2) How easy is it to sell the coins, would you need some ID etc?3) Are there any specialist dealers in the local area or could these coins have been stolen to order by a collector? 4) Any other information you can think of that would help me? I apologise I can tell you no more about the coins, as the victim had no photographs or serial numbers of the coins to pass onto me. You can reach me by replying to this email or on 0208 246 2655. Kind Regards DC *Name removed, just in case they don't want it broadcast here*Priority Crime UnitAvenue House, Hammersmith Police Station

We've nearly reached 100k posts! Sometimes the number seems to race up quicker than I can see all the posts. I wonder if it also counts the non-public, member to member PM's?

I don't think there is an easy way around it! I reckon the best way to maximise the money from decimals is probably to break the sets up and sell the coins individually, but that's a massive lot of work for the sake of a load of coins worth not much more than face value. I'd probably be interested in the £5 coins. Are they all in their card packages or just loose and BU? In the card packages I can pay £6.50 each and if loose then £5.50. I sell them for £8 - £10 and have all the images already so that saves time. For proof sets: dealers I know usually value them at face and a half. I try to avoid them as they're bulky! In saying that though, I did ok with some 1980s BU sets in Germany the other month so perhaps you could talk me into it.

The 'Rover' V8 was the engine used in the TR8, but I know it was based on the US engine originally. The TR8 is very rare in RHD form, I think they made less than 20 for the home market. It's common to find TR7's with retro fitted V8 engines. That's another engine that saw decades of use. Range Rovers had them until recently and TVR may still be using them I think.... just googled and complete engines are still made for when people need replacements. Peck rightly mentions Austin. The Jaguar XK engine is another that was used for many years, from 1949 to 1992 in sports cars and saloons. The Rolls Royce 6.3 and later in 6.75l form is still in production and has been used since 1959! A police Daimler Dart bagerap! That must have been a few years ago. Dad had a Daimler V8 250 saloon in the 80s, which of course had the same engine, at least I think it did.

Quite long winded that, esp without being broken up into paragraphs. I've never read past about the 2nd line. It's a Triumph 2000 doing a wheelie, and that's all that counts! The 6 Cylinder 1998cc and 2498 cc were also based on the 4 cylinder Standard engine... so was the V8 Triumph Stag engine. It was typical British practice (not just at Triumph) to spend about £50 per year on product development in order to keep using 1940s engines for at least 60 years. In my opinion that is why the British owned car makers are no more. The R&D people simply didn't have enough money and that meant a new car design was more about raiding the existing parts bin than actually making something radically new to compete with the other world car makers. In saying that though, even with the limited funds they had, there were some gems created against all odds. We can't even successfully make London Taxis now without Chinese help.

Rear wheel to rear wheel, which is also about the inner dimension too, it's 1.4m / 4'8" wide. I think you're right, the rear bike wheel would also need to come off. I'll have to see. The way it's looking though, I may not even have time to find a bike and try it.

Yes, the Triumph straight 6 is a very tuneable engine. The Injected 2.5l version in the TR6 was good for 150bhp as standard. Better exhaust manifold and downpipes instantly add 10-15bhp and the 1998cc has been bored out to a 2.7l. I'm sure the 2.5 can be increased to over 3l and must be good for 225+bhp when tuned. Plenty of room in many Triumphs for engine upgrades too, like this one with 434bhp and enough torque to actually wheelie: http://www.chriswitor.com/proddetail.php?prod=11secondRWYBTriumph2000Streetcar It's a lot of work and expense though, so hence most people just buy a Subaru.

Peck, it's 2014. How many drivers out there would actually recognise either of them? A Herald is too Thora Herd and even in Vitesse guise with a straight 6 (same engine as my current 2000) and double headlights it's still a bit too 1950s suburbia post-war sensible older person with large framed NHS glasses runaround, for me. Ask me again in 20 years though.

The sides will probably be smooth and blank and the design details will be colour printed onto it in China, Elvis-coin style!

I am loyal to Triumph, have been all my driving life and am a 3rd gen Perkins Triumph driver, so I can't possibly go MG and see no reason to as there are ample various Triumphs for various budgets and uses. One day I quite fancy a TR6 or a Stag, or a 2500S estate. Ooo, wouldn't say no to a GT6 either.

My MG head gasket went and the levels were never low as far as I know (unless the previous owner buggered it), but it certainly can't hurt to check, and when you get the mayo it usually first appears as spots on the oil filler screw-cap. I check the Triumph 2000 fluids daily too, mainly because I know that one of its twin Stromberg carbs weeps a bit and it needs new needle damper oil every day or it runs rough. That reminds me, I must get a new gasket set when I'm over there.

It's 292k to be precise, and I think that's fairly average, or even below average. I've had Fairways with 350k or 370k on the clock, and the clocks tend to stop working at every round 100k so it was probably higher. 21k miles. You must be on the 2nd or 3rd head gasket by now then? I had a 2001 MGF years ago (1.6VVC with TF front and rear ends). Was a fine motor, but a bit too refined to drive and with the dreaded K Series head gasket issues, I was unable to relax in it. The best proper go-cart-like open top British sportscar I had was a '78 Triumph Spitfire. You sit a couple of inches off the ground (usually on a damp seat), wild rear end, not really that fast but utterly bonkers.

That would logically mean then, that all of the existing round £1 coins (real ones and fakes) would be demonetised fairly quickly and they would therefore have to mint enough new dodecahedron coins (1.5bn+ ?) to replace 34 years worth of £1 coins! It's a massive task in order to eliminate £45m in fakes. Osborne's must be a uniface pattern I suppose. I wonder if he gave it back.

Yes, I fly to Stansted Tuesday afternoon but am on public transport down to SE London to pick up the Taxi. What have you got?

Well, this is the taxi I've bought. This is one of the photos as provided by Deptford Don. It's a '98 TX1 with under 300k on the clock (below average for these) and it's got the chrome grille, fake walnut dash, aircon and a CD player. Metallic green isn't the colour I would have bought new, but beggars can't be choosers, eh. It's always fun getting these insured as the insurers don't seem to understand that taxis can be used as anything other than as taxis. Direct Line will insure it but only if it has no meter fitted and I cover up the 'TAXI' sign on the roof.

I once had in my possession what was probably one of the very best 1905 Half crowns available. I was in Kent, a stone's throw from London coins, so called them on the telephone hoping to be able to bring it along personally to be authenticated as the source was a private person and my intended customer wanted it 100% verified despite the fact that I was happy with it and so was cousin Monk whom I'd also showed it to. I was treated as if I were a clueless member of the public that was excited at just finding a Churchill crown! And was told that I couldn't bring it in personally (although I have been there in person in the past). In the end I sold it raw for £10k and the new owner (a very good customer/friend of mine) sent it to one of the US TPGs to be slabbed and it came back as MS66 (or possibly MS65 I can't remember). I've met Mr Lockett a few times, and have nothing against him or anyone else there including Semra who has in the past been a big help by sending me big excel files of price-data, but I do think they are at the very least under staffed and I also know from experience that as a coin dealer you do quickly get fed up with people calling up because (for example) they've just found a large 50p that they think is a piedfort, or they have a 1979 NEW PENCE 2p etc etc....and it's very easy to get snappy and treat all callers and possibly emailers too, with a certain default cynicism.

Thanks Nordle, but it's not my book! I just publish it, it's by Del, who is on here as Red Riley. The 1930 halfcrown is VF on the reverse and AF on the obverse. Difficult to sell like that, but it's a little better than bullion and could find a home I suppose, so I'd factor that in if buying the lot.

It was a hire boat. It's now a half lower/half higher boat!

RHD transit would be fairly worthless in Germany. I had a RHD LDV in Germany once, and RHD vans in general are dangerous on sweeping curve junctions, where you want to turn right. It's impossible to see if anything is coming on the road you intend to turn on to as from your seated right position, looking towards the traffic all you see is the inside of the side of the van! London Taxi all the way and they are almost van-like inside. Unfortunately it's now impossible to get the FX4 (Austin shape) fresh out of service as all of them are now over 15 years old. My mate in Deptford at Ascott Cab Co. will no doubt find something suitably cheap for me. http://www.ascottcab.com/