Chris Perkins

Awww, he's gone and spoilt it all now by being nice! His reply: "hello. i was actually joking regards your book.i sell it as well so it must have some credit. it would not be a surprise if yours sold more. its a fair price. i do like the book and am jelouse really. perhaps some free advertising for our web site comming soon ? for the 2009 edition. why dont you do a budget book on celtic, iron and bronze age coinage ? i think that would sell very well indeed. we would stock it for sure. i would even assist you in any way i could. did you sell the rights to the coin book in the U.S for 500 pounds.? anyway crispy let me know about the celtic book ... or any other buisness ventures you might have ? regards for now benj " ------------------------------------------------- My reply to that: "Oh right, that's a much nicer message all of a sudden! Do you get it from Barrington Smith, Vera Trinder, Gardners or someone like that? I'd love to do a Celtic book, but the problem is usually getting hold of decent images. Firstly though, "Grading British Coins" will be completed and then hopefully a new edition on Irish coins. I always get asked about the Irish book. No, nothing much happened with the US rights to the Roman Base book. I'll be at the Frankfurt Bookfair again this year to ask around! Krause were pleased to see me and my range but nothing came of that. In the book business you have to be on people's cases constantly because everything has equal zero to minimal status apart from the things that are already earning the publisher money. I still disagree with the way some of your items are listed and described, so we'll simply have to agree to disagree on that. I'm afraid there will be no opportunity in the near future to advertise in my books." ------------------------------------------------ So all of a sudden we're best mates, isn't that lovely. But

He made an effort in that one above didn't he! This was my reply: "Well here's another reply, and I do truly hope you don't hang yourself, there would be no need for that. I've gone quiet about the listing because it's obvious that I can't get through to you. You admited that part of it was misleading and that's great, I hope you change it. Even though it is a minor technicality; an item cannot be .999 bronze. It could be .999 copper, but nothing can be .999 bronze because it's an alloy as you correctly state and is made of varying quantities of 2 ot more diferent metals. By the way, the symbol on the periodic table for copper is Cu. AE comes from the Latin. And now we are getting personal about my book (the main coin one I assume?). I'm pleased you've heard of it! I've sold more copies of the 2008 edition than any previous edition since I started doing it in 2005. It's difficult to know the figures of the other main GB coin price guides, but it is very possible that mine sells in higher numbers than one or more of the others."

Here's another reply, starting to get a bit personal now: "Hello. what you have said is unfair, ever heard of entrapment. this is predictable. when from my point of view you initially did the same to me. accusing me of fraud/deception/misleading the ebay members we sell to. considering our feedback rating i think your initial attitude was reflective of the answer you received to not questions but statements. We think this was unfair and althought we responded harshly, i personaly insist on NOT accepting it. I have built this buisness from 400 pounds so can you blame me so much for protecting what is mine ? As you can see, i am very able to use long words and correct grammar, punctuation where it merrits the use, in your case, as your grammar & mainly punctuation were not to the highest standard and the fact that i am trying to do my tax returns means i dont have a great dela of time for this. Notice you have gone all quiet about the listing now ive explained. do you feel clever yourself for initiating with a statement not a question. Its not our fault your published book lacks any credability in the numismatic industry. Anyway crispy you really are boring me now, anymore and i will hang myself, i mean it. After all this i wish you well friend. remeber next time. dont throw accusations around as it hurts. Know the difference between a question & a statement ok. there are real con men on ebay go and sort them out. I dont mind you letting me know if ive made a mistake as its more than helpfull really. ive actually quit enjoyed this conversation if i think about it its not boring and its been a long time since i vented off to or argued with a potential customer. So thanks for that if nothing els friend, i wish you and yours well. speak soon. yours Benj"

And look at this, here is the reply: "Read the bloody listing for gods sake. it clearly states what the coin is. we are going round in circles here. i have better things to do with my time thanks.thanyour boring questions. you judge without prior knowledge. read the damn listing will you please. bronze is actually a mix of tin & copper hence the AE on the periodic table. These are mostly copper with some tin added but only a small percent basically the coin is as states pure bronze, go a bother some other nut about there not having the full metal equasion stated. no more emails please your really boring. i do wish you well though . regards benj @ saxbys coins" ---------------------------------- To which I replied: "Is that really a clever way to speak to a prospective customer, or anyone for that matter? I think it reveals your true self doesn't it and I am satisfied in the knowledge now that you are a dishonest, deceptive ignorant seller who cannot spell or structure sentences properly either. I shall await with delight for your next senseless ranting." ------------------------------------ Well, he sounds like a really nice person doesn't he! My questions about the accuracy in his listing are passed off as "boring" and I am told to "read the damn listing"! And he confirms how ignorant he is by trying to assure me somehow that something can be .999 fine Bronze including telling me that copper is AE on the periodic table (it's not, it Cu of course). What a shining example of a coin and collectables dealer! What's most shocking is how someone like that can actually end up with pretty good feedback.

I got a reply (see the listing) to say that it was stated in the listing that it's a modern pattern. But it clearly isn't, the coin is even listed in the 'era' of the early milled pre-Victoria. I have told them that and also asked again to clarify what .999 bronze could possibly be. This seller is unprofessional and ill informed at the very least. At most they are dishonest and intentionally deceptive! I would certainly never buy anything from them.

And it's .999 silver, which is very odd because the RM had never used .999 silver back then! I wonder if the seller had it assayed properly and if it's been authenticated by someone who knows what they're talking about? I doubt it and suspect it's a plated penny! I have seen Saxbys Collectable before and thought they were quite reputable. This has changed my mind. I sent a message regarding the '1808' coin to say that it should be marked as a modern pattern and asking exactly what .999 bronze is.

Or "I'll be back" to quote an Austrian! I like that old German script, some of the signs are still written like that around here....the local museum and the little village voluntary fire station.

And how can something be .999 pure bronze, when bronze itself is an alloy of at least 3 different metals in varying quantities!? That's an attractive coin, but it is very misleading that the seller doesn't mention it's a modern pattern.

It's one of those things that quite possible is real, but that you'd not want to risk £50 on unless it was a known reputable coin dealer selling it, or had some kind of paperwork with it from the Royal Mint or a reputable coin dealer! And if it is real it's not a 'trial' coin but rather an error coin struck on the wrong metal.

Bingen on Rein is a town not a state. And as far as I know it was part of Germany before and after WWI, so not disputed territory or lost after the Versaille treaty.

It says that it's "small change replacement mark"....which I would translate to a token rather that a Notgeld issue. I've never seen one. Perhaps an amusement token or something like that?

I sell them for about £12 in the boxes and can buy them all day long on ebay for £5-£7. It's a crown by the way (as the paper certificate should state). It contains no actual silver.

I've met a couple of members at coins fairs. We are mostly quite spread out though.

I can answer any question. Whether the answer is complete nonsense or not, is for you to decide!

Were any of the coins silver? I long to find something made of a precious metal just so I can be satisfied that I saved it from slowing turning back to dirt over the next few thousand years!

I've got a detector and have found some coins with it! Only crappy old East German pfennig made out of aluminium, but coins nonetheless. If also found a part of a bomb (in England) and old spoons, tools, a badge, a horsebrass and bits of lead etc. It doesn't really matter what you find, it's nice to go out and get a bit of fresh air. A useful tip though, if you do try it make sure you have a handheld pinpoint device to find small treasures in clumps of dirt after the detector has done its bit. Withoug a pinpointer you can waste hours of a day looking in holes when you've dug out the metal object and it's stuck to your spade!

Best to just not let them in. From a Russian server (or Chinese, Korean and certain other Eastern lands) the chances are they just want to spam. If anyone really wants to join and gets blocked for some reason, they will find me.

There probably is some kind of mathematic formula which may fairly accurately allow you to increase the values for each coin type in each grade. And, also something similar for the inbetween grades. If there is, I'm not clever enough to have worked it out yet, so I do the values manually based on printed sales lists etc. For inbetween grades you just have to be instinctive and put the value in the middle somewhere, judging on eye appeal and how far away it is from the next full grade etc.

Are you really. Scottish Money is a Russia fan and we have a Russian member too but he hasn't posted for a while. I think all those registration attempts were hackers/bots. The system is more secure now and I don't have to intervene so much.

Getting into complicated lingual issues now! Surely in most parts of rural England in the 13th century the proles spoke some kind of early English dialect which probably still had a lot of Saxon/German influence but was basically different enough from German to be called English? Of course in Scotland, Wales and Cornwall that probably wouldn't have been the case. They had their very own Celtic/Pict/Gaelic tongues. And in Wales, just about still do. French and Latin were certainly the languages used by the Church and by the upper classes but as far as I know some form of English certainly existed back then and probably had done since the Anglo-Saxon period. I like to tell everyone here (without sounding too Right-Wing!) that I am the only true Anglo-Saxon because I'm English and live in Saxony, a Saxon-Anglo-Saxon if you like. I even know some Saxon words that not even Herr Stechlin would understand!

I meant a tenner for your South African 'Iron Cross'! If they're all boring average 20th century halfpennies then you can keep them.

Probably not as I don't think they are real silver. Could be wrong. Obviously if it contains some silver it'll be worth a little more than the brass one.

That's exactly how the Germans speak!! All round the wrong way and as if what they say hasn't changed in format much since the 1500s! Apart from those people that annoyingly drop in English words wherever they can to sound cool, which to me as an Englander sounds bloody stupid because they don't even pronounce them properly and if you're going to steal words you could at least do it properly. For example, you may hear on the German equivalent of Neighbours, one of the youngsters when pondering over his friends love for a distant cousin, that he doesn't yet know is actually his half sister, say: 'Nein Tim (the young people mostly have English names that were popular in GB up to about 1983) das ist ein no go'. Isn't that right my German friend? Ich weiss beschied.

It looks like it's been made by someone from a South African coin. With any writing smoothed off. It also looks very German in shape, I don't know the significance of that. I'm quite keen on ZAR things and have some Boer war related items and a document signed by president Kruger. One of my customers is also a great great grand nephew of the president of the Orange Free State! I'll give you a tenner for it (to keep).

Exactly right! Well probably better as 'I wish you well from the Ore Mountains'. The Ore Mountains is where I live and it was the largest known deposit of silver in the world until the Spanish found some in South America.