Chris Perkins

I've been asked by a forum member about how little Igor is getting on, so here's an update: We had him in a pen in the garden with an upturned box and some foliage as shelter (until he was ok to go it alone). We used straw as bedding but changed that after he kept walking in circles and getting it twisted around his legs. In fact one evening he was in a right tangle and had cut off the circulation to one of his legs and it was very swollen. After that the leg never really worked properly again! He was always active at night and always ate all his cat food and cat biscuits, which was encouraging. He still had big problems navigating but was able to move about quite quickly when he wanted to. One evening we went out to feed him and were amazed to see him with his nose poking through the chicken wire, very eager to escape his enclosure. The reason for this sudden lust for freedom scampered under a bush on the 'free' side of the fence! It was another hedgehog (about the same size), but a less tame one. We retreated and the other hedgehog came to the fence again and they rubbed noses some more. We left some food and the free hedgehog scampered off again. This time Igor really really wanted to join his new friend and was hyperactively trying to get under the wire, over the wire, through the wire, anything to limp off into the dusk with his own kind. At one stage he got himself stuck between the wire and a tree which was used as a fence post (having spikes that grow in one direction make it difficult to reverse in tight spaces). So, I got some pliers, cut the wire and let him free. He caught up with his friend under some wood and in torch light we could see them together, sort of sniffing each others arses and walking around in circles together with plenty of mutual nose rubbing. He looked happy, in fact he looked like a she in comparison to the other one who had a much more masculine face. I went back to remove any sharp bits of wire and Igor ventured out from under the planks of wood and allowed me to stroke his/her nose for the last time before returning to his/her cautious friend. We watched them for a little while but then they went further under the wood and we never saw them again.

I've got about 160 fake coins in my collection, ranging from hammered Scottish fakes right through the early milled period, lots of George III and some fake gold/silver Victorian and later (including fakes made of good gold) right up to about half a dozen modern fake £1 coins. And I've got some Irish, Spanish and 1 German 19th century fakes. Have you seen this, I worte this ages ago: http://www.predecimal.com/british_coin_forgeries.php Unfortunately none of them are for sale! I've heard about £2 fakes but never seen one. I've also come across the large 50p types as forgeries but none of the modern smaller ones.

The road sweeper vehicles here are RHD. And of course the roadsweeper vehicles in England are LHD.

I think you'd probably pay more than it's worth on the shipping! I have 3 RHD cars in LHD Germany. There's really no difference, if your confident enough to drive big cars, it doesn't matter where the steering wheel is.

I thought I ought to mention this here, in case it's of use to anyone (if so, I'll remove it from eBay). It's a tidy metallic blue Volvo 440i that I found in Berlin. The car is standard UK spec RHD and now re-registered on an M-reg. It will be sold with a full MOT. Details on eBay here: <a href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=180226324187" target="_blank">http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180226324187&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008</a>

They've been busy haven't they! I was perhaps a bit naive back then (and let down by Western Union assurances). Since then I can usually smell a rat and have often googled names and addresses/emails of potential fraudsters (usually buyers) and found them to be listed on similar name and shame websites. For high value transactions from new customers I also often ask over email for them to confirm their identity by sending a scan of a passport or similar and calling me. Usually when a buyer calls you it's easy to tell if he's a real collector, and I've yet to have a fraudster call or willingly send ID! As for sellers, I always say that I need to see the item before I send any money. Not only for my own peace of mind but simply because it's only 100% accurate to value a coin when you have it in the flesh. I can usually persuade people to send me things (to the London address is easier as some people go all funny at the thought of sending something to a potential 'Johnny Foreigner' in Germany, which I think is just as safe as sending within the UK)! The website presence and style seems to re-assure people. And for any potential coin sellers reading this, if the items are high value I can often visit you.

That's scrap brass and I find I can't even give away circulated brass 3d's! Are you thinking of bidding? If so I hope you're not from Nigeria. The seller obviously has a problem sending worthless junk to Nigeria!

I've moved this to the unlisted variety section, to remind me to put mention it in the next book.

This just caught my eye: ebay item: 120236101580 It's a 1937 coin which is apparently nearly 100 years old! Starts at £7.99 and postage is £8.00.

Interesting, I expect it's worth more than face value, but somehow it's not spectacular enough to be my kind of error. Recent £2 coins seem to be quite prone to errors.

Or an oven at a low heat? Might be a bit extreme. I always find that a bloody sharp whack on a hard but slightly padded surface does the trick.

On the Saint George side on the ground below the horses front right hoof is sometimes a mint letter. If no letter is there then they were minted in London (which is usually the most common mint). If you do have a letter there are a few different ones: C = Canadian Royal Mint M = Melbourne P = Pretoria S = Sydney SA = South Africa (but won't apply to your dates) I = Inida (but also won't apply to your dates)

You'd get the most for them individually but it may end up taking more time and trouble than they're worth. That's what coin re-housing agents like me are for! I'm in London from the 29th for about a week, then it's back to Germany until April/May.

Post a picture of the £2 coin if you can. I've been known to pay up to £60 for really lairy £2 errors. Thanks for buying the Roman book. It's not as advanced as some, but is a great inexpensive intro.

Hello Carl, The Forumancient coins website it good for identification, so is Wildwinds. Like Red Riley recommended, if you want something easier on the eye that you can curl up on the sofa with, my 2 inexpensive Roman books (£5.95 each and you could probably start with base metal as the majority of uncleaned coins are usually not silver) are also excellent for identification and a little background info.

I'll vouch for you, but only if you sell what you don't want to me!

I'd take all that you've listed so far and pay a fair price (based on the silver/condition). I can't remember the last time I had to send something back to a private vendor (that's why I always get some details first to judge the potential). It's very easy and painless and you can of course send them insured, but there's really no pressure! I've arranged a couple of good buy-ins recently, mainly from private vendors, but also from a few of the regular forum members here. In a couple of weeks I'm going to view what sounds like over £2000 worth of pre 1947 silver coins and someone else with 7 sovereigns. Both those are more local and should keep me busy for a while!

That's not a bad amount of silver, it would certainly be worthwhile selling them. Some of them may be good enough for me to sell individually and for those I'd offer a bit more (dependant on my selling price, which depends exactly how good they are). The 1826 coin is either a shilling or a sixpence, depending on the size! The non silver coins may also have a value too, but usually the bulk of the worth is in the silver coins. Would you be willing to send them insured to a London address? So far there isn't enough value to warrant a visit.

The sizes in mm are usually much more useful than the descriptions, as they are often very similar for different coins. The first is a half crown if it's 32mm and the latter is a crown if it's about 39mm and thicker.

No of course not. The stupid (under trained) women in the Post Office from where I sent it assured me that it was impossible for the Russian to get the money without the transfer number. I went back and told her he had collected the money without the transfer number or knowing the sender name and she simply said she didn't how that was possible and that's as far as it ever got! (my German was very limited back then) So I contacted WU over email and they at first wanted to know the details bla bla. Then they went quiet and no longer responded to my emails. I thought the customer service from eBay was bad, but this was pretty awful too. Because of that rubbish service I stopped using WU for 4 years, but now I find I unfortunately have to, as for many people outside Europe it's the only way I can send them money for goods. Now, I make sure I get the goods first.

Is it more brassy than bronzy? If so, it sounds like an imitation 1790 Guinea (made later as a gaming token). I'll await a list. A trip to the midlands has to be justified by the potential value of the accumulation!

Two Shillings and a Florin are the same just with different names. Where are you WednesdaysChild? Thanks for your message, if you have lots of the same sort of thing perhaps I could visit to see them. Usually the best way to sort them out is to split the silver coins into 3 groups...Sterling silver, .500 and no silver. Unless they are spectacular they are nearly always worth the silver value, the dates are pretty much irrelevant for lower grade (average) silver coins.

Sergev (sorry if I spelt your name wrong), I've found the original Western Union transfer form from when I sent EUR120.00 to St. Petersburg on the 30th May 2003! This was for the uncleaned Roman coins that I never saw or heard anything about ever again! Details here: http://www.predecimal.com/ruwarning.php The name I was told to pay was Oleg Chebotarev. I'll happily give you more details but I suspect the address I have is no longer current after nearly 5 years!

The workmanship is quite crude Andy, in fact it looks to be cast from a soft metal alloy. I know the date in Roman numerals is 1480, but I would very much doubt that was the date it was made, as the style is very un-15th century. It may be rare, in that not many were made/are left, but I don't think the character is famous enough or the medal of good enough workmanship for it to be worth more than a few quid (i.e £10). Perhaps someone else will have a different opinion.

The surface looks bad but that's probably due to the conditions rather than it being a forgery. There is a clear trace of where the 8 should be, so it would appear that during the minting process the 8 has been filled with crud and has lead to almost no 8 being struck on the coin.