mint_mark

Well, the picture isn't very clear and I'm not an expert on these, but my suggestion is that this is a penny from James I, second or third coinage (between 1604 and 1625). The side with the rose says "I.D.G rosa sine spina"... I.D.G stands for Jacobus Dei Gratia (I and J are the same in latin) meaning James by the grace of god a rose without thorns. The thistle alludes to the fact that James I was the first king of both England and Scotland together.

OK, here is a question for experts on Swedish coins... I have a few 1 öre coins from Oscar II and they all have plain edges. Just before he died they changed the wording in the legend, giving rise to a two year type. My example is 1907 and it has a reeded (grained or milled) edge... is this normal for the type? Does anyone else have another 1907 or a 1906 to look at, or a more detailed catalogue? The reason I think it may be unusual is that my corresponding 2 öre coin from the same issue (also 1907) has a plain edge, like all the preceeding 2 öre coins. Thanks for any help

Thank you for all your effort Berg... let's see if there are any answers from the other forum. I think many books do not have details about the edges of coins... last week we were talking about edge varieties of a British 1951 crown and a few months ago I found a 1935 shilling with finer edge reeding than usual... but no mention in any book so far.

OK, I am getting more familiar with these replicas now... I noticed another one in that sellers history... the Charles the Bold double stuiver. No shame some people!!

Tom, I'm a software engineer and over the years I've picked up experience with digital TV broadcast equipment. I'm applying to a company that makes such equipment and also happens to be quite local to me... if it all works out I'll have more interesting work to do and a much shorter commute! Kuhli you should remember that any specialist collection is just a subset of a general collection At least, that's how I think of all my specialist collections!

I'm not familiar with these replicas, or Charles I crowns at all, but I think they left an identifying mark on the shield side, just to the left of the bottom of the shield. Best not mention it in case it gets erased as well!

I'm busy sorting coins while waiting to hear after my latest job interview... tomorrow is a 5p listing day on ebay, so maybe I'll start some auctions in the evening.

Well, I think it is King Joao and from the inscriptions it seems to match a 40 reis coin. Oli is right, we need a description of the design... one side will have the Portuguese shield (five small shields in an upright cross pattern and then seven more shields around with a crown on top). What is on the other side? It could be the king's head, or a value in a wreath, or a big cross with little flowers in the quarters...

If it is in average condition, then not really... maybe $1. It's not a scarce year.

A dozen eggs or 2 pounds of dried fruit... would keep you going for a while. Besides, I bet in those days everybody haggled so you could get something else thrown in for free

And in the Pacific Ocean there are New Caledonia and New Hebrides... those Scots would settle anywhere... anywhere but Scotland that is :)

I found this link... not quite back to 12th century, but close. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/medi...evalprices.html

Well, I just read all three of his newsletters and it has left me with the impression that almost no area of coin collecting is safe from counterfeits. If they find it worthwhile to counterfeit uncleaned Roman coins and sell them in bulk for a few pence each, then they will counterfeit anything that anyone is prepared to buy... no matter how cheap. How worried are you Chris, as a dealer? Are you confident you can authenticate everything that passes by you? As a collector I feel very wary of buying anything I'm not familiar with and less confident about what I thought I did know about! Best stick to trusted dealers!! I did like the picture of the 1877 jubilee crown though

I only have two fakes in my collection and they are 2000 and 2001. I only really collect them if they have very obvious design mistakes. Ebay might not be a good idea... because it is a counterfeit of a legal tender coin I think it is technically illegal to pass it on in any way. It would be different if it was an old counterfeit of an old coin that could not be spent. http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/currstamps.html I found this site which has a bit about fake pound coins... but the end of the page about fake five pound coins is even more interesting! http://www.coinauthentication.co.uk/newsletter1.html

There's no definition for collectable five pound crown! Actually... I was looking at glossaries recently because I didn't know the proper name for the machines that actually mint coins and none of the glossaries had an entry for it. Reading on the royal mint website I discovered that the term I was looking for is "coining press". So there's a new entry for you...

The way to be safe is to be sure that what you end up with is entirely your own work. The way to achieve that is to read enough from lots of places so that you understand what "Æ" means yourself, and then write your own definition from scratch. That's what Chris suggested and he is right! Your first post suggested changing their definition "enough". That is not safe! At best you end up with a derived work and they retain copyright on their parts of it. It's all theoretical anyway... this definition is so small that any two original examples are likely to be quite similar anyway... but for larger pieces of work the principles apply. Also, what has the definition of "Æ" got to do with the royal mint in particular? There are loads of places that define it and it is common knowledge... maybe when you need a definition for "collectable five pound crown" you can go and ask them... I don't know what one is!

Giving credit doesn't mean you're allowed to copy! Usually you would give credit after gaining permission... I think Chris and Geordie are right... the definition is common knowledge and you can just read several definitions, understand the meaning and then write it in your own words. In your own words is important... then you really haven't copied anyone else's. Copyright protects an expression but not an idea itself, so you are always free to write your own original expression of an idea. You might be interested to know that the definition you quoted from the royal mint is only one word different to the definition in Coin Yearbook 2005...

Your picture is of an original 1923 coin in nickel. The WW2 coin is in zinc and would be dark grey.

I just checked both of mine and they have the same edge lettering... presumably common Coincraft mentions finer edge lettering as a feature of the frosted proof... maybe those collars were used for some ordinary coins too. Apparently there are two types of boxes as well, but I have only ever seen the slide off ones...

What a great story! I remember seeing early film footage of Paul Kruger on the history channel... a treaty signing ceremony I think. It's funny... I only really recognised him when he had his profile to the camera!

OK... according to the Coincraft catalogue (my latest aquisition... fascinating!) there were several variations... For sixpences, it says 1920-22 50% silver, 40% copper, 10% nickel (but looked streaky) 1922-27 50% silver, 50% copper 1927-36 50% silver, 40% copper, 5% nickel, 5% zinc For George VI it just says 50% silver, 50% other up to 1946.

They do seem to be quite popular though, so someone must be enjoying them. Colin Cooke always seems to have a few going on ebay, and you don't get much more respected than that! As long as we can tell the difference... and I think we can... then I don't think it's our place to spoil someone else's fun. I once bought some coins from Middle Earth for a friend because he was mad about Lord of the Rings... they had Elvish writing on and everything. Is that very different from a Roman re-enactment enthusiast wanting some denarii for their purse? And then it's only a small step to a keen coin collector who would like something with a portrait of Edward VIII.

Oh never mind... I was just thinking how ultimately green a 2.3cc motorbike would be Still, I'm sure it's much better than a car anyway...

Maybe a more positive approach would be to have a "white" list of ebayers we have had good experiences with... I know quite a few established coin dealers sell regularly on ebay (including Chris of course), so they should all be trustworthy. I'm sure we each have our own ebayers that we trust individually too. I think from Chris' point of view, he is much less likely to receive complaints if he hosts a page of compliments rather than a page of criticisms...

Sounds like you should hang on to the third one and whatever you do don't get her slabbed!!