blakeyboy

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bic-Crystal-Ballpoint-Medium-Point/dp/B000JTOYLS Wonderful.

So much clever shill bidding goes on to achieve exactly that. Very sad.

I was going to comment on how I hate all the 'made for profit' rubbish that various mints churn out, but then I decided not to.

Only ever seen one- in a group of hi grade 20th century pennies, years ago, on ebay. I left a high bid, but was way off.... I'd leave a bid massively higher today. 20:20 hindsight......

Well done. I found the 1944 in good nick way more elusive that one would think.... Wonder why?

Can anyone explain to me why, with silver at say 11-12 quid an ounce, this coin is called bullion?

I think you've got s point there....

I can see your point, but if you have a pile of anything that has rocketed in price for _any_ reason you have gained enormously from business practices that you feel are a 'bit sharp'. The same has happened in my field of old audio/studio gear. My stash of old gear went up in value more than I earned last year, because of crazy dealer markups such as above. However, would I follow the 'sales weasel' approach of some audio dealers? No. I like my customers to like me, AND pay my bills. but that's just me. It depends on your level of psychopathy. Many of my customers are now good friends and still dealing with me after 30 years etc. Does this still make 'sharp' dealers 'wrong'? Difficult.....

Just been sent these pictures- no size or composition info yet. 1943? Soviet? Head of Lenin? The '9' looks Russian to me....

I came across the word 'gruffalo' for the first time on this forum....... I still have no idea what one is. Not that I care....:)

Oh- and if anyone wants to try this- start with the right coin. The edges on this were hard and relatively intact. This is a good starting point. If, however, the coin is a green detector find, you can often see the edge crumbling. In the cases, the bronze has converted down, so underneath there is nothing. Even if the condition look EF, you touch the surface and all the detail vanishes. The 1908 had crud ON it, not IN it......:) Innit?

Well, it was that rare and cheap I felt like having an experiment- it couldn't get much worse!! First thing- heated on a steel plate till 200˚C plus, when the carbonate changes to dark oxide, which is mechanically softer. When it's up to that temperature and the colour changes, the coin is dropped into cold water. The thermal contraction shock makes the black layer fall off. Soft copper tools are then used which won't touch the bronze underneath at all. I have copper brushes made from fine multistrand electrical cable, and stubborn spots can be flicked off with a tiny copper chisel made from a piece of copper wire with the end sharpened to the right state. If needed, contrast of the high spots on a flat looking specimen can be achieved by keeping the coin in your pocket for a bit! And voila!! I know it's all bit past what people like to have happen to any coin, but it was a satisfying experiment- if it was the only F164A I had, it would be in the collection filling an expensive gap......:)

What I meant to say was that these high thumbnails appeared at the same time the zoom box went odd...

This is what was under the crud- still a horror... That auction is odd- I've told the guy that he's already sold it but he isn't listening....

I've just tried this, and that's what I get too. Safari and Firefox both. Have you also noticed on these, and some other items where the thumbnails haven't been raised up, that the 'zoom' box is all wrong? It doesn't actually go down to the bottom, even though the zoomed image is fine... It's like Ebay is slowly adding this feature, for some crazy reason, or they actually have a problem- it's only on some auctions on a particular page....

are there Chinese fakes of these?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/500-Kew-Gardens-Collectors-Commemoratives-for-xbargains4youx/153331883865?hash=item23b34adf59:g:p-UAAOSwUu5cM0E- This is ridiculous. Are these 'coin' pretending to be current legal UK tender? What if I made some....what would happen to me? Oh and some £2 coins while we're at it...? Yes, I'd be locked up. Do the 'Government' ( I use the term very loosely) do anything about these fakes? No. Why?....... So......what if one were to make a pile of say, Chinese 'silver' Pandas. Not illegal, surely? Then spread them round the markets, destroy faith in those coins as 'investments', and see what the Chinese say, and probably witness our side kow tow and do the Chinese Government's bidding and arrest me.

I've just looked at the Ebay list- hilarious. This bubble must burst horribly soon, and when it does there will be blood on the streets. Well, metaphoric blood anyway. Or something. The Chinese fakers must be falling about laughing. We need someone to stand up and speak out against this greedy nonsense. If only Boris Johnson were alive.

Does Harcourt Fenton Mudd work at the Mint now?

Here we go again- amongst a hundred similar: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1000-WHEAT-PENNIES-OLD-COIN-LOT-SEALED-BANK-BAG-LINCOLN-CENTS-1909-1958PDS-5/153418394120?hash=item23b872ea08:g:GQEAAOSw3Sla1it1 Now given that his neg feedback clearly shows what's going on, my question is this: Are U.S. penny collectors more gullible than U.K. ones, or are U.S. sellers more blatantly dishonest than U.K. ones? I haven't looked at all the postings this week like this, so they are 'unsearched', ....maybe there's a gem or two out there that will make you rich? See what I did there?

Thank you for that- you've explained a lot. Here's one I've just seen from Clickbait City Coins: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1908-Indian-Head-Cent-Penny-XF-AU-Details-Full-LIBERTY-2-5-3-Diamonds/352619462479?hash=item5219c1ff4f:g:XHMAAOSwGtRXxRBG

Was the seller hedging his bets?

Damn- missed that one- too early in the morning!!!!

I really don't get this crap. Sometimes I can see the demeaning small short-term profit as the hordes panic when the issue runs out. Long term? No. As soon as stuff is flogged as 'limited edition' ( only 46 million), a 'future investment' ( you only lose a quarter of what an item bought from TKMax loses in value in the same period) and it's all 'Nice 'n' shiny', I run a mile, while a pile of idiots with a mental age of 15 and no life experience runs the other way. I should put wire mesh in front of my TV just in case that pompous knobhead from the 'London Mint Office' comes on again.... None of this is coin 'collecting' !!!!! It's 'accumulating'. It's also, at times, preying on the gullible... At today's birthrate, there's one born every 1.8 seconds. My collection of old audio gear went up in value by more than I earned, last year. I bought none of it, over the last 40 years, at the going rate either. OR, I could have spent the equivalent time and money buying a new VHS recorder from Currys each week and stashing it away as an 'investment'........

Or hope not to bump into.....