TomGoodheart

That sounds an awful lot like the sin of offering strange fire on the altar of burnt-offering Peter (Leviticus 10:1). I should watch out if I were you or the wrath of MrsPeter won't be the only one you'll have to contend with! !!

Hmm... what happened to 'love thy neighbour' and 'thou shalt not kill' Aidan?

I too used mylar 'sandwiches' when I collected milled coins. It was nice to be able to hand a coin to one of my daughter's sticky fingered friends without fear of damage. But now I like how they look in a cabinet and I only collect hammered. If it was a coin I wanted, a slab wouldn't put me off but neither would it be a bonus. I would no doubt 'release' it so it could join the rest in a tray. If I could afford brilliant examples I might worry about cabinet friction but if you look at the gallery examples from my collection you'll see they aren't likely to be too affected! As for fakes I think if I really couldn't tell them apart I suspect I'd start collecting something else. But right now I doubt there's a single slabber/grader who knows as much about what I collect as I do and if I had doubts I have some much more knowlegeable friends I could consult. To be honest, the sort of thing I (or perhaps Geordie, or Sylvester) collect isn't generally going to be worth slabbing. For example - who would pick this out as worth anything???

Just in case anyone has missed it http://www.baldwin.sh/welcometobaldwin.htm is selling a number of rarities in their forthcoming sales including coins from the Gregory collection (including a rather scarce 1693 Farthing (Peck 593) - Lot 508 Auction 47 Part 2) this unique pattern Charles I Triple Unite (Auction 48 Lot 5025) and one of the Edward VIII thruppences examined by Peck (Auction 48 Lot 5041) for anyone that doesn't yet have one!

Ooh, ooh! Do I get into a discussion of religious 'rights and wrongs' , whether 'an eye for an eye' is ever justified and the acceptability or otherwise of homosexuality? Oh the temptation! But on balance (and 'cos I'm off to work in an hour) I think we'll just have to agree to differ for now. That way maybe you and I can stay friends a bit longer Aidan.

As I had suspected (hoped!), Wybrit confirms that not all US collectors have been bitten by the slab/grade bug. But there do seem to be quite a lot of them! I did wonder why this should be. Is it that there just aren't enough old coins available? I'm sure that per capita (and especially considering the new material detectorists are unearthing daily) there are more coins around in the UK. But we still have 'new' coins, in varying degrees of 'perfection'. Why is it that UK collectors don't seem to be so keen to spend big bucks on such things? Perhaps it's a mindset thing. Or marketing? If you aren't thinking of potential market value then 'perfection' becomes less critical - for most of us 'pleasing condition' will do. But if part of your pleasure comes from the idea of financial worth, it's different. 'Beanie babies' in mint condition / coins in slabs - what's the difference? Will it last? I suspect that like me, quite a few of you will have started collecting by picking the nicest and unusual coin examples out of our change. But gradually, I at least, began to see that the most interesting coins weren't interesting because of what they look like but because of how they came to be made, what they could have bought and the sorts of people that might have owned them. In other words I started to move from being a 'collector' to a 'numismatist'. Now I'm not saying that I no longer would like a good well made example of a coin. But for the above reasons, a new coin, a coin I can't touch, a coin that has no evidence of having ever circulated, is now less interesting to me. I wonder if the US market will, with time, evolve away from aspiring for that perfect '70'. And at the same time perhaps people will start to gain more confidence in their own ability to assess a great coin and no longer delegate that task to the grading services?

So you don't consider that for almost three decades he has been a major stumbling block to peace and accord in Nothern Ireland? That contrary to the hopes and desires of the majority of the populace he has kept the discord simmering? That he has allowed his opposition to the Catholic Church to colour all his political decisions and that is is this, not his 'Royalist' beliefs that make him want to keep Nothern Ireland stuck in a religious time warp? Staying true to your principals is only admirable if they are not flawed in the first place Aidan.

I'm not sure smoking a spliff can stop someone from being a bigot Chris. I guess we'll just have to wait for Aidan to tell us why he thought we'd like the link.

Not to the extent of writing on them in Indian ink like some Victorian collectors I hope!!

OOps - getting too old to remember sucjh details! (Don't worry Geordie - in time you'll be like me and you'll be able to make mistakes without needing to edit first )

Looks like Ruyman has disappeared! Shame.

Matthew Alfred Brigg (d 1937) but I know nothing more about him other than at least one of his coins went into John Brooker's collection of Chas I coins from the Glendinings sale of 23 May 1939. But that may just be a coincidence. It appears that lots of Victorians and Edwardians were not adverse to stamping their initials (or those of their company) onto coin of the realm! I'm not sure we can conclude it was a collector (would YOU stamp a coin Geordie!?)

Yeah, and one of those is the 'lassie from the Bank of Scotland'!!

AArgh!!! What's the point of getting a graded slab if you then try to sell it as undergraded!!! PCGS too - just goes to show, stick to slabbing the moderns, guys!

I'm so jealous! My Mrs doesn't mind that I collect coins. She just doesn't want me to talk about them or spend money on them! I think her problem is that, like most women, she needs a really good............................................................... hobby

I have to say I'm fascinated E D. Not so much for the rarity of this particular coin, but just that it makes me ask... how the hell do they know that? Are you telling me that some poor PCGS employee spends all their time rooting through every bag of coins released by the mint for that one perfect specimen? Or was this sent in by someone for grading, in which case I guess it is exceptional, given that I have noticed the new British 2ps all have the same flaw so none of them would presumably qualify. Anyhow... I do just love to see other people's collecting interests, although this sort of thing is about as far from my 'kind' of coin as you can get, so thanks for the link! As they say - variety is the spice of life!!

I believe it's an imitation 'Spade' guinea, produced in some numbers and used for card games etc

I don't think it's terribly different but some words are spelt / pronounced different from what is generally known as 'Spanish'. There's less difference between the two than say modern English and that of Shakespeare.

Babelfish doesn't offer translation to Catalan

¡Sí, y más fotografías en el sitio sea muy agradable!

I was just thinking the Rotographic books are general but a lot cheaper and seem better value than a Spink at NZ$ 75 or so!

Krause and Spink are fine as general books Aidan but eventually I think we all find we need more specialised stuff. If you're going to get into tokens and Cu/ bronze all the variations just aren't going to be detailed somewhere like Spink which is ok for the size but tries to cram a bit too much in!. Just an idea, but you could get both Collectors' Coins 2006, Collectors' Banknotes 2006 plus something like England's Striking History from here for around the price of Spink alone! You'd have a jolly good read and loads of info! For anything else I'm sure others here on the forum would be delighted to recommend books in their special areas of interest. By the way - I don't know how libraries are in NZ but here most will order in a specialised book if you need to refer to it at minimal cost...

Absolutely - Aidan I think your Christmas 'wish list' should definitely include a copy of Peck, Chris' Banknotes book and a digital camera or scanner!!!

Me too! I would never have made the connection if you hadn't brought the token to my attention!

I'm not sure if you know that, although token currency was declared illegal in 1817 (following the introduction of the new coin the previous year) those of Birmingham and Sheffield Workhouses were given an exemption for a short time (until 1820 and 1823 respectively). Effectively I think this makes these types the only ones officially recognised as legal tender, albeit for a short while. This is because Parliament realised that many people would suffer severe hardship were their small change to become worthless 'overnight'.