TomGoodheart

That Liberian coin is fascinating. It appears, from the 'ghosted' portions of reverse, that he may have simply re-used and re-engraved a Cartwheel twopence or one penny die? It would be interesting to know the dimensions of the Liberia coin. Sorry. Been at work. To answer the questions the Liberia cent is smaller than cartwheels. 28mm, 9g of copper so closer to the Isle of Man halfpenny .... .

No books afaik, just a few references such as Forrer: http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/themes/2538/w-j-taylor-mint-london-united-kingdom and articles such as: http://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/wj-taylors-kangaroo-office-patterns-1855-and-1860 My interest is limited to the fact that he made this: .

eBay doesn't make it easy, limiting the number of search terms and stopping the use of wildcards. It's like they actually want to put people off bothering to look for what they might want to buy and force them to trawl through unrelated items. However it's still possible to narrow down your search results considerably. But as with most things, results are down to how much time and effort you want to put in .. .

Well, I've made my first purchase via GSP. Though the seller didn't even know he was enrolled, let alone what it involves! Anyway, despite reservations (the bloody T&Cs read like they are trying to buy your soul) the first stage (correct levy of UK import duties) went ok and my item has been dispatched. The GSP shipping cost was pretty much what I'd have expected for a heavy book to be posted from the US, so no complaints there. Bit odd having two tracking numbers but we'll see how it goes ...

Same with Newark siege pieces from the Civil War period. There's no way they could be considered rare, but they tick a lot of different boxes so the demand is always high.

Well, ... it's silver, like a halfcrown. And only 100 or so years out on the reign. As to the denomination ... well, that's hardly important is it?

For recent publications I think it's trickier getting them cheap. But eBay and auctions are a possibility. Not my area but but Paul and Benthe at Galata have a selection of other books (not the one you posted I'm afraid) on Islamic coins: http://www.galata.co.uk/store.asp?storeAction=showProds&jumpStart=0&stockMasterCategoriesID=25&searchStr= And Tim Wilkes specialises in Islamic coins .. maybe one of their auctions? http://wilkesandcurtis.com/ .

And a happy birthday from me too! Hope it's a good one! .

Looks to be a very decent portrait! And the triangle over anchor mark is nicely clear too. A good buy I'd say!

I think the commoner ones would be S.2791 (£35 / £165 in 2012 edition) and; S.2799 (£40/ £140) so the latest prices for those would be of interest. My guess? Same as for the Liz I Stuart mentioned. Unchanged or down a tad in F and up £10-£20 or so in VF?

Oddly my records say the price dropped to £575 in the 2012 edition, so there is a rise there. And of course, Spink doesn't distinguish between relatively commoner marks such as castle and say, negro's head in their pricing. There can be significant differences within a Spink number for different mint marks ...

LOL And you might find Michael Sharp's article in the BNJ of interest Doctor. Available as a pdf: M. B. Sharp The Tower Shillings of Charles I and their Influence on the Aberystwyth Issue via this link. .

Hi Doctor. Your shilling is S2799 in the current Spink catalogue. Michael Sharp's G1/1 The 'Briot' style bust, as the one in my avatar. Looks to be a decent example with the scarcer reverse (reverse 1) with the smaller cross ends. I'd be interested to see your own photo of it if you've taken one? S 2797 is known as the 'Aberystwyth' style bust. The crown is rounder and shoulder larger like this: Hope that helps! .

Are they not different companies? Baldwins are part of the Stanley Gibbons Empire, which includes SG, Noble, Baldwins, Dreweatts, Bloomsbury, etc. Spink are just Spink. Albeit international. What I don't understand is that with all their money they seem to have trusted their IT to an amateur ... Edit: And just for amusement I tried a simple search just now. After a minute of waiting it told me to log in. So I attempted ... Nothing. I disabled Active X filtering ... Still nothing. I put in my details, clicked "Login" and .. FA Been like that.. what, two years now? I did email a few times complaining but can't be arsed now. Pointless them having a website as far as I can see. .

LOL Just means I have to work a bit harder to keep ahead of the crowd!

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I suspect Rob might be able to come up with a few suggestions there ...

Quite some time ago I came across Timothy D. Cook's englishhammered site. There he posted a list he was given entitled "The Fifty Most Important Auctions of English Coins" Obviously there can be some debate as to what makes a collection 'great' but this seems a good start. Please note that it does focus on hammered coins. .

And below I list my own small collection of auction sales I have found most useful relating to the Tower shillings of Charles I: Glendining 24 Mar 1920 Catalogue of a Choice Collection of English Coins from Edward VI to Present Day, formed by Mr Grant R. Francis Grant Francis worked on a system for classifying the silver coins issued at the Tower mint during the reign of Charles I. His papers were published over several volumes of the BNJ and when his collection was sold more coins than usual were illustrated due to collector interest. Glendining 25 April 1955 Deceased Lady Collector (Helen Farquhar collection) Glendining 11-17 Oct 1956 Richard Cyril Lockett (Part IV (English Part II)) This part of the huge Lockett collection (sold over 13 auctions) This sale holds the largest number of shillings subsequently bought by John Brooker for his collection. Glendining 15-16 May 1968 Collection of English hammered Silver Coins formed by the late Dr E Burstal Glendining 23 April 1991 Collection of English Coins formed by the late Bernard Roy Osborne Roy Osborne made a detailed (dare I say obsessive!?) study of the Tower shillings, coming up with his own classification system. Another set of papers of interest and a useful (though sparsely illustrated) sale. Glendining 7 June 1974 English & Scottish Coins from the R C Lockett Collection (Clonterbrook Trust) Spink 139 16 Nov 1999 The Martin Hughes Collection of English Coins Some great quality pieces and well illustrated. Spink 145 12-14 July 2000 Ancient, English and Foreign (The J M Ashby Collection of English Coins) Similar to Hughes, a good selection of photographed coins. DNW 26 Sept 2007 The 2007 COINEX Auction including Silver Coins of Charles I from a Private Collection DNW 24-30 Sept 2008 The 2008 COINEX Auction including Silver Coins of Charles I from a Private Collection (Part II) Excellent collection of coins from an unidentified source that had probably not seen daylight since before WWI. Also well worth a mention: North, J. J. & Preston-Morley, P. J. Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles 33. The John G Brooker Collection. Coins of Charles I (1625-1649). Brooker's collection was large and focused ... and fortunately photographed and recorded almost in entirety. If you want one book about the coins of Charles I this should be it. Spink Numismatic Circular April 2001, Vol CIX No 2 for the Roger Shuttlewood Tudor and Stuart shillings. Why Spink chose to sell these via the Circular I have no idea. But it provides an excellent record for the series. .

Happy Birthdays Guys!

A (belated) Happy Birthday from me too!

Is anyone going to the "Informal CGS Forum Meeting" next Saturday (6th December 2014)? I got an email but I'm working and it's only of passing interest to me. Might be a good place to air any views on how long it takes to process submissions and the apparent conflict between 'paying customers' and when they have to slab auction material for London? Bill Pugsley is the contact. .

OK. Just putting this out here. I'm looking for a 1643-44 Charles I shilling, privy mark (P) (Spink 2800, Sharp G1/1, Tower mint under Parliament. I'd like one in decent condition. Usually they are knackered, clipped, uneven or otherwise lacking. This for example is the sort of condition you usually find them in: I'd like one ideally like this or better: And as I'm making wishes, provenance would be nice too! Oh, and my Chas I shillings are still available, if anyone is interested!

Very nice Rob! One you have a special interest in perhaps?