TomGoodheart

Hi Westing. Welcome. We do have a couple of US based members, though they've not commented on this thread yet. Can you tell us which state (or city) you're in, in case they might be interested? An alternative is Coin Community Forum, which is a US based coin forum. The advantages are obviously geographic. The disadvantages are firstly, less specialised collectors of British coins there. Secondly you need to have a minimum number of posts (250) and have been a member there for a certain length of time (90 days) before you can offer items for sale. Not unreasonable, since they are trying to attract people who want to talk about coins, rather than just come on to sell. But a little inconvenient. Finally, as you've no doubt realised, many people, including dealers, will only really be interested in the rarest and best condition coins. If you are prepared to take a bit of time to identify any such 'key' coins (and I'm sure people here will be happy to guide you to scarcer dates, identify varieties etc) had you considered perhaps letting the remainder go, perhaps through a local coin club to some younger collectors or people looking for some British coins for diversity? A LCC might also help you thin, research or build the parts of your collection you are more interested in?

It's worth remembering that for most of us a collecting plan isn't set in stone. We all buy things that don't quite fit because we fancy them or things that we told ourselves we wouldn't (I still buy the occasional crap rarity because it's rare, even though I know there are barely half a dozen people who will ever want one and it falls well below the grade minimum I normally set myself). But that's OK. We all make mistakes. We learn. We keep going. I myself buy less than six coins most years. I have a little sideline of foreign coins I try to pick up cheap. When there are no coins I buy literature, dealer lists and auction catalogues. I think all I can say is think of the research and reading as part of the collecting. And that sometimes it's fun to break the rules. Even if they are only rules we've set ourselves!

Undoubtedly the most important thing when collecting is knowledge. I learnt most of what I know from other collectors who were happy to share their knowledge. And I add to this by spending far too many hours searching for and looking at coins on the internet and in books. I think that, given that you aren't constrained to collect a particular denomination or date for most reigns, you should be able to get a decent idea of which issues are more easily obtained in better grades from people here. And of course, since you're unlikely to be competing for many rarities, as Paul says, you can afford to ask here for views before buying. Until you feel more confident assessing coins yourself of course!

As Rob says, the rules state that "collectors pieces of numismatic interest" (tariff code 9706 00 00) of more than 22€ value are liable to no import duty, but VAT at the equivalent to 5%. Sometimes the Border Agency get confused and I've had to claim for a refund on overcharging. Other times the package is completely overlooked. I had to pay on a purchase that including postage was only US$70 (£40) but not for a coin from Stacks Bowers in a clearly labelled envelope which cost me over £200. And as Colin says, the RM's 'handling charge' seems disproportionate for smaller purchases. However it's worth remembering that the way the system works is that Royal Mail actually pay the import charges to the BA and then have to reclaim them from the recipient!! It's a bloody stupid system, but when you know how it works, perhaps £8 isn't too unfair?

On first glance the more contrasty 1819 looks nice. But there are the more apparent scratches (a wipe in the past? Though maybe just be a result of a slightly different angle of light in the photo). And it looks to me as if there are slightly better rims and reverse detail to the 18. So it's 1818 for me too, if that helps?

A first for me. A cheap opportunity to get a Lucien Bazor 'Marianne' portrait: But.. it's not a coin! Here's the reverse: It's a zinc PTT (telephone) token!

It certainly is. And on the site of that reputable dealer, Mr eBay no less. Yours for £525. Or an acceptable offer .. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321425722637?_trksid=p2055120.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Another eBay 191205699916. Not CGS slabbed:

So.. what do we think? eBay 321425722637 .. CGS graded 45. UIN 22437 (Sorry, had tolink to photobucket as the stupid forum won't let me link direct .. And a pic from forgerynetwork:

I admit it. I'm a Europhile. I see myself as European as much as British. Yes, the EU isn't perfect. But what institution is? But I believe we gain more from being part of it than not. We don't often hear from the thousands of Brits living out their retirements in the sunnier parts of Europe whiles receiving their pensions and local healthcare. The thousands working in Europe because they have a right to travel and work. The thousands in places like Germany claiming benefits ... benefits they are entitled to. You don't hear much about European professionals and graduates, working here having accepted jobs below their qualifications. Who in many cases plan to return home once the economy has improved. Instead the newspapers are full of scare stories about 'scroungers' from the East. Well, we have quite enough home-grown scroungers too. Those who were born here but feel entitled to claim benefits and hang on until they are entitled to buy their council houses. You get those everywhere. People who could work but don't want to. Does that mean we should just stop people from claiming benefits? Close the gates? Force the unemployed and disabled to 'do something' during the day, rather than sit at home or whatever? I strongly believe not. Our benefits system helps far more people than abuse it. Our immigration and asylum policies benefit the country far more than they are abused. Our 'belonging' to Europe is of far more benefit to us that if we were to cut ourselves off and go it alone. UKIP is a reflection of a general public dissatisfaction with politicians and the current parties who don't seem to be able to decide whether they wish to run on principles (these are our policies - if you agree vote for us) or pragmatism (we want to get elected so vote for us and we'll do whatever you want when in power). Once the world economy improves, as eventually it surely will since these things seem to be cyclical, UKIP and the reasons it garners interest will be forgotten. Rather like SNP and Scottish 'independence' I just hope that in the meantime we don't do anything stupid and irreversible that we will regret.

Did this in under two minutes using Paint:

Um ... have you thought of Paint Rob? Comes as standard on most Windows based systems. Although sold as a (very) basic 'art' package, you can easily draw boxes in it. Cut them, paste them, resize them, move them around .. all fairly easy. Once the boxes are where you want them you can drop a text box over for any words you want to print too. What I tend to do is when I have the first element right I save the result. Then resave after the second etc.. then if you completely mess it up it's not all lost. Save the final result as a .jpg and you should be able to just print it as you would any other image file. That's what I'd try first anyway ...

Replied,

Coin prices seem to keep going up and so I'm thinking of selling a few shillings to try to keep up with them! They are generally lower grade coins, but either scarcer varieties or interesting or difficult-to-come-by mint marks/ overmarks that I've had for some years. Price wise starting around £40 upwards, but nothing will be over £200. I'll try and take a few photos to post in the next few days as I don't feel the scans I did a while back are all that good. But if anyone might be interested or has any specific gaps they want to fill, please feel free to pm me and I'll see what I can do. Richard

"Gang member" or something. Other exciting credits include Tom The Pig Man, Turnpike Keeper and King's Man. Hey, it's a living. Plus he gets to hang out with people like Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, John Boorman and the cast of Casualty.

Bet you wish you'd printed it the same size as the Coincraft ones now. Less chance of it being overlooked as the pan across the room! And .. congratulations. Better than my brother-in-law who was cut out of Gangs of New York and, as far as I can tell from the credits, Maleficent too!

I'll let more experienced members comment on the coin itself. Though very very double struck is an overstatement. I have several coins far worse. The orientation is normal. Hammered coins, the top die was just dropped onto the lower and so obverse and reverse alignment was largely down to chance. But in the meantime, I'm curious why you want it slabbed? If you mean to sell it in the US, fine. In the UK, a slab will make no difference (apart from costing you for the pleasure) as virtually all collectors are likely to just break it out again. For protection, a capsule will do the job and it'd be cheaper. If you want reassurance it's genuine, I suspect some members here can provide that. And if you really want it slabbed for the fun of it, CGS are UK based and more experienced in British coinage than NGC. Slightly less risk in sending coins to London than Paris or the US from the UK.

I see that fake shilling went for £170+ Scandalous. And what's the betting some of these end up going for daft prices in a year or so? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anglo-Saxon-Coenwulf-Silver-Penny-Coin-/331219463173?pt=UK_Coins_BritishHammered_RL&hash=item4d1e37ec05 :angry: :angry:

Yeah, OK I admit I may have overdone minimising the inconvenience for the sake of making a point. A toothpick then!

LOL I've replied to the last post in a thread before this ... only to then find out it was only the last post on that page and my reply makes no sense half a page on! An easy mistake ...

Here Wendy: http://www.predecimal.com/forum/forum/58-items-for-sale/ However ... whether here is the best place to sell them is debatable. So far what I've seen has been ... how do I put this? A sort of average assortment of coins put together by a casual collector. Picked from change or from travels as nicer examples. Now there may be a couple of stars amongst them, but it would take time to sift and see. Maybe you have a coin someone here really, really needs for their collection! Or maybe not .. It depends how much time and effort you want to spend finding out I guess. It might just be quicker maybe to list a few coins at a time somewhere like eBay. Or visit a dealer? People here might be able to suggest one near to you? OK, you risk missing out on finding that rarity, but .. well, take a look at this: This coin had 13 bids on eBay. It's a nice coin in decent condition. And eventually sold for .. £4.20. Most coins don't sell for a fortune I'm afraid and the time and effort selling them has to be balanced with how much money they might make. Sometimes it's easier to take a bit of cash there and then rather than spend weeks in research and trying to find a buyer for a few quid more. I hope that doesn't seem mean. It's just we get a lot of people visiting and asking 'how much'. And sadly a lot of the time the answer is .. not a great deal. Having said that .. if you want to try I suspect the simplest way, rather than dozens of listing is to take some sharp really big photos of each sort of coin. 20 of the better pennies, all the foreign coins, the shillings ... take one photo of the fronts and turn them over (but keep them in the same position so people know which side matches which!!) and do it again. Put them on photobucket and then post links in the For Sale area. Then people can look through for dates or grades ask for more details of any coins they might be interested in. Hope that helps.

We all know coins have been cleaned in the past. Some tooled to bring out detail. Holes plugged. It happened 100 years ago and it happens today. And with coins to which these things were done 50, 100 years ago, it's part of their numismatic history. Whether we like it and can live with it is, I think, a personal decision. As is whether to 'undo' the damage. My point was that charging to remove a bit of red wax that would probably flick off with a paintbrush and to then use that as an example of a supposedly desirable service shows a complete lack of understanding of an important (to me at least) area of numismatics (ie; provenance). It shows a different mindset. One that I'd prefer not to become all prevalent. Though I may be too late in that respect!

"Sold by Westminster for £150, receipt for proof. Westminster rated it as Fine but I'm not so sure." Hmmm .. 221453006545 All I can say is at a £0.99p start, that's where it might stay.

Well, I can see your coin now, if that's what you mean Wendy!

It was just used to illustrate their 'Restoration Service'. "PCGS Restoration is a new service designed to help collectors overcome environmental problems that may have occurred with their coins. Preserving originality and the natural condition of every coin is the number one objective of PCGS Restoration. All coins submitted will be evaluated by experts before any restoration is attempted. Coins will not qualify for restoration if, in the opinion of these experts, the coin should not be restored or if any attempt at restoring the coin could possibly worsen its condition."