TomGoodheart

How about this one: Lloyd florin ? It's a bit cheaper ... plus you could probably ask for larger photos and he's a reputable dealer if you're unhappy.

I would think coin collectors would have quite good memories, given all the information about varieties, prices and so forth that we have to keep in mind. Yes, that might slightly impact on remembering my wife's birthday and name, but I'm sure you'd all agree, that's a small price to pay... And, on a side note, I'm sure poor Rosy / Helena has been asked to do this by someone at King's, so perhaps we should cut her some slack.

Is it this one you had in mind Coinery? George II half crown thread

I'd happily use something simple and free! But I hated learning about databases and SQL and have no desire to revisit even Excel if it requires much work! Currently I have two Excel sheets, one arranged in Spink reference number order (ie it's a stock list of my collection and concludes with a total 'value' of what I've spent) and the other in order of the date I aquired the coins and is primarily to show how much I have left to spend on coins! Neither has photos, but does name where I bought the coin, when and how much for. The coins have a ticket each with basic details (type, weight, date of purchase and from whom and price) and then I keep any paperwork such as receipts or printouts of the ebay listing as physical evidence of my purchases. Finally I occasionally print a record of all my coins as thumbnail photos. I only have 68 coins in total, so it's not so difficult. If I had hundreds then clearly it would be a different matter! Ideally it would be nice to have somewhere that holds everything, but it's frankly a bit daunting to have to start all over and I'm lazy!

Would you like me to delete those duplicate posts for you Mr ski?

*poke*

I think that the most useful description is exactly as you describe: "small edge knock, otherwise UNC". Okay, so it would still be considered to be a UNC coin then, albeit with an edge knock I'd say so. UNC strictly just means it's not been used as a coin. But we know that with modern stuff, it drops off conveyor belts and bounces around bags before it ever reaches a bank. Only specimens and proof coins would be expected to be free from any risk of marking because you're paying for them to be treated differently. That said, some people (on ebay) might assume that UNC equates to 'perfect' so pointing out anything like an EK would be sensible insurance against complaints later on.

I have to say, I've never (deliberately!) dropped a coin to hear it ring. (Remembers the time he dropped a coin at a dealers to much embarassment). Is it a reliable test? I'd have thought with hammered coins, the thickness of the flan, minor cracks, whether it's ever been exposed to heat, such as in a fire and the age of the coin (as I understand the crystalline structure of silver changes gradually with time) would all effect how it 'rings'. I just rely on weight and the appearance of the coin to guide me. Obviously a very good cast or a modern restrike in silver would likely fool me, but I'd hope 'in the hand' I'd pick out most copies. I guess without a proper test of my skills though, I could be wrong ...

This is the second time I have looked at a coin on ebay and thought .. 'looks OK. Maybe if it's cheap' only to subsequently feel a slight warning vibe, poddle off to look in my pics of fakes and go 'Ooops!' Bloody cast copies are getting to be a real pain.

Transferred from the other thread .. And here it is .. very clearly a copy and wouldn't fool most people. It has a slick feel, weighs over 6g, has give away splits on the edges showing it was cast. And is stamped with an R. No way it equates to Paulus' coin, nor could it be 'manipulated' to look much like a genuine shilling.

Ideally you want to avoid rubbing the coin because then any dirt that's on it is likely to scratch the surface. Assuming it's pretty dirty/in poor condition, warm water won't do much harm. Soak for a while and see if that loosens the dirt a bit. You'll probably have to use something to shift it but start with a soft brush like a paintbrush rather than scrubbing at it. If that has little effect than many people have found soaking in olive oil can help. It can take quite a while (weeks rather than hours) but the oil will loosen dirt and the very slight acidity helps a bit. There are more complicated techniques like ultrasonic cleaners or electrolysis, but nothing that will leave a coin as it was when it was first lost I'm afraid. But if it's just a date and identifying what kind of coin it is, the above should do. Or, if you identify the metal (silver or brass/copper), the size (diameter) and any lettering you can make out, (and ideally post a photo) it might be that someone here can tell you what it's likely to be .. particularly if it's British. Good luck!

Personally, I didn't see anything wrong with the Cs or the robe decoration. This coin for example, which sold through Heritage in 2008 has the Cs with a small hole in the back and top serif and the imperfectly circular inner wire lines. If that's not enough, the same characteristics are shared with Brooker's 389 and 390. Obviously, that doesn't resolve the weight issue, but in terms of design, the coin doesn't shout 'fake' to me. Whereas the four similar coins I posted in the other thread all have a flan crack from the top of the XII to the foot of the R of CAROLVS and between the D and G. It's also possible to make out that there is a cross shaped scratch across the coin in all four examples. It's when more than one coin shares the identical quirks, in particular dints, scratches or flaws that it becomes simplest to be certain there's something dodgy going on! As for contemporary cointerfeits, unless they are cast from a real coin and silvered then the die making was rarely very professional. This is a fairly typical example. Hopefully most people can see there's something a bit .. not quite right about it.

Unfortunately I don't think I have the admin powers to open a new sub-forum. I'll message Chris and see what he thinks.

Apparently there's some economic crisis thing going on. Not that I've been affected, apart from the threat of redundancy and the soaring price of lettuce .. but I'm not exactly falling over money to spend on coins. That of course hasn't stopped me from still looking at all the usual sites and dealers lists. But I've noticed that surprisingly, the few decent coins that have popped up lately have all been snapped up within hours, despite being, in my view, ridiculously overpriced. (£700 for a Charles shilling Spink 2012 lists at £350 in VF?) Now maybe there's a new (wealthy) kid in town. But if so, they clearly know their way around the dealers, some of whom are not terribly well known. So I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed good quality stock in their area of interest whizzing off the (cyber)shelves? I'm starting to fear that if and when something I want finally does turns up I'm not going to be able to afford it.

And also .. And in case anyone was wondering if they haven't seen all this before, I've retitled and bumped this thread in light of the discussion in "Coin aquisition of the week .." And if anyone wishes to add known modern replicas of coins that might help our members to avoid buying a duff coin, please go ahead. Just make sure you're satisfied they aren't the real deal or contemporary counterfeits of numismatic interest, and please don't slander any sellers in the process!

LOL I saw the Lockdales entry and estimate too! But I was mean and only went up to £250. If I'd got it, I would have sold it on almost immediately!

Well, they are about the same size as shillings ...

I think those seem only recently recognised as seriously scarce, so any example is a good investment. A decent provenance is always an attractive addition. The provenance of the shilling was nice too, but even if I had the money I just don't know if I could justify quite that much given I too have an acceptable example ...

POIDH (Photo please!)

I've bought from Keith a while back, but he's not that near to me and as his lists aren't (weren't?) illustrated and I need more information than SHILLING 1631-2 BUST WITH MORE ARMOUR VISIBLE REV WITH OVAL SHIELD MM ROSE s2783 NEF to tell me if a coin is a particular variety I want or not. So I stick to dealers that have sites, apart from Mark Rassmussen who still kindly sends me his list and a couple of overseas auction houses that do likewise. As I said elsewhere, I have over 50 dealers bookmarked and a regular schedule for checking those most likely to stock what I'm interested in. But really it depends on the type of coins you're interested in. My bookmarks are all geared to hammered Stuart coins and many wouldn't be much use to someone collecting, say farthings.

I have about 50 dealers sites bookmarked, though I only check four daily. After a while you learn which dealers update their sites regularly and which don't. Several have a'recently added' button that is useful. I also have 5 search categories on ebay and have set up an email reminder once a week that tells me if my favourite ebay sellers have added new stock. But then I do spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet. I don't watch TV and only occasionally read fiction books so any morning or evening when I'm not at work, I'm surfing. However I should point out that my collection is not only quite specialised but there are few coins I actually want/need. If your interests are the sorts of coins that most dealers stock, then it should be possible to find a handful of dealers whose prices are acceptable to you that you can check fairly quickly.

Extremely fine: A coin that exhibits very little sign of circulation, with only minimal marks or faint wear, which are only evident on very close scrutiny. Very fine: A coin that exhibits some wear on the raised surfaces of the design, but really has had only limited circulation. Fine: A coin that exhibits consideable wear to the raised surfaces of the design, either through circulation, damage or due to faulty striking. Below Fine is Fair, which is basically recognisable to the extent you can tell what the reign, issue date and main distinguishing features are on the coin, but it won't be pretty! Strictly speaking the hammered coins I collect are graded slightly more generously as follows: Extremely fine: Design and legends sharp and clear. Very fine: Design and legends still clear but with slight evidence of wear and/or minor damage. Fine: Showing quite a lot of wear but still with design and legends distinguishable. but in practice I try to stick to the former criteria, if I grade at all.

I might be interested in any nice shillings when you do! My 'plan' was to collect all major obv/ rev design changes of shillings starting witht the first issues for each reign. But trying to find a cheap VF testoon, some of the nicer James II or W&M examples, plus a Dorien Magens made me realise my pockets weren't deep enough for a comprehensive collection. Gradually I lost interest in modern coins (post 1750 for me) and switched entirely to Tower mint issues of Charles I. I'm considering adding Scottish Chas coins at present. There aren't very many varieties and it makes a change but it all depends on budget really. So now it's sadly, less a man with a plan as man within a budget! And occasionally a whim too. Oh, and I've deleted your duplicate thread as requested PR

Welcome Simon! As you say, silver is at a (near) all time high now. It never seems sensible to me to buy when things are peaking in price. Yes, silver could carry on rising in price, but it's a gamble. And as Generic Lad says, things like Britannias are already at a premium. My personal view is that the money I could use to buy bullion could be spent on building up a nice collection of coins. That to me is a fun thing to do because it involves learning about the coins and tracking down the gaps in my collection. Plus there's the history and art of coins to consider. But it's a personal choice in the end. What you might want to do is to check the weight of silver coins (all the specs for the various denominations can be found online) and work out what the current bullion value of a crown or shilling or whatever is. Then if you spot a silver florin in a junk shop priced at less than bullion you have the option to buy it. Of course you'll need to keep an eye on what people are paying for silver (0.925 for coins). Generally low grade coins are only worth buying if a) rare, less than bullion and you plan on selling soon. But having said that I had a soft spot for a very worn Eddy VII half crown. I sold it to Chris (forum owner) in the end. But for modern coins (post 1816) I'd aim for at least VF or better as most dates really aren't that hard to find.