declanwmagee

Cripes they're good, Nick. I'll have to get the manual out for my camera and look up that aperture business, and the centre weighted thing. I understood the others. Just the one light source?

I do use autofocus, Rob, (but not the setting that tries to look for a face), but I don't use flash. Daylight doesn't work for me either.

I have to say I'm not entirely happy with the CD case thing. It's a nice black for the purpose of taking the photo, but it's a very hard plastic and I live in fear that it's harder than bronze, and especially copper. So I place the coin carefully, and let the software do the rotation - never turn the coin on the plastic! I'll have to get hold of a small piece of black cloth - natural fibres, not nylon, or velvet or something like that to ease my worries. I remove the background in postprocessing and replace it with jet black anyway...like this: that's a tip from one of our prominent members but for the life of me I can't remember who, so no credit claimed!

Here's the setup I use for coin photography - the daylight bulb is at the top of the picture, the halogen is the black one pointing down but not directly at the coin (thanks John, for that tip!). Tripod cost me about £12 from a proper little camera shop in Ciren.

oh. and get everyone to stop walking up and down the bus and making it rock while you're trying to keep the camera steady on it's tripod.

Hi Sion I think the setup and lighting is more important than the camera. I use a Canon PowerShot A480, mounted on a little 8" tripod, pointing straight down, and two lights - a 6400K daylight bulb, and a yellower halogen angle poise. Position at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, but not so close as to cause glare on the coin. The idea is, the blue of the daylight bulb cancels out the yellow of the halogen. I raise the coin to the point where it fills the screen without using digital zoom. Move the lights as high as you can without the camera casting its own shadow on the coin. Lights too low and the light will rake across the surface of the coin and the shot will be unattractively grainy. Break the "No digital zoom" rule if you have to, just to get the lights higher, particularly with small coins. Threehalfpence have to be the most difficult coins to get right. Once you're happy with the lighting, set the camera up. Super Macro if you have it. I use ISO 100 (lower the better - too high and grainyness creeps back in). Exposure slightly up, just a fraction - the smallest increment over 0 you can get. Shutter timer to 2 sec. No flash. Then, get a piece of white printer paper and slide it over the coin so all you can see on the camera screen is white. Get the camera to recalibrate its white balance on that, then take the sheet away. I use a black background under the coin as it reduces stray light bouncing all over the shop. All set. Once you've taken the photos and imported them, take the time to crop and rotate, and maybe even remove the background. I replace it with a jet black one but that's just taste I think, not science. The results will probably be enormous files. I resize down to 1000x1000 pixels to deal with that, but I'm toying with the idea of increasing that to 1500x1500 maybe. Disk space is cheap. hope that helps!

The last thing they want is free-thinking independent people making their own way in the world as best they can. The whole purpose of the system is to make people more dependent on it, thus justifying a bigger and bigger system.

I'm not 100% certain, but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. If you look at the muscle in George's neck, you will see the front edge is visible on both varieties. However, the rearward edge is only really visible on the 'shallow' neck variety ie you should see a slight depression forming a line from just above the BM on the truncation towards the bottom of the hairline. Best explanation I've seen, Nick - good one! I've got 3 types of 1911 shilling to look out for, in my ever growing list: Obv 1 Rev A, Davies 1790: I of GEORGIVS and D of DEI between beads, hollow neck Obv 2 Rev A, Davies 1791 (commonest): I of GEORGIVS and D of DEI at a bead, hollow neck Obv 3 Rev A, Davies 1792 (scarcest): I of GEORGIVS and D of DEI at a bead, flat neck

I'd like to see the cost-benefit analysis for the Libyan adventure. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. These people are not your friends. Don't expect them to do anything for your benefit. Cameron/Clegg/Miliband(s) etc are actors playing a role. They are not in charge. Those who really are in charge are not on the telly. Ever. The whole setup is organised crime, pure and simple.

Well would you believe it! Just when I thought I had my Jubilee Head varieties list up to scratch. Better go back through some archived photos and make sure I haven't sold one unknowingly. Then I'd better find one... thanks for that Rob - new knowledge every day!

It's not always numbers and dates either. Several recognised varieties exist for the 1887 withdrawn sixpence, like this R/I

The 8 is cut over a 7 either because the 7 is a mistake, or in the case of successive years as here, usually because the die was not worn out at the date changeover and so used on the grounds of economics. Additionally, sometimes the underlying year had dies produced but not used. Rather than throw the dies away they were cut with the new date or initial mark to ensure they were compliant with other dies and put to use. Hi so are there two of that type (1888 1888/7) ? and if so how do i tell the difference . thanks You've chosen a funny one there, because all 1888 shillings are actually 1888/7. If you have an 1888 shilling, get yourself a cheap 30x jewellers loupe, and have a close look under good light. That'll show you what you're looking for - a clear overdate, if the grade is high enough.

I'm really not sure he ever existed after this cock and bull "we chucked him in the sea before anyone else saw him, honest we did!" story. They'll dream up another public enemy number one soon enough - they have to have one, after all.

A coin I sent to the US five and a half weeks ago just arrived! That's the third or fourth package to the US that has done that. It's becoming a bit of a headache. Maybe they think I might be smuggling Libyans in.

Thanks for that, '49. I was in two minds about it and failed to find a picture of one anywhere, so I couldn't see exactly where the 1 is, under the 3. London Coins sold one for £1100 not too long ago, but they didn't have a picture. I did learn all about slender and open 3 1863s while I was at it though, so time well spent. Anyone care to contribute a 1863/1 pic so I know what I'm looking for next time?

what do you make of this then, O penny experts? 1863/1? That'd be funny...

Now go and stand in the corner and repeat after me...farthings are great!! Tell you what though, Colin, your eyes must be brilliant. I spent about half an hour last night trying to give an 1881 the right obverse attribution, and even through a loupe I was squinty afterwards. Turned out to be an Obverse D (from your website) with the F merged with the linear circle, in well over EF.

And if you want to take it to the next level, there's two types of 1937, 1941, 1948, 1949 and 1953.

trickier dates to look out for in higher grade, if you get them Phil, are: 1954 1956 1958 1959 1960 at a push Another one to look out for is 1953 Obverse 2 - you can spot it by the I of LIZ pointing straight at a corner, rather than slightly to the right. Obverse 1 coins were only issued in the Nine coin plastic 1953 sets you'll have seen around, but strangely seem to be much commoner these days.

It was a masonic thing - 1933 as a nod to the 33rd degree and the laying of foundation stones being an important masonic ritual (cf. George Washington and his famous trowel). George V, and his Dad, both being important in the Masonic world. Edward VII was very high up. Maybe.

...and I've made £14 today!

Not at all, John - it wasn't taken that way at all. I experience the same madness as you further down the scale. 1902 LT penny for instance: bought in Feb for £1.94, sold this week for £18.50. Doesn't make any sense at all. If I did a fair and had an F 1902LT Penny on display with that price tag I'd be laughed out of the room, but on ebay I can get away with it. In that sense we all feed off the ignorant masses, and if it means I can upgrade my E-VII florins beyond the VF level with the cash generated then so be it. It's probably not right, and that does worry me, but if Mr £18.50 is happy with his purchase then all's well. The interesting thing is what such madness is doing to the real world market, and where does it all end. I'm no economist, but if it looks and smells like a bubble, then that's probably what it is. Yesterday I spent 10 hours pouring concrete, and by the state of my body this morning I know I won't be able to do that in 10 years time - but I could sell coins well into my 90s if I live that long, so in the long term that's what all this is for. I know I need to wean myself off the ebay opium if I am to make this into a serious business, and I really do value your advice, and that of everyone else on here on the best way to do that!

I do that, Colin, and not just for farthings. Definitely towards the autistic end of the spectrum, like most of us, I suspect. handy when you discover a variety though - just to make sure I didn't sell a Gouby X for 99p before I knew about them...

So why would a minnow like me try trading in the real world? You're right, I ought to spend more time on finding sources of coins outside eBay, but there seems little point in trying to sell anywhere else. Imagine you had a table at a fair. Imagine how many people would have to walk past your table to get even close to the exposure you'd get on ebay. I did try it once, just to see. Admittedly it was only a little local affair, and it wasn't just coins, but we weren't the only coin table there - there were 5 or 6 coinies, but we barely sold anything, and I didn't buy anything because (in those days - 3 years ago maybe), I could have bought better for less on ebay. I can see that the real world would be a great place to operate for the well-established people like you lot, but how does a relative smallfry like me get into it? I really don't want to go down the road of buying large junk lots to see if there's anything interesting in there - I religiously stick to the principle of only buying to fill a gap or upgrade existing, and consequently I don't have buckets of low grade coins kicking around, and I'd like it to stay that way. what do you reckon?

So do you think the real world will settle down before ebay does? Or vice versa. I wonder how the two affect each other? eBay is showing no signs of cooling off at all. What do you think an old dog like that 1827 would have gone for in the real world? If there's a consistent differential then people must be doing a "carry trade" - you know, buying in the real world in order to sell on ebay, perhaps.