Sylvester

Happy Birthday! (Yes Early Milled is still on but has slowed due to other commitments on my part, sadly not girls, but work).

Oww how un...fortunate.

I saw a few at Ottakers in Lincoln, haven't checked their Huddersfield branch yet. W H Smith's at Huddersfield have the Roman one only, WHSmiths of Barnsley have nothing, not even a Spink. But they do have the Stanley Gibbons attempt!

Yesterday i got my first 2005 dated coin in circulation, a 5p nonetheless. I've got to admit 2005 just looks really odd. 2001-2004 looked pretty much as i expected, 2000 took some getting used to, but this 2005 is weird, i think it's because a 5 is a bit like a 2 flipped on it's head. (Not rotated but flipped).

Same with that Ducat of mine, they say AU, i'd hedge my bets on AEF again. Maybe EF on a good day, but i honestly seem to think it needs the A.

I don't generally agree with grades on slabs all that often. I saw one Queen Anne shilling graded at MS63, personally i wouldn't have graded it above NEF, infact it was a slider between GVF and AEF. Bad day i'd say GVF+, most days i'd be nice and have said AEF.

My biggest gripe at US grading is two things; 1] They grade considering eye appeal. Which when all said and done is not actually anything to do with the grade. Personally i wouldn't find any Churchill Crown eye appealing in any condition does this mean that because i find them repulsive that they really shouldn't get grades above MS63? A grade of a coin is it's condition not how nice it looks afterall one man's idea of beauty is another's idea of a coin that needs a good long dip to get rid of the fake looking rainbow tone. 2] Net Grading; We're not talking sensible net grading here the likes of which are practiced in much of the coin collecting world. Normal net grading would be something like giving a coin a grade of VF when the obverse grades aVF and the reverse grades gVF. Instead of classifing them separately they average it out, that we're used to. US net grading also takes into account cleaning and edge knocks amongst other things. Instead of grading as follows; gVF Cleaned with slight edge knock. they grade thusly, VG-8; VF-35 details. Which means dealers sell the coin at very low VF prices (as per damaged coin) but buy at VG price. The US grading and Slabbing industry is set up with the dealer in mind. Doesn't help the collector much. Of course they peddle off a ton of rubbish about how it's good for authentication and all that twaddle. But lets face it Slabbing companies have slabbed fakes by accident and people have also make fake coins with fake slabs to go with them.

I know i love that reverse, i always have though. I'd definately put it down as one of my favourites. Shield, eagles, crowns, swords. Reeks of royalty and power... add into the mix a guy in a wig on the other side and you know it's the kind of thing i'm going to buy. They are alot nicer than the gold coins Britain was peddling out at this time, i.e Spade Guineas. Although i must say i always liked the ornamental shield reverse guineas of George II. George III less so (the earliest portraits are damn good, thinking 1761-4) but by the late 1760s they began deteriorating... by the 1770s they were quite hideous.

I'm sure i'm getting dyslexic... that should be 1786-B not 1786-D. I've put D one every post so far, even on omnicoin. I think it's because my French coin i got the other day is a D mint one. But then again i get B's and D's mixed up ALL the time. I can think and say out loud to myself B and mean to write B and I'll still write D. (I had to concentrate writing that sentence)... Yes i have had a dyslexia test and they found no problems... so dunno what the B/D thing is about...

Joseph II 2 Ducats 1786-D got it for £335 (which amusingly is Krause value!) A fellow member on another forum who specialises in gold coins of this period and in ducats in particular said that 2 ducats ain't as common as the 1 ducat and that it was a very well priced specimen being sold at/near Krause prices was a steal. Graded by ICG at AU53, which to me means it EF at best. (Although if memory serves correct ICG was considered one of the better ones on world coinage). I really like it, not keen on the tomb though. I've wanted a ducat a long while ever since i got an imitation ducat of Francis (Either Francis I or II), Maria Theresa's husband. That was a gaming token of a 1 ducat piece (i still have it actually), and i wanted a real one of the period. Joseph II isn't that far away being only a generation or so down, same century, although i'd have to confess i wasn't looking for a 2 ducat piece but beggers can't be choosers! It was there, it was nice and for once i had the cash... so that's my 21 birthday present to myself, well one of three...

I bought a coin last week that's just arrived this morning. Nice piece of 18th century gold. At the moment it is sadly slabbed, i've just posted a few question in various places asking the best way to crack the coin out of the damn slab. This is only the second slabbed coin i've ever owned and i must admit i simply don't like slabs at all. The last one was that nice sovereign i sent your way, the slab irritated me to the point where i sold the coin. This new coin i'm dying to get my hands actually on the coin but the blasted plastic is in the way. If i am going to keep it it's going to have to come out... If i can't get it out then i'll have to either get someone else to crack it me out professionally and pay them for it or sell the coin on.

Ouch. Don't worry there's worse out there than that. I have a gold coin that... well put it this way a dealer refused to buy it even for £20. First tip; the seller "The Jeweller's Shop", in my experience it's best to avoid jewellers because they clean them (i know i've seen them do it) and they are often ex-jewellry pieces being sold. Second tip; to me that coin doesn't look right. Maybe it's just the colour. Maybe it's just wear i'm seeing but the reverse looks to be weakly struck... which makes me question if it's real. If it is it's seen better days and is probably an ex-jewellry piece. Personally i wouldn't bother.

I agree. Minor clipping on say just one edge wouldn't knock a vast amount off, but when you have heavily clipped ones with legends missing, the coin is going to come crashing down in value.

Not too bad, a bit quiet since friday was they day when it all happened. But i bought a few things, i'll post them later.

It sure is! On the coin front yeah i'm treating myself there i'll let you know about that one when it arrives, or actually those three. Then we have the money my parents gave me and they told me to go and buy a coin or something which must be a first, so i'm going to the York coin fair on saturday. I even got today day off of work as well. As for a pretty young lady no such luck there i'm afraid... (you can't have it all your own way i suppose) Whipped cream eh? Don't give me ideas...

I had figured that it would be a Labour government responsible for the decimalisation, afterall the whole point of a conservative party is to 'conserve'.

Well he's now passed on. He was only Prime Minister the once and proved fairly unpopular (mind you Harold Wilson screwed it up too, it was more the political climate than anything else). Although i personally wasn't keen on the policies he advocated (i.e joining the EU amongst other things), he was a rather successful politician having been an MP for 50 years before his retirement in 2001. So that much has to be commended. That and he despised Margaret Thatcher and openly critiscised practically every policy she came up with, which makes me admire him, a brave man or a fool? To openly challenge the leader of his own party? Amounts to political suicide either way, but then again you could say after being voted out of his position as party leader and replaced by Thatcher he didn't have much left to lose.

Oh and Heath was also the PM when Britain went decimal.

...now Edward Heath. It's been reported today that he's in bad shape and is not expected to live much longer. He's currently our older surviving former Prime Minister, not only because he's 89 but because all of his predecessors are dead. With his demise it will mean that the rather frail Magaret Thatcher is soon to become the oldest surviving.

Hmmm! Don't set me off! (I've ruined enough keyboards with drooling over coins).

I too find ancients fascinating, and i like them for the same reason you do the depth of the design. And that coin of yours is a real stunner. The obverse has a lovely textured surface for the age. Although i'd have to admit the verdigris on the reverse irks me a little, but it's not too off putting. Ancients i like but i've yet to actually buy one. Basically because i'm really trying to cut down and secondly because if i do get started on them, you never know where it'll end. An Athenian Owl though is most definately on my want list. I suspect when i do finally buy one that'll be it... the ancientits will have snagged me.

Ah i lack the patience to search and wait. I just want it 'now'... which means i'll happily pay book price or over if the coin looks nice enough. There's one French coin i really, really want at this present moment in time, alas it's £85 over book price. I haven't seen another as nice as it anywhere... so i'm in debating limbo at the moment. I know i shouldn't buy it, but can i be bothered to wait another year or two for another one to show up? That and in a year or two i might not have the cash for one... it's frustrating. Very.

Chris sells proper coins, but that i mean coins that were made for circulation rather than coins made especially for collectors a la Westminster. Chris' stock generally tends to be British coins from the 1800-1967 period, basically what is considered to be modern predecimal coinage. Although he does occasionally sell coins from the 1663-1799 period which is Early Milled. Unfortunately i collect hammered coins which is not Chris' area of interest.

Why do you collect them? I already have a dixieme d'Ecu 1783-A that i bought at the York Coin fair... i overpaid on it a bit, but i like it. I also have a 1777-H liard, but copper is generally not my thing. I do want a heck of alot more French stuff though.

Buy them off Chris on here, i've bought a few coins off of him in the past and i've not been disappointed. I would buy more except i don't collect coins from the same period that Chris sells anymore! So i can't!