Sylvester

Well it's sunny but there's a nice cool breeze... haven't seen any nice ladies walking round in skimpy clothes yet... but i'm a looking! And i'm glad Miss Moore is still on my avatar (other than on this computer).

and why has my avatar re-groatified itself? (i'm sure it's different on my home computer)!

i've had another idea actually... I dunno if i'll get chance to send it tonight, but i can send it in two parts, and it shouldn't take too long to put back together.

all i did was enlarge it on Paintbrush, i didn't up the dpi's...

hmm i doubled the size but now hotmail won't let me send it cos it's too big...

Hmm i think i scanned it at 300dpi, but if i scan the coin at double that or more then it is usually bigger... I've got to dash off for now, but i'll try and see what i can do in an hour or so...

So you want a copy of the cover without the florin... or do you want a copy of the cover with the florin but everything around it pure white? Some areas aren't due to it being scanned, i tried to cut as much off as possible. Hmmm A5 size... does anyone know how to know for sure?

So everyone likes this one then? Well that's a turn up for the books i wasn't that bothered about it myself (indifferent), but if you lot like it then i think we have a winner! (Just waiting for Oli to come along now and upset my little theory there...) If it was down to me i'd just slap a picture of Mandy Moore on the front and have done with it... but somehow i don't think you'll let me... P.S Chris did you get the bmp. email, was it any good?

well the thing about verdigris is it's the proverbial catch 22. One you will damage the coin if you try and remove it, but if you don't remove it then it will spread and consume the whole coin in time. I'd suggest you try and remove cos it's better have less damage in the long run than more by leaving it.

i'll give it a shot Chris...

yeah i save them as both, Bmp's on my hard drive (i nearly put BNP's there thanks to you!) , but erm yeah i only use jpegs on here.

Well woops i kinda got carried away... I remember Chris saying he wanted to keep it British so i though why not?

Delete 'Great Britain' and that problem is solved. It already say British with the 'All coins' bit in the top blue banner, so why say it twice? Delete the 'Great Britain' it'll balance up the space, shift 2005 to the right a little bigger and it'll balance out the 'Collectors'. Just harmonise the colours a tad... maybe a slightly different shade or orange or slightly different shade of blue to make them more complementary (darker blue like on this site) and i think that'll do...

I'm just going to move the writing round a bit, make it thicker etc. just see how it looks. It'll probably take me a few tries... it's just lacking something... i dunno what it is but when it's there (and i think we are nearly there) i think it'll look smashing. I think 2005 needs shifting right and being made bigger or fatter or something. Lemme have a go though.

Sorry about the lectures we give on cleaning but we never know until you go into more specifics. It's not unknown for relatives of a deceased coin collector to find the collection and give it a good spit and polish before taking it for appraisal. Unfortunately i've know coins worth nearly £500 in the condition they were in before cleaning struggle to go for a mere £150 afterwards. That's why we have to really drill home to point, cos we're only trying to save someone the agony of finding out that a collection was worth something a few minutes ago... Someone also told me, perhaps Chris, of a lady that had decided to sell her husband's old collection of pennies or something she polished them up like shining buttons... unfortunately she polished the value (quite a fair bit too) off as well... tragic really.

Gold and silver coins yes that would be okay... if they are dug up then you will probably have to clean them a little, usually just to identify them, but you must do it with care. Base metal cupro-nickel, nickel-brass even more care, they are harder and thus the brush won't damage them as much as silver but they are more reactive that the gold/silver coins... it'd be pretty pointless to clean cupro-nickel or nickelbrass anyhow cos those coins are usually only worth anything in absolute top grades Copper well there is no safe way to clean copper/bronze coins that i know of so you'll just have to be careful. If we're talking UK coins then anything hammered clean with care and it'll probably still be worth something cos most hammered coins have been dug up at one point or other and the whole cleaning issue is totally different with those... obviously you don't vinegar them or anything but if cleaned carefully with distilled water and a soft brush they will probably still go for something nearer the catalogue value. Roman coins etc, clean away... most Roman coins on the market have been cleaned anyhow at some point or other, try to minimise the damage though. Dug up Gold and silver Milled coins before 1816 are probably worth cleaning cos they'll still fetch a few quid. (nothing like the book price but they be worth something), gold and silver 1816-1920 are always worth their bullion, most of them will propbably be low grade and not worth too much anyhow so cleaning them won't knock that much off. Any milled copper or any coins after 1920 probably aren't really worth the hastle. They're not worth all that much anyhow.

i'm gonna have a play around with it later... i think we've practically got it, what's everyone else think?

Actually you're wrong there Oli, i did mention somewhere that William's idea of two overlapping coins could be put on the reverse, i suggested the Edward VII florin and that £2 coin.

Would you prefer the car as it came albeit a little dull and dirty, or would prefer it converted into a bright shiny three wheeler? You may wonder what that's got to do with anything but an uncleaned coin is alot like a four wheel car, it has certain advantages over it's cleaned and now disadvantged three wheeled brethren.

Let me put it another way... Cleaning coins can be alot like cleaning a car... with sandpaper. Both get scratched, both look awful when done, both are pretty much destroyed. Vinegar is an acid and thus will basically just eat the coin away. Would you dip an antique vase for example into an acidic solution that could eat away it's patina and gloss... and totally ruin it? You might but if it was worth anything before you can be assured it's not afterwards.

I like it! Only a few small tweeks (and you're gonna hate me for this cos i know what's required... like doing it all again! ) But could you move that 'All coins...' bit from where it is now, could you move it into the blue banner at the top? (Obviously make the banner a little bigger) and have it in white ink. The you can move the other writing down so it's not on Vix's face, looks less cluttered and it balances out all the banners, cos then both blue ones have white writing in and both orange ones have black in. Also scrub the 'Edition' after 2005, just have 2005. That'll let you have 'Collectors' Coins' and '2005' bigger if you wish. Other than that I think we've cracked it.

Very very true! And the CC book arrived, so i'll get those prices harvested in August when i have free time to fill.

We think alike Chris... Non stop plugging right down the line...

Yes i think it should... i dunno why i put it the other way. ..tor's signifies one collector and their coins. ...tors' signifies many collectors and their coins. So it should be the latter.

You know what's so good about these two coins? 1) The florin was bought off of Chris. 2) The £2 was sold to Chris. So both were both mine and Chris' at one point or other... Which is why i thought they were pretty fitting coins to use. Next year perhaps it'd be time for a Wreath crown?