Sylvester

Oh yeah it used to say British non - gold but i put the banner over it, i'll sort that out... It is fainter on purpose but i can darken it up. And the latest edition bit is only temporary, it should be changed to 32nd edition, but at the time when i did it i didn't know what edition we were on. Hence why it says what it does...

Ah right, well i stand corrected... I'd always been led to believe that James II had acquired the nickname, because not only was he known as the Duke of York for most of his life... but some people referred to him as that even when he was king... And the song goes about the fact that in 1688 he got himself a small army, which then ran off and deserted him when William landed and hence the fact that they were up, then they were down... and then half way they were neither up or down... (lit. no where to be found...) But you're right...

I'm wondering where to try putting the other pics on too, but i'll let you see this first, this better?

Actually i though James II was the Grand Old Duke of York?

I'm surprised to hear that, as the prices for the 6d's are much less than the 2/6's. Aye but you forget supply and demand... Halfcrowns = below average supply + High demand = high prices Sixpences = very scarce supply + Very low demand = Lower prices than the rarity would suggest Most people just want the one as a type example when it comes to sixpences (cos afterall where is the challenge? low prices, small coins...) or if they're doing the monarch collection thing they'll naturally go towards acquiring a big coin. Plus halfcrowns are quite often collected by date.

alright put the web addy at the top then, it appeared to me it was all happening at the bottom of the page... Most people look at the top half first though i thought.

Perhaps the rotographic banner would look better at the top? Cos you've got both rotographic's (web address and the banner) directly next to each other... i think i'd be better with one at the top and one at the bottom.

Only one thing i'd change... 'Collector's Coin', could you change the 'ollector's oins' bit to lower case? I think it just makes it easier to read... I tried both upper and lower in my attempts, the lower were the best i thought.

I've got news for you... J2 halfcrowns are common... for every sixpence you see you see about 50 halfcrowns. If you think J2 sixpences are scarce, then half guineas are seemingly rarer still. I've seen about 5 James II sixpences for sale over the last 2 years. I've only ever seen 1 James II half guinea for sale and i bought that.

and my keyboard is really playing up, i'm typing letters but sometimes it's not responding...

There's alot of things i should have done... but rather than paying the extra expense of all that lot... (this happened in the days when my most expensive coin was probably worth about £50 if that so it wasn't top issue really...) So anyhow rather than wasting money on cures i decided tro take the major step of elimintating the chief cause, axe all the base metal stuff and anything less than .900 silver... Ideally if i had the cash i'd collect solely gold, i wouldn't be trying to do a sixpence collect no i'd be trying a half guinea collection. But realising i'll never have the cash for that i've stuck within my means for now, but by the time i leave aUni these loft coin purchases will diminish and i'll be back down to budget collecting... i think Edward I pennies will be my limit in 2 years time.

well it sounded better than pre-graphic!

The cardboard ones were the ones that did it, they were worse than the totally plastic ones with the flip/envelope thing.

Ah Mr Sandys i've come across his name before... i wonder if he was the one that replace Heath as Archbishop of York? Yes William and Mary ones aren't cheap and they'll put a hole in your money boat, but it's James II that will sink your ship.

now now Chris play nicely...

Well knock me ouit with a tin spoon... I think i've had an idea... how about the same design i had with that florin in the background (kinda like a watermark), with william's smaller pictures (perhaps replacing the florin one for another coin of choice). That way you'd have the florin in the background (slightly fainter than it is now), and the smaller pictures exactly as William has done them?

Well you're already well know as 'predecimal' so why not just change the name of Rotographic to predecimal as soon as the chance arises? Combine it all in one, then you really will stamp your mark on the Roto business. Anyhow i kinda like the sound of... Roto-decimal.

I don't adverstise the fact either... Jon you mean capsule friction... Which brings me on to 2x2s... i used to have everything in 2x2s at one point but that's when i had the PVC outbreak... I lost 1/5th of my coins to verdigris, 1/5th to PVC damage and i wasn't best impressed. Now i find that it's just something about my house i've had 2x2s from all over the place even some from the US and if they get left on the side for any length of time in the house during summer then they soon start sweating in the holder... and it's damaging them... a zinc reichspfennig was the latest victim. (I caught it early enough). I'm afraid both of my rooms are the first on the radiator chain...(so my rooms get hot quick when the heating goes on whilst downstairs it's like a fridge) that and poor insulation means that they get humid pretty quick in summer cos the heat gets in. That's the joys of keeping coins in a converted attic though. Heat rises! Unless i move into shipping them all to the US for slabbing then i'm afraid a cabinet and capsules are the only things i can use.

I love the Early Milled look it caught my attention pretty early on right when i started out... it was a Charles II sixpence of all things that did it. (I promised myself 14 years ago that one day i would get one, and now i have 5 of them!) There's nothing as nice as a William & Mary in top grade, mind you they look nice in lower grades too. I like George I stuff in lower grades. George II (Young Head) and Charles II though have to be the nicest.

Expensive taste oh can i vouch for that!

sixpences will always get yer...

2 points;- 1) Cabinet friction, ever wondered why i moved out of Modern Milled, it was because alot of the really nice coins i had (or that i bought) usually had the fine lines all over the surface which was indeed cabinet friction. It appears Early Milled is not as suceptable and hammered is hardly a problem at all. 2) Haymarking... if i haven't heard at least 7 different reasons for this i wouldn't be surprised... i've come to the conclusion that no-one knows truely what causes it. I've heard of rusted dies, hay being thrown into the alloy as it cooled, cabinet friction, other dies issues such as foreign particles becoming trapped between the die and the blank in the process of minting...

I also forgot about the stupid prices they'll pay for brand new coins in MS69-70 grades. This is before we get to registry sets and pop. figures... look i have it in MS66 with a pop. figure of 4 and none higher, and i reckon mine's the best of those...

How do cabinets work... well inside them you have drawers with coinsize recesses drilled in (all made of mahogany), the recesses have a felt lining placed inside and Bob's your uncle it's as easy as that... but you wouldn't want to store proofs in a cabinet, cos the felt might leave bits of fluff on the surface. Anything else is fine though.

i knew you were in the US that's why i brought it up. I think you've probably hit the nail on the head there... Brits tend to collect for the fun of it or as a thrilling persuit rather than as a money venture (note i said collect, not deal... dealers are a whole different kettle of fish), Americans on the other hand always seem to have another agenda there in the background. One of liquid assets, this is why slabbing took off. Most collect for the thrill of the hunt but many collect either with the intention of making a turn around profit somewhere along the line... hence why they buy MS64 slabbed sliders and crack them out and resubmit the coins over and over till somone grades it MS65... The problem when you have a cabinet is that if you buy the coins in 2x2s then you have to destroy the 2x2 to get it out, all very well and good till you come to sell and you've got no medium to store it in (yes i've been on the end of that one)... The pro-side is that cabinets are supposed to help keep your coins protected better (don't ask Oli about that), it was the case many years ago that most people kept them in cabinets hence the term cabinet rub on a coin. Plus they are classier... but the safest way to preserve a coin by far is to store it in a glass jar (no word of a lie) [as long as it doesn't rattle around too much]. The real proside to cabinets though is it keeps your collection together rather compact, moreso than having a few boxes full of slabs.