Sylvester

i've used that saying myself a few times!

This is true... But even when you do notice them it does necessarily mean you can figure out how to use em.

There were some quite nice lasses in Barnsley, (looks round hoping this next bit won't get him shot), and you'd not expect that would you!

I know i'm like that... a crawler But hey i think you've earned it.

I jsut can't help but get the feeling we missed out... See the picture at the bottom. http://home.hiwaay.net/~hfears/com_2/com_2o.htm

I told you he knew his stuff!

by not changing it i'll keep myself on my toes though!

Well if i don't bother changing it, then when it comes to changing back i won't have to go to all the trouble of stolling up to the technical office. So think i'll leave it as it is.

nearly... they call me Mr Power, but you can call me Max... ditdedee D'oh!

I think you have a point, perhaps that's why they worship their flag so much, it's a way of saying 'look we are separte, we ain't British, look we've got our own flag... uhuh... er' Then again they're only jealous cos ours looks nicer.

I was talking from a mainland perpective, a British one at that. Dunno a thing about Guernsey coins, but i bet Harold Fears might... (he's into Jersey coins mostly) Post your question here... http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?hl=en&lr...ollecting.coins Germany had coin alignment too until it got Euroised, no? And our good friends in the US still use coin alignment.

so i was on the right street afterall!

Yes you've caught me out! You know sometimes i think the purpose of Americans is just observe what everyone else has been doing for years and then to do the opposite. And then have the cheek to turn around and say its the world that's wrong, and the Yanks thought it up first! Ever thought why they play baseball and basketball and American football as their national sports? It's because they'll never get really defeated that way, now if soccar was their national sport, or rugby...

Americans do use the term lustre though. I know cos i've argued with them about lustre and uncirculated coins. It appears that for a coin to grade UNC in the US it has to have some lustre. But if you ask me UNC means just what it means, uncirculated! So what about a coin that has sat on a shelf for many years, has never been in circulation but was purchased from the mint, and has been removed from it's packaging? Now the example coin lets say has sat on the same shelf for the past 40 years and has reacted with the atmosphere, thus it is now toned and has lost its lustre. In a US sense it would now grade AU only. But hang on a minute the coin has never physically circulated and is as struck, but toned... so surely it's UNC? No?

Don't get me wrong there's alot of anti-slabbers in the US, but even they seem to appreciate the fact the third party grading companies can act not only as a grading body but also to authenticate that the coin is real. But like i keep saying, even on the authentification issue i think it's a bad thing to place too much trust in third parties because afterall you aren't learning to spot the fakes yourself, and thus you will always be reliant on that little box of plastic and that barcoded sticker! Another thing that makes me want to throw the computer at these people is the assumption some make that if it's a rare coin that's not slabbed then it's obviously fake. I mean come on you people just cos it's not entombed doesn't mean it's not real. But on the pro-side of slabbing the slabs do help to preserve the coins inside them!

Well the fact that he spelt Encyclopaedic with ae variant suggests it's not US. And i know what you mean, have you ever tried to understand what the MS Grading scale is all about? And the reliance on slabbed coins.

Near Manchester Museum?

Up down is called 'coin alignment' up up is called 'medal alignment' Up down was traditionally used for coins, whilst up up was used for medals and special strikes such as proofs. British coins first tried up up alignment in 1787, but for the most part reverted back to coin alignment, until 1816 when some coins were minted in medal alignment again, by 1821 though coin alignment was back in for the most part. It wasn't until 1887 that medal alignment was accepted as standard.

Oxford Road as in the 'station' Manchester Oxford Road?

try this... http://www.predecimal.com/forum/index.php?;act=Members nope that doesn't work either... it's one of those websites is it that keeps taking you to the main page!

try this... http://www.predecimal.com/forum/index.php?;act=Members

i had a scout around and found it myself!

I take it validating will be those that Chris is approving? Nice to have the 'expert members' staffroom to myself, but i find it gets a little crowded at times...

Chris... I think it's about time Geoff was upgraded to an 'expert member'! 'validating'? i must have missed that! I got upgraded early on because i was one of the few of the early members that hung on and still checks the site out, that and i think i answered quite alot of questions back then, but Geoff seems to beat me to it these days!

Or problems with minor varities of Charles II sixpences?