Rob

You can add religion to that in many cases

Yes and no. Whilst the world has generally come to accept that imperialism is a bad thing, when the war of ideologies is between fighting for the right to make your own decisions free of 3rd party political interference on one side and a mindset that hates anything not like you or subservient to you, and is intent on your destruction, then I know which side I'm on. People of all countries should have the right to elect a government that reflects their desires, but when that decision is manipulated by outside forces to get the outcome they want, a line has to be drawn. Citizens of the US for example might now be waking up to this point and reflecting. Democracy is a very fragile thing.

Thanks Stuart. It wasn't difficult. We would have taken someone in, government help or not, just as we would have done had the Chinese forced out a lot of people from Hong Kong with nowhere to go. All that's required is a moral compass opposed to dictatorships and repression and a willingness to put your money where your mouth is. Any country such as Russia or China who naturally migrate towards the genocide of cultural and ethnic diverse groups have to be opposed as a matter of principle if you value life. Ukraine are doing the heavy lifting on behalf of Europe willingly because they know Russia and have no desire to revisit the past. Now it's time to properly reciprocate and give them the support they need.

And back to the original topic. Today marks the 3rd anniversary of Svitlana landing at Manchester after fleeing Kherson. Time has passed very quickly and I will say it's been a pleasure, with not a single argument arising from her staying with us. Good mannered, clean, we all muck in and I don't think it could have gone better. A few things have happened which were unwelcome, such as her father dying last year, but was unable to get back for the funeral. And this year her mother has finally had enough of the drones and bombing of her village (Bilozirka) not too far from Kherson and gone to live with Svitlana's sister. 3 years on and nothing has changed. The Russians are still lobbing 3 or 4 dozen shells a day into Kherson and drone dropping on anything that moves. They don't want peace. It's Russia. Please Europe, wake up now that Trump has shown his true colours and support Ukraine to the necessary level. We can afford it and Ukraine would make a more reliable friend than the US in the current political climate. Ignoring Trump would not have much of a cost, given his lack of support for the cause, and we can all hope that once he has gone, some sanity will return to US politics, with support for democratic policies and countries. As an astute businessman, he should be embracing Ukraine's offer to purchase a couple of Patriot systems, but his loyalty to Putin and all he stands for has scuppered that one.

Alan's son Lief has a large part to play these days. Maybe that's the reason. Still, not had a problem with them though. I bought a token in the last sale which had a spot of verdigris, so he offered me a better one instead at the same price. Very happy.

I think the only definitely attributable coins to Edward V are the angels. TWW made a good case for this.

To demonstrate my earlier statement, here is a Charles I type 4 crown with mm. R in brackets over P in brackets. Stress marks everywhere, but a rare mark, so forgiven to some extent. All (R) crowns are over (P) - see Coopers BNJ article.

Anyway, that's a shilling. What about the halfcrown? You tend to see them more on larger flans, which is probably a reflection of the greater difficulty in getting the correct and even temperature conditions across a large flan than a small one

Probably insufficiently annealed. Stress cracks happen quite often and I tend to ignore them if not too obtrusive, or the coin is rare enough to override them.

It is the same blue, but in an A4 binder. I had one, sold it, bought another, sold it, all to keep deserving cases happy. Having acquired a copy for the third time, it's going to be third time lucky for me for once and I'm hanging on to it. Got to stop feeling sorry for people not having a copy. Sorry!

Just had an email from ebay saying that private sellers will have to use their 'Simple Delivery' facility with effect from 15th April. Allegedly it will exclude low value items (whatever that means), but hidden in the detail is something that can potentially bite sellers on the backside. When tracked delivery is used, the buyer can choose between standard and express delivery. That's the difference between say £2.70 for a Tracked 48 delivery, or £8.35 special delivery, where you would normally offer the cheapest option to make selling more likely and use it preferentially yourself. Doesn't look good for the seller of a £10 item. probably best to only list shite for a few pounds so that even their AI bot can recognise the limited value and allow cheap shipping accordingly. There are other issues such as ebay deciding what package size they think you will use and price it accordingly. ebay choosing the best value for money carrier is also not good. I wouldn't trust Evri to deliver to an HMO and get a signature for example. They just throw things over the gate. Life is becoming troublesome.

I concur. Die clash results in a sharp reverse image. see below where Victoria's chin and nose leads up from the knee, and the bun is seen behind Britannia's right shoulder. Ghosting by contrast is due to the relief being too high for the amount of metal available to fill the gaps. If the available metal goes towards the obverse, the effect is seen clearly on the reverse which has more blank areas in the field, though can also result in a weak portrait compared to the reverse detail. For another example of ghosting, see the William I PAXS penny in the Norman thread where the high relief of the King's arm at the base of the obverse results in a weak legend from 6 - 9 o'clock on the reverse.

You have a master with 18 on it used to make the die, then the last two figures of the date are added later for individual dies

What is interesting however, is that although the R is overcut on both dies, the 2 styles of R are reversed in relief. That provides a good id for which die is involved. Date also attached to compare teeth position relative to numerals.

It's an 1858 over 6. I thought it might be from the same dies as mine, but isn't though. I know there are at least 2 8 over 6 dies. Here's mine.