Rob

For what it's worth, I used to collect shillings and halfpennies including varieties, so basically date runs on steroids. I found after a while that although individually they were high grade (EF or better) and usually appealing to look at, there was a certain monotony in the rows and rows of mint state coins which collectively didn't provide the same satisfaction. This was particularly striking in the bronze as they tend not to tone with much difference in colour, so it was either full lustre or a watered down version. Silver was better due to the greater variation in colours, but at the end of the day the only real difference was a digit or two in the date, so it was this which finally turned me off date runs.

A variety that isn't 'in your face' so to speak, always has an uphill struggle against a generally undesirable attribute (such as application of the brillo pad). To check you have to use a glass, which makes the impairment 20x worse!

They weren't showing as links when I replied, just a couple of strings of random characters. Modern decimals - quite popular at the moment, though condition is important. If common and damaged in any way, spend them. If mint state and preferably in their original packaging then they seem likely to hold hold up well. Some decimals are more valuable than others, though very few are worth more than a tenner and most considerably less. Periodically the Daily Mail whips up public interest in an issue which means people overpay for common items. The pictures are too small to see what condition they are in, so giving a value is not possible.

What?

Thanks chaps. When you say commercial data is backed up a few times, does that apply to private/small business data too? That matters if security and backup are not deemed to be particularly important. Most businesses are small and do not have in house IT departments with significant infrastructure, but the loss of info would arguably have a much greater effect.

Almost certainly not going

Thanks. Number 1 set up a gmail account, but isn't this account type something to do with cloud things where you give the info to a third party and so is inherently insecure being in the public domain? Unfortunately, I would also need more than one account. Business names are relatively easy being as you can't have two identically registered busnesses, but the same can't be said for private individuals. I'm grateful I am not a John Smith. Best I keep plodding on for the immediate future. Business doesn't have a website because marketing and advertising was limited to two days visiting half a dozen people in January 1987. Since then it has been word of mouth. I'm still here, but winding down, so a website is not necessary.

Firstly, it isn't easy nor necessarily desirable to change my email address because I have customers from the last 20 years who know the contact details. Coins aside, I don't have a website for my businesses, so these non coin contacts would probably be lost in any change because of their inability to find me. btyahoo insisted on us changing the passwords a month or so ago on the grounds that their systems had been hacked. It got to the point that you couldn't login until they were changed. Didn't have any problems before that. I can honestly say that if there was an easy method of transferring all the emails to a different place, I would dump BT. I just don't fancy forwarding over 10000 emails. I'll be pushing up the daisies by the time the list is exhausted.

Unfortunately I don't have an email address book. I have lost the contact details previously saved in outlook every time the computer gets upgraded and I can't see a way to safely save them. Anything important I now write down. I am currently trying to rationalise my emails in outlook, but have 10-15000 to sift through. Then I will have to go back to btyahoo and do the same Trying to save the relevant emails in a sensible archive structure is a bugger too. So much easier saving word documents. Hopefully one of the deleted items will solve the problem. Hope springs eternal.

I had AVG on the computer. It has been quite quiet for a few years, but this month I've had a large upturn in the number of emails rejected by others that purport to come from me. This Jenny Downing was the only obvious anomaly as I have never heard of her(?) and I don't use flickr, so thought it might have got through when viewing an image.

A quickie for anyone au fait with btyahoo mail. Been suffering a surfeit of undelivered messages (spam?) emanating from my computer of late, so suspect my computer may have something unpleasant installed. Normally I use outlook and never go into BT, but as the undeliverable messages came from bt postmaster account I assume they are genuine. Having gone into BT, just above the start button, when I am in BT messages page on their site, I see a small icon with Jenny Downing on Flickr which I can't explain. Is she/he/it spying, or the likely source of the spam? I've never seen this before and can't delete with a right click. Help please

Hopefully the 1968 sale and not his father's in 1912? James I sixpences (6), third bust, 1604, 1605 mm. lis; 1605 mm. rose (tooled); 4th bust 1605, 1606 rose; 1606 scallop. All VF. Bought by Spink for £100. Most likely for stock, so a gander through the Circular for June 58 onwards ought to produce dividends. No time at the moment.

Contorted methods (or downgrading a simple method) usually mean there's something to hide.

Could be right. It's possible it just fell out the mint as there's a mark in front of Britannia's helmet.

Depends on the denomination, but almost certainly what it says on the coins

Country/Region of Manufacture:Andorra Getting closer to the source it seems, and as a bonus, it explains the MANUEL ON AND mint signature. Only one question remains. Why on earth did Harold get his coins struck in Andorra when he had ample facilities in Britain?

I would say it is part of an H where the RH vertical would pass down the immediate right of the current H

Forget the portrait. The trident pointing to the legend says it is a twopence.

Never have had live bidding. You have to attend. Jury is out as to whether I go. I could always spend money on something, but need to keep my powder dry for Stewartby pt.5, not to mention any other sales that are yet to be announced

No kidding. I have single-handedly reduced the combined NGC & PCGS MS slabbed populations of one type by 30%. At one point it was 4 from 9, but maybe the two coins I subsequently released back into circulation have found their way back into the statistics via a resubmission. So who knows how accurate the figures are?

Because the rarity values were assigned by Rayner years ago, possibly in conjunction with one or two collectors' opinions which in itself introduces bias. A database of sales and images to accompany the list will give a better idea on population size. The problem with all references is the inference that they are 'complete', though we all know they aren't and that new varieties come to light every year. It is a case of where do you draw the line in assigning variety status. Given that the lists are not complete, it does not take a great leap of faith to say that the rarity values are also not a true picture. The original populations of any given variety are only known in a very few cases, these being mostly special strikings. In the case of currency pieces there is no data on the variety numbers, only the mint records for numbers struck in the year, nor is there any data for those that have been subsequently melted, so again, 'how long is a piece of string?'. That is why you have to do your homework to get any feel for rarity.

Too rare and it is impossible to build a collector base unless as part of a broader collection. As a case study, it is only in the last two or three years that thrymsas have become collectable. This is due to the still small, but larger numbers than before the metal detectorists meaning that the dozen varieties can now be assembled, whereas previously you would have been lucky to acquire more than one or two. It is for the same reason that many avoid proofs and patterns which are frequently only known in single figure quantities for any given variety. As a consequence, the denomination collector will likely acquire one or two examples only of the commoner types, if at all. Forget the ESC rarity values. There are R6s and R7s with double digit populations. Conversely there are Rs and R2s which never appear. Do your homework. The rarities are likely to be highlighted in auction catalogues, so all you have to do is work out which ones appear, how often, and how many of these are the same pieces reappearing.

Give us a clue what sort of errors to look for or are we just talking flan errors? Apart from the ones that can still be cashed in, I must have melted quite a few kilos in the past few years. I know that doesn't help, but at least it gives me a reason to check them, however cursory that check may be.

I'm a firm believer that the more expensive the coin, the quicker the turnarond for collectors. Many collectors concentrate on finding the cheapest and easiest pieces first and only after a while do they concentrate on the more expensive pieces. It's silly really, but perception is everything, and with prices usually changing as a percentage means holding off a purchase is a red hering. On a personal level, I just buy the coin that ticks the necessary criteria. An expensive coin doesn't suddenly drop 90% in value just because you bought it. Another point to consider is that an auction purchase in the main will be worth 30% less in the immediate aftermath of the sale than you paid should you have an enforced disposal. Different coins, different prices. If there was any rule to be applied it is that there are no rules. Worry about that one too much and you won't collect anything. Whilst there are various 'book' prices for coins, these are just an approximation for a spread of values applying to examples of that coin, but no two coins being equal, all are valued more or less than 'book' values, which for all their imperfections, do broadly reflect the market.

Maybe it couldn't be bulked. If a vendor has submitted a single coin, you can't bulk it with someone else's property. At that point it comes down to the minimum value you will accept for a single lot. Even if it doesn't sell, the auctioneer would get their fee.