Rob

I've got a couple of 1888 halfpennies, just shy of unc if interested.

It's a bit disingenuous to call most decimals rare. The only ones issued as intended and not due to due fill etc that can reasonably be called rare are the 1983 2 new pence and the acquatics face obscured 50p. The others are rare in appearance only because the not so clever British public have bought these in the past at inflated prices. All this nonsense about warts, necklaces, mis-spellings such as P for R simply due to die fill being rare is garbage and will come back to bite the backsides of buyers. It has all the scope of the London Mint Office rip-offs in terms of a disgruntled public. A good example being the MEGA-RARE undated 20p which had 863 of the bl***y things listed at one point after the tabloids got hold of the news. I had one in my change 3 months ago, and that is without religously scouring every bit of change I receive. Prices realised on ebay are somewhat variable - it might go for anything up to £10, or it might not sell at all. I stuck a lot of three brass threepences on the wife's listings a week or so ago - 1949, 1950 and 1951, I thought these being as rare as any of the allegedly rare decimals ought to sell ok. Guess what - it went for a quid. As a final point, if you genuinely believe these are worth so much, it would be in your interest to make a reasonable offer of 2/3 what you say they are worth, so offer £6 to buy it.

Thanks, another caveat to consider. All pics are not what they seem to be, even from the same place.

If it has been taken from circulation it will be worth 50p. Genuinely uncirculated pieces will be worth a couple pounds or so. A proof from the sets slightly more. It isn't rare. The hyperbole seen in the Daily Mail and similar is not designed to inform the public, rather it is a means to increase newspaper sales. If it was worth more than 50p, do you not think the banks would be selling them above face value?

There isn't anything that leaps out at you. They haven't confused die polishing lines with tooling by any chance?

It depends on whether you can return the coin to the auction house in the same condition that you received it. Auction houses will accept returns if not as described, but it might cost more to return it if you are shipping abroad as you will have to insure it for its full value. TPGs are not infallible, so it might come down to a bun fight as to who is right. Pictures would help along with the auction details.

At least that has decent rims

I'm going to pass. I'm not sure I want to revive that one.

And so we return to the question of Heaton proofs or specimens, proofs or prooflike.

I think most rarities sell for a consensus figure, as the typically small number of people chasing the few available pieces are usually talking from the same hymn sheet. Prices move when you have a new entrant to the market who pays say 20 or 30% above the norm for the type, and so a new base price is set.

The other point to consider about number 3 is that it is given PF status, but is it a genuine proof, or a just prooflike? Given the historical baggage in attribution by US TPGs I would want to see it in hand before parting with my hard earned cash.

The clear breakdown in price relative to rarity seen with the Gothic Crown for example makes it blindingly obvious that supply and demand is the overriding factor. People see an attractive design and behave in sheep mode, just like the latest must-have fashion accessory. A bit like personal number plates. Whether you ask nicely or not, you get a registration (that nobody else has) from DVLA without paying somebody a large sum to provide a plastic sheet sporting a visual clue as to who you are. The only way a unique or nearly unique coin will realise high values is if it is part of common knowledge or folklore such as the 1933 penny, otherwise it is likely to languish in the few hundreds to a few thousands of pounds, but some minor rarieties can still be picked up for tens of pounds. The main problem here is collectability. Many rarities can be obtained cheaply because the market ignores them on the assumption that they are generally unobtainable. Collectors as a whole migrate towards the reasonably easy to obtain pieces and that is reflected in the prices paid for exceptional examples of what is otherwise a common coin. However, fashions can also change. A few years ago it was possible to pick up most thrymsas for a couple thousand pounds or thereabouts, yet they were incredibly rare. Today they are becoming collectable, probably as a result of detector finds which have swelled the numbers to make a full run in decent grade of the 12 types perfectly feasible for maybe 100K outlay and only take a few years to complete. 10-15 years ago you were lucky to have more than one or two go through the saleroom each year, and the demand was not seen.

I still have 5 or 600 boxes to tick, what else can I do but make hay while the sun shines?

No, there is a finite number of coin varieties.

Good news, just picked up a 15th lot which I shouldn't have stopped bidding on yesterday - another one I've not seen before

I got 14 lots this time, which was better than the first three sales. Some were above book, others below. I managed to tick 7 episcopal issuers which I was very chuffed with together with a few other criteria. To put it into context, I have spent the last two and a half years at York, Harrogate, Wakefield and the Midland trying to get decent examples of specific medieval bishop pennies from provincial mints and have picked up precisely none. The Stewartby collection might not be the highest grades in many cases, but is comprehensive enough for the nerds amongst us to fill our boots. There are significant numbers of issues that simply don't exist in better than VF or sometimes even lower grade, so you have to take VF or below. The book might only give a price in VF of 100-150 for a given coin, but very often it's a case of you try and find one at any price It would not be unreasonable to say that a lot of the coins in the collection have never been seen by even specialist collectors. Roll on part 5

Too much wasted space and only 5 trays with holes for less than 300 coins. Cheap and cheerful I guess, but not enough capacity to be of practical use for squirrels.

Guess who's back! Bank details available for anyone wishing to scam him. res. sir, if you are not deposit security amount pleasse infirm me. i have consignment on ready position. and if you have no faith on me. i can give my i.d.d proof ( adhar card). i didn't get your deposit, please infirm me that where you send money or security deposit (80,00,000/- pounds). please let me know which bank, from which city and when i am get that amount in my account please infirm me as fast as possible. RES.SIR, PLEASE HURRRY UP OFFER RUNNING GOES CRAZY, I DIDN'T GET YOUR SECURITY DEPOSIT OF 80,00,000/- POUNDS. IN THIS DEPOSIT I WILL GIVE YOU 2000 ANCIENT COINS, LOTS ANTIQUES , AND GOLD AND SILVER COINS. IF YOU ARE DEALING WITH ME IN FUTURE (AROUND ABOUT 6 MONTHS) I GIVE HUGE DEAL LIKE 100,00,00,000/- POUNDS DEAL ( ANCIENT GOLDEN HORSE CART). first you want to deposite 80,00,000/- pounds in my account (ADVANCE CASH) BECAUSE OF SAFETY CONDITION OF BUISNESS. herewith i sent you my bank routing no. and account holder name:- chintan bharatbhai tank bank account no. bank name:- state bank of india. bank routing no.:- 360002082 bank account :- 31220416951 bank IFSC CODE:- sbin 0060072 branch code :- 60072 THANKING YOU, YOURS TRULY, CHINTAN BHARATBHAI TANK MOB. NO.:- 00918469466030 DHORAJI, DIST. :- RAJKOT, STATE :- GUJRAT INDIA Please pay fast advance cash. ( 80,00,000/- pounds) trust once to get lifetime trusty business relationship. I didn't get your security deposit.

Sorry, no spare, nor Spink 62 or the other sales listed

I think it is a function of metal flow when struck. If you look at the 'straight' exergue it also shows slight deviation at the same points, as do all bar one 1960s penny from a dozen or so in front of me. Not a variety IMO, just an accentuated feature on the coin above.

Not sure how it can be worth 2K if it is listed as being worth 2K on the CGS site. All the prices on there are inflated to provide a premium for being slabbed Either that or the more likely scenario is that they ran out of decimal points. Let's be honest. That coin has zero eye-appeal.

All four digits have been entered twice. Considering the size of the characters, it is remarkable that there is not more double cutting seen. The 6 is a little strange as it appears to have been made using two different punches, there not being any apparently rotated loop at the bottom corresponding to the divergent arm at the top.

So people are still buying the little piece of paper rather than the coin............. Some things make you despair.

Depends what is being rejected. If you have a unique coin or nearly so that they are unwilling to slab, it doesn't reduce the value to zero, in fact it could still be worth tens of thousands.

In their defence, I suggest that they do have a genuinely heavy workload, not filled with questions from the numismatically inclined but rather the general populace who find a heavily corroded disc of metal in the garden and then question what it is. We live in a bubble, floating around in an ocean of ignorance.