Rob

I would expect to see some sets with an example if they were issued in them. If you don't know of any, I would think it more likely they were currency. Also, what is the grade distribution? Most maundy coins didn't circulate, even in the fullness of time, so a maundy issue should be heavily skewed towards a high grade population, leaving aside the fact that people look for them.

A silver halfpenny in a milled silver post - what's wrong with that? Check your copy of Peck (2nd ed. p.200 refers) and read back what the description says.

I just look at the date.

And the reverse

P778. This is Peck's own piece which had the weight erroneously given as 157.3 grains. The weight is actually 115.7grains with the 1 footnote numeral taken from the weight and the footnote 3 numeral incorporated into the weight. Anyone with a copy of Peck will understand what I mean.

Probably from contact with something it was held in. There is nothing to be seen in hand, only when the flash is used. Polishing lines on the die tend to be obvious in hand and are raised in any case.

I picked it up in 2006. It's a real shame about the two small horizontal marks on the leg because those aside there isn't any wear to be seen. It is in the 'Too nice to sell' section of the collection.

It's right on the border with Austria. As Dave said - so many Chinese. We dropped in with daughter and partner on the way to Italy only to find that you had to book at least 2 days in advance. The large hotels/restaurants you can see at the bottom were fully booked by Asian tourist parties. Literally nowhere to sit down and eat. Wasn't like that when we went 30 years ago. Anyway, compensated by saying sod it and going for a beer at Andechs - see Dave's post somewhere on this one.

What sort of info are you looking for?

Rust spots on the knee make this a KH4 rather than a KH2. Given this came out of Baldwin's basement, which Peck had access to when compiling his tome, I suspect he must have missed a few.

KH4 silver pattern halfpenny, not in Peck

I used them for a while, but now use Hiscox as their quotes were cheaper and the policy was more flexible.

You could also use a specialist insurer with a separate policy. Typical rates are 1/2% of the sum insured, but that shouldn't be necessary if you use a sensible mainstream insurer.

The latter would be interesting in the case of some Victorian decimal patterns as they only occur on a laminating flan. I suspect a little flexibility would apply here.

2nd mortgage job on sausages and wine. Just kept adding in cases of wine at Henke until the car was full

People don't know how lucky they are. I've not had any holiday entitlement since 1987.

Probably any metal dip will suffice as it is a chemical reaction in the first place.

It appears I missed a bit. I saw one rowing race when passing a bar in Siena 10 days ago. Stopped for the few minutes it took to watch and that was the sum total of my exposure to the Olympics.

Farthings of Ed.VII were mint toned before release. i.e nearly black. Anything that colour will have been cleaned.

I'm not sure why the differentiation between forums and facebook etc. Surely forums are just different social media sites, but with a more focussed audience? i.e. you can filter out virtually all the unwanted self-centred crap associated with the mainstream sites. Coin acquisition of the week would be even more unwieldy if members felt compelled to post half a dozen images for every coin - a selfie of the person looking, another examining the coin, another negotiating the price, another shaking hands on the deal and finally a proud owner holding it beside their face with an inane smile, plus a spare in case there isn't enough exposure to be acceptable.

It's probably plated.

There is no liability for goods returned to the UK from abroad provided documentatary proof of export was completed at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNLhxKpfCnA Did I miss the last bus? Where is everyone?

That looks like blue toning at 9 o'clock, not verdigris.

Frankly, that's just a bad case of 'An idiot and their money are soon parted'. An annual return of 16% means a coin would have to appreciate by at least 40% on typical hammer prices in the first year just to cover costs. 20% commission to buy at auction, the investment company's annual charge - say 4%, plus the 16% promised return. They might have assumed that they would purchase privately at typical hammer prices, but the material simply isn't available to buy. A fundamental part of investments is liquidity, which has never been a feature of coins. When something can be off the market for a hundred years, who is going to invest in it? When a coin changes hands too frequently it usually raises the question as to what is wrong with it. Although coins are clearly an asset, liquidity issues mean they can only ever be peripheral investments. In September the BBC is going to have 'investment coins' as the target for one of its 'Rip-off Britain' programmes. GeoffT is on it giving a collector's viewpoint. I was asked to give a dealer's view, but declined on the grounds that the programme title did not offer the possibility of a balanced argument. Whilst I felt that there were undoubtedly companies pushing material of questionable investment quality, the most important issue was that of caveat emptor, which in today's nanny state mentality is increasingly legislated to irrelevance. It never ceases to amaze me that people will spend thousands on something they know nothing about, yet would insist on taking a potential new car for a drive, or would ensure that the new carpet or curtains matched the existing decor. People need to be held more accountable for their own actions rather than going down the no-win, no-fee route, which absolves the consumer of any responsibility.