Rob

Your legend looks marginally thicker all round compared to the other three. That would be as expected of a copy made from a mould which was in turn taken from the genuine article

Because some genuine pieces sell for thousands,

Two parts joined together says it all. It is a modern casting. Genuine pieces are thin and very difficult to cast copies to the correct thickness.

Frankly the picures aren't good enough to make a reasonable assessment. But, having said that, the attached is less than perfect, but still infinitely better than the stippled veil detail seen on what is offered. I would avoid them personally. http://

The uniformity of colour suggests they have been dipped or cleaned in some way, and the absence of fine veil detail says there isn't a single uncirculated coin amongst them. Yet again, the number of genuinely uncirculated coins is a very small percentage of the total available. Yes, they should be desirable simply on rarity alone, but less than uncirculated deserve better acceptance than is currently the fashion. Historically people used to collect in all grades, but grade inflation has helped many people to assume that only high grade is good, and that low grade is the new high grade.

Good fine, cleaned. The obverse maybe a bit better.

That's horribly overgraded. I sold this one as a good EF on the grounds it couldn't be unc.

A few sub-conscious rules of thumb help here. Apart from the obvious 'If it seems too good to be true - it probably is', it is also worth remembering that the number of genuinely uncirculated pieces from 120 years ago or whatever is tiny. A fraction of one per cent would be appropriate. Everybody wants them, so vendors satisfy the market by selling things labelled appropriately. That is why it is imperative that collectors learn to grade first and foremost, Ebay is not an appropriate place to learn grading skills.

They're human. If uncertain, greed will usually win out.

It depends on bright. There is bright as in dipped which is more a case of personal preference, or bright as in polished which reduces value and is generally avoided. A coin with natural random toning is less likely to have been cleaned in the past as cleaning usually results in a very even tone, maybe because a dip or polish must surely leave a chemical deposit on the surface. There are a few threads on the forum regarding toning including this one http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/9647-lets-see-your-toned-english-milled-silver/?page=1

You might get a couple quid on eBay, but they occur so frequently that there is no real demand. The thing is, it isn't a variety, just a random error.

Blocked dies as a result of grease not being cleaned and subsequently being trapped between the dies during striking, this preventing a fully struck up piece.

France 3 Portugal 1, 1st goal 39 minutes

The box looks to be in good condition, which is not so common. There is only one side of the coins shown, so the other side is unknown. The coins will probably have a toning line across them from contact with the ribbon - many sets do. There is also a couple of spots on the halfpenny and florin. It's much better to see things in hand. Go to a coin fair. If convenient, the Midland is tomorrow at 9:30 at the Motorcycle Museum. York racecourse is next Friday and Saturday, Wakefield is the last Sunday of the month at the Cedar Court hotel off Jcn 39 of the M1, starts at 9:30.

According to Krause, the portrait types were .903, but the non-portrait types (earlier, say 1740s) were .917

The crown was always heavier than the 8R. at 30g it was 5/-, which is why the original countermarked pieces were tariffed at a lower value. The purity of the silver was also different to our 925. Given the upheaval of the Napoleonic Wars it is somewhat surprising that they issued a new value on a coin. It would have been far simpler to continue with the existing coin and adjust prices to suit even allowing for the shortage of specie. Obviously the Spanish 'donated' a considerable sum to the nation's coffers, and using existing coin of known purity was the easiest solution, bypassing the need to refine the silver.

Take it or leave it. I can just as easily drink a couple bottles of wine as I can not have a drink for a fortnight. I do seem to have relinquished the pursuit of drinking to a state of oblivion however - mostly.

If you intend mounting them for display I would suggest you find high grade but cleaned coins. Collectors don't like cleaned coins, so they sell for less. There is no point spending premium money on premium coins if you are going to knock the resale value for six by attaching them to the frame. Your gold will be dependent on the spot price.

26g is a bit vague for a reference weight. They were struck predominantly from 8 Reales which weighed 27.07g according to Krause, but given the host was circulated coinage this number isn't set in stone. It would also differ slightly if something other than an 8R was used, but not necessarily by a significant amount, and given you have no idea what condition the host was in before striking it is not practical to give an exact weight.

Good. Keep your eyes open. The relief detail is usually thicker and less sharp than a genuine piece. Additionally, in the case of those with die numbers, the population of these increases disproportionately relative to the other die numbers, so in this case there was an increase in die number 64s.

As do the other couple dozen punters, otherwise they'd all get the right result.

Ah. That explains the oh no from downstairs. Always good to keep informed. Have I won yet?

There are pictures in the Norweb catalogue, but as it just looks like a normal bun head it wouldn't be very informative to post it. AFAIK nobody is sure why the 1860 and 1861 gold strikings were made, but it wouldn't be unreasonable to say they were presentation pieces, the only question being for who? The 1861 had to be a set of three, but the 1860 appears to be a penny only.

These are strange posts written in a strange form of English. Do we have someone with a genuine interest in coins here or one of these random posters that appear from time to time, vaguely referring to what was previously posted and yet say nothing? If you are genuinely into numismatics then you are welcome.

No idea what it is. It certainly isn't English. For reference, it should look similar to the attached. A standard facing bust dividing E L and CIVITAS EBORACI on the rev.