Rob

Don't think so, but it's difficult to tell. The lighthouse top looks to be the wrong shape and the 'C' has a straight back which would also be wrong. http://www.londoncoins.co.uk/?page=Pastresults&auc=128&searchlot=1456&searchtype=2 Here's a clear example.

Probably not, I'm too insular. For most of the past 30 years I've got along without relying on anyone unless unavoidable. The first time I employed someone (I knew well), they **** on me, so I just look after no. 1 now and have done for years. I succeed or fail by my own efforts alone. No regrets on that front.

Chris doesn't not allow a link, rather it is up to the individual. I personally think it is wrong for me to piggyback on someone else's forum when they are also trying to make a living.

It depends on what you want to collect. As you might imagine the supply of bronze pennies is unlikely to be equalled. Most people on here collect by denomination, so work out what you want and ask the relevant person. Pennies, halfpennies, farthings, sixpences, crowns, shillings and halfcrowns are all covered by various people. We're a pretty reasonable bunch when all's said and done. You could also peruse Chris' stock seeing as he owns the forum and allows us to use it for free - hint, hint.

Even a scanner is likely to be better than a mobile phone image unless you can hold it steady enough

Or you can give members first option at a price you would be happy with. That's how Peck got his open 3 from me, Danz got his 1867 3rd head shilling, as did a few others find a new home.

New dies it is. Not helped by the dotted e!

10 or 12 years ago it was only a few thousand. Still had the same number of decent pieces or possibly even more. That's 100000 extra lumps of s***e.

Too much material and only 24 hours in a day. I lost the will to live a few years ago.

There are so many varieites that you need to make sure you are comparing the right things. Best recommendation is to do a lot of reading, anywhere and everywhere.

Could be Lion and Lis. That is usually found on Class 13, 14 & 15 though at Durham. A picture of the coin would help.

There are still plenty of choice coins available, just too many collectors to spread them around. They do however represent a very small percentage of the total available. It would be good for the hobby to see an increase in the number of people doing genuine research in any area as this would increase the demand for lesser pieces. It has to be born in mind that many varieties are only available in low grade. Museums have acquired a considerable number of rare/choice coins in the past half century. NMW, BM, Exeter, Taunton etc, the list is endless. Additionally there is a small but not insignificant list of coins that are unobtainable elsewhere, unless someone digs up another example. Recently rendered unobtainable is a Petherton coin, discussed a couple weeks ago, where the ex-Lockett coin was the last one available. It is no longer possible to acquire a complete run of PAXS penny mints as the last one in circulation went to Guildford Museum. I spent a couple years looking for an Exeter crown until I found it was bought by the museum in the Willis sale in 1992. Edward Besly has procured a good number of Civil War pieces for the NMW too. All the Horndons are in museums AFAIK and then there are the unique pennies of Hywel Dda and Pershore in the BM. The insistence on keeping hoards intact is also not very helpful to collectors. Once they enter a musem then they frequently become available to the public in theory only as many museums don't have a curator - so they languish. This is a double edged sword though as the Frome hoard of 52000 Roman coins would undoubtably have flooded the market for example.

Demand has certainly increased dramatically. The choice pieces have always been few in number - a fraction of a percent, and they have always been able to find a home. Over the years a good number of these have found their way into museum collections, either as bequests or as direct purchases. Museums were particularly active in the second half of the last century, though funds are somewhat restricted today. Bequests such as those of Weightman and Clarke-Thornhill ensured that the BM had a significant increase in the collection, with the latter allowing them to take any coin for which they previously did not have an example of the die. Thousands went to them as a result. Similarly the Fitzwilliam benefited from the Henderson bequest (1933) - an act which eliminated a LOT of high grade material from the collector scene as he only collected choice pieces. Blackburn Museum's collection was essentially donated by Hart in 1945. Again, a significant number of rarities were removed from circulation. In the past, dealers such as Baldwins would have bought the book, i.e. any unsolds would have been acquired by them at reserve (if any) or at bargain prices. This was ok as it meant that they could build up stocks and keep a glut from saturating the market. The extent to which this happened was clear when Baldwins were taken over and the basement cleared. Many rarities which had been off the market for maybe 70 or 80 years suddenly became available again. However, since WW2, this cushion has fallen by the wayside as more people had disposable income and populations increased, providing a broader collector base meaning that demand for lesser pieces increased. Today the collector base is much broader and those with deep pockets far more numerous than in the past. All of this creates a perfect storm leading to rocketing prices.

And I would happily take out such a policy, subject to a solvency test to make sure you can pay out.

I think it almost a given that at least one more 1954 will come to light. If they made a couple hundred, then I can't believe only one got out.

The bulk of that excess over inflation has been in the last 50 or 60 years, as one might expect. Ten years or so ago I was using 50x Lockett sale prices as a rule of thumb to arrive at a ballpark figure for the same coin. Within 5 years that number was closer to 100x the price in the mid-50s. Lockett was able to accumulate in the quantities he did simply because prices were depressed in the late 20s and 30s. Lockett's example of the same coin which was in roughly the same condition sold for £24 in 1956, so that ties in with our two multipliers. 4 or 5 times increase in the first 100 years, then another 100x in the past 60. Leaving aside coins, the 100-fold increase over the past 160 years should give some of us food for thought.

Received about 30 minutes ago. Amazing, now unique work. Incredible that one individual could have accumulated that volume of coins in one lifetime. I wonder what some of them would fetch today? Thanks again, Rob. Some fairly eye watering increases probably to many people. I paid £2850 for something that sold for £6 in 1854. A 47,500% increase Probably not as bad as the Carlisle siege pieces that sold for just over £6 and now go for £15K. There were a few spare Carlisles in his duplicates sold in 1857. They went for 1 or 2 pounds, but would still cost you £12-15K today.

Received about 30 minutes ago. Amazing, now unique work. Incredible that one individual could have accumulated that volume of coins in one lifetime. I wonder what some of them would fetch today? Thanks again, Rob. Some fairly eye watering increases probably to many people. I paid £2850 for something that sold for £6 in 1854.

Both look dipped

An incuse die crack is usually called a scratch, unless there was a piece of metal stuck to the die which also left an impression.

Sold. Thanks Michael.

I've got a nice tidy bound copy of Cuff (Sotheby 8/6/1854) with prices and names if anyone is interested. This was one of the major collections of the 19th century and the most important offering following the Thomas Thomas sale a decade earlier.

The question of not paying over the odds is rather nebulous. On that basis you should never have bought your second coin because the market probably moved perceptibly up in the interim and the books hadn't caught up. Far better to accept that you will overpay for some, but pick up others cheaply, both alongside the coins that cost the 'right amount'. This also requires a defined 'correct price'. If I were you I would buy something if it was within say 20-25% of my mental ballpark figure. You will never get it right 100% of the time, nor will you consistently pay too much. Bargains were to be had at DNW today for example. All collections are a mixture of over and underpaids.

Get stuck in at DNW right now. Bob Lyall's collection is going through as I write.

I think this assumption is the only way you can rationally explain most letter overmarks. It doesn't make sense for a die to be sent from say Exeter to York (in the case of the y over E 1696 2/6d). A far more plausible explanation is that the dies were ready for despatch from the Tower mint when an urgent request came through from a provincial mint for more dies and they recut one sitting on the shelf to fill the order. Transfer of dies between provincial mints only makes sense once operations were being wound down at the end of the recoinage given the scale of the operation and hence demand for dies. The provincial mints closed starting with Norwich and York in April 1698, Chester in June, Exeter in July and finally Bristol in September 1698. The only likely overcut mint letters are therefore like to be B over E for coins dated 1698 being geographically close and which would be conveniently dropped off when the dies were returned to the Tower. The others are quite remote from each other, so as there are no 1698 coins with the overmark, it is quite possible that transfers between provincial mints never took place at all. Even if you assumed that provincial 1698 coins were struck using 1697 dies, the rarity of 1697 overmarks suggests that most were made in 1696 at the height of the recoinage, thus reinforcing the theory that the recutting took place at the Tower.