Rob

What does the rest of the coin look like? You will need better pictures with less saturation than the one above.

They were made by the same people who engraved the dies and made the punches. So you see Charles I weights signed by Briot for example.

No idea. What you think it will grade is not the same as what they think. Looks an ok coin, but the number is a bit of a lottery

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321710254959?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Here is a real bargain...4 1860 YH Half Pennies in the same auction! I have never seen so many fakes show up at once! Jesus, that's not good. The 1860s won't fool many people because they are generally known to be only available in top grade and really rare, but the 1845s will likely generate some illicit returns for someone because they appear in all grades.

Why not get a little coin cabinet with four trays or so? If you are going to collect Ed.2 only, you would struggle to fill even that many holes. An added bonus would be that the wooden cabinet would float if the boat sank.

Some prices have rocketed, but others have not increased a great deal. Sceats have not advanced a great deal since the late 70s due to metal detector finds for example. Prices only recovered very slowly from the early 80s slump until the later 90s, then started to appreciate more quickly. 2009-10 was the period where prices increased their rate of acceleration. Some things have increased 10-fold, others not.

If the top end does come crashing down the lower grades are still likely to see a reduction. When a £150K coin sells for only £100K, everyone will point it out. When a £30 coin routinely sells for £20, it will not be so obvious, but the change is the same.

You also have to bear in mind that the article quotes Gibbons when relating what the market is doing. Gibbons and Baldwins have been pushing coins as investments for a few years now, but that isn't the same as a neutral expressing an opinion. What do they use as the criteria for deciding where prices have gone? If they use their own FPL then prices are doubling with every issue. As with all statistics, it would be good if you knew the conditions under which the data was sampled.

Iconic is generally accepted to represent something that the layman would recognise. Irrespective of the artistic merits of the ornate/draped G4 and W4 reverses or any other design familiar to ourselves, Joe Public wouldn't recognise them. It's likely to boil down to a few popular designs such as the wren reverse on the farthing, the Soho cartwheel or the bronze penny featuring the Britannia reverse, a George and Dragon reverse coin, an Elizabeth 1st obverse, and something like a Cromwell obverse. Basically all something the public could identify with relative ease for many people.

That was putting a limit on it of £1K. I'd lurve to get a British Ed.5 or Ed. 8 for less than £1K. W2s don't come up below £1K either unless seriously impaired.

Strikes me that it would be easier to assemble one of every monarch for yourself, than it would be to agree on the chosen coin as determined by the forum members. If you do it from the Norman Conquest onwards, only W2, Ed5 and Ed8 would cost more than £1K though others would come close.

Looks to me like anything will pass the audition.

Impossible to say with that angle with a small image. You need as big as possible and perpendicular to the coin.

There is no reason why any digit or letter should not be recut. In the Victorian era, dies were regularly reinforced by repunching a letter to 'unblock' letters. A 3 would be no different in this regard. It is important not to get too hung up over repunched letters which are not errors, just a normal feature when taken in context.

Happy birthday. Am I missing a do at your place because it's like the Marie Celeste on this forum today?

Maybe a Cartwheel Penny or Twopence. You won't pick up an Anne farthing or Gothic Crown in suitable grade to rate as an iconic piece for under £1K.You might also include an example of an 1860 bun head bronze coin; an example of the last pre-decimal issue; a Saxon or medieval penny and finally a pre-recoinage shilling. The problem with iconic coins is that they tend to cost more than £1K because of what they are. Chickens and eggs spring to mind.

Quite normal. When I turn in sometime between 2 and 3, Scott takes over for the night shift.

Yes. Super coin. It was Nicholson 207. It seems to have spent most of its time living with the wrong attribution. Wrongly described as a thin flan in the Seaby Bulletin in 1982 and 1983, it was bought by Nicholson who recognised it for what it is (thick flan). It was bought by Stone in Nicholson's sale, then went through London Coins in the following November when he sold up. It came on the market again in Dec. 2005 where it was once again described as a thin flan, an attribution that helped my cause immensely as it sold for nearly £1K less than it went for in Nicholson. Doubles all round.

That's a bit better than average

Someone was having fun at the mint. It isn't a hole milled out and a farthing dropped in place because you have farthing and penny detail intermingled. So it looks like someone took a farthing die and gave it a clout with the penny underneath. I note there is no picture showing the other side, which I suspect might provide incriminating evidence.

But it isn't silver?

This requires a toned hammered silver thread. Blame Paulus for the restricted fayre.

A scan that didn't look totally flat.

One more. A P834.

That's your lot for now as other than similar types, none of the others are uploaded to photobucket and I can't be a****d to do them at the moment.