Rob

Not necessarily. The post that started this thread was one Richard deleted this morning. As it was a post that I made verbatim, it was clearly a spam related issue, but got deleted just as I was going to report it. If they have links it is easy to see, but no link spammers are a bit more problematic. One of the regular features of the spammers with links seems to be that there is a capital letter at the beginning and again in the middle of the id, which is in itself about 8 or 9 letters long.

Shipping isn't free to the UK though. The $12 cost seems a strange amount to me. why is it not at least a grand?

Yep. Another example of multiple bidders with line of sight connection between the earholes.

And the second is Weight 8.56g. 2.4mm thick, 25.4 – 25.5mm diameter. Edge partially grained with even diagonals of insufficient depth. Die axis is 90o acw (270o) from correct position for en-coin. Seller on Alibaba, Sir Liu

Two lumps of sh*** landed on the doorstep today. I'm going to send them off to Stuart as he requested. If anyone else wants to have a look at them afterwards, they can do the rounds as long as the last person sends them back to go in the dodgy reference cabinet here. Broad indicators are the die axis is a joke, the weights are way over and one of them is thick enough to be a piedfort. Add in the obvious casting and I find it difficult to believe that anyone could be taken in by them. I suspect there are more varieties of copies out there. Any way, for future reference. Weight 7.82g. 1.9mm thick, 25.7mm diameter. Plain edge. Die axis rotated 20-25o acw (335-340o) from the correct position for en-coin. Seller on Alibaba - coins store

Seller probably doesn't know it's a copy given they are selling for charity. Drop her a line.

There's a lot better out there without double striking smacking you in the face

Nah, it's not gonna happen. Worst thing you could do. Go and enjoy your birthday and have a good one.

I like the line stating you should avoid 1866 and 1871 halfcrowns, as these are forgeries. OK, thanks for the info..

Usually, modern things that are off-centre are struck without a collar. What's the edge like?

drop Chris a message

I know the forum software doesn't like more than one link in a post, but I'm not sure if it takes previous links into consideration.

As a bit of a solipsist, I have no problems personally you would associate with a herd mentality. People? Take 'em or leave 'em depending on how I perceive them as individuals, starting from the principle that most people are decent.

Stuart. I don't think it really matters what insignia are on the planes - there will always be goodies and baddies irrespective of the identifying mark. Replace Germans or whatever with mushrooms and eventually the mushroom will be synonymous with evil. Human nature looks for something or someone to rally round. Safety in numbers or herd mentality, call it what you will, against the enemy or danger that must be there and is the default position. As desirable as it may be, it will take a great deal to change opinions despite the events of WW2 being 70-80 years ago. A few years ago, my wife (who is German) looked after an autistic Jewish child on a one to one basis. The family were great, but when it came to taking the child to school it was a different matter. A large number of children were at a loss. Obviously conditioned to think ill of anybody German, she was looked on with great suspicion despite the attempts by teachers and the head to explain that she was doing good. If you don't have broad minded parents, you are unlikely to achieve a balanced view from your ethnic or religious group in your school, social club or place of worship as these were often formed to create a rallying point for the culture or the 'oppressed'. Part of any nation's culture is remembering the historical wrongs done to your people as it provides a glue to maintain the group. Putting the past in the context of the time is hard. Being outward looking and treating everyone the same is even more difficult as it will inevitably be at the expense of your group's cohesiveness.

Looks like 6+G, but the pictures aren't the best.

There are no die numbers on halfpennies. A few 1862 halfpennies were struck with letters by the lighthouse, but numbers were only used on some 1863 pennies, silver (2/-, 1/- & 6d) from 1864 -1879 and gold from 1863 - 1874 sovereign and 1863-1871 half sov.

Legends and dates are frequently seen overcut. This was done to either change an old die to the current date, or to recut blocked characters. With use, a die becomes blocked with compacted rubbish - usually metal dust from the act of striking. As the die is otherwise ok, i.e. not cracked, recutting letters allows it to have further use, thus saving on the expense of a new die. It is particularly common in the Victorian period.

Given the legitimate owner, I think you can safely assume they have been researched. Conspiracy theory says it was Scottish Nationalists , after all, it was the Scottish coins that were stolen, not the English.

It's not that simple. An idea of the target together with approximate numbers to each section is as follows: Persons in whose name a coin was struck, including the episcopal issues. - 250 Denominations - 130 Metals used including the various degrees of fineness or debasement - 50 Examples of an attributed designer' handiwork - 190 (This is the one with the largest prospect for expansion) Initial or privy mark including overmarks - 330 Mint locations - 150 Miscellaneous which includes errors, metal sources, minting techniques etc. - 90 This list makes some sections difficult to complete without duplication, and in some case impossible. eg. the 26 new designers used for the Olympic 50ps are on coins with the same basic obverse as are most of the decimal issues. There are a number of mints which only existed for a short time which coincided with historical events. These will also be impossible to complete without duplication.

I don't have a main focus area. That's the point of the collection. Anything which offers variation in design is acceptable from Celtic through to the present, but although I try not to duplicate, sometimes it is necessary to have different years with the same basic design. e.g. the maundy reverses are essentially unchanged for nearly two centuries, but occur with a reamped obverse every time the monarch is replaced. I will confess to being unable to completely break up the Soho G3 halfpenny section and so only disposed of approx.30 pieces with the aim of having an example of each Peck type (DH1, DH2 etc). The cast -offs were examples in different metals of the same design.

Me, specialising...............in diversity The ultimate oxymoron.

I don't understand P&Ms. They aren't rare, or at least some aren't, but invariably go for silly money. I used to have one in gVF which was a bit short, so sold it as I couldn't live with it given most are full. Lo and behold the price then rocketed, to the extent that I couldn't even buy a VF one for what I sold it for. I know the facing busts are a novelty and it is unusual to have a foreign monarch on a British coin, but these prices are simply dumb.

The content is appropriate, but spelling/grammatical mistakes suggest there might be a Grauniad influence - Dailly and enterence, full stop after Shock, capital A in Auction should be lower case and Isis is a proper noun, thus requiring a capital letter. Apart from that it's fine.

Surely with the above spelling, you are referring to the Grauniad. The Dailly(sic) Mail usually gets the spelling right, but then spoils it by trotting out scaremongering drivel.

Just the odd stupid question? Don't hold back because nobody will mind.