Rob

One thing that stands out on the obvious fakes on the previous page is the shape of the 3 top laurel leaf tips. All appear to be slightly rounded whereas the ones that purport to be ok are quite pointed.

The problem with the image taken from Greuber is that I have to try to hold the page flat whilst taking the image. As it is bound, over 100 years old and in immaculate condition, I don't want to wreck the binding. I've got a Northumberland, but isn't the best, struggling towards aEF. It has a broken G, O and R, but is also slightly mistruck below the clasp and has a haymark, which when taken with the milling (middle one of the three edges above), inclines me to believe it is kosher. Mistriking could lead to defective letters. Pics attached.

There might be some mileage in checking the edges. Every shilling I possess from W3 up to the 1787 issues with the exception of my 1750 has evidence of apparent double cutting on a short section of the diagonal milling. As this is different on each coin, I'm assuming that it is due to the way the edge was put on. I don't know for certain, but think it was put on by rolling it using Castaing edging equipment or similar where the blanks were rolled along a strip containing the edge required. We know the lettered edges used on the larger denominations were done in this way because you see overlaid letters on the Anne pattern halfpennies (P708-11 and other edges not listed in Peck). e.g. My lettered edge halfpenny reads DECVS•ET•TVTA[M]NNO•REGNI•DVODECI+•+• with only the left hand limb of the M present. These are all unique to the coin in question, so it is not unreasonable to assume the diagonal milling would be any different if applied in this manner and this is what I see on at least a dozen coins over a 100 year period. So the next step to pursue this would be for others to confirm what I have written above, and if anyone has an obviously dodgy Northumberland shilling, to check the milling. Hopefully you can see what I mean with the attached image. It is inconceivable that the copies were made after the edge was applied using the traditional method, so any known dodgy piece should have an edge that is consistent across the copies. It may have a slight mismatch in position relative to the two sides between batches, but the milling profile should remain constant between copies.

Unfortunately I only have two hands which makes keeping the book open a bit problematic, but this image from Greuber shows the BM's coin in 1899, so the most obvious feature is the die filled R at 9 o'clock. As we can safely assume that this predated the modern copies, it suggests that a blocked R is the first thing to appear (and one would assume stayed for the duration)

The most glaring problem is that they look cast even before you get into discussing the minutiae of the fine detail.

It's RICARD ON LVND with a ligated AR, but there is so much crud on it that making a sense of the letter shapes is a bit too much like hard work. The reverse looks cracked. Is it like that all the way through?

I think it's later than a 5b. I'd go 5g(?) based on the shape of the h, X, crown and rounded chin. What's the mint and moneyer as this will give a good indication of type? Is it yours and if so, is it full of soil which might come off in a gentle wash?

Doesn't all email go over the web?

I think it might be the normal clearing period of say 3 days as I've had to wait that long to pick up my lots which I won and paid by transfer.

We could probably do with a restricted access list of ids where a rip off attempt has been made. I've got a short list of my own where the same person has attempted to pay and the card has been refused inbcluding some where various ids are linked. A good indicator for ebay sales is where their id has been changed in the day or two before the purchase. It is always worth delaying shipping these and contacting paypoo at the same time.

Maybe it is part of the QE equation. It would be one way of trying to reassure the pessimists that money is being put into circulation to aid market liquidity, but on the other hand, with nobody accepting them, effectively results in no increase in the money supply - which is of course. not inflationary.

It has been cleaned at some point irrespective of whether it is genuine or not. Jewellers' rouge in the reverse legend. That might suggest a genuine coin, as modern copies are unlikely to need cleaning.

Leaving aside the obvious problems with the item, this listing finished in December. Why is it appearing now?

Thanks. That's a while ago. I've not seen any recently.

As the title says. 1848 pattern florin with the adopted gothic florin obverse and the 100 mils/1 centum with a wreath reverse. I doubt anyone has one let alone be willing to sell, but a heads up if anyone comes across a listing would be useful. Ta.

Thanks Nick, that's useful to know. Where was it?

Bugger. But at least people know what I am looking for now.

I like how a lot of the Scottish tokens show the city arms. Nice uniface piece!! Is the reverse making reference to any particular figure?? From the death covered mountains of Scotia he come. What a legend. There was a Richard I penny, class IVa that is Ex. W. J. Conte that I missed. It got bid up to near £500 so too much anyway for me. I missed out on an Henry III penny 1b at London (again!). They raised the estimate this time around and it wasn't as good as the last and I was being way too tight-fisted in my pre-bids -- But actually I don't think it was a very good sale on the whole. Anyone agree? That was the one I came second on. As a Richard I it was very good, but when a bid of 460 is nearly 600 with the juice and postage then, well, they aren't that rare and the obverse was slightly double struck. Never mind, another will come along. Apart from that, I was underwhelmed with the offerings.

Unfortunately, the BBC article may well be another example of journalistic sensationalist drivel. The statement that they will be very rare on account of them being the last issue to bear the current head of the queen is complete b******s. 1936 pennies are the last coin to bear the heade of George V, but they aren't rare on account of the design any more than this £2 coin is. Before anyone does something stupid, I would wait for a reliable statement to appear.

Probably unique unless the person who made it has OCD. It's value will not be great however as these are of little/no interest to coin collectors.

That looks a bit bright - is the whole hoard like this? As it is likely to contain statistically significant numbers for mint and/or type, hopefully the content info will be deemed worthy of publishing in the public domain rather than as an internal memo, because once it disappears into a museum the majority of us are stuffed as regards access. I know they like to keep the hoard intact for research purpose, but as I understand it they didn't extract the coins layer by layer in situ, so any info on how the parcel was compiled has already been lost. What they ought to do is keep examples of what they don't already have in the BM, and sell off the rest so that the rest of us can acquire a stake in it should we so desire.

I agree with you 100%. What's even more absurd, when a coin comes up for sale, it gets both a bump in price from the "market-grading" bump, and the additional "toning premium" that people think it deserves. People who don't know that PCGS has already upgraded a coin because of it's "eye appeal" are then stupidly also bidding it up again because of the eye appeal / toning. This idiocy has becoming the norm for pricing of USA coins. One of the many reasons that I collect almost no USA coins. In a similar vein, this is why I pay absolutely no attention to the silly CAC sticker that has surfaced on USA coins in the past 7 or so years. That sticker basically means that one man (John Albanese) likes the coin at the grade on the holder. That has absolutely nothing to do with whether I will like it. While I do buy graded coins often, I buy what I like -- and often couldn't give two shits what the grade is on the label. I own coins in MS62 holders that are heads above the same type of coin I have seen in an MS65 holder. Appositely named.

Just get the lot, then you are suitably equipped to deal with any or all the options.

Hi. Welcome. All of the above books would be suitable. Depending on the degree of specialisation and the proposed time period you want to cover, you will prefer some publications over others, but mostly they will complement each other. As regards auction catalogues, the list is endless. If you intend sticking to halfcrowns, then Adams is the most comprehensive collection compiled to date with a few smaller sales to back this up. If you intend collecting both hammered and milled halfcrowns you have over a century's worth to build a library from, so a short list would not do the question justice.

What do you mean? Looks just as if it was made yesterday.