Rob

Damaged punches weren't repaired. The design is raised on the punch, so any bits falling off couldn't be replaced - hence the addition of the odd limb using something else. You are basically taking a piece of diestock, placing a lump of metal with an uneven face on top of it and hitting it with a hammer. Nothing complicated. Broken punches are going to be used until unserviceable.

Crossbars added to V to make an A carry through until at least the end of William 3. A considerable number were made in the Civil War. I suggest that any time the required die was not immediately available then they would make do with what was to hand. If an H wasn't available, what would they do? Stop work and have a cup of tea or use their initiative?

That's probably his paypoo fees on £200 included with the postage.

Oops, really? I didn't look beyond the image!You're still looking for one of them, aren't you, Paulus? I think that's a tad unfair to make the description so small, as it is in normal sized font. He's also honest going by the description, just a little deluded with his concept of worth.

Punch identification should greatly assist in determining which are genuine and which counterfeit. Starting with the earliest Haringtons which should be the best indicator of what is kosher and what not, you should be able to build up a good database. The problem arises when you have composite letters made from more than one punch as these were quite common throughout the hammered coinage. I am also surprised that counterfeits would be made on a strip as the cost of the equipment would have been difficult to recoup. Time for a rethink?

No problem with the forum. I have noticed elsewhere that eBay keeps asking me to run "Silverlight" when logging in though. I've ignored it and everything seems to work ok.

ok, some work, some don't. The problem seems to be the ones where the rectangular box comes up in the picture. The options would imply it's a link and not a picture, despite seeing an image. I'll have to enquire about manipulating the images as the drop down options have changed since the rebuild.

That's why I said if anyone can save it and then open with a picture editor they can change the contrast which may reveal some detail. For some reason my image must corrupt when saving as it doesn't give the option to open with the editor, only firefox or word etc. This computer is on borrowed time. .

Whilst on the topic of quizzes, here is one question I set in 2011 for our club. Surprisingly, nobody got full marks. 8. For any student of the Anglo-Saxon coinage, the roundabout at Podimore in Somerset is a dream come true. On the various signs leading onto and off the roundabout are the names of approx. 10% of the known Anglo-Saxon mints. For the geographically challenged, Podimore is 4 ½ miles north of Yeovil at the junction of the A37 – the Fosse Way and the A303 which is the link road connecting the A30 near Chard with the M3 at Basingstoke. Please give me five of the mint locations named. (5) Without cheating using street view, have a guess at them. It should be easy to get at least half given the clues.

I know it doesn't help buyer after the event, but it might be worth giving the seller a bit of advice, i.e. you can opt out of the shipping program and save your customers a bit of dosh. For all the bad buyers on eBay, they will only ever be a small minority, so the risk is not huge to the vendor.

I don't have facebook and to rub salt into a wound, when I hit the back button it keeps refreshing to the sign up to facebook page. I hate websites that won't let you make an emergency exit.

If someone can manage to open it with a picture editor, by changing the contrast and brightness you can highlight features which are otherwise hidden. (The reverse of removing contrast to hide faults). Unfortunately I can save it but not open it with the microsoft picture editor to change these parameters, but if anyone knows a way?

The only illustration with the same legend on the obverse is the first period piece S5397. It also says thirty shillings or half ryal, similar. Although this suggests two types rather than one, it is irrelevant as the real coins are dated 1555,7 & 8 and have a good portrait.

Currently just over 3x fair value, you can pick up one with detail for little more than this. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNKNOWN-Old-Solid-Silver-Coin-Unusual-Celtic-Hammered-Groat-Shield-Antique-Faded-/361177988010?pt=UK_art_Sculpture_GL&hash=item5417e2bbaa

therein lies the major obstacle

One possibility, but not a must have.

I need a nice Berwick farthing. Either Ed2 or 3 will do, though would probably prefer an Ed. 3 for the reverse design.

Not everyone wants the hassle of selling on the unwanteds. I had a customer today at the Midland who wanted a 1976 5p, but didn't want a set to break up and sell on the rest. Each to their own. So I'll break it up and next month he will get his 5p. For most people it isn't a question of ensuring you build the collection at the cheapest price possible, nor does everyone want the hassle of listing on eBay. Not everyone wants to trawl through ebay on a daily basis placing 99p bids on everything in the hope that you win something you can sell on for £1.50. I guess that unlike the nerds on forums such as this, many people have a life.

Given the comical nature of the bust, I wouldn't like to hazard a guess. Having said that, the only thing with the obverse legend is a three pound piece, but the reverse is wrong.

And with the lowest mintage of any Victoria shilling at 470,071, it is a classic case of why you have to be very careful using copy and paste. Funny, but when I collected shillings as a denomination, I never thought of looking for one of these.

I think this has been the case for a few months now, but isn't restricted to bunheads. There will always be a restricted number at the top of a pyramid, so 1 or 2 players cutting back must have an effect. When the best known pieces are struggling to take off, you know the end really is nigh - but we haven't got there yet.

It's actually politicians perpetuating the status quo through a combination of inertia and vested interests. The classic example of this is the land tax issue which has been kicked around for more than a century. More than one analyst has calculated that if land was valued and taxed according to (1) its location and therefore the services invested in it (the City of Westminster being the ultimate example) and (2) its yield towards the 'common good', no-one would have to pay income tax or National Insurance (and possibly VAT). Individuals working in offices would pay a tax on their home, but less than they pay currently in tax/NI, farmers would pay proportionately very little in relation to their land ownership as their land is productive. In contrast, 'buy to let' landlords, the Duke of Westminster, the Duchy of Cornwall, etc etc, would at last pay their fair share towards the society they live in and to some extent sponge off. The overall income from land to the Treasury would be greater than the current haul from taxation, but no politician will ever preside over its implementation. Why? Vested interests. That's where the true power lies. (And let's hear no more about people on benefits - all they do is provide headlines to help sell copies of The Daily Mail, and to boost Channel 5's viewing figures. They have no real power). Based on points 1 & 2, the question of a land tax would be a very politically motivated and loaded topic. Obviously those in favour of a land tax already view buy to let landlords as not contributiong towards the common good, but since 2008 it is these same people who have held the housing market up in the country at large, apart from central London which is in a parallel universe. Income is taxed just as with any other business. Most people across Europe live in rented accommodation and are happy with it, so why should the same not apply to the UK? If that money wasn't invested in property it would most likely be in a building society - who would lend it out to people to buy the same houses. All buy to let does is bypass the bank funding system which in any case was very reluctant to lend money to anyone for a while. Shortly after Northern Rock went under I approached the Halifax with a view to going halves on a buy to let. I wanted to borrow 30K which would obviously be secured against the property. No lending for buy to let property was the immediate response. In the same week, the same Halifax sent me a flyer inviting me to take out an unsecured loan of up to 25K for any purpose I wanted, including the holiday of my dreams. So I could borrow to p**s it against the wall but not to invest in an asset which could provide a return on investment. Brilliant. It's little wonder the country is in the current hole. People buy to let because the return is far better than having money on deposit where rates are currently held artificially low. If the returns were better making buckets and spades instead of renting out properties, then people would start a bucket or spade manufacturing business. Higher interest rates could help to rebalance the economy in my view as the options for diversification would be expanded. The view that they are sponging off society is just another angle on the old chestnut of the have nots resenting success however it may come, though it is worth adding that many buy to let landlords are also 'little people' of which there are a few on this forum. If someone wins on the accumulator at the bookies it is pints all round; if someone reinvests all their income to build a successful business he is a capitalist exploiting the working class man, even if he stands to lose everything in the event of things going tits up. i.e. class warfare is alive and well. On the question of benefits, few would argue against a safety net for a short term, but to be economically inactive when physically and mentally capable of working and thus on them permanently can not be the way forward.

It's rather a case of the politicians screwing up the system in the first place. In the case of individuals, they have wealth which they are able to move around the world utilising the various tax breaks on offer which works because they have sufficient amounts of spare capital to play with. Corporates in the same way use the systems set up by governments to maximise their returns - That's the job of a company's board of directors, to trade within the law, be solvent and maximise the returns for shareholders. Though it should be noted that there tends to be insufficient shareholder pressure to reign in their personal ambitions and returns. As an individual, you will move your capital around and park savings in an account which gives a higher rate of return. Same principle. I very much doubt that we have any members who fall within the top 1% of wealthy people on this planet, but if we do, I don't begrudge them their wealth, nor would wish to apply a different set of rules just because they have more than I do. Anyone complaining that they don't pay tax should also cash in their ISAs and put the capital into a taxable account. People will never be equal across the board. There will always be the haves and the have nots, only the defining parameters change with the system. As long as someone's wealth has been earned by legal means, then that's reasonably theirs.

99% of bankers don't have a clue about what? It can't be interest rates because they would be drawn from the general population of homeowners. I think people get too hung up on this banker thing and need to take a bit more responsibility for their own lives. Damian's comment about heads in the sand is entirely appropriate. Interesting program on the box tonight about the super rich. The one thing that struck me about the many statistics thrown around is how these are nasty people and are sucking money away from the poor. The truth is though that even if you deprived the people holding the top 50% of the entire wealth of the world and divided it up, it would still only equate to a windfall of less than 20K per head amongst the other 99% of the world's population, which whilst offering the citizens of third world countries a huge boost in living conditions, would do nothing to address what I feel is the main problem of western society which appears to be economic inactivity in too many cases - the monetary sum involved being less than some already receive in benefits each year.

I suspect the US TPGs are slabbing some prooflike coins as proofs. I've seen a few in the past which were so described, so I would want to see the coin in hand before committing a large amount of cash, unless I was familiar with the raw coin in question.