Rob

I was thinking the same, so if it is then it got to that state by being dissolved in something and probably ponded as the solvent evaporated. Get it cheaply and experiment. It is going to be soluble in something whether it's acetone, ethanol, acetic acid or whatever. Best bet is something non-polar.

It will be ok. There are many dies used for this and the shilling. Seuk might have done some in depth work on this, otherwise there is the 2004 BNJ which although primarily concerned with the shillings has a lot of info re sixpences in the appendices and the postscript has a list of references pertaining to both denominations.

It's a large catalogue of silly behaviour, all of which are used to present a business case. One has it slabbed to try to up the price people would pay. Said slabbing has got the description fundamentally wrong. Another says you need an opinion of an opinion to make sure that opinion is justified. In fact this whole thread is a litany of silly behaviour. We've just moved from a purveyor of rubber entertainment clothing to opinions dressed in plastic. Too many fetishes here.

Why would anyone bother to send it off for someone to read the legend for them? The ten or twenty quid would be better spent buying a reading for dummies book. Double that and you could have the reference book for posterity.

I've never tried gout, however, I can recommend red wine, red meat, oily fish, cherries, white wine, beer, plus a host of cheese varieties. Water I cannot recommend, as it is a poor substitute for item no.1.

Thanks Peter, I'll readily buy the Rotographic publications hadn't seen this one. Easy too to get it sent straight to Kindle. I just bought The Brussels Hoard of 1908. There's an article in BNJ from 1912 but you wonder how much ground an article from 100 years ago is covering and what has changed since then but there's something to be said for tracing the development of classification / understanding of these things rather than just cross-referencing against Spink. It's all a work in progress. A lot of the articles from a century ago are inevitable incomplete due to later discoveries, but in most cases account for over 95% of the material discussed, and sometimes all. The basic classifications of most series were laid down in the 19th and early 20th century. The only glaring shortfall from a 100 years ago was the relative absence of copper references. Montagu published his book in 1885 with a 2nd edition in 1893, but that basically covered what he had in his own collection. It took Peck's tome to get anywhere close to fully documenting the base metal pieces. The majority of silver and gold had been first covered in the 1700s. Snelling is nowhere near complete and was published in 5 parts over nearly a decade, but still mentions most things. Ruding was a step up in gear when published half a century later. It was followed by Hawkins etc. A good indicator of what was perceived to be the best references of any given time is to check a contemporary auction catalogue for the references used as these will be the most up to date volumes available. The classification adopted of any series will inevitably be the most complex to date. Today's nerds collecting by Freeman, Peck, ESC, Davies numbers etc are just the current upholders of this tradition. References are used until superseded by something that is either greater in depth, or can be shown to have corrected a previously held assumption. As you say, it is a perpetual work in progress.

I don't understand why people don't just bid what they are willing to pay. If the underbidder stops a hundred quid below where you would go, then it doesn't cost you your max.

Read the text

Maybe it doubles as a subtracting device because they are complementary numbers, or tells you the change to be given?

Do the wheels rotate independently or count sequentially when the handle is turned or is the handle used to reset the wheels after you manually turn them to a given setting? Any holes to insert something anywhere? The numbering suggests it operates in both directions. Something to do with locks where you turn a wheel both clockwise and anticlockwise?

I've got a 16mm diameter brass one in the scrap pile with the Lord's Prayer on one side and the Doxology on the other. It's got a crack though and it's holed for suspension. The hole is ok, the crack not, I suspect.

I'd say ok too, but in truth is irrelevant - it looks horrible. Too many contact marks, particularly on the portrait. Joking aside, unless it was dirt cheap, it should be possible to find one looking a little less battered on the obverse at a reasonable price. They only book at £700 UNC in Spink, so a pleasing VF is not going to be more than £100-125. £200-300 you can find a nice one. Alternatively, spend a midge's more and you could get a 19 or 20, neither of which are flagged up in Spink as having copies.

They do. I phoned up and made a nuisance of myself to hurry them along, then got a phone call on Friday so I could receive the lots by Saturday. It is no longer done by Baldwins and is not so efficient as a consequence. Hopefully they will get up to speed soon.

Not recorded anywhere else to my knowledge. Clearly a die sinker's error as opposed to a reused die.

Why did you ask when the numbers changed if you already knew?? Anyway, while I still have the Seaby to hand to answer your question... in 1980 (1979 values) the Mary groats are £35 F and £120 VF, while the 1/6 tokens were £30 - £35 EF. Early 1980 would seem a fair guess then, especially as prices rocketed up just after. Because I didn't know, but wasn't thinking when I posted. I don't have many years of the of the standard catalogue, but by sitting down and ploughing through all the Numismatic Circulars it was possible to make an educated guess. The milled silver at the time was using EMC or ESC reference numbers, but the gold changed over and never used any references other than Seaby numbers.

As the title says. I picked up a run of these on eBay recently (lists 26 - 37) Any clues as to when they were issued? They came with an SGC Ltd American mail bid sale from 1980 included, so think it might be around this time. If it helps to jog someone's memory, pointers are as follows. Phone number is 01, so predates 1990. The price of an UNC 1/6 bank token was £35. A Mary groat aVF cost £50 and the reference is S2492. When did the numbers change in the 1970s/80s? Thanks.

One plus though. Pointless Celebrities has just found another couple of dozen contestants for the programme.

The numbers changed in June or July 1978, so they postdate this.

That might just be trickery with the toning. Sorry, can't check, it is long gone. Not for the first time I was struggling to take a decent picture.

1666 to 2014 is 348 years, not 408, or are you saying everything will be ok in 2074? Sounds more realistic.

A full term is what they should be compelled to serve anyway, unless they have a completely unworkable position.

Quinquember? Or maybe a god got the push - maybe it was Apolly? (I just Googled, and wasn't so far off! The fifth month was Quintilis before Julius, and the sixth month was Sextilis before Augustus. In fact, the Julian calendar - in force for a very long time - came into existence around the time of Julius Caesar. Before then it was really chaotic apparently - the senate could lengthen or shorten years to either prolong or truncate popular/unpopular consuls.) Neat. The ancient equivalent of changing the constitution to solve otherwise intractable impositions on those in power.

At least they had the ability to magnify in the 19th century. Just think how difficult it must have been 2000 years ago to engrave some of the tiny Celtic pieces that are maybe half the diameter. This is 8mm top to bottom, less than that in the horizontal direction.

The pictures are a bit small but it looks like someone has already tried to clean the 1935 crown with a brillo pad.

Clues anyone please. Scott? Thanks