Rob

You're still better off going up the A303 to the east than going westbound. Too many single carriageway sections with limited overtaking between Stonehenge and Mere, then again around the Somerset/Devon border.

I wonder why George instead of William? Historical Williams are: 1 a French b*****d and conqueror, 2 dies hunting in the New Forest and lets the coinage go to pot, 3 a Dutch import who nonetheless probably did a reasonable job and 4 the Sailor king who made the best of a bad job following the excesses of G4 and in all probability rescued the monarchy. Georges? 1 became King because the Stuart line ended, but never took to this country and stayed most of the time in Germany, 2 did ok and even fought a battle in Germany, 3 was off his trolley, 4 was attended by the cake trolley, 5 did ok and so did 6, again in less than easy circumstances. I think they should all have to use their first name. Nothing wrong with Charles III or William V, though a quick check on wikipedia does say that other contenders for Charles III over time include Charles the Fat (832-888) and Charles the Simple (879-929), neither of whom he will be relieved to find are likely ancestors.

Gold 1791 pattern halfpenny. sold slabbed without gouge 6 months after I disposed of it with gouge. I can't find the post with images now, but it was some time in 2011(?)

And http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=3030&lotNo=24259 is an interesting one from the unsold lots from yesterday. I was going to bid on this in the W&W sale 20/6/2012 where it was lot 455, but declined on the basis of two parallel hairlines above Anne's left shoulder. Now polished out (the dark thin patch), it of course became possible to give it a PF63 grade which always sells better than unc details scratched Ex-Brunning 35 (Sotheby 18th March 1908) where described as a perfect and brilliant example of this rare variety, it had no trace of the hairlines a century ago. The catalogue image (below) did however show the little bead of wax in the angle where the trident shaft meets Britannia's drapery, which combined with the shape detail confirms the provenance. Shame really, as otherwise it was a nice coin.

1798 guinea? As common as they come for the issue. 8/7 is scarcer and also eliminates the forgeries for this date, but 7500 is silly.

Red, George is one of Charles' names, and I also heard the same thing...that he wants to Crowned as George. There are rumors that he may "pass" in favor of his son...what do you think? Pass what? Wind? That is not how it works. Charlie will just have to have a short reign, assuming he outlives his mum

It's the only one you'll find. £15K+ is not too much and no different to the prices paid for gold halfpennies. I thought you would go for it.

Photos? You can include the bags too. I don't want to see your truncheon. Alternatively you may start a members' wives/baggage thread.

Both correct, but "climate change" is a better term to use - a rise in planetary temperature does not mean everywhere gets warmer More energy in the atmosphere leads to a more dynamic system - basically the world is likely to get more interesting weather Sounds great David. Something to break up the clouds and rain for you and me both.

Yes. On the one that I had you could see the filled curve at the top of the two and a trace of the filled bottom bar

The problem for politicians of all countries is that giving the voter a choice is dangerous, because it may interfere with, or worse still ruin their vested interests. Democracy is a double edged sword, hence the reluctance to offer it. What is passed on one occasion may not be in everyone's best interests down the line. A periodic review is therefore in everyone's interest, whichever side of the fence you are on.

looks a bit better than your typical AU58.

I've never seen a gEF AU58 even though they are supposed to be interchangeable. gVF to EF is about as good as they come. The problem stems from the fact that MS60 is never mint state unless you have a problem with your eyesight.

1998 Krause prices for a 1903 HC were $22.50, 75, 300 & 850. Don't know what the £/$ rate was though.

You will have to put up both sides. W3 shillings are the most diverse with 6 mints operating during the recoinage of 1696 and many varieties, so to give you the info you need we need both sides. You could also do with getting yourself an old copy of Spink Coins of England on eBay as this will help to id your coins. It's the only useful one when it comes to coins for the last 2000 years and you should be able to get one for a couple pounds. You don't need the latest edition.

Firstly, what exactly does it do that Windows doesn't and is it easy to use? Is it compatible with all computers? Do you have to remove microsoft's paint program first or does it do it automatically to avoid having two programs with the same name? If it comes with full instructions, presumably this info will be written down? I don't want to b****r up my computer and have to spend money getting it repaired if one of the kids isn't around. Better to retain a working system and not have it than wreck what I've got. Thanks.

Those you mention are all image formats, so the Windows default picture viewer (or MS Paint) would cover most of those. If not, a free download such as Paint.NET will do the trick. thanks

So what do you use to open png, tif, gif and bmp files? I can't remember what Baldwins used (png?).

I'm not that desperate. There is life outside of coins and eBay................ quite a lot, in fact. Rest assured that if something ticked an important box I would not miss it. It's really more about things that I can see a profit in.

I'm my own worst enemy. Missed a couple dozen bids so far over the holiday period because the reminder comes in 6 or 7 hours before it ends, meaning I've forgotten all about it by the time it is due. A few bargains missed for certain, but, c'est la vie.

.rar is a file type rather like a .zip archive - it holds compressed versions of files which then have to be uncompressed. If you're using Windows, I thought that .rar files were recognised? On my Mac I long ago downloaded a free utility (UnrarX) which uncompresses them. Maybe there is a Windows version too? Would there be any chance of having these various file extensions on a sticky (in useful references) that people can add to together with a solution to opening the files? Someone sent me an image with a psd(?) extension a while back, but neither I nor the windows program on my computer recognised it, so the image had to be binned. It wasn't the first unopenable file received as Baldwins also format their files in some unintelligible way. Obviously the problem is proprietary software, but nobody is going to buy every available program just to view an image which may not appear. Something along the lines of Adobe reader which allows you to read only would be useful.

Talking of bisons reminds me of the time a guy went fishing and caught a whale. No good though, no frame with it.

Another word of wisdom. Nobody is useless - They can always be used as a bad example.

Courtesy of my youngest. Proof that light travels faster than sound - Some people appear bright until they open their mouth.

You can pick them up quite cheaply in decent condition. It's very rare that examples sell for over £100 (Tim Everson's collection being the exception where the combination of the person who wrote the book coupled with some decent provenances pushed a few pieces very high), with VF to gVF examples appearing for tens of pounds. Like Peter, I would subscribe to the idea that although £2 for 4 is only the cost of a pint, for the cost of a round you could get something that you would want to keep long term.