Rob

I've got one so far, and at less than expected.

I need the current prices for a 1900 5c with circular 0s (the scarce one), if anyone got an up to date Charlton?. Thanks.

Yes, but no more than a few hundred grams?

Thanks Clive, and John for the email. Only another 134.99884kg to go.

All of the above. The main thing driving prices is the scarcity of desirable material. There are a lot of people with a lot of money in their pockets and nowhere to put it. The money supply has been expanded by the additional money that has been printed but the assets remain the same in terms of quantity. Prices as a total have to increase to reflect the amount of money in circulation.

no

£700-750 is about right.

For what it's worth, the weights of my examples dies 2+A* to 2+D* are as follows: P724 2+A* 9.19g P726 2+B* 10.09g P728 2+C* 8.31g P730 2+D* 9.17g The silver ones are pro-rata with regard to density. The edge will likely be filed. Based on the evidence seen on an example of a 1729 silver proof 1/2d that went through Baldwins about 5 or 6 years ago, it seems that proofs in this period were possibly struck on a sheet and punched out slightly larger than the coin, then the edges were filed down and the excess removed. They were not obviously struck in a collar as the flans are usually slightly irregular, or if they were struck using a collar, it wasn't a very good fit. Certainly the edges aren't normally flat and perpendicular which you would expect if used and any subsequent filing would negate any finish obtained with a collar.. Clearly my 728 is at the lower end of the weight range, but the 10g or so of the 726 is about as high as I've seen or have recorded. I would suggest a figure approaching 11g to be questionable.

Ooh. Not seen one of those before. Weight about right or is the flan thicker or thinner?

P728 is one that you would want to know the weight. There are copies of this variety made 100 years ago by Robert Ready taken from the BM's example. They have RR stamped incuse on the edge and are a bit thicker than the real one. I don't have an example to give the weight of the copy unfortunately. My P728 weighs 8.31g. It is probably the most frequently documented variety of the various die combinations, though how many of these are copies is not certain.

How many do you need? I've got between 1 & 2kgs of Russian as I picked up 135kgs of misc world scrap recently and am just having a quick look through before they get melted. There are plenty that are close to unc.

Two years or so ago I received a notification that I had won a lot - three months after the event. As it transpired, I had filled the order in the interim, so complained at the delay which I reasonably assumed had been won by another bidder (at my maximum) and they didn't require me to pay for it. Credit where due for that as mistakes do happen, but the winning bid at my maximum meant that was the last time I bid with them. I have always given instructions to bid as cheaply as possible up to a maximum figure. Unfortunately it appears that cheaply as possible and maximum are synonymous.

Yuk yuk and yuk again, whatever the grade ANYONE dreams up, that coin has zero eye appeal for me! That's ok then, no problems for you as you're not being forced to buy it. Beauty is as always, in the eye of the beholder. Full marks to the person listing it. Cac rainbow is about right - 40 shades of brown.

Looks like an almost perfect fingerprint on the obverse.

And you choose the reign with the greatest diversity of silver coinage denominations (Civil War oddities aside) - then go for the only one that doesn't exist. Doh.

Yes, but the important question is whether it is a field in Northampton or Durham?

The Fitz has an excellent selection didn't you know.

No idea. I emailed bids and had a weekend in N Wales. Just come back as it's dark now.

A copy of London Coins sale 128 catalogue that they don't want. I have a customer for one. Also needed are S&B lists nos: 33, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 46, 49, 51, 52 & 71 Thanks.

Just what I was thinking. As far as I can remember I first went to Seaby's in 1963 as my father's runner, he bought much of his stock from them. They regularly trusted this spotty teenage oik with largeish parcels of coin to take back on the tube to West London, and then return days later with grubby pound notes in exchange. Collectors in their late 50's - 60's will remember when quality coins were relatively cheap in the context of everyday living costs, even gold sovs were fairly reasonable. It seems now that a well presented coin, say VF or better, fetches disproportionately more than 40 years ago; even coins with a large well attested mintage. Five years ago I decided not to play any more. I still have my Gun Money and Thaler collections, but for fun and profit I now choose to play with tokens and medals. Nothing on the web about Seaby beginnings, unfortunately. But I thought I remembered (maybe wrongly) that the original Seaby began as a Spink employee? And Spink themselves claim to go back to the 17th Century as coin dealers. H A Seaby worked for Spink in the decade prior to setting up his own business in 1926. He was helped in doing so by Ryan who was his main customer.

and C1 HC are also more affordable too... Agreed, I love mine, it isn't perfect by any means but clear enough and I find myself transported back when I hold it, since I have read that they would be a typical weekly wage for a soldier at the time During the Civil War, a halfcrown was the daily rate for a cavalryman who had to keep his horse as well as himself. A foot soldier was paid less, but variable depending on the weapons supplied. At the beginning of the war he might have been paid more than a shilling (Byron is noted as paying 1s3d in the early days), but as time progressed that rate came down to either 8d or 9d. It was always a case of supply and demand and business-like once the initial euphoria of raising troops to fight for the just cause had subsided. The troops were not however paid on a regular basis as shown by the troops returning from Ireland in the winter of 1643 who had not been paid for two years. Pay arrived when you found a suitable opposition supporter's house to plunder, or the local population acquiesced to the levy imposed - never a foregone conclusion.

Thank goodness I'm not the only one then! From Rob's comments above, it seemed that the 'average' 'middle ground' collector would casually spend £1k per coin. From what I've seen, there are members here who would and do, and good luck to them, but we're not all in the same boat. No, I'm being taken out of context here. The middle ground covers those who would spend more on a coin than as if they were just buying a packet of fags or a bottle of Coke. i.e. spending more than just pence on washers, but not in a position to spend as much as it takes to win the lot irrespective of cost. The bit above didn't say they would always spend £1K on a coin, just that they might do so in the normal course of events. You don't spend hundreds if you can get something for £50, similarly you don't spend thousands when hundreds will suffice. It's also allowed to spend pence on a coin. If you spend a hundred or two rather than thousands, it still puts you in the middle ground - after all, you are spending ten, twenty, thirty times or more than someone who will only spend a few pounds or less on 'principle'. Frequency of purchases also comes into the equation. 10 purchases of £100 by a 'poor' middle ground person is no different to a single £1K purchase by a 'rich' person of the same group, just they have different priorities.

I've only bought 26 coins this calendar year compared to 45 last year. Like you, I find the pieces I want are going way over what I am prepared to pay - in some instances probably double what I would have paid a year ago.

It is. On their last FPL they had sold about 90% within a month or so. That was with a list total of over £1m. Nice if you can get it.

PER COIN???? No, as a general limit. Five or six years ago there seemed to be a psychological limit of about £3K where a lot of bids on individual coins topped out. It was the limit where someone who normally spent say £1K on a coin, found a particularly desirable example and went for it. This has increased to around the £5K all in level in the past two years and broadly represents the upper limit of most middle ground purchases for individual pieces. Of course they spend less than this on many items, but in general, an occasional spend of up to a few K on either a single lot or multiple cheaper ones is something that many middle ground collectors are happy to contemplate. These people are typically reasonably well off, retired and in need of something to fill their day. They are the sensible ones who will take an interest in the hobby. At greater risk is the retiree who has a pot of money and goes to places like the LMO. They spend the same amount and get little or nothing for it.