Rob

I threw a 1812 1/6d bank token out of the collection 6 months ago as it was good EF and I wanted an unc. The buyer put it into Goldbergs sale last night where it made $875 hammer graded as MS66. I have a selection of MS71s

Some are British, some not. For example, CNG bid strongly at London sales and then the material crosses the pond, but others are private individuals. Then you have dealers with commission bids which are obviously for private purchases so there is no clear cut way of identifying the eventual recipients.

Let me guess. Lot 591. Of course. And I even had reservations because the reverse was off centre, but that clearly didn't matter to the eventual buyer. I'm just hoping it was a bit of a feeding frenzy as the market has been so lean of late. If these prices reflect a new level I'm not sure where the mid- to better end collectors (which is how I think of myself) are going to find material to keep the collection going.. .. I might have to muscle into Scott and Generic's bargain bucket game! DON'T DO IT. RESIST Let's just say 591 went to a member of this forum.

If I had known you were going for it as well...I wouldn't have even bothered!! That was earmarked early on All to no avail though. Things were getting desperate towards the end of the first five minutes. There were a couple that slipped under the radar, but not many. Once they started the Saxons, it was always going to be an expensive day. I wasn't surprised by 118 from the list above as Derby is always a popular mint, but the following lot going for £1900 was a surprise, as were the prices on 146, 164, 172 and 182. I even resorted to bidding on 514 at the end in the hope that it would be around estimate, but 3 or 4K hammer for a bent, double struck, and cracked William I had no appeal to me, however rare it might be.

Let me guess. Lot 591.

What a depressing day. Apart from coming second on one thing , I was blown out of the water on everything I bid on , despite often being multiples of estimate. I gave up after the Berwick farthing.

1872

To all intents and purpose there are also plenty of 71s, 72s and possibly higher based on the Sheldon or any other scale. The minute you assign a number to anything it is supposed to represent a particular coin's qualities. The collector then looks at several similarly graded coins and decides which one is the better. This one or that one has less/more nicks, wear, bagmarks etc. All of the numbers assigned are a reflection of the mood of the grader(s) on that particular day. That a coin can be repeatedly submitted and be slabbed in wildly differing grades on each occasion is testament to the failings of the system, as any firmly grounded grading scale would not have the scope to assign a subjective grade. As a Sheldon 70 or CGS 100 is supposed to be perfection, it should not be impossible for any scale to have examples with the top grade, even though I've heard it said that CGS will never give a coin 100. There are many examples in MS70 meaning that all should be identical in terms of grading assessment. Any scale must have the parameters defined with individual grades having their own criteria. This is where subjectivity comes in, as, with the exception of perfect or totally flat coins, all are in an intermediate state of preservation which is contentious in absolute number grading. I quite agree with rpeddie's query about the missing 18 points, after all, an assessment should have been made and the results documented in order to lose them. I suspect that this would be deemed to be releasing trade secrets, as the TPGs purport to have knowledge over and above 'non-professionals'. Once their criteria are known, anyone could grade which is not good for their business models.

Perhaps it's the unique Pattern Crown depicting the twinned busts of the Princes in the Tower with Lady Jane Grey and a Richard III (Leicester) Mintmark that they will put forward next ... I wonder how many of those still exist?? As many as can be sold.

I sent you a message

Or, better yet, why not ask what ESC rarities Saxby's can offer you? Don't even think about it. It's hard enough trying to interpret his listings without you playing devil's advocate and subconciously forcing him to introduce a whole new series.

Does this bloke have any concept of English history? Did Henry V return from the grave nearly 30 years after he died? It's almost a numismatic version of 'Cluedo' - mix and match your description to suit the mood. I says it was Richard IV with a groat in Calais in AD950 wot dun it.

That will be possible. Chris, the owner of the site, or any of us on the forum who are dealers would buy scrap silver, but ideally you want to scrap them locally as postage will rapidly eat into any margins and hence the price you receive (which will vary depending on the spot price). Where are you?

Spend double and you could have both.

On the plus side, I made a profit from the DNW sales, so more money to spend next week. Income exceeded expenditure, mainly due to my refusal to open the wallet regardless of the cost, but I can see next week negating that problem.

Reverse

Absolutely, you don't see those on the bay too often! In fact, I haven't seen one yet...top spot! I'm guessing he didn't list it as such?Yes, it was listed as such. Soon after Christmas/New Year, people back to work and skint. So few buyers around. Obverse

Now THAT's a proper unrecorded variety!It went to a guy in our club who collects only Elizabeth 1st. As his conventional wants list is the size of a postage stamp, he appreciates the oddball things,

You get quite a few lis shillings cropping up on ebay. 8 or 9 years I picked up a 1B wireline which was essentially unworn though did have a crease from the spade - £130 on a midweek lunchtime was a no brainer.

Sixpences are the best denomination for misprunts.I had a LEIZABETH last year.

The danger of purchasing bread and butter is that it might not sell, then you get depressed just looking at it. It isn't only the top end where people are selective. Some of the real dross is unmarketable to anybody, such as a fine or a bit better 20th century piece or a common date bun head which is well nigh impossible to dispose of other than at the scrapyard. It is often more cost effective to melt silver that is post 1816 in low grade than it is to try to sell it - rare pieces excepted, but also very difficult to pick up things at less than scrap value in order to make a profit.

If you think DNW was excessive at times, you should see the current CNG sale prices.

It was illustrated in Clarke-Thornhill and Gantz and C-T bought Thorburn 225. I'll have a cursory look for the 1E when I've tiime

Its not the auction prices, its the quality of the coins. Since i've been looking through auctions and paying more Attention to Hammered, i've not seen so mamy nice Chas I coinage in one place at the same time and i think the bidders think the same and also think how Long will it be before something like this come along again, hence you can Throw your books out of the wimdow and Run with the pack if you really want something It is true in part, but probably more important is the fact that the material hasn't been in the market for over half a century. Collectors like fresh material. e.g. the Briot halfcrown I wanted but didn't get was ex-Thorburn 225 (Soth 1918), Clarke-Thornhill 488 (Glens 1937) and Gantz 1305 (Glens 1941). Described as especially nice in 1918, and a beautiful example in 1937 & 1941 coupled with the first being underlined in both Spink and Bladwin's catalogues suggested it was worth buying. Unusually for the second issue, it was illustrated in the two Glens sales. The really nice round Bristol halfcrown (lot 53) which cost the buyer £7500!!! was ex Hamilton-Smith 1927 lot 318 and again illustrated. Bristol halfcrowns were rarely illustrated, so again a flag saying 'Buy Me' was waving. You are correct in saying the book has to go out of the window, but even so, by any standards today was brutal.

I thought it was an agreed done deal. Be interesting to see how the personnel situation pans out. Is Richard Gladdle going to be in overall charge? Are the staff all going to be happy? Have SG entered the market at the wrong time again?