Rob

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?

I didn't get anything, and I was looking at some relatively unpopular items apart from the Briot above. A 3/- bank token hammering at 480. Usually you can't give them away. No chance of buying for resale, as many things hammered at more than you could ask. Then there's the premium etc to consider. Be interesting to see waht happens tomorrow. DNW could well be similar, and advance bidding on CNG means prices are already stratospheric on some lots.

Makes you wonder why they made and stockpiled Charles I halfpennies at the Tower from 1577 onwards until required 50 years later, but then subsequently produced Elizabethan halfpennies in the intervening 6th and 7th issue periods, not to mention the issues during the reign of James 1st. It also isn't only sloppy listing. Someone has gone out of their way to write a load of spiel about the coin which is patently wrong ie. they weren't striking halfpennies in 1577. If you are going to write crap, it should at least be plausible with a potential match to the historical evidence. Well done Saxby's.

Just keep on drip feeding the collection. Nobody will time the market perfectly. Some will be overpaid and others bought cheaply, but more importantly you have fulfilled your collecting desires.

My wallet has emerged unscathed so far. Wow. I wanted the Briot hammered halfcrown, but wasn't willing to pay nearly £5K. I thought 3 was pushing the boat out.

This happens on a regular basis, so yes, there are bargains to be had because half the US collectors won't go near it, relying on the 'superior knowledge' of the TPG.

If you look at the prices asked for GCS slabbed coins, they are invariably multiples of the raw coin price. I think they are just trying to emulate the US market where a premium is the norm for a label. Nobody is forced to buy though. As an aside, I also see that the US TPGs seem to have lost the plot a bit more. Baldwins sale next week has a Richard II noble (lot 4322). PCGS have given it AU58. Steve Hill, who usually pushes every last drop of grade on his listings has given it good fine! Goldbergs next sale has an 1812 1/6d bank token (lot 4338) which I threw out of my collection due to the wear to the high points and sold as a nearly gEF has come back as NGC MS66!!

My eyes are dim, I cannot see....Ooooh

That'll be a seat for two in the 3rd row then. I'm hoping to be impoverished tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Get your ME on a 1927 for £30-50, then you have a lot of spare change to buy other things.

'Stylised A' mintmark on this fine detailed VF obverse! Saxby's has always been a byword for things to avoid IMHO. Thankfully the listings always used to be obvious and so easily avoided. Not looked recently though. I'll have a few Matildas if you don't mind. Well, maybe not. They always list continental hammered coins as "British found" which was fine, until their eBay feedback showed bulk purchases of coins from the continent... So basically they sell things - not sure what, that were purchased in a far away land called Britain - not. Yet another ebay seller with a compromised moral compass. They are either ignorant of what they're selling , or someone is trying to pull a fast one. Given nobody in business owns up to being in the dark about their chosen field nor should they be, it's a bit self incriminating.

'Stylised A' mintmark on this fine detailed VF obverse! Saxby's has always been a byword for things to avoid IMHO. Thankfully the listings always used to be obvious and so easily avoided. Not looked recently though. I'll have a few Matildas if you don't mind. Well, maybe not.

Better list the trays, otherwise any buyer might find his/her coins don't fit.

That's what I use. It doesn't matter as long as it is searchable. There is a limit to the number of things you want to search, so keep some of the info off the sheet in a separate file dedicated to that coin.

Not popular. There is too much large and interesting Chas 1 material for the small things to get much attention.

You could all of these in the next two weeks. Spink have all three. DNW could provide a Ch2 2/6d, as could St. James's which also have a G1 5/-, Corbitts don't have a G1 5/-, but do have the others. Spoilt for choice.

I agree - but my point was that the penny equivalent is worth far more, as halfpennies just aren't fashionable. Sure it will sell, at a good price for a halfpenny, but... I concur.

I'd be interested in it.

o***t (2001) I reckon. Although only 11% bids with this seller, and shops for all sorts of other stuff, he's retracted 49 bids. I've been shopping on eBay nearly 10 years and I've never retracted a bid. That one only bid up to 150 on the first listing. Sorry, should have said r***6 - crap eyesight. He won it at the beginning of the month.

Websites takes too long to update. I set out with good intentions whereby I thought I could update every few days, but usually find there's no time. By the time you have got decent images, copy and pasted existing entries which are then amended to the new coin's spec, set the paths, upload the revised lists and new images to the host and then check everything is working - you can easily lose a day. The temptation to revert to playing with atoms in a vacuum is immense.

Who is the shill on this one? n***6 doesn't fit in with the characters I'm familiar with. The description is a joke on this one. Excessively rare - not. Quite common compared to a lot of Soho pieces thanks to the number that have entered the market courtesy of the Boulton family. Obviously doesn't read the Circular, or if read promptly ignored Mick's article. Auction prices suggest 1500-2000 - where? Anyone paying that amount for a P1258 needs to see a man in a white coat. £400-600 is about right for this in the current market, so the underbidder wasn't being unreasonable. You can get one of the rarer types of 1797 proof pennies for just over 1K, so why pay nearly double for something common?

Most dealers there I'd never heard of, Clive, and looking them up afterwards quite a few have no internet presence at all, which is remarkable. Quite old school in a way - it almost felt a bit "underground", compared to the mainstream I'm used to swimming in. As well as Rob, the other people who sold me stuff were: David Craddock Birmingham Coins Ian Pratt Paul Davis Numismatic Legends D T Peake K B Coins Dave Craddock and K B Coins are very much old-timers - I remember them from the mid-90s. Possibly Ian Pratt too? but the other names are unfamiliar. Did you happen to see Dorset Coins, Carlton Coins, Lockdales, or Wayne Nicholls there? They were familiar faces to me all those years ago. Carlton Coins is Derek Peake

See, I'll wean you off eBay eventually. You can't beat a coin fair. What you see is what you get, unlike eBay where what you see you might get applies. Coin fairs also filter out the washers, because nobody wants to carry them around for the day. They go into the melting pot as a default action. It's actually quite difficult to find something in less than fine at a coin fair unless it is at the very least scarce or rare. You will, Rob, of that there's no doubt! I even caught myself fantasising about having a table but I'd have to get into buying stock for stock's sake, and I'm not sure I want to do down that route. I have always avoided buying downgrades, so, unlike most dealers, I don't have sacks of junk in the cellar that I have cherry picked. I'm not sure Gnome Cottage has room for a cellar.

See, I'll wean you off eBay eventually. You can't beat a coin fair. What you see is what you get, unlike eBay where what you see you might get applies. Coin fairs also filter out the washers, because nobody wants to carry them around for the day. They go into the melting pot as a default action. It's actually quite difficult to find something in less than fine at a coin fair unless it is at the very least scarce or rare.