Rob

I think we all agree you need some semblance of order, and yes, the separation of raw and slabbed coins to different sections of the catalogue is another gripe here too. Steve, you collect pennies which for whatever reason they have decided to list in date order - quite sensible. I bet that if you wanted to find a 1873 penny, you would look down the list until you came to those beginning 187 and finish once you had passed the date. The bone of contention in the hammered section and the collection is that once a coin becomes undated there is no attention paid to the order in which they are listed. Just as penny collectors would look for different dates, bust types or reverses, so would a hammered shilling collector for the individual bust or reverse types, initial marks or overmarks. Those busts come in a strict listed order as do the initial marks employed. It is simply chronology without the date. The catalogue only manages to sort the lots into the collection or other properties which isn't a very sensible search parameter. If they could sort it by pyx period dates that would help.

That's really interesting, Declan. Two points I note: some streets are partly green and partly orange ~ that must have been difficult. Also, the RUC station is in the green area ~ awkward. I had to go to Belfast on work related business back in 2003, and despite the Good Friday agreement and all the talk of peace, it was obvious that sectarianism was a total way of life on both sides of the divide. Very, very friendly, hospitable and outgoing people, nonetheless, with a great sense of humour, and quite a lot of humour about the sectarianism itself. At one hostelry I went in for a meal, I got talking to a guy who said to me in a quiet voice "SShhhy, I'm the only f***** protestant in this pub, and they don't know" Was a good two weeks, and I was almost sorry to leave. I haven't been there since the troubles have quietened down a lot, but still have memories of just about every visit there. I remember being on the phone to the girlfriend in the early 80s, as the wife was at the time, when she said 'What's that?' - as a large bang sounded, the windows rattled and the building rumbled, but that bang was probably half a mile away. Answer, 'It's a bomb' and then the conversation resumed. I always found it difficult to reconcile the congenital ill-feeling towards the other side. I found the same thing in Boston MA too having given a truthful answer to a question about Northern Ireland. The question was 'How would you stop the fighting in N. Ireland?. The answer was 'Well, you could stop financing it'. There wasn't a happy face the whole length of the bar so I finished my beer and left, and I never got that job in the Diplomatic Corps.

To get your foot in the door it helps if the application is written in English. The number of letters I've received over the years asking if I had any job vacancies, but where the letter approximated to a random selection of English(?) words, beggars belief. If applicants can't be bothered to write in English, it doesn't matter how good their maths is because I wouldn't bother replying. Customers, particularly foreign ones, will almost invariably use good English and so replying in tones akin to the French policeman in 'Allo 'Allo isn't very helpful to an employer. Therein lies the real legacy of the education system in this country over the past few decades whereby people are allowed to write without correction of spelling or grammar.

I think they have probably ordered them on the computer using an ascending or descending sort function because 'Charles I, silver halcrown (sic), Oxford Mint' comes before 'Charles I, silver halfcrown, Bristol Mint'. Some of the others I'm struggling to see why they are as listed. Whatever, it's a simple case of crap quality control and indifference to accuracy because there are a lot of mis-atttributions too.

OK, I can accept that everyone has their own personal preferences, but at least they usually list the denominations in date order. Any semblance of order has been thrown out the window here. Take shillings for example. It kicks off with a Group A, type 1, bust 2 mint mark cross calvary which is the second type issued as described, but the image is a group B, first bust - so the description is wrong. It dates to 1625-6. Next up is a group F, mm.(P) dates to 1643-4. Then a ® of the same issue dates to 1644-5, then back to a Group D, Tower under the King with a crown mark (1635-6), then forward to Star (1640), back to Tun (1636-8), forward to Star again, back to Rose (1631-2). Briot coinage and Exeter issues are incorporated somewhere in the middle of this mess. There is a first issue coin after 40 lots or so, but that's 20 lots after an example of the last mark issued during the reign which post-dates the first by over 20 years. They haven't kept coins with the same marks together either which is as good as ordering the list by drawing the lots out of a hat. But at least the second shilling from last (of over 100 in total) is from the second type issued, so at least we have a correlated use of the word 'second'. It's a complete and utter waste of time and the cataloguer should be shot forthwith.

This weekend is Lockdales sale over 3 days. I can't speak about the bits I haven't looked at, but the English collection selling on Monday is going to find a distinct lack of interest unless there are a lot of very patient potential bidders. There are a large number of Charles I halfcrowns and shillings which are essentially listed in random order. Because both Lockdales and London Coins list things by denomination rather than chronologically (which p's me off no end) there is little continuity in the list. This sale has compounded the problem by listing ........under Parliament, followed by ........... under the King on the grounds that 'the' is later than 'Parliament' alphabetically. The mint marks appear to be random too, so that finding a particular issue is well nigh impossible. I've given up because there are easier catalogues to read and I'm only a couple of decades away from the end of my likely life span. Could be some bargains for those with patience, but bids have to be in by tomorrow and the quality on the whole is, well ....... Both LC and Lockdales list hammered things by ruler's name, so it is quite normal to find a Byzantine coin followed by a Charles II followed by a sceat. It's completely unworkable for those of limited attention span such as myself. Am I the only one who finds this frustrating?

That's why I said negotiate. The coins tend to be ones you remember quite easily at auction, so you know what his input costs are for any specific piece. You know what he is asking and somewhere in the middle it should be possible to have a meeting of minds. It's a much clearer position than the anonymous VF coin dated 1868 which could have come from anywhere and cost anything. That particular shilling was lot 1914 in Triton XV.

You should be able to knock him down to £130-140K.

69 or 70. Link I've only got his lists for the last 10 years plus a summer 1998. If anyone has any of the missing issues I would be interested in acquiring them. Thanks.

Interesting that their letter to you states "breakdown of machinery" while the actual Report states "fully occupied with gold and silver [issues]". I wonder where the modern Mint gets its information about "breakdown" from? I'd hazard a guess from the 1875 report. The text says that the 1876 coins were contracted out because the equipment was fully occupied striking silver and gold. The number of presses at the Tower mint would have to be investigated, but is likely to have been a minimum of half a dozen, so if a couple of them were unavailable, then sub-contracting the copper would be the logical option security-wise. Also, the Heaton mint was regularly striking coins on the same size blanks, so familiarity with the product wasn't an issue. There were a lot of halfcrowns and shillings coming off the press in 1874 onwards. How long this upsurge in demand lasted I don't know because I don't have the records, but thinking about it, the equipment probably broke down due to the excesses of the previous two years because there was no time for maintenance and a lot of coins produced.

What are the areas that are neither orange nor green - a rare example of humanity happily tolerating and living with others not the same as them?

The 'Patina' things are a pain in the ****, but at no point were they intended to deceive. There are probably 10000+ of various types out there all hidden away. A private venture that played the mint at their own game and they all sold.

LOL If I had that sort of money I couldn't bring myself to spend it on just one coin! I think if you had that sort of money to throw around your attitude would probably change. There are more than a handful of £50-100K cars, which by definition are 'in your face' as they don't fit into a coin cabinet very easily and certainly won't be around in 500 years time - but people buy them to keep for a few years in the full knowledge that they might get back 1/4 of the original price when they get rid. Hopefully the new owner won't run it into the ground so that it is only worth scrap 10 years from now. Anyway, he only paid $35K hammer for it plus 18% premium and presumably 5% import, so there is plenty of room for negotiation. Give Roddy his due, as he does have top grade coins available for which he will pay handsomely if you are selling, and obviously it works both ways. I know of a few coins that have been sold pre-auction on the basis that what was offered was way in excess of the expected price at auction. If he has a customer willing to pay much higher prices than me or thee, that isn't his fault.

That's a rather precise number which should therefore have a singular reason for its existence - what is it?

Don't confuse collecting bullion as an investment with collecting coins as a hobby. Buy bullion for a few pounds (literally) under value and sell it for closer to bullion value if you can, preferably within hours whilst at the same time being grateful for the pound or two profit made (if successful). If you think you know where the market is going in a given time frame, there is scope for a longer view, but do not anticipate a fat profit. Bullion dealers make a small margin on quick turnover. Bullion coins are sold across the world for more than their value, because once they have left the mint, very few issues are desirable as collectables and so are repurchased on a price related to their bullion values and nothing else. If you want to collect coins whose value is not direcly related to the bullion price, then there is far more material available than with bullion and a good depth of knowledge available on this forum.

The line of bagmarks(?) running along the middle of the truncation looks wrong too. I would have thought that was almost impossible to achive in normal handling. It's almost as if the raised portion of the design is cominaway from the surface.

It is.

That's a very good point Rob. Though I don't buy 10k coins, I have bought several for £1-2k+, which means that when I spot an example on eBay that would perhaps be a nice upgrade for a relatively common coin worth only perhaps £100, I might nevertheless stick in a bid for £150 just to be sure of getting it. This doesn't mean the coin would generally be worth more than £100, just that there's a fool out there (me in this instance ) willing to pay over the odds to save the time and hassle of finding another such example. I did this very thing the other night, buying an UNC 82 grade CGS slabbed upgrade for over the odds. I can't be alone in ocassionally acting this way! You're not.

Even the sharpest get stung there occasionally. The most successful strikes on e bay fall into two camps, in my experience:- a) Nice coins with a high initial bid price, which nevertheless is still nowhere near their true value. Would be bidders are strangely put off by the high start price, and often by-pass it completely, leaving someone else to make the only punt at the original price, thus bagging a real bargain. b ) Really high end coins which would be better off in a proper auction. They will sell, for sure, but usually end up at between 55% to 75% of what they could potentially realise elsewhere. It's a real mistake for high quality expensive coins to be put on e bay. Gambling strikes which may or may not pay off, are on those with poor photography, where the coin cannot properly be seen. This often puts buyers off, leaving the speculator room for a potential killing, or to get their fingers burned. I'd agree with this analysis apart from the one factor you missed out - certain key dates that somehow seem to do far better on eBay than elsewhere, I'm thinking of things like 1903 and 1905 halfcrowns. Regarding the above point b I absolutely agree with the percentages, but I'm not sure which auctions outside of eBay are being talked about for better prices? I spent a few days, six month's back, looking at the realised prices for a number of major auctions...I didn't find that many there that were making Spink book prices either, and sellers premiums aren't any better than eBay (mostly). I know minus 5% has been mentioned before but, generally speaking, eBay aren't off the scale at 10%, and they know it! Does anybody know how often nice coins make their book price in major auctions? Would it be more often than not? I mean, the book prices are set according to the major auction results, so one would think they must more often do, it just doesn't look that way. Do you think books like Spink attempts to 'drive' the market, rather than be an honest reflection OF the market? Out and out raities, best known or way better than average pieces you can disregard the book. Just below that will try to push the boundaries, but not too much. Mid-range pieces will probably make around book after you have added buyer's premium, low grades won't sell unless an acknowledged rarity. Spink doesn't attempt to drive the market prices. As a rule, there will always be a specific coin that goes way over the odds and the reason for it doing so filters into the market gossip. Consequently the yearly price revisions will not reflect a high price in full. We all notice the lots that sell for more than expected, but rarely comment on those that mark time in keeping with the estimate. The latter is a truer reflection of where the market is at and will probably go in the future. The top end is driven by a larger number of people who recognise relative quality and have sufficient funds to not worry about overpaying on occasions. If you are happy paying £10K or more for a coin, it doesn't really matter if you pay £300 for a £100 coin in the overall context of the collection as the overpayment will be a praction of a percentage point of its total value. The problem with overpaying on ebay is that most culprits are doing so out of ignorance with respect to the general market, what dealers have on offer (usually at substantially lower prices), have a reliance on the quoted grade as gospel, and mostly have never seen a high grade coin with which to make a considered judgement.

Yes, both are last small cross. It would be easier to read if the pictures were smaller and not pixelated, but the second is a London coin. I think the moneyer is Lifinc.

Die 10 will only refer to the reverse. The obverse die could have been made the day, week, month or year(s) before, though obviously within the time constraints that the obverse design was current. The profile of the underlying bust is different too which suggests it might be older. Does it match any other portrait styles? Postscript: Willie was let off without any action being taken.

Looks it bearing in mind you have three sizes of H for pennies, halfpennies and farthings. One of the 1876H halfpennies has a 6 over a farthing 6 and one 1856 halfpenny die has the 6 over a penny 6. I think these punch varieties are more common than people might assume with some taken for a displaced underlying letter rather than a larger one.

Yes. One is generally flat, the other is extremely flat.

Other than playing the part of an erotic car accessory, does she have any other public persona - porn star, royal correspondent, model? Sorry, I'm not familiar with her.