Rob

What about no. 20? Presumably the senior member of the family, but it does make you wonder what happened to numbers 1 to 19. Perhaps they've been subjected to a spot of digital euthanasia.

It's no surprise that US collectors take a liking to British coins when other parts of the former empire have many collectors in this field. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa have all produced good collections of British, so why not the US? Americans are big into their roots, so there is also a healthy collecting base of many European countries as well as other parts of the world. Irish and Scottish coins are similarly popular. There is a parallel collecting base interested in the investment side of numismatics which becomes noticeable the wealthier the country, but the collector is well represented in all fields. As has been said previously, some investors inadvertently find out that collecting can be fun too and so pursue the hobby.

Today seems as good a place to start as any. So many people sharing the same birthday. I'm not sure why they bother. mohiboliv01 (26), saymajaan22 (26), najfalinia (26), Gollapeebb (26), porshi (26), tasfiamoni (26), Labonna (26), saymajaan20 (26), janemanroba (26), saymajaan21 (26)

The key to a good catalogue is not to put too much info in it. You only have to look at the early Anglo-Saxon sceats to see than an attempt to be more comprehensive has resulted in a section that is difficult to use. People want to see prices, but any attempt to be comprehensive is likely to result in rejection by the reader. Basically avoid any ext. rare references, but don't attempt to be over complicated.

Problem might be that not many use it. I use an old edition for world coin type reference rather than an up to date copy. Is there an online edition anywhere to see what is in the current volume? I know it probably goes against the grain, but a note after certain sections referring the reader to more comprehensive lists might be the easy option, just as Spink do for Elizabeth I for example. I know that doesn't give prices for the individual varieties, but there again neither does any other tome give anything other than a selection. Price are always going to be volatile in the case of patterns. Do you take auction prices or those after dealer markups? Baldwins prices in their recent lists are close to 50% up on the saleroom for the pieces they bought, though some are more reasonable. It's a bit of a conundrum. As for Krause's numbering, it has always seemed a bit haphazard. Coincraft's numbering, while a bit more cumbersome, was at least logical whereby they used the monarch and denomination as the basis for their code.

Mine has the defective O and the R is just broken. The Gs are both intact, but the first one only has a thin top to it. The centre of the reverse is weaker than the rest, but not particularly so with all the garter detail present. That's on a better than EF coin.

Unless any are key dates, melt value.

I think you will find this is a gripe in every walk of life, it certainly was when I was flogging pensions and investments. I don't think there is much that can be done about it other than to forget the bottom line for a moment and console yourself with fact that people without two halfpennies to rub together can be just as interesting as captains of industry. An event in the past springs to mind. Someone was looking for a particular date and die number shilling, probably having obtained most of the known varieties given the short list supplied. I had the die number, but the price was about £100, so he turned it down as too expensive. But the question worth considering was that having spent many hundreds, if not thousands of pounds building up the collection, was say x5 the normal amount spent really that much in context. Most people are grateful if you can fill a gap in the collection when you get to this point.

That's only 2 extra reigns, so shouldn't be too difficult. The Elizabeth won't be difficult to find and you can easily pick up a Charles I Aberystwyth cheaply in VF - in fact it might be harder to get one in fine! As for where mid-range collectors sit in the event of a market meltdown, the concensus seems to be that the middle will be hardest hit. The bottom will be fairly immune because half of **** all is still **** all, and the top will retain its value better because the people in this range are less affected by liquidity problems - that is, unless banking transactions cease to function. I think you mean "all of **** all is still **** all" don't you Rob? There are enough Fine collectors around to ensure the bottom end prices always hold up. No, I mean half because there are plenty of bottom end collectors who will always pay pence for a coin, but having a value offers scope for a price erduction. Therefore **** all has a value when it comes to washers, despite my opinion that many should be melted rather than portrayed as collectable. Dare I say it, but if the economic proverbial does hit the fan, is it too much to hope the we could have a scenario when even the bottom dredgers start to become discerning? Could this usher in the era when only complete dates are acceptable? I always have difficulties in assessing this area of the market. Granted everyone wants a bargain, but it is difficult for dealers to cater to people wanting to spend pence when the time spent selling the coin is the same, whether it is a 50p, £50 or £500 sale.

That's only 2 extra reigns, so shouldn't be too difficult. The Elizabeth won't be difficult to find and you can easily pick up a Charles I Aberystwyth cheaply in VF - in fact it might be harder to get one in fine! As for where mid-range collectors sit in the event of a market meltdown, the concensus seems to be that the middle will be hardest hit. The bottom will be fairly immune because half of **** all is still **** all, and the top will retain its value better because the people in this range are less affected by liquidity problems - that is, unless banking transactions cease to function.

A good way of sorting out the potential spams is where they give their birthdays. A few weeks ago no less than 8 or 9 people shared a birthday, were the same age and had made no posts. They are all typically in their 20s.

This spam is becoming a real pain in the a**e. Adverts for everything under the sun in every language under the sun. Now a post for reverse phone calls. Virtually every birthday is for someone with a link to a site, 6 or 8 people frequently share the same birthday, all have the same age and have nothing to say about coins. Rant over.

You don't mean that, do you? 1893?

There has to be £2 worth of coins in that lot. At less than 30p per coin you were hardly ripped off. At 15p each plus the 1807 penny for £1.10 it's £2.

Having spent the odd 5 figure sum on an 1808 penny, methinks the owner might realise what he bought.

Why on earth would you hope to get the unique 1808 penny in a job lot of crap off ebay!

If in doubt, buy both. You can always sell the one you don't want.

It's only in the post war years that there has been a tendency to collect a denomination. The first real denomination collection was that of T W Barron, whose collection of crowns was sold in 1906. Prior to that collections were almost exclusively accumulations of almost anything that could be bought. In the 18th and 19th centuries the number of top end collectors would have been much smaller than it currently is, and as a consequence they were able to build truly massive collections encompassing all periods, denominations and countries. The same names keep cropping up when choice pieces are involved, but the also ran material had to be somewhere in relatively minor collections which would be more highly regarded today. Extracting useful information from catalogues of the time is not easy when confronted with a typical lot description such as " Charles I Oxford Mint half-crowns, all very rare varieties and all very fine"! I suppose that the ever restricted collecting fields are the result of a combination of increased prices, a greater number of collectors and a greater interest in specific denominations following the publication of the works of Morrieson, Peck and the like. The latter is crucial to the development of denomination collections as few people have the self-discipline to compile the lists of varieties in the first place, though many will gratefully use the fruits of their labours. Any restricted collecting field will become a standard reference if pursued in depth. Thus, not only do you see Peck, ESC, etc references in catalogues, but increasingly you will find notes such as Adams or Bamford lots as a reference for pennies, or Cooke numbers for farthings as examples. Brady will undoubtedly become one of these references as it was a comprehensive collection of hammered groats in the same way that the former have. These are often supplemental references to the major ones which invariably have holes - each and every reference being incomplete from day 1. An additional benefit accrues from the illustrating of present day catalogues which until 10 years ago was a major undertaking. Modern computer programming has been a real boon in this area, as it has provided a cheap method of showing coins virtually in the flesh compared to the previous need to rely on frequently inadequte descriptions. This should not be underestimated in its significance as people will spend more on an item they can see.

I'm no expert on that period and reign at all. But what is that piece? Just from the illustration it looks like a hybrid between late hammered and very early milled. But of course it can't be - it must be one thing or the other. The last issue of Charles I Tower mint shillings with mm. sceptre which according to the notes on p.xxii in Brooker ran from 15/2/1647 until 9/11/1649. Choose your own four letter adjective for the typical quality of mint output at this point in time. Any round sceptre coin with full, well struck detail is desirable.

Allan Davisson had a reasonable example of this in his last sale, though short of the Hughes coin. Sceptre shillings on a full flan and struck up well, particularly the last type are not so easy to acquire.

£22 postage looks a little excessive!!! Must be for the insurance as 1927 pure silver coins are like hens teeth They could be in pure silver because the picture shows the obverses of two identical pieces. If they were different there would be more reason to be suspicious about the pure silver claim, but as we are talking copies they could have been made yesterday and so the description must be taken at face value. I though silver was debased to 0.500 in 1920? It was. 2 identical obverses means either they can't be genuine, or a copy and paste. If not genuine, then as copies they could easily be 925 silver - god, it's no good when you have to explain. I thought you would have seen through it, or maybe I should have used a different emoticon.

I suppose the ultimate motivation is that of being an innate collector. Irrespective of the quality of the collection, it is the desire to collect - coins, stamps, antique clocks, cuddly toys, newspaper clippings or whatever it is that stimulates your interest. Funnily enough, having the best (coin) collection of all time is unlikely to feature in any list of motivating factors because the museums have a 200+ years start on us, and the likes of Montagu can't be repeated because so much material from this era is already off the market for good. The most you can aspire to is the best collection amongst your contemporaries and even then it is in the hands of a very select few.

Hi Rob, is it the electric is on a low rate at 2 in the morning? or is it you just cannot sleep? I discipline myself to turn in at 2. Left to my own devices I would keep going all night, maybe go to bed when the sun comes up and in which case wake up at the crack of lunch.

A top 50 collection might be an interesting thread. What coins and why? What to include and what to leave out? There you go - another motivating topic.

Motivation is derived from many sources. Other collections provide inspiration when you are clueless. How often do you hear new collectors saying "what should I collect?" Almost all collectors start out with a bit of this and a bit of that, but eventually settle on a focussed set of criteria. Something has to motivate them to specialise, or does the motivation arise from the captivation of their chosen criteria? Some collectors stay focussed over decades, others not. Some experienced collectors migrate from one theme to another either by choice or out of frustration from not being able to fill the vacant slots in the series. Maybe it's down to boredom, or maybe lack of funds, because as Peter says, I don't think many people would ever go into debt for a hobby. Basically we all have to go at our own financially constrained speed, which is why it doesn't help to get too worked up over the contents of someone else's collection that you have no control over. It's always nice to have the best known, but that comes with the caveat that a better best known may well be just around the corner. Having 2nd best is not a large problem as long as it is within spitting distance of the best. Far more important is that it has eye appeal, which for anyone interested in detail by definition means as high a grade as possible, though toning has a major part to play. People collecting at the top end will always have a mixture of top quality and not quite there pieces because there simply isn't sufficient material to go around. Most quality collections will have a few best knowns, but hidden away will also be a selection of indifference. Some of the Slaney hammered pieces were absolutely top drawer, but some of the milled were not. Some coins you get and others you miss out on. Some you bought whilst wearing rose tinted spectacles and live to regret. You can be collecting for decades, but still make new discoveries that motivate you on to find out more. My motivation is frequently refocussed based on a recent purchase, or a potential future purchase that I see in a forthcoming sale catalogue. I want to know if that coin on offer represents a good example to acquire. I don't want to buy something that I would later duplicate with a vastly superior piece. We are all motivated differently, with probably more divergence of viewpoints than you get with grading - which is saying a lot.