Rob

The important thing now is what will City do given they have achieved the height of their ambition by beating Utd. Everything from now on is down. C'mon Stoke. And for entertainment's sake we need a banner next season stating 36 years (since City won anything).

The tray will have much more value than the coin which will be a normal Cu-Ni type or at least in the case of the Churchill. The Silver Wedding might be silver, but assume not. It is unlikely that many coin collectors would be interested, and even if they were it would only be as a novelty. The coins themselves will be irrepairably damaged having been polished and in all probability soldered to the silverware.

City are in uncharted territory now. As the last point on the graph of their season shows, anything can happen and nothing can be inferred for the next game. Also, they usually conform to type and play in sky blue which is a watered down version of Stockport, Oldham, Macclesfield,... appropriately.

I'll never say no to an opportunity to ogle Holly Willoughby (congrats on her new daughter btw!) http://xfactor-updates.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/holly-willoughby-featured.jpg http://www.mastcelebs.com/upload/Holly-Willoughby.jpg Enjoy! Oh - todays selection... Jessica Simpson, Halle Berry, Kate Middleton (vastly better than her Royal Mint image!) and Natalie Portman's ass! Ok, that's a start. Never seen her before, but nice t**s, funny mouth. What does she do? Dance, sing or adult entertainment? Or is it just a case of the media fulfilling their need to find someone or something to fill the pages?

This is getting too clique-like in nature. Stop throwing names around that I can't relate to. The only Holly I've ever known had the surname Bush and was decidedly prickly in nature. I've never fancied a name. Post an image or at least a link so that we can at least ogle on equal terms.

I will guarantee he bought a few though.

It probably is an I that has been used, but the relief of the I looks higher than the surrounding legend which suggests to me the die may have been reinforced. It's difficult to be certain though in 2D.

Mine's a pint.

R/I is not particularly rare. There are 3 R overs (I, V & which increase in rarity in that order with R/B undoubtedly the most difficult to acquire. It probably doesn't help that Spink only list R/V which is less common than R/I, so there is an automatic assumption that it is rarer than reality would suggest. I would suggest it is scarce.

That looks like a system malfunction at ebay - decimal point's in the wrong place.

How very true... I've struggled to get anything like the £30 I'd hope for for a nEF 1887 4s (roman I), but sell bags of junk like 58 1960's pennies for £3.85! At the bottom end it's buyers with a near total lack of knowledge thinking it must be worth more than it is. Think back to the lack of reference material held by most collectors. I would surmise that any thoughts they have about prices are restricted to "if several people think it is worth that much then it must be". i.e.Ebay sets the grade and price. I think that higher grade pieces are the preserve of experienced collectors who may also be wearing rose tinted spectacles at times. If you claim high grade then no one believes you and any grade given will be knocked back a point unless you can build a reputation at which point some of the uninitiated jump on board. Collectors actively seeking the higher grades will not want to rely on the frquently poor images. Better that you have a coin on approval from a dealer or seen in the flesh at a fair. Generally speaking though, mid grade coins (nVF-EF) are the difficult area. You can pick up a middling coin cheaply on ebay because the majority of buyers are in 99p mode, whilst the experienced will want to examine a coin under a glass - certainly so if the grade claimed is EF or thereabouts.

I'm on a roll too. Just had an order that has netted me a tenner! Sort of puts things in perspective.

Well, he did quite well buying the Geo.III 5 guineas in Japan for £84K and selling it in his sale the following May for £180K, so he isn't short of a bob or two.

Yes, it's Stephen Fenton, aka St.James's Auctions.

There was one in the Crocker Collection 1908 BMC 2214. F 164A. Dies 1*+C. Near Fine, buckled. Rare Sold For: £500 a very ugly coin too! It's at times like this when you really appreciate the aesthetic beauty of the felt in an empty hole in the tray over a piece of mangled/corroded/flat metal. I'd sooner leave the hole unfilled than have to look at that, after all it isn't unique so a better one will come along one day.

I have had problems with a couple of auction houses describing coins as 'Unc.' that patently were not. They all have their shortcomings which makes distance bids a harrowing process and I now prefer to attend sales as I was being forced to adopt my e-bay stance of 'if they say it's unc, then it's probably no better than EF'. The unfortunate thing is that taking this stance means that you don't actually win much in the higher grades. Fortunately I don't live a million miles from most of the salerooms and can make up my own mind about the lots up for sale. Having said that, the lighting and conditions under which the coins are viewed can be diabolical. The first ever time I viewed I put my foot in it. Having given over the list of lots I wanted to see and had them passed to me, a VF 6d fell out on the table. As the guy was only a couple of feet away and busy, I quickly called him back as the coin was obviously not one I had requested (the list was mostly UNCs according to the descriptions). He assured me it was correct and so I had a sort of road to Damascus moment when a bright light shone in the sky, the clouds parted and a big finger poked me in the eye. From that moment I saw the true light and understood fully. Another instance was where 2 pattern 1/2ds were listed which were the only gaps in a long run of Peck numbers I needed to fill. One was painted gold and described as gilt, the second a currency piece and showed no characteristics of the purported Peck variety. An enquiry as to whether a notice would be issued in view of the obvious errors was met with a negative. (Mat was there too for that one and also noticed the Christmas tree decoration). A hammered penny described as from Hertford with a mint reading of HEORT despite the coin actually reading HAESTI (Hastings) with the S on its side as normal for that type and clearly from the hoard of about 100 coins of the type from the toning was similarly dismissed when the catalogue error was pointed out well in advance of the sale. The odd mistake you can accept, but to not issue corrections is unforgivably wrong.

The problem I have with W&W is the issue aired on this forum a couple of years ago when everything was described using ebay standard grading or mis-described lots that they weren't prepared to issue a saleroom notice for. When that happens, you only bid in person having viewed the lots in advance. It helps nobody to return lots because they are not as described, so with there being plenty of fish in the sea you don't bid and move on. The lots may have been accurately graded and described in this instance; I don't know, but given the historical baggage I'm not going to bother finding out unless there is a coin that is on the Hobson's Choice list.

I didn't bother with them Colin after my last 2 attempts at buying there ended in 65-80 negatives! I didn't bother. I looked at the catalogue, felt underwhelmed, and decided to find something better to do. If by normal service you mean lower prices, then that would be expected because any initial weakness is likely to be in the mid-tier coins.

The first dated coins in this country were in fact two pattern shillings dated 1547 with im. Rose. North 1953 is dated MCXLVII and North 1954 is dated MDXL7. An image of the former is shown in Joe Bispham's article in the 1985 BNJ on p.143. The shillings dated 1548 (North 1896) are recorded in footnote 78 as being struck in brass alloy only and so are presumably patterns. There is no mention of a 1548 sovereign in North.

I would suggest you leave products from the London Mint alone. They are nothing to do with the Royal Mint and typically offer overpriced trinkets aimed at the non-numismatic market and whose likely resale value would be a fraction of the amount paid if purchased directly from elsewhere. Questions regarding these types of items from both London Mint and Westminster Coins frequently crop up on this forum and the answer is the same now as it has always been in the past. If you want to buy gold or silver, keep it simple and get physical quantities of the raw material, not something dressed up as something else.

This is a privately issued halfpenny token. It was made by Halliday and the issuer is reported to be William Callister of Ramsey - vide Clay. Davis type 25, see note at the foot of p.247 regarding the attribution. Given it isn't indicated as being rare, yours being quite worn would not imply any significant value. As common mint state pieces frequently go for say £40-50, a pound or two is all I would expect unless there is special interest involved.

Many POWs had a desire to get out of their prison camp, so any legal currency would be retained for use on an escape. Having tokens circulating in the camp meant they had a currency which was useless outside.

Krause World Coins list the penny at $6 in F, $15 in VF, $35 in EF and $80 in UNC if they are genuine Not my area of expertise, but they are quite scarce, just 20,000 minted The 1/2d and the 6d are even rarer apparently, just 2,000 and 2,500 minted respectively Yours look to be at least EF grade, but a note of caution they could be modern copies, do you have any provenance? Hope this helps David Hi what does provenance mean? I live in the Isle of Man, they were my dads. The Photos dont display the true colour, i took them in bad lighting, they are alot darker than shown. Thanks for your reply. It means some sort of verifiable certification which proves that the coins (or whatever object, as the term is often applied to antiques), are the genuine article from the period to which they are attributed. A provenance is a traceable history of ownership. For example, if an article previously and demonstrably owned by a famous celebrity came up for sale, it is likely to realise more at auction based on that fact of ownership than an identical item previously owned by Mr Anonymous of Bognor Regis. Similarly for coins, examples that have been in the most famous and usually in quality terms the best collections tend to also realise better prices. But in simple terms, a provenance is a record of past ownership by whoever.

There may or may not be. The decimal patterns of the late 1850s have a few varieties where lamination is the norm. Peck records all examined P1981 with this feature - something I am unable to dispute. The solitary F689 also has a laminating flan. In extremis, the result is that the coin separates along the edge leaving two halves. On the example below, there was clearly a large void within the flan as seen by the oxidised patches. The less oxidised area is all that held the two halves together, albeit tenuously.

As a collector who believes you can never have too much knowledge or too many books, I would be interested to know the amount of literature retained by members, and why it is or is not held. One recurring feature of the posts on this forum is the number of questions posed by collectors of varying experience who do not appear to have their own sources of easily obtained information. Why not? Is it down to: Excessive cost? Are people unaware of what is available? Do people refuse to buy books as this eats into their coin purchases fund? Do people find it easier to use books or web pages? All input gratefully received. I've got the ball rolling for the above poll, let's see what members of this forum think.