Rob

I've got a super-duper mega UNC love token at a bargain price of only £249.99 if anybody is interested. A must for the discening collector.

Hi Peter. I keep all mine in trays, but I'm getting to the point where I refuse to buy any more storage space. A clear out is necessary!! As regards information in the event of my demise, I have put it all in a database including pictures of all the rare or EF or better bits which tie in with the tickets and should provide Mrs. Rob or the kids to sort out what is what so that provenances don't get lost and rare varieties don't get sold for a quid. It gets a bit bulky in terms of storage space on the computer, but at least you can keep all the info, more than you could write on a 2x2 space.

Surely if you wouldn't use 100% plastic flips, you wouldn't choose to use cardboard/plastic window types either. Self sealing flips have the added disadvantage of solvent vapours being present, which incidentally should improve the mobility of the plasticiser if used and help it leach out. Sorry, that was me.

Plasticisers are added to virtually all man made polymers in order to make them flexible as they are quite brittle and inflexible otherwise. It is this that leaches out over time and can react with the metal and is why all plastic should be avoided.

It depends on whether you like to look at them or not. If they are just going to be stored in a box in a safe, then 2x2 acid free paper envelopes for coins are fine. If you enjoy looking at them, use coin storage trays as you then avoid the potential problem of dropping them when you get them out of the envelopes and they look nicer like this. Either way they must be stored such that they don't come into contact with each other.

Thanks Kuhli, that isn't a million miles from Burma so could explain how he acquired it. Now for my next question. What does all the inscription mean?

I thought it could be Burmese or Singalese although 4 armed women and lotus flowers strongly suggests India. It belonged to my father and he probably picked it up in the far east after the war. When he was released from a POW camp in Thailand at the end of the war, he returned home via Rangoon and Columbo hence the above assumption. The other thing that struck me is that it could be a railway token of some sort. NR - Northern Railway or National Railway. There is or was a Northern Railway in India. Burma used Indian coins until full independence in 1948, Ceylon used regal issues.

And the other side. thanks.

help please. what is it?

I don't think she would be so stupid as to list a silver halfpenny with buy it now @ £28. Suggest it has been obviously silvered when seen in the hand with probable test scratches on the edge - out of sight. Either that or it has been heavily polished and the colour balance changed. It would also be described as silver if it was. She sells enough to know that silver 1/2ds are not the norm.

Try your house contents insurer first as an add on to the policy. Some will cover collections and some won't. If they do cover collections, they are invariably classed as a specified item with an insured value which you will have to monitor to ensure it is up to date to prevent under insurance. They will require proof of value, so keep all your receipts as a basic precaution to prove you spent the money in the first place. Given the time value of money, you should find if you have bought well that the collection has a higher value than that paid, so if you want to insure for full market value you will have to get a regularly updated valuation done by a third party such as a reputable dealer or similar. If you go down this route your premiums will increase proportionately and they generally seem to be a bit less than 1% of the collection value. Depending on the total value they will demand various levels of security on the doors and windows and if high enough may demand a full blown system with Red Care or similar where the alarm is connected to a monitoring company together with an insistence that they be kept in a safe. If a safe is required, get one that is big enough not to be portable, otherwise a thief would simply walk off with it and open it later.

Here we go. A dozen or so pieces all Charles 1st hammered, all cleaned and now retoned. One item is lot no. 8314352465 if the following link doesn't work. charles 1st 1/-

Don't forget the other two products for sale. item nos. 3978798869 and 3978801028

To give an idea of value you will have to post a picture. However, 1925 is one of the rarest years for half crowns in the last century. Hopefully it won't have been cleaned as this will detract from its value considerably. If it is uncleaned, unworn and with no knocks or marks to speak of i.e. in top grade you will be looking at a sum well into 3 figures. Condition will be everything.

Footandankle is more of a buyer than a seller historically, but rockinghorsepoo, fenlord and thistledoonicely are dealers. fenlord sells mostly dug up hammered and is based in Cambridge, rockinghorsepoo is in Durham and acts as an outlet for one or two big spenders' surpluses, naming no names. The third is based in Warrington and leans towards hammered. A few other names in the list have been buying up lots of cheap lower grade items recently and are relative newcomers. For these the clue is probably in the number of feedbacks. Anyone with a 3 figure feedback in a month or two where the purchases are mostly low grade is either spending money for the sake of it or buying to pass things on quickly. After all, if you want to collect washers, you can get a box of 100 for less than a quid in the DIY store. the low price high volume approach can be very productive, a £2.99 starting price trebles your money if you only paid 99p. If it looks a bit better, you might make 10 times the cost. All very worrying given that one of the products is basically a variation on polyfiller.

It might be prudent to note the list of buyers of this item plus the other two "repair kits" currently offered by the same seller. There are some names on the list who frequently offer higher value and rarer pieces on ebay. The other lot numbers are 3978798869 and 3978801028. Sorry, don't know how to insert links.

As you appear to have cleaned it to make it shine, it will probably be worth less than it was before. Cleaning coins is not recommended. You will need to post some pictures for anyone to accurately grade and hence value the coins as condition is everything, particularly for the 1742 which is rarer than the 1806 which is quite common even in high grade.

And for my final posting on this topic, the high bidder likes the seller. Of the last 9 things he has bid on, 8 were from the same seller where mostly he came second despite the eclectic mix of items and the on the ninth they bid against each other. Clearly no connection thus.

And I forgot to mention, a very expensive and expansive taste in numismatics.

The high bidder is ancient_aramic for both items. Could be the seller given the same ebay name configuration i.e ancient connotations separated by underscores. Private feedback too.

6528956125 because I let the vendor take it for £1100 last November and within 2 minutes thought - "you silly sod". Sorry, I don't know how to add links, so you will have to access it via another posting.

The Cheshire Collection that Emperor Oli is drooling over in a separate thread and currently listed on ebay is a prime example of an interest in maximising the return when selling. I'm 99% certain whose collection this is and if right, 100% certain he is English. The idea that English collectors are not interested in profit will clearly not apply in this instance - so I'm on Wybrit's side. They are all slabbed and some have been acquired and slabbed very recently, presumably for the auction. If estimates are reached, the seller will be quids in over a very short space of time -grrrr, should have bid higher.

Correct, such as dip them.

Bronze and copper varieties are probably collected more as a result of the efforts of Peck, Freeman and Gouby. There is no equivalent to these for silver coinage as ESC is virtually duplicated by Spink so there are no varieties of 1745 and 1758 shillings if the "official" tomes are to be believed, despite being two of the commonest old silver pieces in existence. This clearly isn't the case. This year Spink have added a large number of halfcrown varieties to their book. I know that these were all as a result of the efforts of one collector, so the only way to increase the amount of info in the public domain is either to pester the likes of Spink or produce a similar piece of work the above mentioned. Variety collectors will typically buy them because they know they exist rather than say I think that could be ..... and put their money where their mouth is.

I have also had a similar experience to some of the less agreeable feedbacks listed. Pictures of item did not resemble what I received (KGV florin) and that was stuck down with very gooey sellotape. That was before the floodgates opened and he then readily gave a full refund so I ok'd him at the time as he'd only had relatively few feedbacks with no negs at the time. I haven't checked his feedback since then, but panthera pardus springs to mind.