Rob

Thanks Paul. I was expecting to see a link, not something I am suppose to intuitively understand. It's better, but on my computer only gives a full screen image, not further magnifiable, unlike previously.

Which would be an excellent way of presentation if such a site were to be made. It will double the number of images, but aid identification. However, you must get them the right way round.

That's a tongue in cheek nothing wrong. Having listed what is wrong with them, it is somewhat contradictory to then say they are good.

The important point to remember in my opinion is that it is always assumed that the well punched digit is the intended one, however, it is not guaranteed that the intended correction is punched in greater relief than the original. A clear case of this is the GEOE shilling. Nobody is going to change the final R to an E. I believe that the GEOE was punched in, but the intended correction wasn't deep enough giving the appearance of E/R. This is quite easy to justify if the die has been hardened. I can certainly show an example of a hammered coin where the overmark struggled to reach the same depth using numerous blows and there is no reason to expect a die for the milled coinage to be any different. If the above is added to the list of permutations of die sinkers' errors and corrections, you are led to conclude that virtually everything is possible. e.g. Sometimes the date starts too far to the left or right, the correction leading to apparent overdates.

Any effort is better than none. Here's a couple to get you started. 1887 £2 & £5 known as 'Beirut' copies, as they came out of the middle-east in the 1960s. The degree of misalignment is as indicated. The weight is marginally down on the genuine article and the edge milling count is appropriately wrong. The mint analysed them in the late 60s and established them to be approx. 0.890 fine. Apart from that, there is nothing wrong with them.

Given that import fees are levied where appropriate, I find it incredulous that someone would refuse to pay on the grounds that they haven't managed to avoid paying tax owed. Irrespective of the merits or otherwise of import taxes, it is incumbent on people to accept the legal position on the day, and probably more pertinently, account for it when making a purchase.

Rather than a punt (not available in Ennis), you will need something to beat away the little green men guarding the poly bag at the end of the rainbow.

Given my last purchase was 590, 616 times face value, I suppose there is an argument for buying something only marginally over melt.

Blandford has a very attractive bypass.

No, both best are in private hands as far as I am aware, as I have specifically excluded the unavailable (in museums). In my database I have noted the top 2 or 3 examples for each die pair in case I decide I need one. It doesn't exclude the possibility of a new coin appearing, but given the size of them, I feel anything decent would have been illustrated at some point.

A couple of second bests for the Exeters.

It's a rare coin. The vast majority of gp.B sixpences are cross on steps which is what the price in Spink is based on. After that the mintages nose dive. £5 of silver in the Anchor pyx is not a lot, with only heart (£4) and Negro's Head (£3) having a lower value. If it didn't have the crack it would be well into 4 figures. As it is, they paid £950 hammer for it in the December DNW sale where it was one of John Hulett's coins. It looks to be the same dies as Brooker 588, but this coin appears to show the reverse mark over a castle on the flukes - this not recorded in Brooker. Find me a decent one without a crack and I would buy it.

Using lot numbers from past sales is quite a sensible thing because the specialist collectors will tend to have the reference material from specialist collections to hand. If the reference means nothing to someone who is into that specialised area, then they haven't done their homework properly. It is also the only practical way to reference new and unrecorded material when another example turns up.

I was aware of that and think it's a cop out. Given the cost of slabbing, you with think they would do the same as auction houses such as Spink, DNW or CNG do and include insurance as part of the shipping fee. e.g. for international shipping, the last lot I won in CNG had a shipping, handling and insurance charge of $50 on an invoice total of $3150, so 1.6%, of which shipping will be 1%. It's not a lot to insure goods on a company wide policy, say 1/2% of sum insured.

Oh well, if it has to be. Hopefully I won't click on the wrong link and get cooking program or whatever updates in perpetuity Tracking users previous sites in order to provide 'relevant content' is a pain if you want to broaden your knowledge.

I go to iPlayer, but then have to sign in or register to play it. So much for public broadcasting.

Why do I have to sign in to a public broadcaster to view something that by definition should be in the public domain? Maybe I don't want to have things tailored to what they think I should be watching, and in any case, my inside leg measurement is none of their business.

Better still, use (YY)YY/MM/DD depending on how far back you need to go. It makes filing soooooo much simpler.

I find the BBC's insistence on writing 'the Spain (or whatever country) player' instead of 'the Spanish player' somewhat annoying - but that's just me being Britain

I doubt it makes any difference due to the lottery effect, but if there is any consistency, this W&M 1st reverse was in a 58 slab.

Manufacturing was dealt a heavy blow long before MT came to power whereby a failure to invest coincided with a large expansion of third world industrial output on the back of cheap labour costs and the added bonus of starting with up to date facilities. Globalisation became an issue from the 70s, whereby goods produced with a fraction of the labour costs here were able to undercut indigenous manufacturers. All political parties are guilty of failure to have a coherent policy addressing the issues. We further shot ourselves in the foot with the terrible industrial relations in the 70s and early 80s. Thatcher came to power on the back of a workforce relation situation perceived as verging on anarchy. Whilst it may have only been a relatively small percentage of the workforce involved, it inconvenienced most people. The striking workforce put MT into power. The definition of state aid is far reaching and at the mercy of the lawyers. It is impossible to imagine the state setting up any enterprise that wouldn't have some competitive element subsidised. Any subsidies given for whatever reason will free up cashflow for use elsewhere - i.e subsidised by the back door. Infrastructure is state funded at the expense of direct industrial investment, because you can't build a bridge for example with state money and then export it. It is safe and uncontentious. Think of what the projected cost of HS2 could buy in terms of manufacturing capacity. The motor industry is under pressure from all sides, of which Brexit is but one reason. Global warming has struck a chord in many countries, with diesel sales way down. Ultimately it is consumers not buying so many cars for a range of reasons, both here and abroad such as China. Germans arent' buying so many BMW, Mercedes and Audi cars either, and they will have virtually no UK input. Different reasons, different locations, same outcome. We have a huge trade deficit with the EU, or more specifically the Eurozone. I cannot see any way to address the lack of competitiveness with German output, which is the main source of the deficit, because the undervalued Euro in terms of the German economy effectively subsidisies their industrial output, as has been discussed several times previously. Of course it isn't state aid because the Euro is a currency basket, but it might as well be. The EU made the Eurozone, nobody else did. Having to adhere to identical rules ties our hands, but leaving would allow us to tweak them a little to best suit us. However, the biggest opportunity to address the imbalance still lies in the hands of the consumer. Both sides do indeed need each other, but only today Spain rattled its cage by insisting Gibraltar is a British colony and documented as such. France wants to fish our waters as do the Spanish. Every other country will (rightly) push to get whatever it can from future negotiations. The position we would be in if May's agreement was accepted would result in the EU giving everyone what they wanted at our expense in return for us to have whatever access they would allow. TM raised the white flag by accepting such a weak position. Yes, we opted to leave, but she has given us no hand to play in the future. BTW, I don't have a problem us paying for contractually agreed contributions as long as we get a rebate for our not benefiting in the future, and the EU continuing to honour UK payment contracts already placed. Like everyone else, I don't know what the immediate future holds. I really cannot see the agreement giving us any leverage whatsoever, and at great cost to boot. There is absolutely no point in being tied to the EU with them setting all the rules and us paying for the privilege. It's a halfway house that suits nobody. At least with full membership you have a say for your money, though I suspect that option will expire after the 29th March even if the date is put back with current terms no longer applicable. Reapply and we might well have to join the Euro. Anyone? The situation is farcical, we have to bite the bullet and leave properly, and immediately find a bunch of politicians capable of making it work. TM has to step down on exit, so that someone can do a proper job.

Normal for Norfolk or Suffolk? Peter might be able to shed light on that.

Birmingham had a number of engravers and medallists during the period in question. The quantity of non-coin items struck must have been significant, as witnessed by the numerous temperance, communion, club awards and otherwise general commemorative medals, tokens and medallions known. Individual quantities may have been small, but the overall total will have provided a living for many people

I think it is more likely to be at least double that number. The RM was uncertain as to whether the undated 20p was struck from one or two journeys, i.e. a mintage of 100K or 200K. That would have required the obverse die to have lasted throughout, unless they were drawing dies from a box of obsolete obverses.

I concur.