Rob

Not sure why a ship is for X, nor why a xenophobe is for z. Surely these would be better listed under E for educational standards? No?

I suspect you might not be the only one thinking that. I predict A, E, I & O will be relatively rare in circulation, but at least it means a healthy supply of obverse unifaces for the error collector. Just noticed that this is my 10000th post

Surely at 52 coins for £54 it is hardly a case of being ripped off as the illustrated coin plus the 1949 3d, the unc 1920 halfpenny and the three unc farthings have to be worth the £50 you paid. Rhetorical question, but are you not happy at having effectively received 46 coins for free? eBay has always been like that. Many buyers get a bargain, many buyers pay too much, many sellers get ripped off, but most people are happy with what they receive. People have always lied, shilled, photoshopped, 'lost' things, shipped different items to those illustrated etc.The real problem is that buyers' expectations have been massaged down in terms of what they expect to receive and by extension to pay. If one person pays a quid, then all expect to pay a quid. It goes without saying that many expect the item received to be worth more than they paid, considerably so in some cases. The wife had someone the other day from Belarus. P&P to the UK was £3, but for some reason, he seemed to think that international shipping benefited from free postage. So he bought something for three quid expecting it to be delivered for free! The postage was more than 4 quid. Idiot.

This email, or variations thereof, has been a pain for several months now. Arrives without delay every morning at 9am. Still, makes a change from that nice Nigerian fellow. I suspect the other 3 or 4 dozen recipients are also p'd off. res.sir, sir i want a contract from your side. i give you a bulk business. i have royal ancient coins to sale. but first this 1837 ancient coins deals. ancient items to sale only not auctioned it. herewith i know you that there is lots of ancient items i have to sale. so i insist to come here because i am not capable to come there. my financial condition is not good. 1. 1 rupee coin --- 39 coins 2. 50 paisa coin--- 38 coins 3. 25 paisa coin--- 60 coins 4. 20 paisa coin--- 7 coins 5. 10 paisa coin--- 879 coins 6. 5 paisa coin ---- 801 coins 7. 3 paisa coin --- 1 coins 8. 2 paisa coin ----9 coins 9. 1 paisa coin ---- 2 coins 10. half coin ----- 1 coin 11. rare coin ----20 coins 12. ancient items-- 5 items ( 80,00,000/- pounds 13. gold coin, silver coin, clocks, locks worth 100,00,000/- 14. golden horse cart worth 100,00,00,000/- pounds thank you chintan tank 00919824984379 Email address supplied should any bot pick it up and return the favour is chintantank111@gmail.com

No, it was the Cu-Ni only. They were item MS5788 in the Dec.2003 Circular. Sorry, can't upload them as there seems to be a formatting conflict which is beyond me.

Yes it came from a 1958 set in the Circular in 2003. I had the shillings too and should have taken the florin. Colin Adams had bought the set to get the halfcrown he needed, so the others were going spare. The florin was sold through Spink's March 2005 sale.

And even 'VIP' years aren't necessarily frosted. e.g. http://www.londoncoins.co.uk/?page=Pastresults&auc=156&searchlot=2361&searchtype=2 compared to the 'silver' of the same year, which bear in mind was done on a scanner, so in reality heavily frosted

No need for a wish list. There's one here. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancient-British-Coins-Elizabeth-Cottam/dp/095668890X or here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ancient-British-Coins-Chris-Rudd-Free-UK-P-P-/152446965452

At least there is one reassuring piece of info in the email. He notes, 'now on wards' - presumably those of Dhoraji lunatic asylum.

res.sir, herewith i know you that i have 12th to 18th century gold and silver coins to sell on 80,00,000/- pounds advance cash deposit in my account term. IF YOU ARE NOT REALLY SURE ABOUT THIS OFFER , I CAN SEND YOU MY ID PROOFS. when your amount is deposit in my account then i proceed to send you coins parcel. OFFER NO.1 if you want only silver coins i give you 10,000/- silver and gold coins on this advance cash (80,00,000/- pounds) value. 2000 coins silver in one month of payment done by the party. 2nd lot of 8000 coins dispatch after six month OFFER NO.2 herewith i know you that i want to sell 50,000 ancient {mix metal coins} coins on this value (advance cash 80,00,000/- pounds) now on wards. offer for one month only sir please give me support i have long journy to start with you as business carrier. i have lots of ancient, antique coins to sell. i want to sell all the ancient gold silver and mix metal coins to you. 1st. lot ancient coins :- 2000 coins 2nd. lot gold and silver coins :- 8000 coins rest of coins give you at six month gape. but on one condition please pay fast advance cash of 80,00,000/- pounds first and i send your 1st lot nad after one month i deliver second lot account holder name:- chintan bharatbhai tank (mob.no. 00918469466030) my address near new haveli, jamnavad road, "LAXMI KLYAN", DHORAJI,RAJKOT,GUJRAT, INDIA. bank account details ,bank name:- state bank of india. ,bank routing no.:-360002082 bank account no. :- 31220416951 , bank IFSC CODE:- sbin 0060072 branch code :- 60072 thanking you, yours truly, chintan bharatbhai tank near new haveli, jamnavad road, "LAXMI KLYAN", DHORAJI 360 410 DIST. :- RAJKOT STATE :- GUJRAT COUNTRY:- INDIA Looks like the golden cart has gone. Not me guv.

You also see ponding inside the loops of characters due to surface tension.

Someone playing. The same reason explains the numerous double sided pennies around, which are done by machining a recess just inside the rim and dropping in another obverse or reverse.

It happens time and time again. In the past few weeks I have had a few calls from people with similar 'investments'. The most one person had spent was 43K, the others were in the 5-10K bracket. They realise they have been stung, but in every case acknowledge it was their own fault. In all cases the individuals concerned were trying to put down a nest egg for their children, or grandchildren. It was apparent that all had replied to adverts in the papers or Radio Times etc in the belief that they were respectable companies selling the various desirable products, because they were advertising in places that they respected (if you can really believe the dailies are trustworthy organs). It was also apparent they were sold them as 'collectable' coins, aimed at collectors and not investors - thus negating any investment legislation comeback. The point is, that the purveyors of all this tat are not actually doing anything illegal. There might be moral compass issues, but in the end they are making/repackaging a product and advertising it for sale. Yes, there are marketing costs which I suspect are not inconsiderable to advertise in the national media and these costs have to be covered by sales. Anybody in business knows that you have to recoup your initial outlay before you can make a profit, so if the 10000 limited edition item has a break-even point at say 3000 units, they have to promote the product heavily to pass this point. The profits are made selling units above base cost and there is no guarantee that the maximum figure is achieved for sales. The break-even point is essentially why all products are eventually reduced in price once the initial hype has died down. You sell to the lowest hanging fruit, and selling a particular item just gets harder from there on.

Lack of internet didn't stop people piling into 'investments'. People were buying Churchill crowns and later things by the bucket load as well as paying OTT for modern tat, just as people are avidly purchasing just about every 50p, £1 and £2 coin you can throw at them today. If proof was ever needed, I bought about £400 of scrap silver last night, all skimmed from circulation post-war. There was however, a down-side. I also had to take £40 face of 5/- and 25p crowns. They were a good investment - not.

Yep

It looks a good fit for the leaf to the end of E. CHK should be close which yours is, so both are in general agreement. The kink in the forehead looks sharper on yours than most, but that could be down to strength of striking. PM Seuk and see what he has to say.

There are various pointings of the laurel leaves, but without a picture of yours it is impossible to say whether it's ok. If the weight is right then it's likely to be good. Seuk's pages on G3 counterfeits is the best reference. http://www.steppeulvene.com/index.george_iii.html

Ah. The P by trident variety - good find.

Most non-coinies call anything cupro-nickel, silver. He might have been told it is a copy, but unless the informer told him it wasn't silver, he may be none the wiser. The chances are he didn't buy it originally.

They used the reverses on the cartwheel pattern halfpennies for 1797, but these had no gunports.

Bramah just says rare for those other than 5. I'd say 7 is about the same as the 9. 5 is normal, and 6 is more common than 7.

As I said previously, historically the term VIP was only used with the non-public issued years. There might have been a few sets that appeared down the years in a different style box, but I'm not sure there was ever a superior finish to these which was unambiguously better than the rest. As far as I can see, the term VIP was hijacked for use with the mass produced sets as a marketing tool for better cameo/strike examples of what was otherwise a common date and worth not a lot. Funny how you only see the term applied to the bigger, in your face denominations, and not the unpopular bronzes (Booooo) or florins et infra 'silver'. If the mint hasn't got a clue, then I would suggest it is mostly a case of wishful thinking, though there may be some superior quality coins within those so attributed. If they were genuinely identifiable, then an AU55 VIP should be quite possible.

7 relief ports is documented as is 5, 6 & 9. Bramah noted it as his variety 13a in his book (1929). I have one too, as did Nicholson (lot 296).

That legend is in high enough relief to have been made from Lego.

It's the creation of a market, just as the myriad listings of varieties for a given date creates the demand over and above simply ticking the date box. Sure FDC should mean FDC, but even with two nominally similar grade coins, everyone will have a preference for one over the other based on their perception of what is before them. Personally, I think the concept of giving or chasing micro-grading is irrelevant as it often takes preference over the contents and is entirely subjective on the opinions of the grader.