Rob

The coins are the indulgence unless you collect books first and foremost. The reference books are just one of several tools to help get you to your chosen destination. Derek Allen (redriley) wrote a book on grading. The cover is illustrated in the advert at the top of this page and the link leads you to the Predecimal shop.

The Midland fair is this weekend, and the layout is large enough for wheelchairs if you have to use one (there are a few regulars in wheelchairs), there is plenty of parking and flat access. Doors open at the motorcycle museum at 9:30 this Sunday for the last fair of the year. £2 entry. http://www.coinfairs.co.uk/midland-coin-fair.aspx

Modern man doesn't give a damn about collecting in most instances, he just wants to get rich quick. I might start charging a fiver every time I have to say no to yet another person asking me if I want to buy a common circulation 50p. It would equate to £30-50/day of extra income.

I think the higher concentrations are at a uniform depth, i.e. any blanching by whatever means would go to a similar depth across the surface, but only the high points suffer exposure as they are the only parts that get worn. The coin has to be in a fairly dire state, say VF or below before you see any appreciable wear to the protected areas.

Part of the problem is the difference in melting points between silver and copper, the latter being about 100 degrees higher. Unless the pot temperature is significantly higher than the melting point of silver in order to melt the copper and form the alloy, you run the risk of some coins taken from the top of the liquid which are considerably purer than spec whilst being left towards the end of the batch with a very debased mix having a distinctly coppery flavour. However, as all the metal was accounted for, it was necessary to strike the last coins of the batch from the residue and pickle the surfaces as in the post above. The Bristol halfcrown below shows the brown/red tinges of a flan that is mostly copper to good effect.

I spent some time in Geelong in the mid 1980s working at ANAHL shortly before it had the name change to Australian Animal Health Laboratories (AAHL). A change probably hastened by the frequent pronunciation of the former acronym as anal and not AN followed by a drawn out AHL as I was informed it should be. Great time, in the good old days before Oz became politically correct.

Most people put them in parking meters

Unless there is a real problem with your transaction, which the Seller will not respond to and work out with you (for a satisfactory outcome), please, leave Positive Feedback.Thank you!! A portent of future problems is clearly highlighted in the description? I suspect the opening bracket should be moved to the front of the word after the first comma.

This one here appears to be the exception to the rule (is it a modern copy with the dots in lines?). Every single one I have had in the past 10 years has been the more densely packed and somewhat random variety. I suggest you PM 1887Jubilee to get a handle on what should be - he will know for certain. To my mind the colour and surfaces looks horribly uniform, which is a put off for a start. It looks like it was made yesterday.

Happened to me and Numismatist about 3 years ago when we were both after a catalogue. According to his post he was a bit perturbed at the rapidly changing situation. Here A pair of happy campers. He was happy he lost. I was happy I got it below my maximum. Doubles all round.

It was ever the same. No collector will take everything that is offered. Any coin purchases are (hopefully) made after due consideration. Estimates in sales are always taken with a pinch of salt, being priced to either lure in bidders, satisfy the reserve set by the vendor or they are fairly priced, but you have to know what you are doing to decide that. Slab grades get similar treatment, the contents not being a commodity meaning that the grade, price and TPG are all subservient to the knowledge of the collector. As it should be.

I don't think they ignore it so much as take the approach that something about right is ok. To provide evidence for this statement, the one below was previously slabbed by NGC as a P1983. Obviously by adhering to Peck numbers only and ignoring all other references, they will always be fighting an uphill battle to get it right. But I think they can get away with it because they are targeting a segment of the market that is generally unquestioning.

When you provide a provenance going back to the founder, there might be a case for recording it. Tactile? Bitcoin will never manage that and in any case I don't have a suitable space in the trays to put one. You are better off spamming US sites if you are looking for investors, or maybe your id gives people a clue as to your intentions - perhaps you really are experts at siphoning off peoples' coins. You don't shout to the rafters the existence of a good money-making scheme, just milk it yourself before someone else notices. Or maybe this is just an attempt at putting in the next layer below yourself. Correct Mr Ponzi?

1844 with damage is worth an 1874 without, so an 1874 with damage as seen at £31 is too much as it's a common date. Maybe 20-25 tops.

You can get incomplete letters due to either incompletely entered characters, a broken punch or die fill. In the case of the latter, old worn dies will gradually fill up with metal dust which gets compacted in the recesses to give characters with missing serifs or more, or on occasion completely obliterating the feature. This is a normal feature of die wear and though it can be very useful in establishing the order of die pairs, a partially blocked die is not strictly a variety.

As I said, I believe the attribute VIP was hijacked. The rare non-proof set years were only ever struck in minimal numbers, hence they could only be given to a select number of 'Important Recipients' (VIPs). As many of these bore a frosted design, the term was carried over to the regular set years (which are predominantly unfrosted) and applied to any common year coin with a frosted bust. However, there were always too many to be considered truly VIPs, so only the better examples were extracted and given the accolade. A triumph of marketing over official reality methinks.

Denis is the son. His father died last December. The penny was a maundy bought earlier this year for a customer.

Why not keep the questions sensible and asked for a good reason? Asking them questions for the hell of it means that fewer useful answers will be received, because they aren't going increase the number of people employed to reply to them. They must have a huge number that never get replied to due to resource issues. I know I've got a lot going back to 2008 that were never answered - probably because they were technical and required a bit of spadework.

I don't need to see it.

It is with deep regret that I have to announce the loss of a forum member. I was informed yesterday afternoon that Geoffrey Cope, aka Petitioncrown on the forum has passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. Geoff was a passionate collector of Roman coins and those of the British Isles, who had sought only the best pieces for over 50 years. His enthusiasm for acquiring new pieces was undiminished right up to a couple of weeks before his death. For a few years now, his stated mission was that if he could inspire 10 people a year to collect coins, then he had done his bit to make the hobby safe for the future. It is fair to say that a quick perusal of his website should inspire anyone interested in history and art to collect coins. As a great supporter and patron of all things numismatic, frequently making items from his collection available to museums in order that they should be available to a wider audience, his death is a loss to the wider hobby. My thoughts are with his two sons and their families at this time.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say get it checked out. You have done all you can reasonably do, i.e. get a good image - and it looks like a worn and broken A crossbar.

It could be a worn and broken A punch looking at the discontinuity in the crossbar.

So much conjecture. Why doesn't somebody just ask the mint?

Dire! Fair at best. It's a bit better than poor with the relief visible, but not by a lot.