Rob

Or to put it another way - double striking.

Do they care? It is the TPGs and collectors who assign the 'Cameo' designation. I wouldn't be surprised if all the RM worries about is the polished field, the sharp milling and the square edging to characters and the rims that is required for a proof.

The reflected view will depend on the planarity of the die's field. Many dies are slightly domed to give a dished surface and so you will only see the image at the focal point. Getting a picture of yourself is therefore a bit hit and miss.

This is going to rumble on and on ad infinitum. FWIW, my take is a pre-requisite of good frosting, but absolutely mirror-like fields to complement it - as below. The field is the most crucial component in my opinion.

If he has been told by a dealer at Charing Cross that it is a £1200 coin all day long, then they would offer him £800 for it without question - somewhat better than the £430 net he will receive from eBay after costs. Wonder why he doesn't sell it to them?

Here you go. Here's one with the sprues still on it

Quiet. Everyone was finished by 2 o'clock.

Ah. Cadbury mint halfpenny - I only have a penny so wasn't on the ball.

Why is it a mule? Sorry I'm not too well up on unofficial things like tokens. Who made it for example?

Shows how much I can remember. I recognised the name, but the building eluded me. It's further down closer to Manchester at no. 266, was Grade II listed, but redeveloped, and now appears to be a Seat garage. https://salfordhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/knoll-house-salford.html The guy in question was there from 1874 to 1891 according to the article.

Rare date in high grade, so lenience with the grading? Surely not.

Thanks. That will do for the database. I only knew who acquired it.

The Victoria St address would be next door to Manchester Cathedral too, so another reason for having a studio there.

looks right

I have no idea where Rock Mount or Dover St were. Much of the area has been redeveloped since the sixties. Bury New Road is still the main drag up the hill out of Manchester, but houses are virtually non-existent these days, with almost everything lower down below no. 390 flattened 50 years ago and redeveloped for business use. 36 Bury New Road would be next to Strangeways Hotel close to Waterloo Road amongst the asian wholesalers' premises, all bar a few builings of which post-date this period. Knolls House is 397 Bury New Road. Even some of the redeveloped bits were redeveloped again in the 90s onwards - Hooray!! Victoria Street is the continuation of Bury New Road, down by the Manchester Arena and Chetham's School. Almost everything has gone here, but the school would have opened up business opportunties. His residential address would have been between the two business addresses. Based on a theatrical group sharing the same address at Knolls House, it is unlikely that he lived there. Certainly the property is too large for a single family to live there, so both 1879 addresses would be business ones. I think all we can conclude is pre-1886 when he is recorded in the city centre.

I'm assuming the building was split up into businesses even then, because the card I illustrated reads ENT STA HALL after his name, which I would take to mean Entrance Stairs Hallway, i.e. by the front door. In the 50 years leading up to WW1, Higher Broughton was quite a well to do area, so a lot of people living close by would have had their pictures taken there.

Searching the address gives a visiting card ca1880 for the Corps Dramatique. Knoll Street goes off Bury New Road. I'm pretty certain the large house at the top of the road looking down it to the left used to be called Knoll or Knolls House. Now it is split into a textile importer and Orthodox Jewish School. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pellstrand+ltd&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=1msEWon4HanS8AfPwaboAQ Follow the link and it will give a view and a map.

I don't think it is a case of repairs, rather one of using the punches available. Throughout the centuries engrvers have been adept at making up complex designs from a series of small punches. If you have an I with a missing serif, it is easy to invert the punch to make a full character. It is certainly easier than making a new punch. Time and money, I think. Other examples include making a composite G from a C with the upright added, or entering two Is with a crossbar added to make an H. An A was usually made from a V punch with the crossbar added, which is why they are frequently weak and so you need a top grade example to confirm that the crossbar was never present in order to claim an inverted V for A variety.

Just go through Spink and find the cheapest option. If you only want them in fair, then only Williams 1 & 2, Henry IV, Edward V (unless you only want crowned monarchs) and Richard 3 will cost much. The rest could be done for tens of pounds each. Say up to £2K, or add 3 to 5K if you include a grotty Ed 5 which would have to be gold.

It's difficult to see what they could be used for as there is no value assigned. You could have them made for advertising purposes, but nobody would thank you for giving them a little disc with your name on that was otherwise useless. Alternatively, you could possibly have a scenario like the Charlie Chaplin theatre tokens which advertised the show and were dropped in the streets around the theatre for the public to pick up. But that was for a transient event, not a permanent business. My best offer would be a token for use in a local bar if it served a practical purpose.

The RRITT 1817 shilling has always been considered a filled or broken B. I don't consider it a case of him making an unreasonable claim, rather a case of the wrong attribution having become accepted fact by virtue of the description, because collectors are the source of many 'errors'. It's no different to say a missing something which are clearly die fill and certainly not engraved on purpose. Pemember the 2005 £2?

Your bad semi-colon zero closing parenthesis? There's a doctor for that somewhere.......

Looks modern.

I still think the image is blurred for a reason. This also has good sharp legend. The M is completely different on the bright one. Maybe this has been dipped/etched to destruction given the lettering is uniformly narrower. Obviously can't say if not in hand.

The problem is that there is precious little material to work with. I guess the situation was so fluid that much was done by word of mouth, and anything written down could be captured and troops intercepted. There was a series of letters to the Commissioners of Array to provide Charles with ammunition sent to Chester 24th Sept 1642, Shrewsbury 29th Sept and Hawarden and Flint on 4th October. The full series of letters to and fro between Michael Earnely et al and the Parliamentary garrison at Hawarden showing how the surrender negotiations progressed over the period 22nd November to the 3rd December are held in the office. Various records of donations to the Royalists. There is also a note that £100 was payable to Col. Marrow for armies and ammunition out of the money received or to be received from the loan money of Denbigh and Flint and used by Sir William Neale for the victualising and furnishing of Hawarden Castle. Unfortunately this is not dated, but in any case has to be after the 3 day window shown earlier because there was insufficient time to arrange matters. It could even be as late as the following Spring prior to the York March, as Col. Marrow was killed on 21st August at Tarvin in Cheshire. He was a good commander and a serious loss to the Royalists. The Mostyn papers have an undated note of Royalist horses sent to Bangor, presumably late in the war following the fall of Chester. (Possible 'B' mint location(?), along with Beaumaris and Raglan). There are also notes to the effect that Chester was provided with money and ammunition in the months prior to its surrender. Apart from that it is mostly letters of social history interest. Need to revisit the Chester Office.