Cerbera100

Particularly when through ebay and paypal, the seller has absolutely no protection! They charge us damned near 20% of what an item sells for, and then promptly hand the rest back to the buyer as soon as they put their hand up! One case I had, I sent a £20 double-florin to Canada, and the buyer refused to pay for insured post, so with appropriate message in 'hand' I duly sent the item off 1st class... 4 weeks later I get an email from paypal saying that they had refunded the buyer because they hadnt received it (ok there was an email before, but I was on holiday so didnt see it!). I sent them the message saying 'no insurance please' and they still refused to give me my money! Worse, a very similar (or identical?!) 4s turned up on the same guys account only about a month later! I'd looked for a reasonable alternative, but dont have time to research it! Welcome any suggestions!

Slightly off topic, but whats with all the blumin' adverts in Spink '11?! I'd expect a price reduction for that lot! I bought off Amazon, so couldn't try-before-you-buy, but quite disappointed... I'd always liked that it was just a reference without ramming every dealer/auction house down your throat! Also, really dont like the new order of the QE2 section, and has anyone else noticed that they've printed most of the Proof and BUnc sets twice?! Apologies... rant over!

I hate to burst your bubble, but that looks very much like a regulation circulation Darwin £2... albeit in very good nick!

I would be interested in seeing a close-up of the date as well... or is that my every hopeful imagination pretending there is a hint of an open 3?! Either way, £20... bite his hand off!

Cool, thanks guys! Was beginning to think I'd bought into a variety too early like my muppett of a friend who paid £250 for a dateless 20p! I did warn him

Indeed... will be interesting how long the rarity of this is maintained! With everyone here now looking for them my recent purchase from Mr Workman may depreciate...

Thats a nice little set you have there! I've been pulling fakes out of circulation for about 5 years, and have about 40... also have a bag of shocking attempts which I bought at a club auction! Drop me a PM, and I'll email you some nice ones!

That pee water is overpriced whatever you pay for it. Well said that man! Back on topic - I seem to remember seeing a 1996 Silver Proof set in Phoenix priced at a hefty £245... and marked '£50 off'! I happened to be up there a few days later, so popped my spare set in my bag (I have 3, and cant shift the spares for love nor money!) and played 'dumb no-nothing commoner' ("It was my fathers hobby" or some rubbish) and was offered a princely £50 for it cash! Clearly I declined... On the other hand, you can get some quirky bits in there which can be quite fun...

Scanning is NOT a faux-pas! With scans you get a perfectly evenly lit, perfectly flat, and perfectly square-on picture. The one main drawback with scans is the flatness of tone - lustre doesn't properly come out at all. I would have scanned my 1911s but since I upgraded operating systems I've lost Photoshop, which was the link to my scanner. Thanks for that! I hadn't really considered the effect it would have on lustre... to be honest, the only coins I scan are those (non-proofs) going on ebay (thieving bastards!... sorry, I'll control my outburst!) and they are almost always VF at best, so lustre isn't really an issue!

And without the flash! 1911 Penny - No Flash

Ooo... perhaps Google is my friend...! Try these! 1911 Penny 1911 Penny - BRITT 1911 Penny - Neck

I read somewhere (may have been this thread... too lazy to check ) that scanning of coins was a faux pas... Is it really that bad?! Surely its the easiest way to get full focus on a coin (except those silly high-relief ancient stuff!)? I've tried all manner of tricks with the camera, but cant get anything nearly as good... either the flash reflects, or lack of flash gives unrealistic colouring... Also... (really showing my ineptitude now!) where does one host said images... ideally without relinquishing any pennies?! 1911 Gouby X penny pics to follow!

That would be a rather long round trip - although our talks are very good!

Really? Thats odd... it works fine for me! Hey ho... thanks for posting an alternative!

Cheers Red! And apologies to CP for hijacking his site and turning it into an advert for RCC!

Consider it done Mr Predecimal.com!

Then we have probably met. I don't go as often as I would like as, despite being the nearest coin club to me, it is still an hour's drive away and finding my way and parking in Reading is an absolute nightmare. Still, it's a very good club and I've always been impressed with the activities and talks provided for the members. Just one thing, can't you move the meeting a bit closer to me? Ahh! Well, if you come along in the future, I'm not difficult to miss being the only one with my 30th birthday still a few years in front of me! I think parking anyway is difficult these days, however I may have a solution for you (PM sent!) With regard to moving the meeting closer to you... if you're an hour away, it wouldn't really be the Reading Coin Club any more would it... and the 'An-Hour-Outside-of-Reading Coin Club' doesn't really roll off the tongue

hmm... the link option didnt work... here goes again! www.readingcoinclub.co.uk

As far as I am aware he is still dealing... though shall ask him when I see him at Reading Coin Club's auction in a couple of weeks! He's been a member with us for years! Oh, and as an aside, as Club Secretary it would be remiss of me to miss this opportunity... please see our shiny new website at www.readingcoinclub.co.uk! Cheers! Cerbera

Interestingly, not any more! The Royal Mint are currently striking the first Egyptian coinage for lots of years! Apparently everything from E£50 down (about a fiver!) will be coins!

Fair point, however these have to top the lot! Listing - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Undated-20p-Royal-mi...id=p3286.c0.m14 Sellers Feedback page - http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...eedbackAsSeller Listing - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Undated-20p-coin-Min...id=p3286.c0.m14 Seller Feedback page - http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...eedbackAsSeller I especially love the the first one doesnt even know how much he's 'bid'!

I was referring to the buyer, but I did very nearly message the seller to make that very point! At the time, there were approaching 1000 of these coins on eBay!

Got a penny in Tesco yesterday... will be going in a collection... of shrapnel that goes towards my holiday next year! As a one-off one-year-only design, I think this was a good design, but hey, I'm just a collector!

Annoyingly, I cant find the link or item number now, but there was one lot of 13 updated 20p's... Buy It Now - £10,000,000. A best offer was made of £7,000,000! Oddly this was accepted within seconds! Obviously there is no way to know if the transaction completed or not (I cant remember the sellers name to check the feedback!) but if that was a genuine offer, I'm properly scared at the level of stupidity!

Not to criticise Rob, but three things... - Is there not a small fleck at the top-left of the right-hand upright which could be the end of a serif? - At the bottom-left of the left upright there is (possibly!) a similar fleck?! - And also on the LHS, where the upright and downstroke meet, is this not supposed to be a finer point as on the right? The line of the bottom edge of this also changes direction, which I do not believe is supposed to happen! Would of course need verifying with hand and eye-glass, but might be worth getting someone to have a proper look at it! Q.E.D., apologies for using your image, but felt it might aid my comments!