argentumandcoins

And someone actually bought it. What worries me though is I have a search for British coins worldwide which I check daily, and I missed this one. I wonder how many other gems have slipped pass me. You didn't miss much. Looked like a polished/cleaned EF to me and worth £10 tops. I have found the ebay search engine to be utterly bloody useless. Even entering specific dates/words on a worldwide search still misses items. If you try it and then google the same phrase you will see what I mean. Only today I tried to find a book that was hidden on ebay until I went in via google!!!!????!!!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1935-GEORGE-V-CROWN-RAISED-EDGE-/110559912616?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Coins_BritishMilled_RL&hash=item19bde262a8 1935 raised edge Crown. £100 opening bid!!!!!

You do get 4 pieces in there, so it isn't as bad as might first appear. Does anyone know how many were made and who the designer was? Well I've tried to find out, but drawn a total blank. There is one report from the Royal Mint itself, which refers to the initial test design in 1994, but gives no designer name. The only names we are given are those of Rushin & Maklouf for the reverse and obverse of the eventual circulation issues in 1997, and Rank-Broadley for the 1998 obverse. The link is here Unfortunately all the other links on the issue, appear to have cloned the Royal Mint report to some degree or other, so the name of the trial coins designer is unknown. Maybe a Royal Mint employee. Hopefully somebody will have access to this obscure information. Can't find my set at the moment but I have an image of the four stages Well I tell you what, put "TWO POUNDS" in place of "ROYAL MINT TRIAL", and that wouldn't have been a bad design for the coin. Looks concise, neat and attractive. I've had a look inside the pack and there is no information at all on the designer.

John, no offence taken, but we all have to, HAVE TO, encourage fresh interest rather than talk jargon on their first post, no ? I have the cape, I make the 'whoosh' noise, but still I am no nearer the stars..... Indeed we do. It may be an idea for some of the members who are not dealers (therefore totally unbiased) to set up some form of mentoring system for new collectors whereby discussions and advice could be given over the phone? The forum is a good way to air opinion and advice, but the written word is often neither expansive enough nor subtle enough (open to misinterpretation). I appreciate it may not be possible due to work/family commitments but it would be a big help to new members. I'll leave you chaps and chapesses to chew it over

Hiya mate ~ welcome to the forum. You'll find a list of dealers here I've found one in Bedford:- Eagle Coins 50 De Parys Avenue, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 2TP That was very helpful 1949. I'm looking for a pizza shop in Munich please I found loads on google. Heres one... Rifugio Ristorante Pizzeria* Waldfriedhofstraße 88 - 81377 Munchen

Strong words. And besides, I was trying to help the fellow - I notice everyone who's posted so far has totally ignored him, not even acknowledged his presence. Where are we without new entrants to the hobby ? There were in fact 2 answers to his post 400 lol. I can't see anyone welcoming him and trying to help? My first post was trying to help. I didnt mean to offend you by suggesting your information was wrong, I just wanted to suggest to the chap that there may be other dealers in his area who are not BNTA members.

I worked for half my life in the life assuaence field and whilst there were genuine qualifications set by the Chartered Insurance Institute, there was a parallel organistion called the Life Insurance Association. You didn't need any qualifications to get in, and all it was was an organisation where salesmen would trade selling ideas and exchange dodgy handshakes. Of course, all this hit the buffers a few years ago with increasing regulation of the field. Are you telling me that the BNTA is this type of organisation? What we really need is a genuine organisation promoting qualifications in numismatics, something like say, the Chartered Institute of Numismatics. Any volunteers to mark the papers? I am not a member and have no axe to grind (as such) but what you are saying is pretty much correct. I have had forgeries and overgraded coins from BNTA members and you only need check online listings to see either blatant overgrading/pricing or total amateurism, you be the judge. Great play is made on the virtues of the BNTA in all ads you see, but if they aren't policing their own members what is the point? Any newcomer (like Hello 17) being steered towards BNTA members, would, quite rightly, ASSUME that they were dealing with the most honest and professional dealers in the country. That is totally inaccurate. A BNTA member is no more qualified than you or I to dispense their wares, no more qualified in grading or identification and no more qualified in spotting forgeries. I am not sayimg that all, or even the majority, of members are not worthy of the accolade, but if the only qualification you need is a VAT number and 2 pals what is the point? Even worse is the absolute elitism of the IAPN. You have more chance of spotting the ball than getting in there! The real gripe I have with this lot is that they have comprehensive information on identification of FORGERIES that they only share among their members. This means that dealers who aren't members have to rely on their own ability to spot the fakes. What do you do with a coin that gives 5% cause for suspicion? I appreciate the need to restrict information to prevent the criminal element from adapting, but some information sharing with legitimate registered dealers would be nice!

These two must have taken hours of intricate work with a jewellers saw; why? ?apprentice pieces fake milling Just found the reference in Freemans 1985 edition on page 19. In it he states that since his earlier work the Mint had purchased an electron microscope and upon examination determined that all bronze with milled edges had been altered after the coins had left the mint.

Looking at a couple of names on their list I can safely agree with you on that one. It's a bit of a shame when the only thing you need to enter is a VAT number and 2 people to endorse you!!!! A grading/identification test might have been helpful perhaps even coupled with a dip sample of your latest customers??? Perhaps I'm using too much commonsense?

Or maybe his wife was watching coronation street/eastenders/emmerdale on the night they are on for 2 hours solid and he had time to waste

Or try a google search/yell.com/yellow pages. BNTA membership does not cover all dealers nor does it guarantee you are trading with the best!

I'm re-reading my 1966 version of Freeman's The Victorian Bronze Penny. He mentions veiled head pennies with milled edges:- 1896 5 out of 4943 1897 4 out of 4297 1898 1 out of 2971 1899 19 out of 5688 1900 15 out of 6901 1901 16 out of 4533 my 1970 edition of his The Bronze Coinage of Great Britain mentions just 1896 F144 R18 1899 F151 R18 1899 F152 R18 1901 F155 R18 Is there anything in his later additions? No mention to my recollection in either of Gouby's books I have a couple that are almost certainly fake - I'll dig them out and see if I can get a photograph Anyone here know the story behind these? did the coins get sold? were they all dismissed as altered? I had forgotten about this book in my last post on this topic Doh! His 1985 edition makes no mention of the milled edge coins he had found, so I would guess he had discounted them by that time? I have found a handful, with 1 or 2 from George V as well, interesting oddities that obviously took somebody some careful work to construct.

I remember it like it were yesterday... It was a great time for schoolboys like me to ferret through their loose change, but raities didn't crop up every 5 minutes - in fact most people that checked their change found sweet Fanny Adams, but there was always the chance. Perhaps the most interesting thing I found was an 1872 florin, but purely for its interest value, the only recognisable thing about it was the date! By 15 February 1971 there were very, very few Victorian pennies left in circulation, most having been withdrawn during the sixties as underweight. Nonetheless with the possibility of having no less than 5 monarch's faces on the coins in your pocket, currency was infinitely more interesting than today. I always wondered about that... when the old coins were still in circulation towards the end of the 60s what was the likelyhood of actually finding a victorian coin. Did collectors actually go to the banks and change £££ for bags of pennies in the hope to pull out some rare specimens? Being born in 1968 I don't remember it at all!!! I do get a reminder now and then from my old man about the day I half ate a roll of Pound Notes of his as a nipper though Anyway, to get back to the point, as the only reference work on bronze at that time was Peck I would guess that the "common man" wouldn't have had a clue about varieties. I'm sure some of the old guard on here will pounce on me and tell me I'm talking horse manure though!!!

Just looks like an exceptionally good strike. Pictures are always a pain in the proverbial to judge from, but, there is nothing that looks prooflike to me. The proofs are crisp but not in any greater detail or depth than a currency strike and are quite often a leap of faith. There were so few struck that the dies were often used on the currency issues following a die failure, so an early currency strike from a proof die or dies is sometimes found, but again I wouldn't think yours is one of those either. Looking at the rims they look quite rounded and worn, more so than the definition of the design. Be interesting to get it under a scope and see if there are any tooling marks, although from the pictures it appears an honest coin. Not much help I know! Well i suppose i'm just going to have to wait until it arrives i suppose boo hoo. Might send this one to NGC afterwards Before you ask, NO I AM NOT ON COMMISION, if you want a GB coin slabbed it will have to go to CGS (Steve Lockett of London Coins). The US companies have not got the first idea about UK coins and frequently get the grade miles wrong, never mind whether or not it's a proof. I bought 3 1902 proof coins this year from one US auction and all had been cleaned, ie the matt finish was finished!!! CGS will get it right (if it has been tooled or played with they will just return it as unable to be slabbed). Yes thats who i actually meant CGS, my mistake. I hope you asked for a refund on the 3 you bought John No, too much hassle shipping them back. Split them and sold on 1, still holding 2.

Just looks like an exceptionally good strike. Pictures are always a pain in the proverbial to judge from, but, there is nothing that looks prooflike to me. The proofs are crisp but not in any greater detail or depth than a currency strike and are quite often a leap of faith. There were so few struck that the dies were often used on the currency issues following a die failure, so an early currency strike from a proof die or dies is sometimes found, but again I wouldn't think yours is one of those either. Looking at the rims they look quite rounded and worn, more so than the definition of the design. Be interesting to get it under a scope and see if there are any tooling marks, although from the pictures it appears an honest coin. Not much help I know! Well i suppose i'm just going to have to wait until it arrives i suppose boo hoo. Might send this one to NGC afterwards Before you ask, NO I AM NOT ON COMMISION, if you want a GB coin slabbed it will have to go to CGS (Steve Lockett of London Coins). The US companies have not got the first idea about UK coins and frequently get the grade miles wrong, never mind whether or not it's a proof. I bought 3 1902 proof coins this year from one US auction and all had been cleaned, ie the matt finish was finished!!! CGS will get it right (if it has been tooled or played with they will just return it as unable to be slabbed).

Just looks like an exceptionally good strike. Pictures are always a pain in the proverbial to judge from, but, there is nothing that looks prooflike to me. The proofs are crisp but not in any greater detail or depth than a currency strike and are quite often a leap of faith. There were so few struck that the dies were often used on the currency issues following a die failure, so an early currency strike from a proof die or dies is sometimes found, but again I wouldn't think yours is one of those either. Looking at the rims they look quite rounded and worn, more so than the definition of the design. Be interesting to get it under a scope and see if there are any tooling marks, although from the pictures it appears an honest coin. Not much help I know!

There were various patterns for the bank dollars (first dated 1798) and although the obverse is "right" the reverse and the date (no 1808 patterns) are a total fantasy. If it was genuine it would be mega bucks (especially if I was selling it).

A fantasy pattern I'm afraid!

Agreed. Although £1000 would have been a reasonable starting point, it isn't going to attract too many bidders, who would normally get on the bandwagon in the hope of netting a bargain. Maybe he should have started at £100 ~ £0.99 would surely have been ridiculous in this case. Always a fine balancing act between cost price, what it's worth and what you're willing to take. They normally find their own level when they are rarer coins, so he might have got away with a 0.99p start. I predicted not much more than his start as I thought £1000-£1350 would have been a reasonable price, of course I don't know what it stood him at

Just like London buses, wait an age and then 2 come along together. The one shown is the second found in 6 weeks!!!! Very clear variety in the hand although the picture isn't perhaps that conclusive. The spike is apparent at the tip of the horizontal (Gouby diagnostic) and the middle arm points at the centre of the 6, rather than past the base of the 6. The upward curve stops well short of the usual point and thickens at the tip. No doubt at all under a natural light with weak magnification.

You'd need to get a nice price. The pictures show multiple contacts and wear to the high points. Difficult to tell with the photo angle but it also looks slightly edgy. There is also a not too attractive peripheral tone which is certainly in need of careful examination in the hand. At $800 you could certainly buy better.

Dear old Dad decided to check the bronze halfpennies this week. Being retired he has time to, put them on scales, under microscopes, let the cat sniff them for fishyness etc etc. Anyway, just this once after months of me banging on, he opened up the 1953 proof set and checked the 1/2d (I always check it and the 1d in any auction lots I find) only to find it was the elusive 2 + B rarity 14 in absolute FDC. Another scratched off the wants list, but now of course I'll have to find the commoner 2 + A (without splitting a set) that he thought we had! Anybody else had a similar experience?

I don't disagree, but are there enough £x.99 sales each day/week/month/year to justify the sheer quantity of 1ps in circulation? And the production of yet more!! We have to consider all of the jobs that would be lost if the humble Penny was removed from circulation/production. The Penny man/men at the Royal Mint, the driver who delivered the metals for that quantity each year, the mechanic who worked on the drivers vehicle, the garage owner where the driver filled up every week and bought his pies/fags/paper/sweets etc etc etc hundreds, thousands of jobs even, all because we don't like £99.99 sales with a penny change! Do what I do and stick it in the Air Ambulance box, although I think they just keep them all in a massive bottle for a year before sending them back to the banks again You forgot to include all us coin collectors as well!! OOPS, sorry! I don't collect decimal coins because my wife would put them all in a bank bag and swap them for a pair of "to die for shoes" to go with the other zillion pairs that all cost £.99, giving me a penny back for my penny jar!!!!!!!

I don't disagree, but are there enough £x.99 sales each day/week/month/year to justify the sheer quantity of 1ps in circulation? And the production of yet more!! We have to consider all of the jobs that would be lost if the humble Penny was removed from circulation/production. The Penny man/men at the Royal Mint, the driver who delivered the metals for that quantity each year, the mechanic who worked on the drivers vehicle, the garage owner where the driver filled up every week and bought his pies/fags/paper/sweets etc etc etc hundreds, thousands of jobs even, all because we don't like £99.99 sales with a penny change! Do what I do and stick it in the Air Ambulance box, although I think they just keep them all in a massive bottle for a year before sending them back to the banks again

We need them for the biggest con in sales, if something is £99.99 it isn't £100 so you are more inclined to buy it. If we had no 1p coins it would have to be £99.98 and that doesn't have the same ring to it. Oh, and 2p coins are useless as well, so it would have to be £99.95 and that sounds even worse!! Come to think of it 5p is useless and 10p and 20p come to that. It won't matter soon anyway as according to the press we are heading into a cheque free, cash free, plastic economy