Mat

About a year ago a 'finest known' 1844 was on ebay for £5000 buy it now, I think it was slabbed at ms65 but I do not recall it selling, if it did I am sure it would have been an offer outside ebay.

What is going on???

What is it I have missed regarding Platt? I have noticed forum comments on him before but what has tipped it over the edge?????

It certainly is a back breaker, my back was killing me when I got home from it. It’s also a sweat box too, all those high powered tungston lamps everyone uses. One of them even burned my neck while I was sifting through the £2 box (for 20 min). I don't think they have heard of LEDs. It was worth it though, I found a VF 1839 coronet head cent. I was contemplating most of the day over a gF 1854 florin but decided it was just too much.

All the Edward VII half crown prices are up as of late but the 1902 is very common and I would expect to pick one up for £70-£100 in UNC, prehaps a real gem at £120-140. I would not pay more than £100 my self.

This is what he has got left as he put it in the email: (Pennys 1901) (Halfcrowns 1818,1820,1844,1881,1893) (Crowns 1826c,1839c,1837c,1887,1893,1902,1990,2004,2009) (Ten pence 1933,1935,1941,1944,1968,1971,1972) (Two pence 1971,1972,1973,1974,2008) (10 copy 2008 Krugerrands) Note that he appears to have remaining the same coins that he has already sold on ebay.... This is his Mobile number: 07780 59 29 53 He also said he will be listing the crowns on ebay next week, I asked him what the c stands for but he didnt answer me. I wonder how many people would gold plate an 1826, 1839 and I presume an 1837 Bonami for Pinches crown, lol. I cannot wait to see what appears and how much they go for. He only lives 10 miles from me according to his ebay location, thats a fair distance from China!

Not that I'm aware of. Thanks Rob

Could anyone tell me if there is an 1851 penny silver proof, cupro-nickle or aluminium issue of the standard copper penny listed in Peck or known in any records? If so any values available? Cheers Mat

I started a topic on Royal Mail a few months ago regarding the whopping amount of failures in collecting signatures from my recipients. I claimed for 94 Recorded Delivery and quite a few International Signed For. After a very technical letter highlighting their T&Cs they have awarded me the full refund of £180.06 I was claiming for! They did point out though that they have awarded the International Signed For deliveries as a gesture of good will, they had to refund with the Recorded Delivery ones or they would have breached their contract. A total of 16% of my 2010-2011 Recorded Deliveries were performed without collecting a signature, at the current rate of 77p per time it soon adds up. I hope this will now inspire some of you heavy RM users to check through all your receipts and cross check the T&T service and submit a claim, it did take me all day to do it with over 800 receipts but obviously worth it for £180.06!

Great way of advertising, I bet the vast majority of his high value sales end up outside ebay through deal making. Every time I list a £2k plus coin on ebay I usually get the array of emails asking to trade outside for a lower price. To get around the paypal fees you can also exploit the £5000 receiving funds protection rule and request an alternate form of payment on high value goods that cost 5k or more. I have never traded with this seller before, tried to but could never bring him down low enough. Noticed he lapped up a few london coins lots and put them on ebay for double.

Hi AJW I have never come across you before I don’t think, first time I have seen your site anyway. I was wondering how do you get on with ebid for sales? I used them a few times in 2003 to sell Nazi war medals when ebay started to prohibit Nazi items but I have not thought about them since as ebay shifts everything so fast. Hi Mat Nice to meet you I've sold a couple of things on ebid but it hasn't really been worth it to be honest. Did have a large order which turned out to be fraud but I never fell for it aside from that just orders on cheap items with one order for a sovereign at a bullion related price. Slow sales but I've paid my £50 now so I'm a seller+ member for life so I'm hoping things will pick up there one day well here's to hoping. So do you have a website? Nice to meet you too. I think I will give ebid a miss based on that then! I dont think I had to pay any joining fees back in 2003, I have never really managed to pick up anything special on there as a buyer either. I have been meaning to create a website but I just have not had the time as of late. I am amassing stock at the moment but I will have to get one eventually, I am far far too reliant on ebay as it gets things sold within weeks as opposed to months, its just the killer fees. With the new changes in registered business user fee structures, it has worked out better to revert my accounts pack to personal accounts to exploit the capped £40fv fee.

Based on your description, the 1834 coin is made of copper and is either a penny, halfpenny or a farthing. The 1726 silver coin is actually dated 1826 and is either a shilling or a sixpence. You will have to give the size or a picture if you want to know exactly which coins they are. They are only worth a few pounds if they are worn. Mat

Hi AJW I have never come across you before I don’t think, first time I have seen your site anyway. I was wondering how do you get on with ebid for sales? I used them a few times in 2003 to sell Nazi war medals when ebay started to prohibit Nazi items but I have not thought about them since as ebay shifts everything so fast.

Cheers I thought it would be a tough ride with them on this one but I don't think they had much in their defence. If the postman decides to just post the item without bothering to get the signature it is clear cut.

I did assume that at first, however when examining the XII closely, it looks like the font is a different style, the larger XII does not have the same kind of serifs, the last I even has one in the opposite direction to the last I in the smaller XII. Of course if there are more than two strikes then it could all merge into one.

Hi I know these issues are full of quirky differences and I know the reasons behind over striking a mm, however I have never come across a particularly plausible reason for striking a small XII over a large XII. Any thoughts? There is some doubling of the letters on that side of the coin so maybe it was finished off with another die. I bought it a while ago but have only just got around to looking at it properly! Cheers Mat

Hi all I am not particularly experienced with the GIII bank tokens. I have acquired the pictured 1812 18d first bust which seems to have extraordinary sharp edges and a couple of other proof characteristics. I have compared it to another 1812 in EF and the edges are definitely sharper and more defined. It has a nice kind of toning as well but I dare say it is re-toning from being cleaned at some point. The fields are quite reflective although I have not been able to capture this in the picture. Spink does not list an 1812 18d first bust proof. Does anyone have any thoughts on an 1812 proof first bust issue? I know that the 1811 first bust proof is quite different from the standard issue. Cheers Mat

Hi, just wondering if this 1805 pattern went for about the right price: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110688375631&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT I remember an 1805 gold proof two pence sold for £32000 about 10 years ago.

Thank you for the extra info on the gold proof Rob, hopefully it will appear again befor 2112!

I stopped at about £300 as I was not too sure on it, it was playing on my mind though so thought I would throw it on the forum to try and make my self feel better about it!

As some of you may remember in some early posts I have had my fair share of issues with Royal Mail from posties removing the special delivery sticker and posting my item because they cannot be bothered to take it back to the delivery office to incorrect custom handling fees which are outside the remit of the HMRC regulations. In total I have made 209 claims and used Post watch/Ombudsman 14 times. Well, today I decided to audit all of my postage from 01/06/10 to 30/12/10 to see how many of the Recorded Delivery and International Signed for items actually had a signature obtained. Out of 863 Rec Delivery a whopping 94 items still state on the track and trace service 'Your item is on its way through our delivery network'. This effectively means that 94 out of 863 did not obtain a signature which at the time was 74p per item in addition to 1st class postage. Out of 257 International Signed For 34 items state that they are still on their way. Again at the time that was £3.25 per item in addition to the postage. I think I might struggle with the ISF postage as Royal Mail do state that even though we are paying for the signature, Royal Mail does not obtain a record of it and has no way of verifying if one has been obtained, but they do obtain the actual delivery date from the overseas postal operator which is given on track and trace. If I am successful I should get a refund of £180.06, I will keep you posted so you can do the same if you feel it is worth it.

Just one?? I wish I was that lucky. Mind you out of my 209 claims since 1998 when I started to keep records, 80% have been for damaged items or the item missing from the packet. About 20% was for not turning up. Before 2004 nearly all of my stuff was sent outside of the UK which explains the higher loss rate. My worst rates are for items that I have sent to Italy, Malaysia and Russian Fed. Shockingly I have never had an item go missing to China which is usually a bad one.

I have had problems with a couple of auction houses describing coins as 'Unc.' that patently were not. They all have their shortcomings which makes distance bids a harrowing process and I now prefer to attend sales as I was being forced to adopt my e-bay stance of 'if they say it's unc, then it's probably no better than EF'. The unfortunate thing is that taking this stance means that you don't actually win much in the higher grades. Fortunately I don't live a million miles from most of the salerooms and can make up my own mind about the lots up for sale. Having said that, the lighting and conditions under which the coins are viewed can be diabolical. The first ever time I viewed I put my foot in it. Having given over the list of lots I wanted to see and had them passed to me, a VF 6d fell out on the table. As the guy was only a couple of feet away and busy, I quickly called him back as the coin was obviously not one I had requested (the list was mostly UNCs according to the descriptions). He assured me it was correct and so I had a sort of road to Damascus moment when a bright light shone in the sky, the clouds parted and a big finger poked me in the eye. From that moment I saw the true light and understood fully. Another instance was where 2 pattern 1/2ds were listed which were the only gaps in a long run of Peck numbers I needed to fill. One was painted gold and described as gilt, the second a currency piece and showed no characteristics of the purported Peck variety. An enquiry as to whether a notice would be issued in view of the obvious errors was met with a negative. (Mat was there too for that one and also noticed the Christmas tree decoration). A hammered penny described as from Hertford with a mint reading of HEORT despite the coin actually reading HAESTI (Hastings) with the S on its side as normal for that type and clearly from the hoard of about 100 coins of the type from the toning was similarly dismissed when the catalogue error was pointed out well in advance of the sale. The odd mistake you can accept, but to not issue corrections is unforgivably wrong. Ah yes those lovely guilt proof 1806 and 7 half penny coins, straight from Pound Land with chocolate inside. That was my first visit to w&w in 2008, I went specifically for the 1860 UNC copper penny estimated at £1000 which went for £3200 after fees. I did not realise the lowball estimate tactics back then. Did anyone see how much the 1860 copper went for this time?

I have listed my Harthacnut penny on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290539735740 I have always thought this penny was Spink 1170, one of the Danish types, however another ebayer has emailed me the following: Hello! I apology but I must correct You on the Item. This item is not a Harthacnut, it is a coin minted during struggles between Magnus the god and Sven Estridsen. The item is of course interesting but the price is considerabale lower than for a Harthacnut coin. Similar item went for 300 on spink auction Dec 2009. I had made an offer which in my opinion reflect the market price. Can anyone confirm the above? I am inclined to believe it is still a Spink 1170 as I have had a few of these over time all bought and sold as Harthacnut. Thanks Mat

I didnt realise they BM would do that for me, I think I will do just that when I get round to it. Cheers 400. I just hope he is not trying to catch me out, he told me it is only worth £300 and made me an offer of £400 which I declined, so he has come back and offered £550!