Gary D

I was handed this by a work colleague which had been dug up by her father some years ago. To me it doesn't look like a coin, any ideas.

Another quality item from mintstate17!!!!!!!!!!!! Not. Isn't that the very rare "Missing E in ONE variety?" It's actually a 1506 Brent Cross hammered penny. Very rare.

Perhaps it's due to the mint being largely staffed by eastern european works like most industry here in the UK now. My wife works as a QA in a local factory where it's one thing after the next going wrong all the time. A while back they layed off most of the english workers in favour of busing in tempory staff. Once was the bigest employer in the town, now hard to find someone speaking english there now.

Don't know of one, that's why I'm asking. One wonders whether some of the scarcer dies that appear for just one year and then disappear are in this category. eg pennies in 1897 and 1908 David If you are talking about the 1908 164A it's the observe design used on the half penny so could have been accidental.

That is not the proof set case it's just the look a like often found with the currency coin set plus the crown added. To be the true Royal Mint case it would have the crest inside the lid and text on the cover. These are sometimes described as proof sets to catch the unwary.

I started collecting in circa 1965 and as I was still at school and of limited funds I collected from change, a paper round wouldn't stretch to buying proper coins. What shaped my collection, I'm a date run collector and at the time a range of padded folders were available that ran from 1837 to 1967 with a card with holes for each denomination for each year. I stopped collecing at around the year 2000 with all the decimal year sets to that date. About 5-6 years ago I dug my collection out of the back of the wardrobe and got the bug again but as I had not really made any roadways into the Victorian era, just a bit of copper I desided to focus my collection into the range 1900-1967 and add the Maindy series, I have never been into gold so just collect farthing to crown. Currently I'm concentrating on the Maundy series and have less than 20 coins to go, I no longer need any full sets just oddment some of which are proving a bit elusive, on ocassion I have resorted to buying a full set to fill a gap and re-spin the odds onto ebay. I am also heavily into varieties to try and keep the collection alive plus a few upgrades where EF to UNC is not too big a jump. I suspect once the Maundys are complete I will slow down and possibly put the collection back into the wardrobe, figuratively speaking.

When I got my 1922 penny I was the only bidder and had to up my bid to get it at the reserve, bargain. This year a coin came up at Baldwins that I really liked. I was going to attend but bottled out and put in an absentee bid well above estimate, got beaten and saw the same coin at coinex for £800, not bad as it was bought for £320 plus juice. Still kicking myself for not going.

I will get the last 19 Maundy pieces that I need for my 20th Century predecimal run then stop buying coins, I must, I must, I must. I've spent close on £35k in the last 5-6 years

Ok I stole these links from another forum, but I think you will find them interesting Farthings QEII coins New Mint

As it was originally mint toned, possibly nearly to black I think any toning now is the result of a good clean at sometime in the past.

I've a couple of these of different dates, definitly an acid bath job.

With luck you would be able to buy them all back again a couple of weeks later on ebay for a fraction of there value.....mmm there's a thought

I've shown this before but I think it definitly comes under the heading "Rare but Butchered".

We know what causes ghosting, a heavy observe design, but do we know what it is. I would suggest it's an effect in the crystal structure as there's no metal missing leaving a cavity. To me it would suggest it's an area in the coin where there has been a larger flow of material leaving the crystals in the coins structure very elongated giving a different surface appearance.

Can anyone explain what was going on here. I initially suspected shill bidding as the seller's feedback is 22, but after looking at the bidders I'm not so sure... WTF

A chance to study at Oxford, go for it. It's better to have tried than always wonder what may have been. I'm a Cambridge man myself, well I did my degree as a mature student and my study centre was in Cambridge Receiving my degree in a ceremony in Ely Cathedral was a highlight. Our son has just finished his GCSEs and came in the top 5 at his school, I think he was about 3rd with 4A* 3A and 3B. He is now taking his A-levels at a sixth form college in Cambridge and it would be nice if he could carry on to a degree there also but Cambridge like Oxford the competition is fierce and entry expectations are very high.

I've always found Michael to be pleasant and helpfull. Coincraft, only been in there once and wasn't impressed.

Well it has 2 bids which I assumed was from a couple of his mates, but one is from a big gun so perhaps it would stand a closer look.

I'm not so sure. There's a gentleman from Hong Kong who regularly every few months comes on ebay with some very high grade ED VII florins and sometimes Shilling always in a nice date run. Now just how many EF+ Florins are there in Hong Kong/China. This has been happening for some years now, may be legit but becoming a worrying trend. Also there seems to be too many wreath crowns washing around especially because of their relitive low mintage, and 1934s there can be 2-3 on at a time.

The postage is worth more than the coin At least the seller is honest in that they haven't a clue what it is rather than make up some amazing tail about how it belonged to Atila the Hun's great grandmother who passed it the Edward VIII on her death bed and said it that will bring good luck to anyone who clenches it between their butt cheaks whilst singing the first two verses of the La Marseillaise.

I'm sure that we can all believe that this sort of fraud occurs, but proving it is another matter. Ghost bids from the floor are risky for an auction house as it's possible for a sharp-eyed spectator to see that there was no actual bidder. I suspect that auction houses wishing to maximise their profits would prefer to invent absentee underbidders or to employ shill bidders in the audience. I know the only time I even bought a coin from Torex I happened to get it for my maximum bid to the penny, lucky what. The time I lost a coin again at Torex I was the under bidder to someone on the floor who got the coin for the same bid as me.

First, it depends where you live, assuming its the UK, then they seem very much relaxed when opening packets from the USA etc. There is no tax to be paid on anything inside the EU, anything outside can be charged tax, but only if they open the package. I live in Germany, and the bar stewards open EVERYTHING from outside the EU, so i have no choice but to pay 7% on the value over 22 euros, under that is free, so i tend to either not buy outside the EU or ask the seller to drop the price on the customs label. I've also bought from an AU auctionhouse, and they had a very clever was of disguising what was inside. It was like a small book, to thick pieces of cardboard, when i opened it, it was like an advertisement for stamps etc, but taped under that was my 500$ worth of coins, very impressed I'm always amazed at the speed that this forum picks things up, thanks ForumGod Are there no documents (custom's declarations, etc.) that the auction houses are obliged to put on the packets they send out that would get them picked up by the UK customs' bods? I tend to have this happen with the larger auction houses, and recently got charged import duty, and a nice administration charge by the postal company for paying it for me There is no import duty for coins entering the UK but anything over £18 attracts 5% VAT. I have had to pay on a few occassions but what really stings is the Parcel Force fees for collecting the VAT. From memory it's about £12

Here's my two if you are looking to show both varieties

Unfortunately Dave, they actually typed "Good Fine" and not GF or GVF, so perhaps this is actually their grade. Also if i was a Halfcrown man i'd be going for lot 1711, there's actually a few nice HCs in there Comparing it to my GVF and Derek's book I'd go VF and the observe is pretty badly banged up.

I hope they give it a good polish first