Gary D

Yes you need to keep an eye out for fakes and over-grading but showing a high grade coin then sending a dud is just plain fraud in my opinion. I also hate stock photos, it's just lazyness. I expect to receive what is in the picture because that is what I have used to appraise the condition and used as the basis to make the decision on what I'm willing to pay. Gary D

Here's my bright 1944 Rev c and Rev d along with both a bright and toned 1945. I also have a bright 1946.

As far as I'm aware Centsles is a dealer in the States that slabs his own. The grading tends to be overly optimistic but I'm not aware of any of his coin being of questionable origins. Gary D

I've just been caught out. Not seriously, but still caught. I spotted a 1965 sixpence for sale and the photo was the rarer variety with the 'I' of 'REGINA' to a space. Checked with the seller whether this was the actual coin in the photo and was told yes it was. Arrived this morning and it clearly isn't the same coin and is the common old 1965. Only $3 wasted, so no sweat. Not worth sending back, but a good excuse to leave a great big negative feedback. Why these people do it, I really don't know!! In the long run they are the losers. Indeed they are, Dave. It's very difficult to understand such a mindset. For the sake of a minor score on a few coins, they are risking long term isolation as the collecting and dealing community soon come to recognise a seller who is effectively a crook. And the proof of the con is that the 'dealer' in this case hasn't come back to me to complain about the negative feedback, which has knocked him down to around 97%. I,m always on the lookout for 1965 sixpences and have often come across the rare variety on ebay. I alway now look at any other sixpences being sold by the seller to see in they have used the same obverse in several actions, they always have. Why take a picture of every obv if they are all the same grr. I ended up buying a Peter Davies piece. I have no problem with people using stock photos or a single one for a range of coins where the coin is a bog standard one e.g. the Eliz II cupro-nickel series. I don't even mind when they don't say so and I have to ask. What I do object to, very strongly, is when I ask the question, I am assured the coin in the photo is the one for sale, and when it arrives it clearly isn't the same one. These sellers are simply con-men willing to sell anything and lie blatantly just a for few miserable pennies - after all they don't go for much. Even more insulting is that they don't think I can tell the difference! There was a nice 1922 penny on ebay a couple of weeks ago, GEF, what turned up was about fine and he had the cheek to try the no returns lark. Got a full refund including postage. I send more stuff back now days then I used too, even if it was only a couple of quid.

I've just been caught out. Not seriously, but still caught. I spotted a 1965 sixpence for sale and the photo was the rarer variety with the 'I' of 'REGINA' to a space. Checked with the seller whether this was the actual coin in the photo and was told yes it was. Arrived this morning and it clearly isn't the same coin and is the common old 1965. Only $3 wasted, so no sweat. Not worth sending back, but a good excuse to leave a great big negative feedback. Why these people do it, I really don't know!! In the long run they are the losers. Indeed they are, Dave. It's very difficult to understand such a mindset. For the sake of a minor score on a few coins, they are risking long term isolation as the collecting and dealing community soon come to recognise a seller who is effectively a crook. And the proof of the con is that the 'dealer' in this case hasn't come back to me to complain about the negative feedback, which has knocked him down to around 97%. I,m always on the lookout for 1965 sixpences and have often come across the rare variety on ebay. I alway now look at any other sixpences being sold by the seller to see in they have used the same obverse in several actions, they always have. Why take a picture of every obv if they are all the same grr. I ended up buying a Peter Davies piece.

Boots the chemist used to have a coin collecting section where they sold a few coins Gary

To be fair VS, not many dealers and collectors know about or refer to these microwaves. Probably many are like me - they see a new coin with yellow/gold/red lustre, they think of it like a thin coating, and lo and behold it wears off exactly as if it was. "Sheen" is my own term, though others may have coined it also (pun intended). It is a prperty that any coin may have, though full lustre obviously trumps it. As I say, I have 3 or 4 high grade copper coins with no lustre (or only faint traces), but which have this wondrous silky shimmery surface. The coins are natural metal in colour, i.e. brown or reddish-brown, typical copper, but nevertheless they have this sheen. It is NOT lustre. That looks like classic "lustre" az - traces thereof. That's as good a term as any! Having seen pictures of coins being tumbled in weak acid en masse to clean them after the striking (probably where most of the so called bag marks come from) they start life pretty much as bare metal. I would suggest any lustre/sheen is actually caused by the initial formation of oxidation. This over a period of time builds up into what we call tone. Gary

When a coin is struck there will be flow in the metal which will cause heating, this heating and the polishing effect of the metal moving across the surface of the die if probably the cause of the final colour we see. Gary D

Another interesting offering, I say interesting as this coin has worn one side more than the other. Must be a poor mix in the alloy Error coin

OK, thanks for replying. The ones I have aren't that good anyway, I just thought there would be a trick identifying them Do bear in mind that the difference in silver value, in relation to silver 3d, is pretty minuscule! The face value is just over one decimal penny. You could try and check the ring, not easy with such a small coin. 0.925 silver lower ring. Best to compare with pre 1919 and post 1921

Well he must have been a brave man trying to take an imprint of that Not taken from one of the replicas available as it look too much like a real penny. A pity he didn't blow the felt hairs of the back before making the impression Gary

I was originally putting my collection under the normal house insurance but it was less than ideal. The way house contents works is that any one item, a collection in this case, must not be more than a certain percentage of the total cover, if I recall correctly it is about 30%. This means that if your collection is worth £10,000 you must have at least £33,000 of contents insurance, ok no problem. A £20,000 collection would be £66,000 and £35,000 which I had at the time would require £117,000. That's a lot of premium you need to pay for. Last year I insured my collection for £40,000, it was cheaper at that point to find a seperate company to insure my collection and find a cheap contents insurance. My renewal this year was £243 for £45,000 cover. I upped it to £60,000 for £320. I use Stamp Insurace Services in Exeter and the policy is with Sterling Insurance. Gary

Ok it's not a coin, but it is British. A work colleague has been clearing out an aunt's house and came across a bag of these medals, about 40 of them in all and all in uncirculated condition. I say uncirculated although I assume that's not really the correct term, I did find a copy on the web that was very worn. I know the victorians turned out medals quicker than the Isle of Man but does anyone know anything about these and are they likely to have any value?

I though current estimates are about 11-12. I have held the example in the British Musueum, had to wear rubber gloves though. As to the royal family holding collections, I suspect they do although may not actively collect themselves. A 1935 proof crown previously owned by Eddie VIII came up for sale late last year. Had been kept nicely polished by his housekeeper.

The largest "hoard" I was aware of was Roland Harris who had 6 sets of wreaths for his children. They were sold by London Coins about 3 years ago after his death. The printed cards are from a set of coin folders that could be bought in the late 60s early 70s. Bri-lining or something like that. I kept my collection in them at the time. You could buy the set one or more for each monarch Eliz 11 decimal down to Vicky. They held each year, all denominations except for gold. Depending on the number of coins in a given year you could have one or two cards, two cards to a page. Gary D

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.

I like the idea of tickets, the only one I have came with my 1960 VIP crown which simply says it came from Baldwins. I have often wondered about the provenance of my 1935 proof crown. I asked the auction house when I bought it but all they would say was that it came from a reputable source. Gary

Two days ago I purchased from ebay a 1917 maundy 3d which arrived today. "Exceptional silver (0.9250) coin (part of Maundy Set) struck within a set from 1911 to 1920. George V was the second son of Edward VII, and was born in 1865. He had 5 sons and one daughter. He was King during the 1st. World War (1914-1918) and visited the front on several occasions, and during one of His visits had a bad fall breaking the pelvis, injury that would pain him for the rest of his life. Although Britain finish victorious, the tragic loss of 1.5m men dead and/or crippled, largest problems occurred for the generations to follow. During His reign the Empire divided; Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India.Owing the steep price of silver in 1919/20 the issue of standard 0.9250 was debased to 0.5000. in 1912, 1918/9 some pennies were minted under contract to Heaton (Birmingham) Mint. Farthings were again issued. Crown pieces had not been issued for circulation but they were struck in small numbers in 1927/1936, and a special commemorative crown minted on 1935 to be issued in celebration of His Silver Jubilee. As George V died in January 1936, it is likely that all coins dated of 1936 were struck during the reign of George VI." Ok I didn't both to read all of this gumpf, I got as far as (part of maundy set) then my eyes glazzed over. Anyway low and behold a rather scrappy currency 1917 3d arrived so I sent a message to say I will be returning it. "Hi, I have just received the 1917 silver 3d and it is a currency piece not maundy. The maundy peices are proof-like which this coin obviously is not, I would like to return it for a refund." And the answer "Hi Gary! I'm surprised to read the contents of your above e-mail. Starting from the begin. Maundy Sets were never minted and given away as a PROOF grade. Mainly the proof coins are distinctively milled with a frost center i.e. busts, heads, faces. FOC grade is the highest from the mint to Maundy sets. The regular Identical coins have dull dies and Maundy type brighter. I deal with coins for the last 55 years and attended 3 Mints, seeing mintage machines using different processed dies, depending of the raw metals quality, and those more difficult dies designs. The high relieves are planned mainly for the contracts mintage, for how many years the coins are expected to circulate and a possible melt down date. Regarding your requirement to get your cost back, it's within my established rules, for any customer not happy with his buy, the return within 7 days of his or her original receipt, will be accepted with no questions asked. Regards. You learn something new every day.

Are they all FOC?

If it was genuinely uncirculated I'd say that was not far off a fair price. IMO 1921 is by far the rarest shilling in that series in Unc - yes, rarer than 1925. But I assume you're pointing us at the scratch on the neck, and what looks like wear to the hair detail? And as a 5+E the most numerous of the 1921 series. I'd have put it at sub £100 and would have been desperate to go more than £60. I agree it's the commonest of the varieties, but what I was getting at is that NO 1921 shilling is common in Unc. Even in Spink - not the most enthusiastic listers of modern silver varieties - it's over £100. I'm not sure what that ebay dollar price translates to exactly? Didn't I read on here that Spink have the 1921 shillings mixed up making this the cheaper of the two types listed Gary

If it was genuinely uncirculated I'd say that was not far off a fair price. IMO 1921 is by far the rarest shilling in that series in Unc - yes, rarer than 1925. But I assume you're pointing us at the scratch on the neck, and what looks like wear to the hair detail? And as a 5+E the most numerous of the 1921 series. I'd have put it at sub £100 and would have been desperate to go more than £60.

Has the world gone mad Oh my

And the other

Two that spring to mind are 1908 164A which I paid a couple of Australian dollars for, a poorer example had sold at Colin Cooke's in poorer condition a few week before for £600. I also picked up a 1902 low tide penny in BU from Coinex for £25. It's the 2 to gap variety, again an example had sold at Colin Cookes two weeks before for over £400.