Gary D

I suspect Sulphur could be a good toning agent.. Not sure how you would go about it though Gary

Well, you nearly scared me off.

The are several pointer to the 1926 ME penny. The 1st if in top condition is the signature on GVs neck. Old effigy B.M. modified effigy. BM and further to the back of the neck. This wears very quickly so I go for the I of DEI. I to gap old, I to tooth ME. The 1922 penny. The royal mint is constanly working on new designs which take time to introduce. Although 5 years is a bit long producing no pennies in 1923-25 probably lengthen the gap. I believe the mint were working on reducing ghosting and they knocked up a few trails which just got chucked into the bin for circulation.

Thanks azda, I've had it for about 10 months and had given it EF myself. Red, yes I think there is a touch of wear on the beard, also there is a hint of flattening to the ear.

And the other side

On the subject of 1903 Half Crowns here is mine. Would you guys please give your opinions of grade. There is a bit of a bruise by FID which distracts a little

It's just coincidence. . . . . . . . . (pun intended) It may be coincidence, but in checking my copy of Jaeger, there are only two examples known of the 1933-J (Hamburg mint) 1 Reichsmark coin. Anyone know of any other countries with a similar rarity from that year? British one penny anyone

I know I always seem to buy high and sell cheap on ebay. I suspect a lot on ebay is not what it seems. Although I don't condone it I think it's all about multiple accounts. If you have a coin to sell that's not worthy of a reserve a second account can be used to put a bid on your own item to protect it from going too cheap. Ok you could end up winning it yourself and paying the ebay fee but you would likely only loose a pound or two. Also naturally toned coins don't make money, hence a certain seller dipping his silver, it can increase you selling price by 200%. Sad but true. Gary

You could do what everyone else seems to do. Put them on ebay !!!!!WOW RARE!!!!!!

Got the book when I arrived home this evening and just finished reading it. Great book Dave. Not too many shocks, just a couple fg micro varities to look out for. Gary

The four books I live by are; Spink for prices, Grading British Coins, Dave's copper book and Davies soon to be replaced by Dave's Silver book. I look forward to receiving my copy. Just hope there's no too many news coin to look for.lol. Gary

Yes, as a date run collector it wouldn't matter to me, especially as I couldn't tell. I wouldn't want a 1927 silver 3d in my date run though, so as long as some were issued for currency, Maundy would count. The problem with 1927, well not really a problem, the maundy and currency split and became a different design. The problem with 1927 is that the currency was only issued in the proof set so go for £80-100. Gary

In general Maundy 3d's are proof like so unlike the currency issue the fields are mirrored. 1927 is an easier year to distinguish the Maundy from the currency piece. The Maundy has the 3 with the crown above. The currency for 1927 is only available as a proof issue and is the first of the series to have the oak leaf design. Up to 1927 both the Maundy and currency 3d's shared the same design. From 1927 on the currency had the new oak leaf design which in 1937 was again changed to a sheild design. The maundy coins remained with the 3 with crown above until the present day. Gary

Well if that's an EF, I'm a Dutchman !!! Maybe VF at the very outside ~ and just look at the amount of wear on the three lions. You can hardly see one of them. Interesting, but no denomination, and certainly not a recognised type. Strictly of interest to a narrow specialist market, I'd say. It looks like the copper fantasy crown in copper. If the seller had done a search they would have found at least one going for about £12 As you say, its a fantasy wreath crown dated 1937 and featuring Edward VIII. I've got a small collection of Edward VIII fantasy items, just for the hell of it, and as you say, they come in around £10-15 each at most. My group of these includes four types: 1. A copper strike. 2. A silver strike, which is possibly genuine silver or may be plated onto copper or cupro-nickel. 3. A gold one, which isn't gold, might be plate, but is most likely, looking at the finish brass, and then thinly lacquered to preserve the colour. 4. Another gold type, but very subdued and most likely again a brass or maybe even bronze alloy, coated in lacquer. If this guy can get £2k for his, I'll have mine up on eBay soon as!!! I could do with some extra funds for some real coins. I've got the Edy VIII maundy set in silver and gold again just for the hell of it. The gold set is interesting as they are thinner than the silver but far heavier. I assume there must be some gold in them but I can not find any information on them. Gary

Well if that's an EF, I'm a Dutchman !!! Maybe VF at the very outside ~ and just look at the amount of wear on the three lions. You can hardly see one of them. Interesting, but no denomination, and certainly not a recognised type. Strictly of interest to a narrow specialist market, I'd say. It looks like the copper fantasy crown in copper. If the seller had done a search they would have found at least one going for about £12

Another interesting item, a bit out of my price range Good try

The US TPGs have this habit of grading proofs as PL, PL with cameo, PL with deep cameo and even VIP. Ok VIP is plain enough but what is this CAM and DEEP CAM and where does deep cam meet VIP? Are they just nitpicking. Gary

Do you not get my point though, that in this particular instance we cannot rely on the die flaw to indicate a forgery. The point you made has been long established,nothing new.Did i not point out i suspected it could be a die flaw produced by the Royal mint itself ? I fail to see why im quoted when im entirely off on another tangent concerning PCGS. Red makes a valid point. I was just giving my observations. By the way the 1905 forgeries assuming there are no recent one's comming out of china came out of the middle east probably Turkey sometime ago, likely in the 1970-80s. There is a website devoted to forgeries which gave all the indicators to identify the 1905 forgeries. I saw the information a couple of years ago then subsiquently could no longer find it. My harddrive died a couple of months ago and I lost the link to the site. I have since been searching for it but without any luck. Gary

Anything is possible, just seems too many around with the same flaw including the two fakes I've had. And my previous example was only a GF-VF.

The first two links are of the same coin. But yes, I too would be very interested in Gary's analysis. They look, for all the world, like ordinary, fairly well worn old coins. Yes the first two are the same, bit of cut and pasting problem there. Looking at the one I had intended to link again it's not so clear so I'll show you mine instead.

I shouldn't really say just in case I decide to sell my GEF fake on ebay If you look at the R in EDWARDVS there is a spider-like crack where the front leg joins the loop. It's either very common on the 1905 HC or just coincidence that both known fakes I've owned also have it. Gary

I initially though great, but then remembered there's nothing to stop someone having many accounts all with 100 per month each I'm sure the loop hole will soon be filled. I've personally got a buying and another selling account....it will surely stop some sellers listing 600 items of tat per week & I never sell more than 100 coins per month.....I shall be holding off for a month or 2 to see how it pans out. In the good old days maybe 12 or 13 thousand coins were listed under British now its more like 40,000. If you search worldwide it's in the high 50s. Blocking seller, now that would be good to do. I wish you could block sellers.

There's a time limit on the edit function. Gary

I've also bought one or two bits from this seller and have been happy so far. I must admit I'm starting to get a bit cautious as this seller has been selling high grade Ed VII florins and shilling for a few years now. There does seem to be an endless supply of them. One thing in their favour is they don't seem to come up with 1905's which would start the flags flying. Gary PS on the subject of fakes, here's another one. Link and another Link one more Link There's a couple more on there but the picture aren't up to it. Gary

I initially though great, but then remembered there's nothing to stop someone having many accounts all with 100 per month each