1949threepence

Michael, What is the name of the article? I would like to read it. Indeed so - I must order Coin News. Pleased to hear this great news.

OK, cheers Peter. Was just wondering.

It's probably best to let it re-tone naturally. I've actually got a coin which has quite obviously been polished (with brasso or something), but many decades ago judging by the re-toning which has taken place since. The only reason I've got it is because of it's rarity - an 1874H Freeman 69, in GF. Otherwise nice coin with no rubbing, pitting or edge knocks.

There's no 1860 copper variety pennies, which aren't 60/59. Supposedly 32,256 were minted, which obviously accounts for their scarcity, and in the same year, they were replaced with the (then) new bronze type. Clearly they knew that the new type were imminent, and were just using up old 1859 penny dies on producing a few of the old variety to meet immediate demand ahead of the new production.

Yes, I've bought coins from the US and Canada which have been decribed as a "token" or "gift", for which no customs charge has been imposed. But then, some of the packages get through anyway. Don't know whether it's a random check which is made. I suspect that it is, due to sheer volume.

I've strongly suspected shill bidding on a number of occasions. The problem, of course, is proving it. Without hard evidence you're up bodily function creek without a paddle

You are right 1949, you do have to get through all the things you are "not" interested in, at a coin club meeting, before getting to something you are interested in. The thing that makes the coin club meeting for me, is the monthly auction. Our monthly coin club has anywhere from 70 to 95 collectors in attendance, and a 100-150 lot auction, each month. If they didn't have the auction, the attendance would be much smaller! I find one of the benefits of attending a coin club is seeing and talking about new things I might not otherwise come across. The Tyneside Numismatic Society I attend has an auction each month too, but we could only dream of having 70 members and 100 lots, we also meet in a pub, so beer on tap and no draughty church hall for us Sounds good. Do you hire a separate room, as it would be very noisy in the general bar area?

Yes, some of those topics do sound quite captivating. Moreover, having guest speakers is definitely a good thing. Of course, Manchester, being a big City, will have more members, and be able to attract notable speakers. I live in a medium sized town, and the available pool of interested parties will be that bit lower. Unfortunately.

You are right 1949, you do have to get through all the things you are "not" interested in, at a coin club meeting, before getting to something you are interested in. The thing that makes the coin club meeting for me, is the monthly auction. Our monthly coin club has anywhere from 70 to 95 collectors in attendance, and a 100-150 lot auction, each month. If they didn't have the auction, the attendance would be much smaller! A monthly auction would make attendance a must. A definite attraction

No clubs near me now, although there used to be one. Must have packed in due to lack of support. I'd probably join if there was a local one, although I'm not sure I'd really take to turning out at 7:30pm on the first Monday of every month, to sit in some draughty church hall, often to talk about the type of coins I'm not that interested in. Numismatics is a very wide hobby.

Coming second on that one with a bid of £1500 still makes me wonder why I didn't bid a bit higher. It seems very cheap with hindsight, but then the world was looking quite rosy at the time, prices for coins were edging up slowly, everyone was making money and there wasn't a financial crisis on the horizon. Go forward 5 or 6 years and the price of a 60/59 to the collector had doubled, whilst half the banking industry was spending its spare cash on changes of corporate underwear. Go forward another 5 or 6 years and the price has trebled from 2003, all paid for by government QE.It males you Wonder then at £4200 for the Spink coin plus the juice how much it will be listed for on the CC website £6,500 - it's in their hard copy October catalogue ! The coin also sold the same day the catalogue was emailed out. I'm not surprised. It's a superb piece.

The great thing about the 1860/59 penny, is that the overstrike is usually very obvious and easy to spot, whereas with other overstrikes, they're not. Anyway, nice work on your part.

Coming second on that one with a bid of £1500 still makes me wonder why I didn't bid a bit higher. It seems very cheap with hindsight, but then the world was looking quite rosy at the time, prices for coins were edging up slowly, everyone was making money and there wasn't a financial crisis on the horizon. Go forward 5 or 6 years and the price of a 60/59 to the collector had doubled, whilst half the banking industry was spending its spare cash on changes of corporate underwear. Go forward another 5 or 6 years and the price has trebled from 2003, all paid for by government QE.It males you Wonder then at £4200 for the Spink coin plus the juice how much it will be listed for on the CC website £6,500 - it's in their hard copy October catalogue !

On the coin without a doubt. Colour and appearance, absolutely consistent with the coin and not the slab.

I don't know whether Michael Freeman wrote any articles for Coin Monthly back in the 1970's, but if he did, they'd certainly make an interesting read now. A couple of years or so back, Rob sold me a few old coin monthly magazines from the late 1960's/early 70's. He might be an excellent source of information on the matter.

Often the way for child stars. Once they reach adulthood they are unable to diversify into other areas of acting. As you say though, he has issues anyway.

Absolutely stunning collection.

The differences between GEF and UNC are pretty small, yet the price difference for a specific coin type/date can be huge. For instance, I have seen a GEF with lustre 1895 farthing offered for £85, whilst a BUNC of the same year is offered at £275. Don't get me wrong, the BUNC is a lovely coin, whereas the GEF is much inferior in eye appeal, so the price differential is probably justified, but it does show how the slightest difference in grade at this level can make a huge difference in the price. Very true. However, I'd also add that even within technically "UNC", there are variants. For example, I have an 1874 F70 penny which would literally be BU, were it not for the fact that it is patchily toned, thus detracting somewhat. You can also get an UNC coin which is evenly toned all over, resulting in considerably subdued lustre. As far as the all important "eye appeal" goes, it is entirely possible to have a GEF looking more attractive than a technically UNC coin of the same ilk. With specific regard to the distinction between UNC and a/UNC, you'd really have to say that UNC is UNC, but a/UNC is better than GEF but not quite going the full 9 yards to UNC

Nor me - I assume it's unique!

Yeah, this "finest known" caper is actually just the finest known to CGS, not necessarily the finest known in actuality. I actually have one or two coins which are superior to their "finest known". In truth, CGS are misrepresenting the true facts by not adding a rider to their claim, making it clear that it's just their population they are referring to.

Never argue with an idiot, they'll just drag you down to their level and beat you on experience.

Just ordered a hard copy version. Looks great.

By all accounts, the 1864 in BU is the hardest bun - more so than the 1869 even. I've only seen three ~ that one, one in one of the collections on Colin Cooke's site (the Alderley, i think) plus one which sold for about £800 on Mark Rasmussen's site (must have been a few years ago)

That's a very good and concise summary, which well defines the collecting mindset.

Yes, and that's a pity. I'm 35 and I have yet to meet anyone of my own age who is interested in coin collecting. I do think that decimalisation had a lot to do with it. There really isn't that much collect worthy post 1971, and as you said, Colin, the Royal Mint churn out rip off material, which is contrived, rather than natural and unplanned in advance. Maybe Bob can tell us what the situation is like in the States, with regard to coin collecting and age distribution. I'm not even slightly knowledgeable about US coinage, but I imagine they have more circulating coins going back much further than ours do.