1949threepence

....and a slight reverse edge knock at about 8:30, but a super looking coin, with really nice toning. Nice acquisition. Woo hoo - good to see you again 1949! Long time no see... Cheers Peck ~ good to be back after what has been an intensely busy time work wise. Hope you are keeping OK

I think he was deliberately playing the village idiot at his tax trial. But he was never going to be picked as England manager after that anyway.

aka Chav Central

Don't sell your best pieces. In years to come, you'll have two lots of satisfaction for the unsold coins. The one about the coin's actual history, and the nostalgia of the time you actually obtained it. I've still got some coins assembled at the time I first became interested in coins back in 1990, when I was 12, and before you were even born !!! Even though they're pretty much worthless compared to the stuff I've bought since, there's no way I'd ever get rid of them.

....and a slight reverse edge knock at about 8:30, but a super looking coin, with really nice toning. Nice acquisition.

You could easily have got much more than £400 for that one, Dave. Didn't realise that was you when I saw the seller, as I thought you were in Germany. A lustrous one went for £900 at London Auctions in September 2010. r one, as it was running well ahead on "bids" even before yours had sold, despite the fact that yours is a demonstrably superior grade, with lustre. Yep, something wrong there. It's patently obvious. Your coin shows up the problem in stark relief. I'm amazed they didn't pull the other one immediately, and wait. I started a small shop Mike with my buddy, it seemed more logical for me to send the coins to him other than from Germany as i believe that buyers when they see where a coin comes from they tend not to bid or buy as well as if it were in the UK So now i send all the coins to him, i do the listings etc and he ships the coins out, usually within 24hrs of payment.........I ask for paymnet within 3 days, keeps things turning over quicker, so i hope this buyer does also or else i relist. Nice one I've reported that coin as well, Dave, under the relevant category. Just a pity they don't let you leave any free text. You were right all along, and this has convinced me.

You could easily have got much more than £400 for that one, Dave. Didn't realise that was you when I saw the seller, as I thought you were in Germany. A lustrous one went for £900 at London Auctions in September 2010. The other one was running well ahead on "bids" even before yours had sold, despite the fact that yours is a demonstrably superior grade, with lustre. Yep, something wrong there. It's patently obvious. Your coin shows up the problem in stark relief. I'm amazed they didn't pull the other one immediately, and wait.

Given the huge number of varieities, plus the potential for new varieties to be discovered, I'd say it was pretty much impossible to obtain a generic storage facility which already had every known variety marked on it. You'd surely be best buying a cabinet and defining the limits of your own bun penny collection, much as I have done. With unmarked tray recesses, you can at least alter those definitions over time, if you wish. I've concentrated on obtaining the well known types in high grade wherever possible. I agree with those who have said, don't tell 'em. The government have shafted us enough already.

My opinion is that as long as the USA keeps the cent, we should keep the penny. Although I think we could easily getaway without minting any for a good few years. So not dissimilar to your opinion, but keeping the door open for further issues in the future, potentially at least. I don't like the idea of the 1 & 2p's being demonetised.

Utter crap ~ you're talking about a country that not only started the worst war in history, but also suffered extreme hyperinflation back in 1923. I wouldn't have any confidence in them to run anything which was in any way related to our national interests. I suspect that the only interests they ultimately have, are their own.

The problem is that the EU in its present form has strayed way too far from its original Common Market principles. That was a trade association only with no impingement on national sovereignty. It's now become huge and unwieldy. Too many members, many of the recent inductees not of the right calibre, and a single currency which has not been a success. We joined in 1973, and the referendum campaign in 1975 did not, to the best of my knowledge, include any mention of how the (then) Common Market might develop into an all powerful meddling bureaucracy, many years down the line. Had it done so, I doubt there would have been a majority in favour of stopping in. Since the financial crash of 2008, the EU has been like a car crash in slow motion, and we may be seeing a slow disintegration of its constituent parts. Without the central players of France and Germany, I think this would already have happened. David Cameron was left with no alternative but to not sign the recent agreement, if he wanted to preserve our independence. Moroever, I hope he will listen to the increasingly clarion calls for a further referendum on our continued membership.

There's one I'm thinking of buying. It is rare but has several deepish obverse digs across the portrait. Otherwise VF. Don't like the digs, but overall I prefer them over the cleaned one of the same year I currently possess. Won't post a link as the seller is on this forum, and I don't have his permission to do so. Be different once I've bought, if I decide to do so.

Frugal Victorians Peter. You also have to remember that they were striking for currency users not us poor coin collectors. Basically, if it hadn't flown to bits it was still serviceable. How many Victorian (and earlier) coins have you seen with great die cracks running across them. Its days were numbered but if it could still produce a few more coins then they just kept banging away. Nowadays labour represents a high percentage of a manufacturers cost but then it was cheap, so better to pay someone a pittance to recut a die rather than throw it away and start on a new one. There seem to be many more die cracks prior to the mid 1870's ~ or is that my imagination ? (certainly as far as pennies are concerned)

OK, thanks Gents. Doesn't hit you in the eye.

Anyone see anything interesting ? link here

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I can see, it doesn't have a Freeman number, not, at any rate in the 1985 edition. On page 51, all he says is:- "Some specimens of 1897 with reverse B are found with a small circular dot between the 'O' and 'N' of 'ONE'. This feature occura as a result of damage to the die - a specimen showing only a small crack on this area has been found. It's beyond me why anybody would pay over £1200 for a die error.

It's one thing spotting a mis-attribution. It's quite another getting it rectified after pointing it out. As with other areas of life, people seem unwilling to take it on board when their errors are pointed out, even if supported by hard evidence.

If you want to read about curved R's on shillings, look no further than the part of Michael Gouby's site shown here

There is an interesting piece on shillings here Gives a good indication of what is scarce and what to look for. I did read somewhere that the first year in which silver coins were debased from 92% silver to 50% silver ~ 1920, also saw a large number being mixed with melted down world war 1 spent shell cartridges, so that "silver" coins from that year appear a slightly darker colour than normal due specifically to that. Obviously many of the Edward VII shillings are scarce, but with George V, there are a scattering of semi scarce dates, but no real rarities. Interestingly, it is quite difficult to get hold of a truly UNC 1924, even though the mintage, at just over 9 milliion, is not that low. I did eventually manage to get one, but I faced a lot of competition for it, and I've not seen any that good since. You are right to be wary of fake or tooled 1905 shillings, Debbie. There are a lot about. I'd never buy one from e bay. Oh, and never buy anything from China either. Anything from there comes with a strict health warning !!!

The link article is less than useless. It gives the equivalent of a US AU50 as a UK XF/UNC and a US MS60 as a UK UNC. I've never seen an MS60 that even approached unc, and as for AU50, well........ As far as the descriptions of the three slabbed coins I've bought from the US are concerned, including the 1888 above, the descriptions were spot on. It's a bit incongruous to try and compare it to our grading system, as you are in no way comparing like with like. I thought it was already commonly accepted that their grading was more generous than ours. Yes it is amongst those with experience, but the purpose of any info is expand the knowledge of the ignorant. By definition, they will not know that there are different standards. Mint state from two countries would mean the same thing to someone who is a novice and that is why we have to keep reiterating the point. Well, yes, but obviously, if someone has a slabbed coin with MS70 on it, they will need a Sheldon score interpretation as a starting reference point. To that extent, it is useful.

Strangely enough i'd say they were a little light with the grade on that, but it was'nt in my hand when it was graded, but it does look good Hmm. Might have to dissent from this viewpoint. Spotty on both sides and a rather heavy bagmark below the ties. I thought both those features would count against a coin when you have it slabbed. The strike looks ok. It would be interesting to see the coin in 10 years time. I suspect the spots might have grown a bit. I wonder what they looked like in 2001

The link article is less than useless. It gives the equivalent of a US AU50 as a UK XF/UNC and a US MS60 as a UK UNC. I've never seen an MS60 that even approached unc, and as for AU50, well........ As far as the descriptions of the three slabbed coins I've bought from the US are concerned, including the 1888 above, the descriptions were spot on. It's a bit incongruous to try and compare it to our grading system, as you are in no way comparing like with like. I thought it was already commonly accepted that their grading was more generous than ours.

Another nice link to the Sheldon grading system can be seen here For reference, the above is a coin slabbed by the NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Corporation) as MS65

Simple ~ use the link symbol, which is next to the smiley face in the post tool bar, and when you have inserted your link in the top line, add you own text, as you would like the link wording to appear, in the box below, which defaults to "my link" when nothing else is written in there. So for your link above, you might have:- George V shilling

Actually that obverse is not at all bad. I'd certainly run with EF for both sides, but what I notice about that one, is the decent hair detail on the King's head. I've got a complete date run of mostly UNC shillings from 1902 to 1936, but my 1915, although BU, has very poor hair detail, in common with many from that year and 1916, in particular ~ probably due to the fact that during the years of the first world war, minting processes were probably not up to the same standards as usual, maybe finances were stretched, and thus, worn out dies were used.