1949threepence

I know Steeple Bumpstead. It's a village near Braintree. Chipping Sodbury is in Wiltshire, I think (or Gloucestershire) ~ one of the two.

Just as a matter of interest, why do you blame e bay for the lack of bargains ? Some excellent points in all the posts above above, and I'm not going to argue with any of them. I think there is merit in all our arguments, for different reasons, and maybe covering different types/eras of collections. One thing is certain: the top grade is outing everything at the moment. This was illustrated tonight when a group of high grade buns were auctioned on e bay by buckscoins. An 1878 described as EF, but good looking and with lustre, went for just £86, a much less scarce 1879, described as AU went for £90, and an UNC 1894 went for £200.

I suppose the bottom end of the market will mainly be kids who are just starting out on the hobby and collecting gap fillers along with the occasional slightly better coin. The top end of the market is for those with money, or those who have a little less money available, but are prepared to save up for the odd quality piece to painstakingly (eventually) assemble a half decent collection ~ I place myself in this letter bracket, and have a second part time job to fund this. The middle of the market ~ the collectors of mainly mid grade coins ~ well I'm not sure who they are, or what category they fall into. Presumably keen collectors who just don't have the bucks to spend big, but nonetheless want to assemble a collection. There will surely always be folk in this slot, but at a time of severe economic crisis, when money becomes very tight, then other commitments will take over to swallow up all their remaining income. Maybe the wage freeze is partially responsible for the middle sector bombing.

Now withdrawn from sale. I'd take this to be a mistake as the seller is usually a good reliable one.

Well, as others have hinted, they mostly look like that, including mine.

Thing is, whoever is ultimately responsible for all this spam, really can't have a lot of intelligence. As a form of advertising it is 100% useless. The only effect it has on nearly all sites, is to irritate both the owners and users, who, by definition, will have absolutely no interest whatsoever in what s being offered ~ and even that pre-supposes they can understand the garbage that forms the advert. There must be a tiny % of idiots who respond to whatever it is. And maybe the profits wrung from that moronity make it all worth it? Moronity would indeed be the collective noun to describe anyone willing to send money to Russia/Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan/Turkmenistan, or wherever this cyber rubbish emanates, on the vague hope that the junk they were ordering might actually turn up. Almost like sending £1000 to certain gentlemen in Nigeria, on the promise of £1,000,000 being paid back to you as a winner. One I received actually referred to their "London Office" and gave an address. When I google Earthed, it turned out to be a disused petrol station in Hendon !!!

Thing is, whoever is ultimately responsible for all this spam, really can't have a lot of intelligence. As a form of advertising it is 100% useless. The only effect it has on nearly all sites, is to irritate both the owners and users, who, by definition, will have absolutely no interest whatsoever in what s being offered ~ and even that pre-supposes they can understand the garbage that forms the advert.

Some forums admin vet every new applicant member before they can post ~ and that is for this very reason: spam posts. Maybe consideration should be given for a similar approach here ?

Oh that's easy. There's one on the moon - it was taken there in the B52 bomber that's also up there. Probably another one at the end of the rainbow, Peck It's keeping that BU 1926ME you were looking for, company........

Well there will always be exceptions here and there, and you were lucky, Dave. I also did say they existed in private collections. If you'd now like to point me in the right direction of where to look for an UNC 1864 crosslet 4, I'm listening

Well, there's an abundance of low and middle grade stock. It's the high end material which is becoming very difficult to locate, and when it actually is, one must often be prepared to dig very, very deep in order to obtain such decent items. Undoubtedly prices for quality coins has risen very sharply this year. I can speak from first hand experience here, as I have gradually been assembling my bun penny collection. The intention was always to buy high grade material, and I set myself what I now realise was the absurd objective of obtaining every example in at least EF, up to and including (eventually), the much vaunted 1869. However, even since I started the bun collection in early 2010, I have noticed the high grade coins increasingly fetching far more than one might have hoped for (as a buyer) at auction, and dealers quoting higher asking prices for each one. Moreover, at the risk of becoming a crashing bore on the matter, I will again re-iterate that it is virtually impossible to even locate for sale some high grades within this bun penny sphere. As a consequence, actually buying them ~ even at a grossly inflated price ~ is out of the question since they are just not available. I would cite both types of 1864, the 1875H, as well as the 1877 and 1879 narrow date. Such high grade examples do exist, but they are hidden away in private collections, and unlikely to be put back on the market in a hurry. Oddly enough, the rare 1860 beaded border, and the 1869, are not impossible to locate and buy in top grade. As far as the remainder of your question is concerned, I would say that there most definitely is a solid future for numismatics, both for genuine collectors and investors. But I fear that we could see a two tier economy developing in this respect. Genuine, but not massively wealthy collectors/dealers hitting a glass ceiling when it comes to obtaining certain high end rarities, either because they are totally out of reach financially, or just not available, and wealthy speculators who are buying somewhat indiscriminately, in order to boost their precious metal holdings. Incidentally, I hold most UK collectors and dealers close together in terms of overall motivation when it comes to coins, and this includes internet dealers. Many dealers are themselves collectors who hold a genuine interest in the hobby, as well as being a vast resource of technical knowledge on the subject. When the US starts taking a serious interest in our holdings, we may see a rise in prices whch makes today's increases look like chicken feed in comparison. If you are a genuine collector for the long term, then now NOW, is the time to feverishly enrich your collection, ahead of a potential gold rush from across the pond. I hope I'm wrong.

LOL To be perfectly honest the whole thing irritated the hell out of me years ago. Why, oh, why did we not go the whole hog and properly adopt the metric system instead of retaining mph, pints of milk and beer (isn't a litre of beer better than a pint? Of course it is!) I used to ask. But now I'm older I kinda like the eccentricity of a system based on 12s and body part lengths. I actually do wonder if it didn't keep us all more mentally agile having to work in feet and pints and ounces. And most certainly, as I watch for the billionth (US) time the checkout assistant looking to see how much change the machine says I need, I think we've gotten used to not having to use our brains. Whether £SD would make a difference I'm not sure. (LSD might!) Maybe there's a good case for cashing in on our british eccentricity and reverting to a monetary system nobody else uses? Then when the EU says "You vill be oving us der twohunnert million Pfunds" we can reply "so, that's ... (licks end of pencil and scrawls on back of ciggy pack) .. 400 Guineas, fifteen groats! No problem Guv, the cheque's in the post, or if you're willing to forget the groats you can have cash?" I'm with you all the way on the ability of checkout assistants and change. When I were a lad, back in the 60s and working for J Lyons, I often worked the till at the end of the long self-service counter. One hot august bank holiday monday, I was doing the lunchtime shift, when horror of horrors, we lost mains power. I've got a queue a mile long anyway, and now I've got to add up every tray in my head in LSD. So that's a steak and kidney pie at 3/11, a portion of chips at 9d, peas at 7p a cup of tea at 3/1/2, a piece of bread at 3d and butter at 2d, and then work out the change. And that's just one tray. The real problems came with the customer who suddenly said, 'put all three trays together'. Worked wonders for my mental arithmatic!! Such mental digital gymnastics, would certainly keep you on your toes, Dave

Ah well..........fantasy meets reality. Even so, I'd bet that with probably nearly 500 pennies, say, one could glean some pretty good ~ and scarce ~ stuff. Me too ~ a truly mouth watering prospect

I'm not sure? One's a striking error, the other is a design error. In my eyes, the two things are worlds apart (from a personal 'desirability' point of view). Possibly ~ that one could be up for debate. I'm honestly not sure.

Or a £5 bank bag of mixed bronze that has been sitting in the back of a safe since the mid 1880s would suit me, hours if sorting! That would be one of those amazing once in a lifetime, never to be repeated moments, that rarely happen

I'm going to go out on a rather eccentric limb here, and say that I actually prefer the imperial system of weights and measures, to the metric one. It's more traditional....oh, and talking of tradition, there are a greater number of degrees on the Fahrenheit scale as well, making it more detailed, than a Celsius with a decimal point on the end. Call me a flat Earther if you like

That's not far off a 50% handling fee The phrase "Jesus wept" springs readily to mind. No offence to the religious.

Always very interesting to see these error coins. Ironically enough they'd be worth more, if a larger batch had been produced. Like the 2008 20p's with no date.

Not BU, but about uncirculated !!! Nice penny Michael, is it yours? Crikey, I wish David. No it's an image from Tony Clayton's website.

Not BU, but about uncirculated !!!

One of these in the condition shown:- A distant dream, but a delightful one

I wish I couold help you, but I know absolutely nothing about hammered coins. Hopefully someone else on here can, although I note it's a few days now, since you posted.

Yes, if you found a business strike circulation £1 coin dated 1985 in decent nick, it would be well worth keeping. Same applies to 1986 and 1988 too, IMO.

A few years ago I went to buy some vinyl flooring for the bathroom; the rolls were 2 metre wide, but the carpet shop sold lengths by the yard! Crazy system, our kids are taught metric at school, but the real world exists in imperial The French ditched £sd (Livres, sols, et deniers) in 1800 and introduced the standard metre and kilogram The whole world (except ouselves and the Americans) uses metric in everyday life, and all science and engineering is now in SI units (no more Horse Power or Foot Poundals) So why do we insist on buying boiled ham in ounces? It is a crazy system, David, as we are neither one thing nor the other. At least the continentals and the Americans are unashamedly either metric or imperial. But I'll still stick to buying a quarter of ham at the deli If you are numerate, it doesn't matter which system(s) you use. The wonderfully convenient calculator was the downfall of mental arithmetic. If I play darts I use chalk to mark, but frequently seem to be in a minority of one or two. The majority can't do basic sums, but can prod a keypad - sounds familiar? If people use a machine to calculate even basic sums, then metric is the only way. Standardising is extremely useful as it helps to prevent cock-ups such as the Mars lander where a combination of imperial and metric units caused it to hit the surface at three times the intended speed. What I find truly disquieting, Rob, is that the current crop of say, under 23's, even have difficulty performing simple sums with a calculator. Percentages, ratios, division are often beyond them, and one even wondered why there was a tick on one of calculator keys ~ I kid you not. I hadn't the heart to try and explain how square roots work. They may be brilliant at social networking, but are predominantly woeful when it comes to figure work. Although because I've always liked maths, maybe I'm being a tad judgemental. I don't know.

Crikey, that really is generous What a charming picture she paints, Peter Excellent post. You are right about plastic coffins. Indeed, the very word "slabbed" conjures up the inevitable image of the "mortuary slab" What does worry me is that if the Americans seriously do muscle into our market, the price of some of our coins, will go through the roof in a way not yet envisaged.