£400 for a Penny ?

The man is a complete twat.

I'm probably being remarkably obtuse, but I have no idea what you are talking about my man...

Erm, where am I supposed to be looking ? Sorry.....

Yeah, a decent numismatic library is as much an investment as the coins themselves. Provided Spink don't embark on a re-printing spree......

There was machine minting technology around at the time of Charles 1, as we know it mainly came from France, but I've never seen anything from that period to suggest they would have been capable of knocking something as complex as that up.

Should really expect to pay around £40 for a 1914 in tip top IME, so I'm not sure what happened there, but I guess it only takes two determined people with a bit of spare cash to create a bidding war. Has copper gone mad ? Certainly a lot of interest in the bronze series in the last few years. I think a lot of that may have to do with sky high prices elsewhere and a (possibly false) perception amongst a large and very healthy number of new entrants, that it still provides value at an accessible price. Some of the goings on with regard to minor varieties, dots and date widths etc, are unfathomable, to me at least.

I've come to the conclusion that I need one. Any recommendations/things to consider ?

I must get myself a Peck as soon as I can afford one. There are just two available on Amazon, both later editions than the original offered by argentum, and both more expensive. There's one in a little corner bookshop. The shopkeeper has no idea what it is and has marked it up for a fiver, although secretly he'd accept £3 for it. When I find it, I'll offer him £4.... I've managed Dalton & Hamer and Freeman, but so far Peck has eluded me, the rascal.....

I must get myself a Peck as soon as I can afford one. There are just two available on Amazon, both later editions than the original offered by argentum, and both more expensive. There's one in a little corner bookshop. The shopkeeper has no idea what it is and has marked it up for a fiver, although secretly he'd accept £3 for it. When I find it, I'll offer him £4.... I've managed Dalton & Hamer and Freeman, but so far Peck has eluded me, the rascal.....

Dunno. I have yet to find a copy of Peck in my wanderings - I will one day, but no joy yet. I pumped his name into google just now and guess who's website was the number 1 result ? http://www.argentumandcoins.co.uk/english-copper-tin-and-bronze-coins-in-the-british-museum-c-w-peck-1401-p.asp Must be doing something right...

Yes, that and the fact Germany never really 'lost' WWI in the conventional sense, we just managed to persuade them that they had. We tried to do the same to the Boers 15 years earlier - "right, we've captured Pretoria, that's it we've won, it's the end of the game. " They weren't having it though. Since we are now wildly off topic, might as well mention the Lusitania again, spent some time reading about it last night. It seems that in the 1950's, according to the local Irish fishermen, the Royal Navy spent two weeks blowing the bejesus out of the wreck with depth charges, prompting specualtion that they were trying to destroy evidence of something or other. What I guess we'll never find out, but one rumour that has grown legs, is that the Lusitania was carrying something it shouldn't have been under a neutral flag and that the high profile Americans on board were being used as a human shield. It is also alleged that the Germans knew about it and their embassy in New York posted an advert in the paper warning not to travel. Also interesting is that the wreck has been in American ownership since, it was bought for £1,000 in the early 60's.

Really, Churchill MP for Dundee ?? These non govermental pieces are a hobby in themselves, there are millions of them around the world, all celebrating something.

Personally, I like the Belgian medals, you can definitely see the influence of all those choclatier's they have, some of the designs are superb. If you've got some interesting medals, by all means show them - medals come under the heading of numismatics, this is a numismatic forum and posting one from the 3rd Reich does not mean you are advocating the holocaust. That's my opinion.

That's your and Derek's French piece... Sinking the Lusitania turned out to be a pretty stupid thing to have done with hindsight - it upset a lot of people around the world and indirectly led to the USA's entrance into WWI. But then you knew that.

Somehow, I don't think he'd get away with most of his work today. It's really strange how we've allowed ourselves to be bullied into political correctness over the last 20 years.

Gosh, there's some complex iconography there.

That's more or less where my head is at at the moment...

Carlton Palmer. GVF or NEF ?

I did ask that a few weeks ago. I had a contact from CCC re the first part and there is just a whiff, the merest hint that they might have their knickers in a twist over exactly who bid on what. I don't know for sure, we shall have to wait and see how the whole thing plays out. Re the part two though, to capture the mood of todays triumph in the Ryder cup, you would have thought that they would put their strongest offerings out first in the hope of generating interest. Again, we shall see.

Wrong shaped ball for me. I dunno if it's that odd, sponsors come from every walk of life. Club I played for's chief sponsor was a third team player's missus who ran a very successful wedding cake business. Divorce lawyer would have been more appropriate....

Steady - no need to be reckless.....

Goofbay.com has an ebay snipe prog for free Interesting. Who are these people and where's the catch ?

Boo...

My answer to that would be that in all likliehood, I will be disposing of them online somehow and I have already proven to my satisfaction, that you get more interest and bids if you have 3rd party attribution, both as to grade and authenticity. It may well be that the bidders are guilty of the crimes you outline, but if I get a higher price am I bothered ? There are over 13,000 UK coins in CGS slabs now and with everything else that is going on in the hobby allied to the long term storage benefits it makes sense to me. Also, I get a lot of fun in trying to get the best grades out of the bastards. I do agree that this 'finest known' business, the league tables etc is a nonsense, but that's not really anything to do with the decision to slab or not slab, it's a sideshow or depending on how cynical you are, a racket. I've got one and you wouldn't believe the value they've assigned to it. The point about not looking their best in a slab is also valid, but in my opinion, outweighed by the fact that I can look at it as often as I like without breathing all over it. People do silly things with slabs, like the man on ebay who has a load of silver proof Britannia's which cost around £65 from the mint, slabbed by PCGS for sale at £200 Resurrect it as often as you like sir, if you collect bronze it's pretty fundamental and I see you concur with my sentiments as to the protection afforded to lustrous bronze by a slab

Thing is Tom, as Bernie and James Workman have just demonstrated, the damn things cost so much these days, that however much one wants to just enjoy one's collection, there is no escaping the fact that the sums of money one has to invest require careful management. I don't feel the investment aspect of the hobby can be separated from the collection side, it is all part and parcel of the same thing. One of the lessons I have learned the hard way in life, is that before embarking on any enterprise, one has to have an exit strategy. In my eyes, for many different reasons, some of which have been discussed here, when the time comes to move my collection on, the landscape will be such that their value will be enhanced by being professionally attributed. In the meantime, I can be reasonably confident that I am storing them in the best way that I can to preserve condition, whilst still being able to take them out and enjoy them when I like. I would counter the argument that it encourages laziness by stating the opposite, it keeps me on my toes because if I get it wrong, I lose a tenner and my coins grade is now forever 'frozen' in time at an unsatisfactory level - until someone takes it out of course. There are some aspects of slabbing that don't appeal to me, such as this 'best known' nonsense, but overall I'm a major fan.