Peckris

Even so, I've yet to see one in my change. And I never ever found a 1951 penny in mine! But had NO difficulty at all getting one for my collection, from a dealer.

Ok, perhaps it's time to start a predecimal book. No, not the Peck variety, the Ladbrokes one. Now that Abramovich finally laid his greasy little oligarch mitts on the European Cup, what odds would you lay on Di Matteo still being Chelsea manager next season?

I don't know whether it's my imagination or not, but to me, stylus on vinyl sounds better than a CD, or downloaded track played through a PC. Deeper richer & more lifelike tones My collection pieces other than coins, are decorative plates. They're plastered on every wall all over the house. It's only a small house, so I'm running out of room. Not your imagination - I have a subscription to MOJO and each month their featured interview asks "L.P., CD, or MP3?" - nine times out of ten the answer is LP. The most hated format is CD by a nose. The vinyl must be played through valves rather than hissing transistors. Obsessive!! As a child of the 60s, when hissing transistors became all the rage, I can assure you that vinyl still spanks its rivals I'm with you here regarding records. I built up a collection of about 200 vinyl LPs, eventually found that the stereo I had was on it's last legs and bought a new system. Didn't bother with a record deck and so I'm left with a pile of LPs. All in pretty good nick as I wasn't careless with them when they were bought and I'm amazed at the going prices for some of them. For example I have some early stones stuff, like 'Between the Buttons' and 'Aftermath' and these can go for around the £60 each mark. Ditto The Beatles and some of the other early rock material like the Who. There's a vinyl record specialist shop next to where my other half works part time, and they have some really interesting old and new material, and they have a phenomenal knowldge base. As for other other interests, I have a Volvo P1800, but that's just a labour of love, not part of a collection. My other main interest is a Yamaha Motif XS synthsiser, which I have learned to use and have produced several songs on. Eventually, I want to get enough material together to produce a full blown album - top of the charts here I come. My stuff is my own style and as a result, and in keeping with my personal vintage, I call it the 'mature retro' genre! There's something about modern styles, using an older person's themes and Stratocasters that works for me. I have My Generation, the original Brunswick release, which was a chart album. I was utterly gobsmacked to see that the latest Record Collector price for it (in mint) is £400 !! Religion is the cancer in society, continuing to foster warfare and a host of other ills under a feeble veneer of legitimacy. When will we all wake up to reality? Most of us have which is why we tend to be tolerant and indifferent to religion on the whole. The big problem with all religions is they will never acknowledge that another one has a good idea. Everything is black and white, for us or against us. It is the root cause of immigrant minorities failing to integrate and often the fundamental reason behind racial tension. Although not the full story, when a religion forbids you to inter-marry without the outsider adopting the other's religion, you have just ensured another generation of resentment by outsiders and another course of brickwork added to the wall. There are people who bridge the divide, but they tend to be in the minority and are frequently helped by a degree of affluence. Well, quite. Except for Quakers. Oh, and Buddhists. And Menonites, the Ba'hai, Sikhs, many branches of Hinduism, Taoism, Unitarians, Jains, Sufis, ... um, shall I go on?

Making it considerably more common than the 1951 penny, that well-known "rarity"!

Lockdales being a smaller and more provincial operation, they're a better bet than London Coins, that's for sure.

I don't know whether it's my imagination or not, but to me, stylus on vinyl sounds better than a CD, or downloaded track played through a PC. Deeper richer & more lifelike tones My collection pieces other than coins, are decorative plates. They're plastered on every wall all over the house. It's only a small house, so I'm running out of room. Not your imagination - I have a subscription to MOJO and each month their featured interview asks "L.P., CD, or MP3?" - nine times out of ten the answer is LP. The most hated format is CD by a nose.

Aka porn?

Yes - Peck, though awesome, wouldn't have kick started the bun penny craze on his own.

I find it incredibly annoying too. The link is Stephen Lockett of course, but he may not be responsible for the website layout(s).

My record collection became a collection simply through inertia - they were bought as records, but I suddenly found circa 1989 that people collected vinyl, so I've hung onto them ever since!

Interesting that their letter to you states "breakdown of machinery" while the actual Report states "fully occupied with gold and silver [issues]". I wonder where the modern Mint gets its information about "breakdown" from? I'd hazard a guess from the 1875 report. The text says that the 1876 coins were contracted out because the equipment was fully occupied striking silver and gold. The number of presses at the Tower mint would have to be investigated, but is likely to have been a minimum of half a dozen, so if a couple of them were unavailable, then sub-contracting the copper would be the logical option security-wise. Also, the Heaton mint was regularly striking coins on the same size blanks, so familiarity with the product wasn't an issue. There were a lot of halfcrowns and shillings coming off the press in 1874 onwards. How long this upsurge in demand lasted I don't know because I don't have the records, but thinking about it, the equipment probably broke down due to the excesses of the previous two years because there was no time for maintenance and a lot of coins produced. That makes logical sense. I wonder where the 1875 100 tons comes from - the penny is rare so must we assume it is mostly made up from halfpennies and farthings? I know Heaton's farthing issue for 1875 was pretty sizeable

To those who are interested (a small minority, I'm guessing), it's probably worth a lot more than that. It is said to be a very scarce variety.

I don't think the reverse IS bronze. What I'm seeing is a coating peeling off at the point you mention. The coating (whatever it is) would also account for the blurred look of the reverse design.

Relax. Forgeries of 1905 coins have been occurring for donkeys yonks. Don't confuse them with the Chinese factories, well not all of them . Hmmmmm never seen a Penny forged yet then Halfcrowns and shillings, you muppet. Do I have to spell everything out?

Even to this hammered non-fan, that's a little beauty. I must say I was surprised that RR is still around. How old is he now? His 1990s price lists were full of very top quality, very expensive, coins. Clearly they still are.

Interesting that their letter to you states "breakdown of machinery" while the actual Report states "fully occupied with gold and silver [issues]". I wonder where the modern Mint gets its information about "breakdown" from?

Bargain!

Either the long arm of coincidence is at work here, or our scott has got himself another account here! The coincidence is deepened by both of you being highly interested in 1992 10p varieties. Hmmmm.

BRITT OMN was only ever used on UK coinage, not Imperial, also colonies normally used a crowned effigy of George V I think obverse is from a (1928-36) penny Agreed. And the reverse looks like a battered (to fit) genuine florin reverse that's been coated in some ugly finish to simulate bronze - you can see the coating peeling and the underlying silver at one rim point.

Relax. Forgeries of 1905 coins have been occurring for donkeys yonks. Don't confuse them with the Chinese factories, well not all of them .

Actually, if our government called in the banks' debt, it would be meltdown.

Welcome to the forums Crack (Your links don't work for me, by the way). I would regard bullion as totally separate from numismatics. If you want to go down that route, fine, but this is a good place to find out about coins. You're right to want to learn first, as plunging in with little knowledge is not a good idea! As for books, there are many out there, but a good place to start is two of the above titles - "Collectors Coins GB" (3rd from the left) and "Grading British Coins" (on the left). You also should look around what you want to collect, the choice is enormouys and there's no need to specialise right away. Steer clear of buying on eBay until you know much more about the subject. Find yourself a good dealer, or attend one of the regular fairs the biggest being in London, Birmingham, and York. Have a good look at these forums, as there are many pictures and discussions that will help you learn about coins. Once you've decided what you'd like to start collecting, ask here and you will get lots of advice! The best advice for beginners is this : it's better to buy a small number of good quality items, than a vast number of low quality. Or to put it another way - buy the best you can afford.

It may be that if you empty your cache, it will no longer show up to you? Just emptied the cache (Google Chrome), and now the pic doesn't show in either place!!! Have now uploaded new images, it was easier! Now I see ya!

I wasn't talking about this country's politics, or what the Labour Party stands for, or even the 'capitalist system'. I'm talking about the international fantasy that is the banking system, based on nothing that's real, nothing that's produced by real people, just a conspiracy to dream up new ways to make money (mostly on paper) without let or hindrance, or answerable to a single bloody politician anywhere. OTM. Your money. My money. I have to say, I pretty much agree with both of you. And no, that's not a contradiction. Add in my extreme dislike of our slide towards a Big Brother state and that about covers everything! P.s. careful with the 'OTM' reference though Peckris. Remember, "The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money" Yeah, maybe. But OTM was an acronym dreamed up on the Stock Exchange trading floor, not over beer and sandwiches.

Polished to buggery and a private listing (AND WE ALL KNOW HOW THEY GET SHILLED UPON) to boot! Maximus Scrotumus Cranius will undoubtedly outbid I LIKUS THE SHINUS in the final seconds. Shame about the polishing - those are two high grade lovelies.. or would have been.