choolie

It has occurred to me that coininvest direct who sell coins as bullion in germany might have a few interesting finds in their bags. But surely those jokers wouldn;'t miss a trick?

You won't have any problems with this very website! I am also mostly abroad (in Germany) but the exchange rate has no effect on coins because the vast majority I source from the UK. I buy them in GBP and sell them in GBP. Postage is also in some cases cheaper when I send things from here compared to within the UK. It's usually very quick and higher value items can also be properly insured. Yes thats good but you need to put some more coins up for sale there seems to be a bit of a shortage? do you get new ones very often?

Those are very nice photographs, what equipment do you use to to get the pictures scot?

Thanks again. I have now come to the conclusion that this very website seems a good place to buy coins online with accurate grading and appropriate prices. There is also the link to online coins, presumably these dealers are also reliable? Does anybody use them? I notice a lot of them seem to operate from abroad, you would think that they would not be the best place to buy with the weak £. But they seem cheaper than the English Dealers. Also does anyone know if there is a specific day when either of the websites mentioned update with new coins or do you just have to keep checking?

Thanks again I appreciate all the input. That coin I bought was initially on display at £56 so you are spot on. I have another issue, I had bought a couple of coins of John welsh who advertises in coin news. Having thoroughly checked his prices seemed the most reasonable. Has anyone dealt with him? is he an accurate grader? I have become a little worried since I came accross this: at http://www.goldsovereigns.co.uk/1821sovereign.html "Differential Grading As you can see, the 1821 sovereign we show in our photographs is a very nice coin. Even though we are professional dealers and not collectors, we get a tremendous amount of pleasure when we get to see, handle, own, buy and sell particularly attractive coins. It's sometimes called job satisfaction. There's also another bonus, we get to take photographs of these coins, and add the photographs to our collection; that way, even when we have sold the coins, we still get to keep the pictures! The third photo is of the coin in the holder which its recent owner made for it, and shows brief notes about the coin. These are quite revealing. They include: Grade; Gem BU . FDC by J. Welsh, Jan 1991. We assume the grader has followed normal convention by showing the obverse grade followed by the reverse grade. We have graded the coin as "About Uncirculated". The obverse has a few scuffs and bagmarks, which are all quite normal and acceptable. Circulation coins, which the Americans would call a "business strike", and handled in bulk at the Mint, and at banks, before they get seen by any potential collector or dealer. There is a noticeable scratch on the neck, and a few small edge knocks. There is also some purplish toning. The high points of the design have all got slight polishing or wear, so if we were being ultra strict, we might have to grade the obverse as only EF (Extremely Fine). To grade this as Uncirculated is therefore an exaggeration, to call it Gem BU is even more of one, firstly because "Gem" suggests "better than", whereas it is in reality "not quite", and the "B" stands for Brilliant (or Bright), whereas the coin is actually toned, which in itself is quite unusual for a gold coin such as a sovereign, and being composed of high carat (22) gold. We graded the reverse at the same grade as the obverse. John Welsh's grading states it to be FDC, which we understand to mean absolutely perfect, making this even more of an exaggeration than his obverse grading."

If you went to a coin fair, surely most of the dealers were selling at or below catalogue? The other thing to bear in mind is, catalogues are not bibles! Any coin is worth precisely what someone is prepared to pay for it, whatever the book says. Some coins dealers couldn't shift at book in a thousand years, others will be snapped up as soon as they appear, often at over book. It's only a rough rule of thumb. And one that, even so, very quickly goes out of date. Well to be fair to the fair I did get there about an hour before it was due to end so I probably missed some of the best bargains. I also did not feel comfortable enough to check everyones prices against the book in front of them. The one coin I did buy I was very happy with, for £48 a VF 1758 shilling is listed in spink as £45 so that is not bad.

Thanks for all your input, I am grateful for that. But after going to the coin fair on saturday, I would still like to learn of a dealer who sells at the catalogue prices. Any Ideas anyone?

What about gold? I got into coins from dabbling with investing in gold. Coins have a value independent of the bullion value, but the bullion value cannot be ignored. Take for example the 500th anniversary sovereign which is listed in spink as costing £1100 surely it didn't cost that much when it was issued? They currently have a set of gold 50p's costing £8000 which they have only produced 125 would that hold on to its value?

If you're a new collector, forget about tracking down bargains (unless you happen to find them in the course of your searches, but remember that what may seem like a bargain to a newbie may in fact be a dodgy item). The best places to buy to begin with are : • established dealers, especially ones who are members of a professional trade organisation; befriend one and buy from them and you will learn a lot about coins in return - you sound like you've made a beginning with one already • from coin fairs - but again, seek out the established dealers, though they will have less time to offer you (but prices are often lower at fairs) • attend an auction or two, without buying anything until you are a lot more knowledgeable - using your reference books and actually handling coins and talking to dealers are the best ways to get experience • avoid eBay for now unless you are very sure of yourself or you have very good advice, for two very good reasons : (1) there is so much very very ordinary material (aka rubbish) there, most of which should be left well alone, and (2) the better item often goes for way over book price (as you've noticed) being bought by collectors with more enthusiasm than commonsense; dealers avoid eBay like the plague Biggest tip? Become good at grading coins. That Rotographic guide will help immensely. Good luck, and remember you can get a lot of help and advice here. We will even advise on eBay lots, as long as you post the url to them in these forums. Thanks very much I will be going to the linda monk fair in january and see how it goes.