RobJ

York isn't that far North £400! lol If your nose bled by the time you reached York, I dread to think the state that you would be in by the time that you reached Newcastle.

Touché £400.

I have to agree with you here. Something, be it a coin, a book, a vase or whatever it may be is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Some people will gladly hand over their money and be very happy with their purchase, where as others will simply walk away knowing that they can purchase similar or better at a reduced price elsewhere. I would also say that no price is ever set in stone, as there is usually some room for negotiation possible. I always ask if it is their 'Best Price?' If it is then OK, I will make my decision on that price. If I'm offered a Discount, then even better. I really do not think that it hurts to ask. Something that I have learnt in my short time collecting coins. Know what it is that you want, know the idea of Grade that you would like, find the prices that it is being offered for and then take it from there. Never go in blind! You may get lucky and end up with a bargain, but you will more than likely lose out more times than not.

I remember when I was a young boy in the late 70's doing the Shopping with my Mother. We went to the Butcher, The GreenGrocer, The Baker and the Grocery Shop. I much prefered that personally to the 'Everything Under One Roof' Supermarket mentality.of today. I understand that it is convenient but it has sadly all but wiped out the smaller family run and self owned businesses, and I personally think that is sad.

I have just taken a look on Coin Craft's Website, and in fairness, they do have some very nice coins for sale. It is just to me that they seem to be rather expensive, at least compared to other Dealers, and even expensive compared to 'Spink' which as we know is more of a 'Guide' than prices set in stone.

Here is the Scan of the 2009 2p Coin with the 'Faded 9.' It doesn't show up very well on the Scan and is a lot more prominent on the coin itself and is nowhere near as well 'Struck' as the other Lettering or Numbers on the coin.

Thanks for the information Chaps. You are starting to sound lke one of those Spam Bots £400. lol

Indeed. I have personally found all three of those books invaluable thus far.

I have never dealt with CoinCraft personally, I had only heard things. Some things good and some things not so good. Although there was an issue of 'The Pheonix' included with 'Coin News' just before Christmas and from what I saw, it didn't personally inspire me to want to purchase anything from them. I have also heard that their Catalogue is supposed to be very good. Perhaps they may update and publish a new one? If not, I might keep an eye out for a previous edition.

When I was looking through my change earlier, I noticed that I had a 2009 2p Coin where the '9' wasn't as 'Struck Up' as well as the other numbers. It looked almost faded in comparison to the other numbers, and indeed the rest of the coin. I will try and upload a image when I get a chance.

Thanks for the Links Gary. Most interesting viewing indeed.

That would depend on which Version of Excel that you are running. For Excel 2007 - You would find that under: Excel Options> Save (Under Save Workbooks.) For Excel 2003 - You would find that under: Tools> Options> Save. I have enclosed a couple of Images so you know what to look at. (Ignore the red circle and red arrow. lol)

The picture is in this thread.

Another plausible theory there Gary as the state of Quality Control at the Royal Mint. lol

That is an interesting coin Marc. A very good find.

As other Forum Members have already stated, it really does depend on what types of coins that you intend to collect which will in part determine which are the best books for you personally. When I started to collect coins quite recently, the three books that I purchased were 'Spink' CCGB and Red's book on Grading British Coins. Spink is a good broad ranging reference title and and a novice, although somewhat confusing to start with, I do find it most helpful. Also a lot of Dealers and Auction Houses reference their coins for sale according to.'Spink's' numbers. So even if you do not purchase the latest edition, it is well worth trying to obtain an older edition as all but the most up to date pricing will be there. CCGB is a very handy book to have. It has lots of pictures and information. Also as it is quite inexpensive, it is a book that you could purchase each year as opposed to every few years with some of the other books due to their price. Red's book on Grading British Coins is a superb book. It will certainly steer you in the right direction and help you start to build up the knowledge of Grading coins that will last you a lifetime. It has lots of information and is very easy to pick up and read. I do think that it is an essential purchase for anyone interested in collecting coins. I hope that helps.

Keeping your coins that you have obtained from Circulation in 2x2 'Flips' is a good idea. As you say, it is an easy and cheap storage method, and they shouldn't come to any harm in them. You can also buy Holders for the 'Flips' so that you can store them together and organize them if you wish. A quick tip on giving your coins a wash if I may. Be careful of what type 'Soap' that you use, and how much of it you use as well. I don't agree with cleaning coins either, but I have tried giving a few from Circulation a little wash. I have personally found that giving them a good soak works the best. But do make sure that they are rinsed and dried thoroughly. (Try to use one of those little cloths that you wipe spectacles with, and very gently 'Pat' dry.) As once you place them in the 'Flips' chemical reactions may start to take place from any residue that may be left after washing. As for a method of longer term storage for your other coins. Again, they shouldn't come to any harm in them. After all they are designed to be Chemical Free and offer a certain amount of protection from the 'Elements.' I have heard however, that it is wise to periodically remove the coins from the 'Flips' and place them into new ones. The ones that I have had experience with are quite sturdy. You can quite freely examine your coins, and as long as you are careful there shouldn't be a problem. Another little tip if I may? When you place your coins in the 'Flips' it can be hard see the edges of the coins and any inscriptions on them. So if you try to place your coins in a 'Flip' that is a little larger for the intended coin, you will be able to still see the edges.

I'm not so sure that a System Restore would fix the problem. A System Restore would take you back to a point before this happend, but it does not guarantee that the Updated Files would be removed or that your previous path settings would be restored. Also, if it did revert back to a point where all was OK, and the Updated Software was removed and your Paths restored. Windows being Windows would attempt to Update the Software that it did this morning. Thus you would be back at square one. It may work but there.is no gurantee of it. It sounds as if it was the Updated Software that has changes these settings. I think that the way to fix it would be to change the Path name back to what it was before the Updated Software changed it. As you said, the only Path in the Tree that was changed was the one that changed to AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Therefore if you change it back to its previous setting that should fix it. This would all depend of course if your System is a Single User or Multiple User/Network System. Windows in its 'Wisdom' thinks it is the latter. However, that may not be the case as Windows does what Windows does and changes settings as it sees fit. Just so you know Vista was replaced by Windows 7.

I have my own theory on why this happening. I believe it to be not only intentional, but for very 'Subversive' reasons... Considering that 2008 was the 350th Anniversary of the Death of Oliver Cromwell, it occured to me that there may infact be one or more 'Revolutionary Insurgents' working in the Royal Mint! They have purposly added 'Warts' to some of the Dies in an attempt to place subliminal ideas into our minds about the fact that this country was one a 'Republic' led by Oliver Cromwell with his 'Warts and All' attitude of ruling and of Society, and that it should be again! The 'Insurgents' have been clever in the fact that they have only 'Placed' the 'Warts' so that they only appear on the Queen's Effigy on a certain amount of 'Dies.' And they have very cleverly 'Covered Up' this truth by 'Placing' other 'Warts' in various places not to draw attention to the facts! They also decided to release a Commemorative £5 Coin the following year 'Celebrating' the Restoration of The Monarchy to further 'Cover Up' their plans. However after many minutes extensive research, I can reveal to you, for the first time, the 'Hidden Message' contained within this coin! If you were to rearange all of letters on the coin, then add a few and take some away. You are left with the message of ' We are the Brothers of Cromwell. Our aim is to overthrow the Monarchy and install ourselves as your new Overlords in the image of our hero, Oliver Cromwell. Come on, join.us. It will be great. Honest!' This is highlighted to me more due to the fact that there is perhaps more apathy and ambivalence in Society concering the Royal Family and the Institution that is Monarchy, than there has arguably ever been in this Country of ours. Is it mere coincidence that more and more instances of 'Warts' appearing on our coins have happend more and more frequently since 2008? I think not! And the 'Insurgents' have decided to choose the year '2008' to go into 'Full Operation' and attemt to overthrow the Monarchy Those, as I am sure you will agree with me Gentlemen, are the cold hard facts of this situation! Well, that is my theory and it is as good as any! lol Seriously though, there are a lot of coins turning up with these 'Cuds' on them. I agree with Peter that it is a lack of overall Quality Control on behalf of Royal Mint. Although this not a recent thing and examples have been turning up for many years. Another Forum Member, DaveG, has a 20p Coin with a 'Cud' that makes it look as if the Queen is 'Wearing a Bluetooth Headset! lol

That you are Declan and Colin. I bow to your superior knowledge.

Of Course! Silly me, that should have been my first 'Port of Call' for anything Farthing related. I've taken a look and it does appear that I do have a 1911 'Hollow Neck' Farthing. I take it however, that they are not as rare as the 1911 'Hollow Neck' Penny. lol

That is a very nice find David. Well Done. As I understand it, there is also a 'Hollow Neck' Farthing variant as well. Does the same apply in identifying one of those as identifying a Penny?

I am not an Expert on such matters, far from it infact. However it looks as though it may be a partial 'Brockage.' That would occur when a coin sticks to the Die, and then when the next coin is struck, it leaves an inverted impression of the coin that is stuck. In the case of your coin. It looks as if the Reverse of a previous coin was struck onto the Obverse of your coin. Thus the partial inverted impression of 'BRIT' is clear to see. 'Brockages' can range from examples similar to your coin to a 'Full Brockage' where the whole face of one side of a coin has an inverted impression.

Hi Coin Fanatic, Welcome to the Forum. If it is of any help to you in trying to identify your coin, as a very rough guide, if it is slightly larger than a 1p Coin then it will be a Farthing. If however, it is slightly larger than a 2P Coin it will be a Half Penny. I hope that is of some help to you.

Thanks for that Azda. My knowledge of Victorian Silver is zero. That is why I thought it best to ask. lol Here are a couple of Scans.