ski

i think the replies offered here have been good, people have stated its difficult to grade from the pics, if help is needed in getting better pics and so enabling better valuations....... there are some brilliant photos on here that make grading easy.....take advantage and ask all sorts of questions

dream on........

ah okay ...thanks. ski

there are other dots, 1 on the shoulder/neck and one on the chest......why would the 2 under the i of brit make you think its a fake? have these 2 dots appeared on known fakes? ski

the 1902 florin's location is also a concern for me......i dont think i would be buying it

to me the nine looks okay but have to agree the counterstamp looks poor, i believe the counterstamps are graded different to the host coin so i guess its possible to have a poor counterstamp on a good coin. are you thinking that the coin has been counterstamped (poorly) to make it something it isnt?

yuk......please please lets talk about the book

yes and the fifth edition is now 20 years old ( out of date)

hi peck.......its in my copy of the book which is a 1992 5th edition. ski

have to confess i bought 2 sets on the bay a couple of years ago......my records show i paid 75p for the 2.....i suspect i may have paid more in postage

this was the unc set i was thinking of......sorry i got the date wrong, didnt wish to mislead http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GREAT-BRITAIN-FIRST-DECIMAL-COIN-SET-UNC-IN-FOLDER-1-/221086908584?pt=UK_Coins_BritishDecimal_RL&hash=item3379ce80a8 ski

there are plenty of '53 sets around either in mint plastic envelopes or hard cases.....ive seen plenty of 1966/67/decimal sets in hard cases.........im not sure of their origin though, maybe royal mint, maybe not. peters coins has some http://home2.btconnect.com/petercoins.com0/ click on unc sets ski

i think the '53 set was a first for the mint..... the 1970 blue wallet set was in my opinion the grandfather of what is now a well established line of tat produced by the RM. picking up the odd unc piece here and there allows you to choose your additions better than a set with some compromises may. ski

I once went on holiday with my sister. Absolutely true, but not as exciting as it sounds... anyhow ive been at the olympics all week taking photos.....post some here when the dust settles.

i once caught my tadger in my flies but i didnt make a claim.

a night with a high class hooker in a west end hotel

i think the histogram is safe but keep the acetone away from the hologram

never met either folk, have exchanged emails with michael which were informative. ive dealt with neil at cc and have always been very pleased with grade and hes happy to negotiate on price, ive only bought high grade d/florins florins and halfcrowns from him but always been very pleased and not had to return any coins. ski.

very kind words from you all......thank you. have a great weekend with your other halfs/cigars hennesy/coke and of course.....coins ski.

i didnt jump ship, ive been here most days , reading the various threads. all informative of course, all very interesting.....i too would like to say a big thank you to all for everything ive gleaned along the way. Ski

Chris briefly mentions in his CCGB book that there are 2 obverse types for arabic 1 1887 double florins and that both are believed equally common. These would be dies 1b and 2b, the "d" of dei either points to a bead or a space, also the cross on the crown either points to a bead or a space. i have just 1 coin that is 1b but i have 5 of 2b, does this suggest that 1b may be scarcer?. also looking at the london cgs site, they quote davies 540a for the 1b coin, which is odd for 2 reasons, 540 is the number for a roman1 coin and also my copy of davies doesnt mention this variety. my book is edition 1 is there a later edition that contains this information? spink or esc dont mention at all

azda, i sincerely hope that you and peckris both understand that my posts were meant in good faith and also meant to differentiate between the bad that occurs on ebay, those you have highlighted as shill bidders, those who clearly sell the utmost of polished crap, designed to mislead, and the genuine dealer, whom may have had a difference in grading to personal levels. we may all disagree on grade of a particular coin at times with bona fida dealers, that happens, we have different ideas and ideals, different knowledge of a specific coin/dies....etc etc, but it sure must be difficult to be all embracing. azda....how many times have you come on here to ask for die pairings/references for a particular penny.....loads azda....how many times have you asked for a grading on a particular coin...................................loads does that make you or any other here better than CC or Rendell........maybe yes, maybe no. but yes it does make YOU and Peckris and CC and Rendell and all the others here far and away better than the those shill bidders, crap sellers on ebay...........and that was the whole point of my original post....... im gonna leave this forum now................theres clearly no place for a prick like me here. ski

thanks John........jeeeez if we had them robots.........what would we talk about

would make buying a lot easier though.

well ive obviously rattled a few cages and that was not my intention.... the intention of my original post was to relay to the op that theres more to collecting and making purchases than just ebay and there are dealers who can provide good service without all the problems that people encounter from ebay(just read some of the threads here) its scarey. i do believe that all the dealers ive met or dealt with are as honest as the day, also, you only have to look at the great variations on this forum when grade is requested to realise this is the most difficult part of coin collecting. my intention was to never recommend any particular dealer. however i did look on dealers sites to see if any had stock of that particular coin.rendell happened to have some. i cannot possibly recommend him as ive never bought from him. my remarks have clearly upset a few....on reflection, i can see that at the least they were flippant..........but were never meant to be in any way offensive.....clearly some have taken offence..........and to those i offer my sincerst apologies. Ski