mtwc

1863 shilling on eBay Is it me or does the '3' not quite sit with the other numbers on this one? I'm not really an expert on this, but the tone seems different and it almost looks like a different font.

Was Gene Wilder ever king of Sweden?

Hello, I'm new here. I have been collecting hammered shillings on and off since I was a small boy and have got back into it in the last few years. Being based in Australia these days, online bidding is pretty much the only way to go and the majority of purchases in the last few years have been through eBay. I have also dealt with quite a few auction houses, including Spink, London Coins and DNW. I recently placed bids with Warwick and Warwick for their June auction and I just wanted to ask what people's thoughts are on the way they do business? I have found it to be irritating in the extreme for the following reasons: 1) No confirmation that bids have been received by them. Not so bad in itself I suppose. 2) No reply when asked if bids have been received. 3) As soon as the auction is complete, the catalogue is removed so I do not know what I have bid on. Again, in fairness, perhaps the burden of responsibility falls on me to make note of the lot numbers and item descriptions, but for 'user-friendliness' of their website, I feel this goes without saying. 4) Therefore nothing to cross reference price realisations against. 5) Three emails sent before they furnish me with a response, stating only the lot numbers I won, 9 days after the auction. No mention of item descriptions despite my pleas for descriptions rather than lot numbers (see pts 3-4) . So I still do not know what I have won so cannot celebrate! With any other auction house I would expect to have paid and had notice of dispatch now, while they gain a little interest on my payment before sending on the vendor's cut... Still I await an invoice and clarification on what it is they expect me to pay for. If they would just leave a PDF of the lot numbers and item descriptions on the website for even a few days after the realisations go up, I could piece it together myself easily. So simple. Without it I am reliant on them for information and it is like pulling teeth. Am I being unreasonable here or is this a common complaint with this auction house? I have bid with them before, enticed by their low estimates, only to see winning bids many times more than these estimates. Even when unsuccessful I have had to send email after email to obtain information. This is the first time I have won anything and I am almost certain it will be the last. Sorry to open my account with a big gripe (I'm not normally a whinger - leave that to the Poms ), but I am just totally bewildered by the casual way they operate and I can't believe I am the only one to have found it to be this way?

I should now add that since I have managed to get the information I wanted from W&W (won 3 lots - more than I thought!) that they have been very receptive to my issues and, as far as I'm concerned the matter is resolved. I am told that changes to their website and online bidding are imminent, with a shopping cart before bids are finally placed and confirmation emails. They're also going to look at archived sales results and therefore having catalogues and price realisations available concurrently for bidders to see. I wish them every success with these changes and hope that their lives are made much easier, (as well as for previously vexed punters like me!) and I hope it frees up more time for them to concentrate on things more productive to their business than fielding enquiries. They have won me back and I look forward to bidding with them again. When I can afford to that is. Finally... What do you call a field full of Australian cricketers? A vacant lot.

Thanks Colin I have received a very prompt reply to my latest whinging email from a Jill Smith. She has gone a long way towards pacifying me and has said that they are in talks with their website team about 'improving the usability of this service', so I look forward to seeing the results and to bidding with them again once it is implemented. It will save them a bucket-load of time to focus on more productive matters I am certain. The other good news is I have filled a long-standing Newark shilling-shaped gap, albeit with a very ordinary one. The way the prices have gone on those in recent years, I doubted I would get one without spending a grand and I wasn't prepared to do that. This was considerably less