Emperor Oli

Well I was in favour of him during the contest, but so far he's not living up to my expectations however I think he needs a while longer though to firmly pass judgement. The reason I've begun to dislike him is that he is shifting the party to the centre ground; not supporting grammar schools, abandoning the "Patient Passport" for the NHS and keeping tuition fees for heaven's sake. So far, there is nothing to choose between him and Tony Blair. I know that elections have to be won in the centre ground, but Cameron seems to be abandoning all the policies which were previously mainstays of a Tory government and sprinting for the left wing. I'm all for one nation Conservatism (which Cameron seems to be turning out as), but this is silly. By the by, there is no manifesto to read. Cameron has been dragging his feet and has no specific policies to date, just "Beliefs" and "Ideologies". I thought it rather laughable that Simon Hughes predicts a Lib Dem landslide. They were bad enough before the election, but after the alcoholism and rent boy revelations, I can't see how they really can be a credible force in British politics. The Lib Dems dropped five percentage points in the Telegraph's YouGov poll to about 13% today. And the day the Tories pick up Clause 4 is the day I stop supporting them. I presume you mean the Labour one at any rate. If the Conservatives can get their act together, they can go to town on this government's mishandling of the economy, failing of the NHS, failing of a generation of schoolchildren and failure to carry out half of its manifesto commitments.

Paintshop Pro is a beast. Photoshop seems daunting at first but it doesn't use raster and vector layers as prominently as PSP, so I find it a lot easier. Plus PS is more powerful than PSP, give it a go!

Thanks for pointing these out - I have deleted both coins from the website. If you notice anything further, please do let me know so that I can deal with it (and the guest dealer) accordingly. Many thanks Andy I saw Gary Phelps (or Gary Phelps-esque) dealing on your site a while ago. I considered emailing but thought perhaps it had been sanctioned!

Yeah it's quite heavily toned but rather reflective at the same time. I wanted to bring the colours out, but I need some more practice!

I just use a tripod faced directly down and a handheld light, with some other fixed ones. I then just move the handheld one around until I the coin is lit well, and then shoot. Photography is a popular topic on CU, with topics such as this. Do a search from the CU main page for "photography" and about eight pages popup. Edit: Just took this one quickly using a paper tube to diffuse the light. Chris may recognise it...

It depends what condition it is in, so don't jump straight to those top values. The coin you saw would have probably been in very good condition, able to command such prices. Also, there are several varieties of this coin. If you register and post a picture, we can find out which variety it is, approximate the grade, and give you a rough idea of value.

I had some other info on it before, but yours is very comprehensive so I don't think I need any more! Thank you.

I think it is tin, and yes it does have the name under the bust. Thank you very much for that information!

I wouldn't bother with a printer. The costs are exorbitant: the paper costs a fortune, and you go through ink like nobody's business. We have our digital photos developed at Boots, it costs something like 35p per print and I doubt that's the cheapest around. Just take your memory device in and they will develop them.

I'm sure it's in there. Leaf through the pages of Elizabeth II one at a time, I tend to miss things if I look for them quickly!

Page 484, 2006 issue.

My scans of purchases from the fair in November were awful. My new digital camera arrived yesterday so I took some pictures on the offchance that they would be good, and I think they're a lot better than my scans!

It's a sixpence actually, but I tend to get them confused. You can only really tell by the size, of which that photo doesn't give much information. Took me ages to find a decent enough example. The dealer had it marked up at EF prices and sold it for nEF, the grade I thought it ought to have.

I got a new camera (Sony P200 for those interested) and just took a shot of a £2 on the offchance that it would come out better than a scan. It did, so I spent yesterday afternoon photographing various coins. I don't have a fancy photo setup as some people tend to have, just a tripod and a handheld light source.

I know this is aimed at mintmark, but sometimes I don't remove the background around the coin. If I've shot it dead on, all I use is a circular marquee tool around the coin and a quick Copy/Paste into a new canvas: I remove the coin from the canvas.

I photographed them on white card then removed the background in Photoshop and replaced it with black.

The medal is refusing to be resized so I shall post that later.

I've bought off her before, and when I did (which was about a year ago) her grading was spot on. Interesting how it has slid...

Ok, the first one will be that the legend is struck with the Vs as upside-down, or inverted, As. Both the second and third are letters struck over others, with the D being struck over a U, and a R struck over an E.

Like that, but in a silver colour? It was struck in 2005 to commemorate Samuel Johnson's dictionary, and is worth about 50p. Fools on eBay would pay more though.

Likewise! I could pick you out from across the room

That was my thinking, but I didn't think I could go wrong for a fiver!

A medal, most probably German. Ludwig Von Schwanthaler on obverse.