Emperor Oli

Just done some quick and extremely dirty scans to see if anyone can shed any light on these

I sure did! Got to the reception at 8:50ish, only to be told it opened at 9:30. So I went walkabout for half an hour and returned. Queued for a few minutes and then the floodgates opened. Everyone streamed inside, trying to look as dignified as possible as they crammed at the various dealers' tables. I skipped the first few due to the heavy traffic, and started in the ante room. Looking around there, it was mostly ancient material along with early hammered. Near the end of that room I saw an 1826 6d that I had been looking for for ages. I thought it graded aEF, and priced at £80 I thought rather expensive. So I bore it in mind for later and moved on into the main hall. On the first table there, I saw not one but two 6ds in far better condition than the first one. I made a mental note to revisit that table. Moving along, most of the other tables held nothing that interested me, not to mention the fact that I was seemingly invisible to most dealers and indeed the fair-goers who thought it acceptable to push and barge whoever they chose. Quite a few of the dealers sat in their chairs reading the paper, making it feel as if you were priviliged to be taking up their time, or the others who gave a monosyllabic "No" to stock queries. However, I digress. One aspect I wasn't expecting (perhaps marking me out as a coin show newbie) was the junk boxes many dealers had on their stalls. I took a sort of guilty pleasure in rifling through these coins and medals. I came out with a commemorative medal from the Spink stand and an ancient Greek coin and an 18th century Spanish one from another. I guess I was buying on impulse because I thought these coins were so cheap, probably because they were! I shall endeavour to post some scans soon. After circling the room once, I noticed Vale of London was less busy than when I entered, so I made a bee-line for it. After waiting for a few moments, I introduced myself to our very own Chris Perkins, who gave me the warmest of welcomes. I bought the new Collectors' Coins and I must say it looks as smart as ever. True to form, I did notice a typo on the back when I returned to my hotel and was in two minds whether to go back and tell him! After bantering about the book sales and the new Spink, I was generously shown a whole tray of Wreath Crowns. Usually I don't find them that interesting, but there was something about an array of them that was, well, je ne sais quoi. From the Vale stand I bought something from Russia which had caught my eye on another forum. Bidding adieu to Vale Coins and Chris, I made my way over to the stand that held the sixpences. When they came out of the case, there was a stark difference in grade. I plumped for the higher grade example, forgiving a slight gouge under the eye. With a handsome discount, I was more than happy. On the way out, I was even convinced to subscribe to Coin News! All in all, a very very enjoyable morning.

I think I've found about six in that time. They live in a box along with some of the commemorative £2s and 50ps and overseas £1 coins.

I trust they'll be on sale in London, so I shall get my copy then!

Have fun with the noun declensions, there's a combination of about seventy suffixes to learn. Plus besides the normal nominative, accusative, genitive and dative cases, you've got the ablative, locative and vocative ones! Good luck

It's "Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo?" where "Wherefore" means "Why". So Juliet is asking why Romeo had to be a Montague, the sworn enemy of her father, Capulet.

I wondered about saying that but thought better of it

I wouldn't class a worn die as an error, nor something like a die crack. Errors to me are wrong letters or numbers, or the wrong flan or combination of dies. What does everyone else think?

Where did you read Numismatics?!

I'm afraid it's true, chav culture seems to pervade most towns.

I have a Canadian Maple Leaf, which is essentially a bullion coin like the one listed, but in silver. It is in its original mint blister pack which has many marks on it, the likes of which are on that one. I would therefore say it is only the packaging that is marked, but caveat emptor as always.

No idea about the legality about it, but nobody tends to bat an eyelid if you get one in change.

"New Age Gypsy"? You're nothing more than glorified tramps.

You could always set up a Photobucket Account. This provides free photo hosting, so you can post any pictures (within reason) on message boards like this.

I didn't really think, of course it is.

Basically, Spink reckons that middling grade coins have risen modestly in price, but the higher end stuff has surged ahead. Whilst reading it just now, it talks of the Chesire Collection auctioned in America: "All had been slabbed and re-graded according to the American numerical system with the intention of presenting them to a different type of buyer." I found that rather humourous, and it goes on to bemoan the flaws in the Sheldon System, and why our good old British system is superior.

It arrived today. Opening the package was a chore, with parcel tape in too many places. Once I'd opened the outer packaging, it was again wrapped in another piece of cardboard: they certainly pack things well! I could see the spine in the packaging and it looked black - visions of a black cover with gold writing and a George IV £5 flashed through my mind. However, once I took it out, I found that it is actually striped with purple and black. The coin on this year's is a William IV £5 piece. I was decidedly underwhelmed with the cover, but the inside is the usual comprehensive pricing, maps, and pictures. This year the market trends section is approximately five pages.

I preordered mine, so I expect it tomorrow or Tuesday.

Splendid. I got the US 2006 Redbook and the colour images in there certainly make it a more enjoyable read.

Jolly good, is it the same cover designer as the milestone CC2005? How big do you reckon the print run will be? I'll get one at the London Coin Fair

Colin Cooke's staff have the first and only bid.

Banks should still accept them, but as you say, being worth only 25p each it would seem quite pointless unless you have hundreds. You could give them to children to get them interested in numismatics.

For hard to find or out of print books, I've used Bookfinder many times and it's never failed me. Someone pointed it out here a few months ago I think.

The search function is a gem.

Congratulations to her! So I suppose she's doing sciences and maths at A-level?