DaveG38

Not in 1891. Albert died in 1861. I guess he might have stuck around as a vampire.

My missus does! Oooops shouldn't have said that.

Vampire going for Victoria's neck, more like.

Thanks for that, I'll email.

Is this list online? I can't seem to find it.

Don't know if the left hand one is a proof, but these appear to be two minor varieties of the 1977 crown. The left hand one has smaller beads and the gap from beads to the legend is larger. On the right, the beads are larger and the gap is smaller. However, the only caveat is that the pictures are not exactly the same size, so I'm not 100% sure.

Before you rush to condemn this coin, I would just point out that it doesn't appear from the photos, to have the classic scouring lines that come from polishing. The picture though isn't really good enough to tell. It may be that it is unpolished but dipped and that is why it has come up so shiny. In terms of grade it loooks quite high. Difficult to say from the pics.

As I understand it, the striking process puts the edge legend on the blank before striking the main design. That being the case, then the blanks will be fed into the press with the edge legends randomly either way up. Hence, you should find that the two types are more or less struck in equal quantities. Certainly, that has been my observation of the previous £2 coins over the years.

Plus at $70 you should have smelled a rat straightaway.

I recently obtained an Edward VII Maundy threepence (1906), and because the threepence is always the most tricky Maundy coin to find, I thought I would put a set back together. This shouldn't be too difficult given that the other coins aren't really very scarce. Ideally, I'd like to be able to arrange them in a case, and so I wondered if anybody has a spare Maundy case for sale at a reasonable price. Ideally I'd like a contemporary one, even more ideally dated 1906, but even a more modern would probably be OK. Please let me know if you have anything, and I'll sort payment etc. PDQ.

In my experience, coins in local Auction Houses often go for rather more than they would in a specialised coin auction. I also find that estimates are often much lower than the realistic price, so don't be surprised if this lot doesn't go for rather more than the top end estimate. If it doesn't then its a fair buy, especially the cartwheel since that has very nice edges and details.

Ultra-violet in sunlight does it, by providing energy at the correct freqency to cause a reaction in the dyes used. Hence the fading.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm amazed that this would be graded at all. As for the label, well I guess that's just the colour wash of the photograph. If genuine, it doesn't reassure me about TPGs though.

I don't believe that PCGS would grade this offering. Plus the slab looks very iffy. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282359645142?ul_noapp=true

It was that good then!!!!

This is the point where I get embarassed by subjecting myself to public ridicule. When I'm not collecting coins or writing books, I use a Yamaha Synthesiser to write what might laughingly be called music. I also attempt to sing my own songs, which is a particular nightmare, given that my teacher from age 8 told me to mime in the class, and not sing as I was rubbish. Anyway, to cut a long story short, if you would like a laugh at my expense, have a listen to one of my songs, which is on Bandcamp at: https://daveg2.bandcamp.com/releases It's called Satanic Game and pretty much speaks for itself. If you can bear to listen all the way through it would help my stats on the site, so do your best. It's worth keeping at it to the middle 8 as this is particularly horrible!! DaveG38

He's done well to get £4.40 for it.assuming the bidding was kosher.

What's the logic in specifically excluding gold, I wonder? Too much fraud?

Many years ago, when I had a local dealer to go and chat to over the lunch break, I recall talking to him about cleaning coins and he told me about a seller who knew nothing about coins, but had brought in a very nice and expensive collection of early milled in good grades. The dealer agreed a price and the punter brought the coins back a day or so later to seal the deal. Unfortunately, in the meantime, the seller thought that the dealer would like the coins to look a bit better, so he cleaned them up with silver polish so they were 'nice and bright and shiney'. Much to his horror the dealer told him he didn't want them, but was prepared to offer 10% of the agreed price for them. Exit one very crestfallen seller. Moral - don't do anything to a coin unless you know what you are doing, and certainly not before selling them!

Woke up this morning with a slightly swollen knee and painful calf. Thought to myself that I'd better check for a clot. Rang surgery for appointment. Receptionist found me one in just 10 minutes. Drove like a bat out of hell to the health centre. Waited 5 minutes to see the doc. Quick examination and told not to worry, it's just some fluid retention, take ibuprofen and a bit more exercise. Back home 10 minutes later, relieved and back to normal. How could the service from the NHS be any better? And this kind of service is typical of what I see where I live. In my view too many people have a negative view of the NHS because the media hype up the slightest problem into a full blown crisis, when in reality the vast majority of patienst have a very positive experience from their doctor/health cntre..

Clearly, there are more people wanting one of these than there are examples cheaply available, and so the price is being driven up until the coin finds its level. i.e what people are prepared to pay. My guess is that people are also looking at this general increase and, like sheep, are sniffing out an 'investment' and so they are driving the price up further still. Probably they have the idea that values will continue to rise into the future, so they need to buy now before they are left behind. Whatever the truth, it will likely all end in tears, except for those who are astute enough sell on a high.

Currently the going rate (selling price) seems to be around £65-70. As for why, Azda's comment seems apposite.

We need a pic of the obverse. Fakes are usually much easier to spot when looking at the Queen's head. As has been said there is a lack of clarity of the effigy with fakes. Usually obvious when you see it.

Here's a simple question. Can hypo, which is Sodium Thiosulphate and thus interacts with copper to produce Copper Sulphide, be used to re-tone cleaned coins quickly?

It depends on how 'about' is AEF. I'd have said it's GVF, but that's not much of a stretch to AEF if you are a bit loose on the definition of 'about.' For me there's some wear in the hair and on the shoulder that takes it down to GVF, but that's just my view. The photos are a bit poor to be more specific. Even so, it appears to be a nice coin.