DaveG38

Far too worn for my liking! Yes, it certainly has some minor wear across the letters and bust, so EF. Tony Clayton's site shows a price guide of £19,000 in UNC, so £39,500 in EF, even GEF looks OTT, even if it is a difficult and rare coin to find. However, if you are a shilling collector with very deep pockets then I guess you'll pay this price for a coin date you otherwise might never own.

Not a laugh, by any means, but for the well-heeled shilling collector, there's a 1798 Dorien and Magens shilling on eBay - a snip at £39,500!!! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1798-SHILLING-DORRIEN-AND-MAGENS-R5-EXCESSIVELY-RARE-/380610527813?pt=UK_Coins_BritishMilled_RL&hash=item589e27c245

Looks like a 'can't be bothered with this stuff' grading and the estimate seems to be about 4x under what it will go for in practice - a pretty blatant attempt at getting bums on seats or fingers on the keyboard... Frankly these big city auction houses with their ludicrously expensive offices 'in the best parts of town' and extortionate buyers' premiums irritate the hell out of me. Last DNW I went to, the receptionist had an accent that made the queen sound like an extra from East Enders. Sorry, think I've become a class warrior overnight... Dont worry, you'll get over all these nasty horrible well spoken posh people, when you get out more..... As an ex-sister-in-law of mine once charmingly put it - they p*ss, Sh*t and f*ck like everybody else.

It may have been a currency piece, but even so £9k - owch!

Certainly, some of their estimates are going to be way exceeded. I don't really see what they get out of such underestimating. After all, very few people are going to be fooled by their ideas of the hammer price. For instance, the 1839 proof halfcrown - estimated at around £1500-1800. Oh please. The last one I saw went for £9,000 or so.

Talking of 20p - I saw recently that among the early 60s patterns for decimal coins, not only was there a 1/4p, there was a 20p too. Makes you wonder why it didn't make it until 1982 and wasn't introduced in 1971. Maybe the experience of the Double Florin was haunting them! Long memories! Mind you, it wasn't exactly as if florins were "that there new fangled thang" anymore. I sometimes like to hold a Double Florin in one hand and a 20p in the other just to remind myself that they are the same denomination. Yes - not quite a sov versus brass £1 comparison is it? Err wabn't a double florin worth 24p A modern 20p piece is one fifth of a pound, as is a double florin. A florin was a two shilling piece and worth 24 old pence and a double florin, therefore, was worth 48 old pence. Simples!!

No doubt the acid queen is a gay coin dipper.

Isn't that what Sybil said to Basil when he was fumbling for the lightswitch - except it was gallantry and girl.

You see that frequently where there are large price differentials between grades. If the seller can manage to inflate the grade by a fraction, it could make the difference of several hundred pounds for a 1905 HC, whereas for a 1902 HC it's just a few quid and probably not worth the effort. How would you grade this, out of interest? I'd grade it as SBTM or slightly better than mine!

These are a lower grade of silver than sterling, which probably accounts for the colour/texture of the finish. I wouldn't be particularly worried about the odd surface blemishes, but I must say the hair curl that you highlighted is a bit odd as it seems much more exaggerated than it should be. Add to this the fact that the coin appears to have been cleaned quite harshly and I can see why you might be concerned.

Mine is in about the same condition, but without the hole, but I only paid about £10.00 for it some 7 years ago. Prices and demand have sharpened considerably since then.

Thank you Peter, I joined this chat group because after looking at the posts over the last month or so, you all seem like nice people with interesting things to say and knowledge to share. Yes the predecimal proof coins are rare and expensive - thats OK its actually the contemporary cases that give me the most trouble they are virtually uncollectable. I am actually a researcher by trade and do numismatic research as part of my hobby I really look forward to working more and sharing in this area of early proof coinage - particularly their methods of manufacture. Has anyone noticed that the horse on the 1893 proof crown reverse comes in with and without teeth versions- yes its true . This is not noted in the varities listed on the CGS website http://www.coingradingservices.co.uk/?page=valuations_by_grade_list but I expect its covered by one of the other die descriptions. Hi Shagreen, The horse on my 1893 proof crown has teeth. I hope you are now going to tell me that the 'with teeth' variety is mega-rare and my example will be worth a life-changing fortune.

I have never met a 'perfect' person before and I do not think I have done so through this forum. I actually find your calling me a muppet very offensive - because that is what you have just done with your post. No offence made.It wasn't intended for you. Anyone who can afford over £20k in slabbing his collection has made their decision in how they want to collect.Each to their own. Think of the nice 1905 half crowns you could buy with over £24,000 (many coins cost £19.99 and some even more to get graded)! To try and add some balance to the expenditure some of the results of grading by CGS have to me been spectacular - not so much the grade achieved (although it helps if it is high) but the new varieties that they have identified in their process (yes, and they have got some wrong as well as previously noted). Anyone looking at the site may be interested to inspect the 1953 series which now has seven new types of the proof that are unrecorded in any of the traditional catalogues (farthing, halfpenny, threepence, sixpence, two one shillings, florin {this last rejected though}). The same set had a mule penny, one of three known proof halfcrowns of a new type and a VIP Proof Crown. Apart from the penny which was a fairly obvious variety, all the other coins could easily be mistaken for normal proofs with a modest value. Now I am not suggesting that the value of this set matches the cost of grading but if it ever came to selling it I am sure it would attract some buyers. Other coin collectors or dealers may have spotted the new types. Perhaps they would (will) be written up in Coin News or some other publication/website. What I do know is they are now on the CGS site with pictures so anyone registered to the site can compare them against their own coins. Bill, Sorry to rain on your parade, but all the varieties shown on their website are known and already described in numismatic literature - at the risk of blowing my own trumpet, I describe all of the currency and standard proof types in my two books on 20thC bronze and silver. Indeed, there are a few minor types I describe that they don't. Having said this, you are quite right that most of these types are not described in the standard catalogues e.g. Spink etc.

If not still there, something similar should be, as the turbulence from a high speed train can be extremely dangerous when it comes through at full tilt. Usually, there's a white line on the platform and advice to stay behind it when trains come through - never seen that particular sign though!

Starters? I thought this was a thread about fake hors d'oeuvres for a minute! Surely it's manes not starters?

I reckon the seller's been on something above 40o proof if he thinks this one's a proof halfcrown. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200893092428&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

Yes, but everybody's different, and most people set their own personal parameters when it comes to collections. I doubt there are many who have every single example/die combination in the bunhead run. But it's their decision to what extent they go, and not up for criticism ~ any more than I would criticise you for your coin collecting/selling choices. You came across so strong in your two posts last night, that I wondered if you had some sort of vested interest in that particular coin. Did you ? No interest in Bunhead pennies what so ever. My little irk was, if you collect THAT series and refuse to point blank not collect a certain date because you know there's only worn examples, so you'll also know that there's going to be holes popping up all over. 1860 is the most popular of the Bunheads due to the various die OBVs and REVs, this makes that date alone a good series to collect, but if you're collecting just bunheads and onwards then you're going to come up against a few hurdles along the way if you don't pick up the shite and take it with you. Just because your tray looks pretty with EFs and above does'nt make it complete unless you COMPLETELY collect the series if its affordable to you. Just my thoughts, you have your own opinions If you are a series/date collector, then in my view you must try and fill the gaps, even if that sometimes means that you have some poorer specimens in there. If you want to collect only uncirculated, then even with an unlimited budget, you may still find that you never get the coin to fill those one or two spaces that exist, and maybe never will. That's frustrating and does nothing for my sense of satisfaction at having a series 'completed.' For me, the answer is to fill the gaps with the best you can, and keep searching for the improvements, even if these are still not up to the quality of the rest of the collection. In my case, I have a complete date run of Victorian sixpences, many in the higher grades, but the 1854 is fair/fine at best as is the 1893 jubilee head. I don't think I've ever seen a EF or UNC specimen of either date, so notwithstanding the high prices they would command, I've never been in a position to grab high grade specimens. That means I can live with lower grades because I can tell myself I'm still looking.

Can anybody help enlighten me about the Coin Monthly magazine series? My set of these starts with volume 1 part 1 in November 1966 and runs until Feb 1992. I've now obtained a very thin booklet called 'Coin Monthly' dated May 1966. It's clear from reading the booklet, that this isn't the first issue and, since there is a list of future articles, it was obviously intended that there would be future issues. The publisher appears to be the Numismatic Publishing Company i.e. the same company as issued the Coin Monthly series for the best part of 25 years until 1992. Does anybody know what the history is of these pre-Coin Monthly publicatiosn is? How many were there and when did they start and finish? Here's a picture of the front cover.

Taking accumulator's idea on his site, why not have the front page showing a range of coin cabinets, one for each denomination? When you click on a cabinet, you then get the drawers one for each reign and these can then open as accumulator's does. If the front page doesn't have the ability to handle hammered as well, then maybe the front page should allow the user to choose hammered or milled to start with, then on to the the pages of coin chests.

That's a 1927 not 1937.

I'd be very interested in a scanned upload (PDF?) of that Dave. I'd also be interested in something similar for the first issue of the regular magazine (but I realise that would be a major task so I'll keep looking for a copy of it). Peckris, I'll see what I can do. However, I'm feeling crap at the moment with some virus that I can't seem to shake off. But, once I'm fit, I'll see about scanning them both - although the May one I bought the other day is distinctly underwhelming at just 18 pages long! And the content is very superficial - its almost as though it was a test run for the real thing to come some 5 or 6 months later.

You should have said, as I have duplicates of a great many of the dates. Still at £1.99 you weren't done.

It's been gilded, and is VF or thereabouts As Azda says, it's been gilded. It may also have been mounted at some point, as there are one or two odd effects around the rim, which might be mount marks.

As the saying goes Dave, "Big hairy arsed Scotsman' Yes, but shouldn't the grading be H (hairy), VH (very hairy) and EH (extremely hairy)? Where does the F come into it or does it stand for Furry?

And from a seller with a feedback of only 5. Few serious sellers of coins start off with items of this value, so that's issue number 1. Personally, I think there's something not quite right about the crown - the bust looks a bit oversized to me, so that's number 2. As for the halfcrown, it's difficult to say, because of the poor photos. The other issue is the price of the crown. If genuine it should have gone for considerably more. The fact that it didn't suggests that many buyers were put of by the photos. You then have to ask why anybody would put such poor shots up and potentially lose several hundred pounds, all for the sake of a little more care with the photography. The obvious reason is to deceive, but as has been said, you need to examine it in hand to be sure - or put pics up on here for an opinion.