DaveG38

It seems to me that the real issue here is the likelhood of a downturn in prices across the board, of the kind seen in the past. We all know that there was a major ramp around decimalisation followed by a long period in the doldrums until around the late 1990s, when things took off and have continued ever since. The question is whether the long run of price increases will continue, level out or decline. Interestingly, the crash of 2008 and the ongoing recession doesn't seem to have dented prices one bit, even in the middle grade/value where a decline might have been expected. This is probably because there are investors out there who no longer see the stock market as the place to put their money and coins (and classic cars) represent a decent investment based on past performance. If and when the stock market stabilises and profits return to normal, these investors will cash in their coins (unless they become genuine collectors) and this may send prices lower. However, there is still the internet factor which has widened the availability of coins and it may be that this keeps prices steady, rather than declining. Overall, I don't really see a major crash in prices, which would drag all coins in any grade down, but bubbles always burst! The question is whether the current prices are in a bubble or not. Arguably though, a major Eurozone crash might well spark a depression and that might play very badly for coin prices as people are forced to realise assets in order to survive. In this situation, the biggest losers are likely to be common coins even in top grades, and the middle grades, whereas rarities are likely to suffer least. Like all investments, you pays yer money and ........

Don't worry, I'm not a mason! What I'm saying is this. Unfettered opinion and genuine freedom of speech is being slowly but surely sidelined from mainstream communication and everyday life. This results in it being forced 'underground' and nowadays appearing on the nether reaches of the internet. The government is clearly not happy with this situation and has demonstrated every intention of wanting to police all such communication (witness the recent moves forcing ISPs to make data available). That's one step closer to allowing governments to open our mail, in my opinion. Whilst I most certainly don't agree with many opinions expressed, I will fight for the right to express them (to paraphrase Voltaire). You have in effect agreed with me. Why should we all have to 'sidestep' monitoring in everyday life. The UK is already the most surveilled country in the industrialised west, by the government's own admission. Ah, I see what you're saying. You're talking about the SOPA stuff (is that right acronym?). What you forget is this : if everyone who is worried about such stuff, whether or not they have anything to hide, set up several online identities, each one centred around a hotmail address containing fictional personal details, then anyone who was serious about monitoring us citizens would soon be chasing their tails. In actuality, if enough man hours were expended, such fake identities could be traced via injunctions served on ISPs (provided that the courts were presented with the evidence to furnish an injunction). However, this expenditure on man hours would entail more staff working on it than the entire Civil Service employs. For myself, I am endlessly grateful that the more limited effort that Government agencies expend, is to track down the activities of terrorists. Mike is quite correct. It only takes a little nous to sidestep a perceived lack of anonymity, and anyway the Government is neither interested nor has the resources to spy on the likes of us. As for people 35 or under, many hurl all their personal details into Facebook, so the lack of privacy there is self-inflicted and I have no sympathy with anyone who falls foul of scammers, government spies, or anyone else, if they don't have even the basic idea of personal discretion. A more pointless waste of human existence I (thankfully) have yet to encounter. My wife is 39 and has never read a book in her life but will happily spend 5 hours a day (every day)reading total pish about her friends/acquaintances and family on Brainf**k Facebook. Whenever I casually ask her WTF the point of the drivel is she tells me to "get a life, and see what's happening in the real world" Facebook, the real world???? Shit I think I must have taken the red pill by mistake The opposite nearly occurred the other day, when some young girl stepped out into the road without so much as look for traffic, too busy twiddling her thumbs on a phone. Mind you, the look on her face was priceless when a car screeched to a halt a foot from her!

I solved this problem permanently by having an email address that isn't likely to be used by the spam producers. When I had david.j.groom@btinternet.com, I got tons of spam simply because the robots that send this crap were able to easily identify this as name and hence use it. Now I use ukc801988231@btconnect.com and never get a single piece of spam. No messing about blocking senders, which can take an inordinate amount of time - just a simple email change, job done and sorted. Of course, this was done at a PC change and also meant changing emails of websites I use but it's not that big a deal.

Good job it wasn't done to a 'no H' type!

If selling it on eBay Oops, no, then it would be near EF :lol: Sadly, there are a few dealers who would advertise this as Fine or Near Fine, as there does sometimes seem to be grade drift with age.

I wonder what vintage was used to achieve this effect. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160816991255&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

13.5% fees if its paid by Paypal, they take 3.5% to Absolutely right - there's paypal too.

The one positive aspect is that if they are silver (need to check) then the price of silver has gone up significantly in recent years and this may help to offset some of the losses on the value compared to the original retail price. For instance, about 5 years ago, silver was around £5-6 per once. It's now £18.50, and was near £30 about a year ago. Having said this, on ebay you may get a bit over melt, but remember the 10% final fees.

Left 2 bids and got an acknowledgement back. Not heard any results yet.

When I was researching my 'Bronze' book, I came across references to these being in both the 'Martini' and 'Heinz' packs, but not the Royal Mint Uncirculated sets, so I would say this isn't especially unique or rare within its own population of rarity, if you see what I mean. Last time I saw one was at a cost of around £800, so £3400 looks like a total ramp - it's not even as though they are especially sought after, since decimal isn't on most collectors radar. For many collectors on limited budgets, decimal is an easy series to go for, but then they are not likely to spend this kind of money. For the wealthier collector, there are better things to spend £3400 on - like a 1934 crown, or something really nice from the 17th/18th Century. That probably leaves a limited number of collectors, who 'must have' every type of every denoimination and they might be willing to spend this much on what is a very mundane coin. I'll be surprised if it goes.

I worked in Emergency Planning/Disaster Management for BT plc for most of my working life, and 'lessons learned' was always an absolute when looking at incidents. From the most mundane internal disaster such as fire or flood in an exchange building right up to 7/7 through Lockerbie, Dunblane etc there is ALWAYS a 'lessons learned' meeting or assessment after the event. No exceptions, every single time. It's the only way that process improvements can be made. Same was true for exercises to test procedures. The wash up afterwards always looked at what needed to be changed/improved. So when somebody stand up telling you that lessons will be learned they aren't talking about some exceptional procedure that has to happen and which they will be putting in place. They are simply telling you what will happen anyway, regardless of whether they say it or not, but obviously they like to give the impression that they are somehow the driving force behind the review that will take place. That's all complte bo**ocks as most of them will have no input or say in the matter, nor will they be included in the review process.

I'd hate to see unattractive lustre!! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170848161762&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

You could try post a picture here they've helped me with a couple of problem coins Thanks for this advice. I'm trying to post the pictures there, but am having some difficulty as I don't use a photo hosting site.

And here's the reverse.

Here's something I picked up a few days ago for about £2. It's 14 mm diameter and appears to be tin or another soft alloy. It was sold as British, but obviously isn't, probably because of the flag. It's a bit macabre because of the arrow through the skull. Anybody got a clue what it is? It was bought from Thailand. Reverse is in the next post.

If Di Matteo has any sense, he'll get out of Chelsea whilst still on a high. After all after that performance, the team isn't likely to do better next season, and the expectation will be that they should do so. Then there's the fact that football management is probably the most poisonous in the UK, with the Chelsea job up there as possibly the most toxic. Add these together and, if it was me, I'd be off to another management job in the premier league, hopefully to win something and then move again, and so on. If he stays, then I don't see him there very long, despite this last season.

I'm with you here regarding records. I built up a collection of about 200 vinyl LPs, eventually found that the stereo I had was on it's last legs and bought a new system. Didn't bother with a record deck and so I'm left with a pile of LPs. All in pretty good nick as I wasn't careless with them when they were bought and I'm amazed at the going prices for some of them. For example I have some early stones stuff, like 'Between the Buttons' and 'Aftermath' and these can go for around the £60 each mark. Ditto The Beatles and some of the other early rock material like the Who. There's a vinyl record specialist shop next to where my other half works part time, and they have some really interesting old and new material, and they have a phenomenal knowldge base. As for other other interests, I have a Volvo P1800, but that's just a labour of love, not part of a collection. My other main interest is a Yamaha Motif XS synthsiser, which I have learned to use and have produced several songs on. Eventually, I want to get enough material together to produce a full blown album - top of the charts here I come. My stuff is my own style and as a result, and in keeping with my personal vintage, I call it the 'mature retro' genre! There's something about modern styles, using an older person's themes and Stratocasters that works for me.

Sorry, but no. I have no problem whatsover with it. Suits me fine. Personally, I'm not that keen on lists that go by reign, since it means I have to scan through each reign (e.g. Corbetts latest) to find out whether there is anything that I might want, rather than look for the denomination that maybe interests me. Perhaps we could suggest that Lockdales and others build their websites so that we could choose the layout that best suits us for examing the lots (obviously, the actual order on the auction date would have to be fixed).

Well the seller does say that it's a carefully crafted from a genuine coin by altering the date. Guess I'll go with that as an explanation. Surprised some people have bid it up to £29 though. Oops, didn't notice that £29 was the starting price!!!!

Hi all, Can anybody recommend a really comprehensive book on English token coinage - 17th, 18th and 19th centuries? I'd like to be able to attribute my tokens, understand any varieties, assess rarity and if possible get a handle on prices/values. Many thanks in advance.

I have a 1949 edition Full title is Seaby's catalogues-Copper coins and tokens-British Isles A wonderful reference; It covers Roman coins struck in Britain during the occupation,Anglo-Saxon sceats,English copper coins 1860-1936,Billion and copper coins of Scotland,Irish coppers etc,Coins and tokens of the Isle of Man,Coins of Lundy Island,Copper coins and tokens of the Channel islands,17C tokens,An introduction to 18C tradesmen's tokens (by Peck ),18C tokens,19C silver tokens & 19C copper tokens. I note that this publication records the large date 1737 1/4d which that "slacker" Peck missed 11 years later The preface lists Trade tokens in the 17C by W Boyne 1889-91 Provincial token coinage of 18C D&H 1910-18 The silver token coinage by Dalton 1922 The 19C token coinage by WJ Davis 1904 Seaby goes on to say the book is not a complete list as he was aware of 15,000 copper 17C tokens Happy hunting Dave....is there a book in you? Not if Seaby is right that there are at least 15000 17C coppers. That sounds like a lifetimes work to find, photograph and catalogue. Too much for me at my time of life.

It's still not worth the money paid, not in that condition. I wonder if somebody (or a few bidders) thinks this is a halfcrown and has bid accordingly. If it had been a halfcrown then the price might be reasonable, although I would have thought anybody with a bit of knowledge might have spotted that it obviously isn't.

Thanks everybody. Much to consider before I decide where to go with this.

Can anybody resist this one? I predict a major bidding battle http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1806-Proof-copper-Farthing-George-III-/190670887612?pt=UK_Coins_BritishMilled_RL&hash=item2c64dedabc

And don't forget that well known Met copper, Inspector Robin Banks.