DaveG38

It's not confined to gold. If you look at the older 10p and 50p especially, you will see a change from a rather lovely satin finish (1968 - early 1970s) to a rather ugly mirror finish sometime around the mid-1970s. I'm not sure why they did this, or why they thought it was better, but I suspect it is something to do with practicalities and nothing to do with aesthetics. It may have something to do with the change in die finish which the mint introduced around 1973/4. From this point on the dies were Chrome plated and this seems to have led to some interesting effects when it comes to the strike.

Seuk should structure it all up and get it into a book. Web sites are OK, but they are transient and can be lost, damaged or whatever over time, especially if you don't pay your internet/domain name subscriptions. A book on the other hand will end up in the British Library and is there for future generations to read. Get writing as well as webbing!!

Wow, that's a high risk strategy Dave! To sell one's collection and then expect to be able to buy it back at a cheaper price in the future. Even with the money available, it takes years to assemble a decent collection. Some coins virtually never appear in the market and to lever them out of the hands of other collectors is likely to require a significant premium. It isn't one I was planning to adopt myself, as I'm a collector not a gambler. However, it's what the guys in the city do all day long and I bet there are some people who are able to judge the turning point and go for the big sell. I guess if you are a collector and, as you say, you have some rarities that are almost never seen then you probably wouldn't part with these, but would let some of the more easily obtained examples go.

Could also be the general economic situation. There are still plenty of wealthy people around, who look at the stock markets and have decide to go for alternative investments. One of these will be coins, and as investors, they will soon suss out that buying high value top grade is the best policy and so we see a trend towards increasing prices for top quality material. Middle grade is more the bread and butter of the 'normal' collector and for this group, many are having their pockets squeezed, leading to an easing of prices. At the bottom end, apart from bullion value increases, prices are probably moving relatively little. Something similar happened at the end of the 1980s when Black Wednesday (or was it Friday?) smashed share investments for six. The result was a flight from shares and one of the winners from this was the classic car market, where a 1970 Aston Martin DBSV8 went from around £17k to around £80k over a couple of years. By the mid 90s, prices were back to sensible levels and stayed that way until the 2008 crash. Now the same thing is happening. An Aston at around £15k two years ago is now £30k and rising, all being driven by the economic situation. My bet is that on this occasion, coins are joining in the pool of 'safe' investments for those with money, but no particular interest in the coins themselves. Of course, on top of this ebay has widened access to material for a huge range of collectors and this too is driving prices along. Where it will go from here, I really don't know, but my gut feeling is that when the economic situation eases, investors will largely take their profits and leave and there may be a glut of bgetter materail on the market thus depressing prices. This wll then drive down the prices of the lower grades. The trick to this is to know when to sell a collection so as to maximise profits, then buying back in again when prices have fallen, thus enhancing the collection at, hopefully no additional cost. That's the theory. The reality will no doubt be very different!

Welsh connection maybe?

As far as I know the idea is to preserve the cultural history of a country. Essentially it applies to international trade, and primarily was aimed at looted material dug illegally and then shipped abroad for profit. I believe it does apply (assuming we're one of the signatories, which is likely) to British coins, but we aren't seemingly as interested in pursuing it as say the Greeks or Bulgarians, their antiquities. Since our coins are British then I doubt there would be the concern unless we sold them somewhere like the US in which case the American authorities might question it. But at the moment the focus seems to be on Mediterranean /Middle Eastern . more exotic locations than western Europe. We also have the added advantage of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. While not perfect it is in effect a recognition by the archeaological community of the interests of the numismatic and detectorists. While no doubt artefacts might be taken illegally or without reporting here, it's less likely. And so I think our authorities have less pressure on them (and less interest) in pursuing a few dug coins. Obviously it's a good idea to keep records (including asking sellers where coins are from). But hopefully, in true British fashion, common sense will prevail and nobody will be claiming our coins only to stick them in a box for them never to be seen again. There is I think some benefit from having coins in the hands of collectors in that they are studied, preserved and stored by someone else. I doubt there are the resources or interest for 'the Government' to do it and if they will otherwise just sit in storage there's an argument it's better for them to be in proivate hands, no? The key to this would surely be the age cut off at which any such scheme would apply. To take a ridiculous extreme, how could anybody prove that they are the true owners of the coins in their pockets or purses? Do we get a signed paper from the W H Smiths till operator specifying the exact coins we were given in change? The idea is ridiculous. So when it comes to pre-decimal coinage, how would anybody be able to prove that the coins in your collection weren't simply picked out of change in a bygone era and have been handed down in your family or whatever? The problem for anybody when it comes to coins is that they circulated in the public arena and by historical precedent, finders were literally keepers, since it would be impossible to establish a chain of ownership from the mint to a collection. The issue then becomes one of when a cut off date would apply and what provisions would be made for collectors at that point. Usually the legal position is that legislation isn't retrospective, so if applied to coin collections this would mean that what you own at the point of the introduction of a law would be deemed the starting point of ownership, and going forward people might have to then prove ownership. To introduce legislation retrospectively would introduce a nightmare of court actions as people seek to object to confiscation or whatever of their property, including no doubt Human Rights law, and what is a minor issue that doesn't need fixing suddenly becomes a major one that clogs the legal system up, all when government and the legal system has better things to do. And it isn't just coins. What about, he says in hushed, whispered tones, stamps (rinses mouth with soapy water)?? Or any other collectable?

Here's an interesting eBay item that went through and sold earlier today. It's advertised as a 1697 Crown, which would make it quite rare, even in this condition, which is atrocious. However, further down the listing, the seller does say that it's a halfcrown. Despite this it went for £79. Why I wonder? Either the buyer didn't realise it was a halfcrown, or possibly they recognised that it is an (I think) unlisted variety. As far as I can judge, the Irish harp shield is to the right of the date, whereas it is normally to the left i.e. it is transposed with the Scottish shield. On this basis, I went up to £15 for curiosity value but nearly £80!!!!!! Whew. A phrase involving gob and smacked comes to mind. Alternatively, it might be a contemporary forgery I guess.

Wow! I recently got an A/UNC (and genuinely so) 1901 farthing, without mint darkening, so rarer, and all for the princely sum of $11.35, incluidng postage to the UK.

Mine's a simple philosophy for buying. Putting it very flippantly, I'll buy from anybody who has a coin I want, in an acceptable condition and at the right price!

There's an interesting tin with plug farthing on eBay at the moment. It has the conjoined busts of William and Mary, similar in style to the 1689 farthing, but is paired with the 'Woods' farthing reverse, which of course would be 1720s, not 1690s. I can't find any reference to it in the irish coinage series. Any ideas anybody? Is it a counterfeit or something else? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160726019147&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

Thank you for this - looks like it's just a toy model Aston then.

Brilliant. All those who don't believe in spending money on books take note. I presume the problem is the same in Portugal as it is here. No book covers everything, and even within a specialist book there are things missing. That's why you need so many reference books to cover all the gaps. Yes it´s the same but we have the mutual support in 2 forum´s like this one. There is always an expert that can help you in a particular area. Another thing is that someone that finds any information in the internet or in is own investigations automatically shares with the rest. Regards Hi Caetobriga, A completely different issue, but I wondered if you wouldn't mind giving a little information about a Portuguese coin I have. It's copper, 25mm in diameter, is dated 1753 and has IOSEPHUS on the obverse. It's quite thin and has a crowned V on the obverse.Condition is GF, but it does have a slight crease. Tell me something about it, preferably that it's mega-rare and worth at least a new Aston Martin. LOL.

You're all wrong - it's a modern commemorative featuring scenes from "Invasion of the Body-Snatchers". Those figures are so obviously from a galaxy far far away. You're not really Erich Von Daniken by any chance?

Having spent a lot of cash on a James rarity via ebay some years ago it was more than a little f****g annoying to find a rather messy corroded piece of a few hundred pounds in the coin cabinet tray when I opened it a year later. Tin pest, soil/Thames find and no conservation spring to mind. A very costly lesson that I will not be repeating. That's interesting. I've got a number of pieces of tin ware and virtually all of them are river finds, I'd guess, based on their lack of corrosion and silver colour. The only poorer one is a 1687 halfpenny in about VF condition, which has all over corrosion and a few odd nasty looking spots of acne. All of the silver coloured ones are stable as far as I can judge and seem to have been for a number of years. I just wondered if there are any means that can be used to preserve them, or whether they are all destined to dissolve into dust in due course.

Just looks like a bog standard grotty British tin farthing to me Dave. The reverse legend is NOT Hibernia but is Britannia by the looks of it. Duuh, beats head on desk!! Of course it's Britannia - it was the shape of the olive branch that threw me, as it seems to be more curved than normal, rather like the woods type. It's also obvious that it is a shield not a harp, so I'll stop harping on about it.

With my latest purchase, I've pretty much completed my collection of Coin Monthly mags, all the way from 1966 up to 1992. However, I have just a copule missing in the middle of the series - those issued in April 1980. I'm not sure if there is just one in April or two as this is the last month before they returned to monthly issue from fortnightly. My last issue is Feb 1992, but rumour has it that the mag folded somewhere around June of that year, which means I am looking for 4 at the end of the series. So, a simple question. Has anybody got any spare copies for sale of the ones I am still looking for?

Good question Debbie, i'll throw my hat in the ring with a Maundy 1d off the top of my head. Anyone else? British only though Hammered farthing is pretty small.

My first wife and I once spent a happy week at camp with a bunch of girl guides, one of whom was a fabulous natural blond, wonderfully curved, blue eyed stunner (excuse me while I go off into flights of fantasy for a moment). The only problem was when she opened her mouth - ee, gor and blimey made Essex girls look sophisticated. She'd be about 40 now but I bet she's still a stunner.

All I know is that mine's in VF condition, but in my experience its not as difficult to find as the 1854 and as for the 1853 groat, well I don't think I've ever seen one in any condition.

I, for one, collect decimal as well as all the other English milled, so I would be happy to go in for swaps. I actually only have 13 of the 2011 olympic 50ps, so I'd be looking for any of the missing ones. I don't have any spare olympics at the moment, but I can offer up a Girl Guides of 2010 and a 2008 Britannia. And before anybody groans about the britannia, be aware that it was quite a low mintage, prior to the new design and is, therefore, more difficult to find.

I attendeed as always (one of the few salerooms within relatively easy striking distance for me). Bidding was the usual bloodbath but I managed to pick up 12 lots. I was underbidder on your 1662 Crown, it went in the room. The engraving kind of killed it but I thought it was worth a punt as it was the rarer inverted die axis type (en medaille rather than coin alignment). I got just one lot from an online bid at what I think was a fair price. However, I was staggered by the prices being made by some of the bulk buys, most of which looked very run of the mill.

Whilst I have no desire to diss my own publication efforts, my book(s) are about identifying 20th Century varieties, not about the coins in general. So for instance I go into great detail about all the types of 1920 halfcrown, but don't even mention the 1923 because there are no known varieties. The intention with these books was to bring together all the disparate descriptors that are used to identify the varieties and to bring together all of the more minor type that are rarely identified. The aim was to give 20thC collectors an added dimension to their collecting. So if you are into 20thC silver and its varieties then this may be one book for you. On the other hand, if you are overwhelmed with indifference as to whether the crown on a sceptre of a 1920s florin points to a space or a border tooth, then this book isn't for you.

I could, but the issue is the sheer amount of work involved. The publication started in 1967 in November, and ran monthly at least until Feb 1992, with a period of 6 months when they issued twice per month. When you put that together its around 25 years of monthly issues. In the early days and in the later years, the page count was around 80, but when at its best, it ran to around 140 pages or so, maybe overall an average of 100 pages. Conservatively that means 25x12x100 = 30,000 scans, although I guess it might be half of that if pages were scanned in twos. Then there is all the cropping and aligning, plus design of the 'package' for the whole thing. My best guess is that its around 6 months work if performed on a continuous basis. To then have somebody come along and say 'you can't do that, take it down from a web site' would make all that work a complete waste, so for this reason, I'm not interested unless I can be reasured that there will be no comebacks. 1966. I've offered to scan the Ron Stafford article from 1979 (the big florin survey) but there haven't been any takers so far. It would only be around 8 scans but I'm not going to do it unless there is some interest. Quite right.I'm having too many senior moments. However, all it means is another 12 editions to scan, another 1000 pages ish!!

I could, but the issue is the sheer amount of work involved. The publication started in 1967 in November, and ran monthly at least until Feb 1992, with a period of 6 months when they issued twice per month. When you put that together its around 25 years of monthly issues. In the early days and in the later years, the page count was around 80, but when at its best, it ran to around 140 pages or so, maybe overall an average of 100 pages. Conservatively that means 25x12x100 = 30,000 scans, although I guess it might be half of that if pages were scanned in twos. Then there is all the cropping and aligning, plus design of the 'package' for the whole thing. My best guess is that its around 6 months work if performed on a continuous basis. To then have somebody come along and say 'you can't do that, take it down from a web site' would make all that work a complete waste, so for this reason, I'm not interested unless I can be reasured that there will be no comebacks.

Argus Books was apparently the publisher of the 1992 Year Book whereas the 1988 was published by Numismatic Publishing I think you mean Coin Monthly not Coin News, but yes, that sounds like a reasonable case. After all, people can currently buy the Coin News YEARBOOK without buying a single issue of Coin News. I do mean Coin Monthly and have amended the post above to avoid further confusion.