Coinery

Welcome JPK, what detector do you use?

I've been asking at the post office for unopened bags of decimals! No luck, yet, though haven't tried the bank! Question: how far back would banks or PO's carry unopened dates? Also, outside of these sources, where else would you look? I'm gathering up what I can, for my own pleasure, and also to stimulate the interest of my son, who thinks shiny is best!

OK, I'm thinking fend for yourself on this topic, unless Peter turns up with the 'kids' which, in light of the recent awards, he is more than welcome to do so? Even without the kids you'd be a pleasant and welcome arrival, Peter, once we're organised! I guess we could always trial Declan first, being as he's only got a farthing's worth of petrol to spend to get here! If he sat on his chainsaw and fired it up, we'd be within walking distance of picking up the pieces!

It's OK, you can bring them!

Sounds perfect to me, as I've been really desperate for a restoration project on a decent motorbike? My last significant motorbiking period was on a GPZ 750, which had little left of the foot pegs by the time I'd finished with it...quite a feat on a poor long-wheelbase design! Apart from the white-line bottom shuffle I loved it!Will you be bringing your daughters? The wife asked!

I'd quite like to acquire the decimals, though I never thought I'd hear myself say it! I guess it's a cheap and, dare I say it, fun way to involve the boy (as well as myself) AND, don't forget, a way to tap into the coin collecting hobby that all you old buggers experienced when first starting your collections, albeit your experience was a tad more varied and exciting than today's collector might experience from change? Edit: I guess this has to be read in the context of my 'whole' experience of accumulation! In boyhood I collected pike plugs and football stickers. In my late 20's, when I realised a genuine E1 6d was cheaper than a museum copy, things significantly changed... I always had a love of 'old ways' and simple living; poaching, fishing, etc. so, history in-hand, has always bit me hard in the arse! Everything grabbed me, a pottery shard/sherd, a beam from an Elizabethan house, which can be planked for a refectory table, a musket ball suspended from a piece of 1700 deer fencing, a 2" diameter piece of 18th century ship rope as the frame for a mirror...everything, but happy daze indeed! Double edit: added even before I read Peck was an old git, which I'm sure he is? You can move nearer to us Peck if you want, my wife'll dust your new home and polish your coins for you!

A very odd thing has just happened! I put a snipe in on a coin that was set to finish at 17.00 and signed in at 16.50 to find it in my 'ended items' list at the £4.50 it had been sat at for a day or so! Bugger I thought, the item had been ended early due to low bidding, bugger, bugger! Anyway, I signed in to my sniping software which was still counting down on it! So, back to eBay, sign-out, sign-in, refresh...still in ended items! Point is! Don't cancel your snipes in this instance, as I so very nearly did, because I won that coin for £11.50, even though it was still sat in ended items at £4.50! eBay's such a pain in the arse! Got a nice 1860 farthing, though!

Better late than never, Geoff! The images are through very poor-quality coin flips, the windows are speckled and slightly opaque which, unfortunately, the camera focused upon instead of the coin. There are a couple of verd spots on the edge which needs dealing with, otherwise a GVF for me. Any opinions from the hammered or farthing gents? The fields are excellent on this one, I should take it out and photograph it properly really! You get the idea though!

And that reminds me of the Brummy fisherman who caught a 'whale' and threw it back because it had no spokes in it!Tommy Cooper! Once, while in a large Birmingham shopping mall, whose name escapes me, we asked, with my wife's Essex accent, for directions to a toy store and ended up at The Tie Shop. great!The Bull Ring I think it is?

No, 29 out...F501 for me at £11.50 A good buy if the lacquer comes off with acetone? 121241413171

Everyone was on a level footing in the dial-up days, you could really grab a bargain then! I know a lot of people that did, especially when my occasional off-the-planet snipes were seconds too late and the coin remained at a eye-wateringly low price! I love the auction, but without the variables of kids falling over, postie arriving, internet failing (especially for us dongle boys)!

That's pretty much my routine when I'm firing on all cylinders!

If you've been on the 'bay and spotted something in the first place (for profit or keeps), it means you haven't wasted your time, that's all! Better than putting a possible bargain in the watch list and then forgetting it!

I don't want to in any way disrespect any of the above posts, as it's obvious that a lot of sensitive, interesting life-experiences, and personal sacrifices have been made. I just didn't know where else to share a great embarrassment with you...for the very first time in my life I asked if they had any unopened bags in the post office!

You really must spend 5 mins looking at this, Rob, it's so straightforward and amazing value. I'd never ever go back to that hovering over the keyboard situation again and, to be honest, if you're against a snipe engine, you'll never beat it for speed anyway. you can have it saved on your toolbar and, whenever you've got an eBay page open in the browser you fancy a silly bid on, you just click on it and a pop-up appears asking you for your top bid...as quick and easy as that, you can then forget about it and carry on browsing...OR, drink a bottle of wine instead! http://auctionsniper.com/

I think on this occasion (at least viewing on the phone) that he's not a million miles away, if he's saying AU, which it looks like he is to me? At the very least an EF...better than that IMHO! A real shame about the tone! However, I wouldn't shy away from it if it was really cheap...a patient wait in a coin cabinet would coax the colour back a little bit, it doesn't look abraided at least? I so hope he isn't routinely dipping copper/bronze in the mistaken belief he's doing the right thing? There's that other seller (forget his name now, who's caught me twice), who routinely dips ALL his silver! Brings tears!

And that reminds me of the Brummy fisherman who caught a 'whale' and threw it back because it had no spokes in it!Tommy Cooper!

I'm thinking the same as you, Garrett! I'm definitely thinking cleaned, though!

I'm currently putting together a denomination set for a friend of mine! It was my thoughts to get a framing shop to cut out the holes for me (if it was possible?) but, if something better comes up here, I'll be all ears! Thanks for the post, I'll be really interested to read peoples' thoughts and ideas! Is the mounting card used by framers definitely acid free, I didn't realise that?

Be interesting to see if he sells any?

That would be telling I like your posts too, while we're in this brief cocoon of mutual admiration You two can be so sweet sometimes!

I bought this recently (BCW Shilling CC-2Ei:C1), not for the grade (obviously), but rather the rarer bust 1Ai ( i=all pearls present in crown, the state of the punch at Christmas 1560 ). In case anyone is interested, the reverse Lis have the classic 'nibble' out of the left petal, making them BCW14 (not one of the major identifiers, as every known currency Cross-Crosslet and Martlet shilling has Lis 14). So two questions: 1)Does anyone know the reason behind an annoyingly common practice of scratching lines into the fields of these old coins, typically two lines crossing. 2)Does anyone know of a source that identifies the rarity of the various varieties within Elizabeth's coins? Is there a better option than the 'how often you see them available for sale'? BCW only attempt a rarity based on their 'virtual collection' and to some extent the mint records and indentures, but these do not look at the individual types within the same denomination privy mark. For example, the Cross-Crosslet is identified as the most common Elizabeth I shilling ever produced (6 million), but it doesn't distinguish between the six different busts and the staggering 52 different die-pairings for the CC shilling alone. I guess a lot of people would not be interested in a Cross-Crosslet shilling beyond its Bust Type, but the RARITY of the six CC Shilling Busts, anyone know?

They were half right then! 1 Charles I and 1 James I ...'English' Farthings!