Coinery

Hear blinkin' hear! And that coin's so beautifully buttery it would melt if but a ray fell upon it!Very pretty!

It's a lot simpler even than that - they are run by the same people! You could regard CGS as the TPG arm of LC. Am I the only one who is bothered by the fact that LC offers for sale on occasion clearly counterfeit coins? Like this Centenary Florin they sold back in August 2013. It is not only a counterfeit, but a pretty bad one. You're not alone, no, it bugs the hell out of all of us! To date I've managed to procure 2 fakes from a major auction house, one which was spotted before setting off home, the other they honourably refunded me for (nearly 6 month's later) when I finally weighed it for cataloging and frightened myself!No complaints, just disappointed that it was I who had to spot them!

Hah, yes, I'd certainly put it up if I could! All our tracks are on tape...though I do mean to organise a digital transfer at some point soon (ish)!

Maundy is one series which often exhibits toning of this nature, particularly if it has been stored in a case. The more undisturbed the set, the more likely it is to see one side more heavily toned from contact with the case. Picking up the coin, even by the edge will inevitably leave minute deposits at the rim which increases the chance of toning at this point, even if we are looking many years into the future.I wasn't referring to imbalance fore and aft, I was meaning the degree to which the toning spreads inwards! It's a bit like an off-centre hammered strike, for want of a better word, though Peck has seen it as central! Not instantly appealling to me!

Cheers, Rob!

I personally don't like the imbalance of the tone on this one! Balance is an important feature in my book, mostly derived from my interest in, and the vagarities of, hammered strikes (and tone of course)!

The low estimate I believe is not to pull in the punters, but rather to cover the auction house in the event of a passed lot. Most rooms will buy in the unsolds at say 80% of low estimate. It is in their interest to keep that number as low as possible. Low enough, then most will sell. They gain nothing from inflating the estimate.What's the etiquette around that then Rob? Is it a case of letting the staff know of your interest straight away, or is it handbags at auction close?

W&W are also guilty of the low estimate manoeuvre! Incidentally, for those interested, their next auction has a whole pile of low to mid-grade c2 crowns going through!

My personal advice would be to 'learn your coins' and forget which TPGC is best for any given coin; not that there isn't plenty written here about it already, if you wish to pursue it (good point re centralising it all)! There have been far too many errors made by them to warrant any faith in them, unless it's about slabbing to sell to those who are determined to follow this path! The thing to definitely be wary of is US TPGC's who slab UK coins, there are examples where fakes have been entombed as genuine, amongst others!

I spent an absolute age tracking down a truly UNC 1901 farthing! I still haven't got the full denomination set in UNC (Florin anyone?)!

Try and get some pictures posted, hazhutch! There is a 'sticky post' with lots of help on this, if you're struggling! Welcome aboard!

Flippin' 'eck, lovely!

Interesting, because, as you mention, these decisions are generally commercially driven...what does that say for the coin market, as it presently seems to be performing admirably in the general market! As a major world player in numismatics, have Spinks some hidden insights into future outcomes? I'd personally say, yes, they have...not that this conclusion can be drawn from their recent disinterest in the coin market! I would personally add that the TPGC's have introduced a massive investment in coins, from those who know nothing whatsoever about collectable coins and, I believe, this has brought about a 'laziness' and complacency in the slabbing industry! This will eventually implode through lack of confidence in the 'product' and drag the market to its knees! Without a new collector base, I believe we'll be able to fill our boots...but investment propositions? Gone! No more!

LIS & Lions say no! It would be a major variety find too, if it WAS an overdate, as the 8/7 coins are only known with an inverted 8, and C*C*'s is correctly orientated! I do wonder where he imagined a 7 in the first place?

The garter star and edge are the big stand-outs for me on this coin! I think at some point it would be worth a proper study into what's right and wrong about these coins, as I'd like one too one day! This is the kind of good fun, research-journey, type collectors can get involved in, as it must be on the list for most? It's usually easy to discount cast and electrotype fakes at the macro level, as was clear with John's 1905 shilling (thread here somewhere), which looks great in-hand, except for the 'bulge', which could easily have not been there, and weight (mostly). However, milled fake/counterfeits are a very different animal, of course! With these we need a die-study to firstly identify what's correct, and how many varieties (if any) are in existence, and then a die study of the fakes (at the level seuk has been doing) because, no matter how well they make the fake dies, there is always something to ID it at the micro level - at least there is at the moment!

What I like about your collection BRG is the consistency of tone and quality...were these all acquired from the same old collection, or have you sourced them individually? One...by one....by one...slowly but surely. Good work! Really looks as though they've lived side by side for centuries!

What I like about your collection BRG is the consistency of tone and quality...were these all acquired from the same old collection, or have you sourced them individually?

I'm not sure if Numismatic Photography has much of a following of interested persons outside the USA, but Mark Goodman's book that you linked to is superb. I know of about two dozen or so of us semi-professional and professional numismatic photographers here in the USA, none of whom use scanners. There's a reason for that. Will you PLEASE stop with all that. Some of us have no choice. Yes, I'd be happy if things were toned down a little, or at least sensitive to the forum masses as a whole! I think in the 'excitement' of the thread, we have become a little channelled and have forgotten, in this instance, at least, that not everyone can afford a decent set-up, or even have the privilege of photographing their collection even if they did! This forum is made up of individuals who can afford 10's of thousands for a coin and, equally, just £10, we need to avoid becoming too elitist in our excitement! I'm only griping coz I'm skint myself! Com'on Scott bring us all down to earth!

How on earth did you manage to scan the edge? Now that is clever!Would be a great idea for the edge of ANY milled coin, especially the more valuable coins you were either selling or buying?

I'd say no as, if the plan is to sell it, you could have problems and, if it's for your own pleasure, can you really kid yourself...you have the coin????Edit: from the perspective of over-cooking the image I mean...and that's hard to avoid, to discipline yourself too! Stuart I have bought many coins on a picture and when received I have been pleasantly surprised. Some ebay sellers and dealers pictures are rubbish.This I have taken to my advantage.(especially in years gone by). On Ebay Lucido is a classic example where punters lap up his coins as they are cleverly pictured.(perched on a finger at an angle) Grades are sometimes clearly over stepped but coins still sell for a premium. If you picture a farthing blown up to dinner plate size (aka Dave ) the buyer will no doubt love his 22mm copper disc when it arrives...horses for courses. What I'm saying is, if you take a beauty of an image, you can sometimes be disappointed by the actual item when you come to browse it!I've taken some images of E &C1 coins before and, after processing them, have had to go back to them and tone them down, as they were prettier than the coins themselves, which I didn't want...I wanted to be able to look at my image-collection, and not be in the least bit disappointed when I flipped open the album!

I'd say no as, if the plan is to sell it, you could have problems and, if it's for your own pleasure, can you really kid yourself...you have the coin????Edit: from the perspective of over-cooking the image I mean...and that's hard to avoid, to discipline yourself too!

It depends on what kind of scanner you prefer to use and on the photoshop version of course. Usually I scan in all my coins... just try that one: CCD technology scannersChKy, are these exceptional examples of your scanner's capability, or are they representational? The images here are excellent for a scanner, what kind of resolution do you get? Did you resize the images here?

I don't understand, why three? If for a future return, there are better coins to spend the other £40 on for that, surely?

Just thought, being as most of us use Paypal, that we could share any scamming attempts here, and hopefully stay up to date with it all! So, today I received an email, saying that £40+ has been paid from my account to Skype (which I don't use) for a 3-month period! At the bottom of the email there was a link saying 'if you did not authorise this payment, open a dispute here!' That was the danger zone, of course! PayPal advise that people first check their accounts by opening a new browser and entering PayPal.com and logging in from there to check for any legitimate payments, etc. Also, they ask that any fraudulent emails be forwarded in full to them at spoof@paypal.com