Coinery

The weight is probably all that anyone can judge by, as the images are not really going to help that much. I think everyone collecting coins should make a set of 100th gram scales their first priority. Plus, I know it might not please all, but if I was buying big money gold hammered, I'd probably even be acid testing it too!

Yes, a big welcome aboard, Woodsman. Unfortunately, the subject of authenticity is an all too common discussion on this forum, with many flagging-up eBay coins, and others studying them and bringing their knowledge and discoveries to the table for us all to benefit from. In all fairness, contemporary counterfeits of most hammered coins, are worth nearly as much, if not more so, than worn examples of the equivalent types. Now that's a really good reason to like low-grade coinage Re Fakes, there is generally somebody around with their finger in the pie, so you should get a lot of help for most periods! Just get practicing with a camera, as good images are king on the forum. Happy detecting, a great father and son pastime!

Another staggering image, Nicholas, I hope the coin's your's, as I'm going to be coming to Aus. just to see them all! I see your point, but the orb can let you down a lot on many strikes. I guess the question would be how on earth do you squeeze VF, GVF, NEF, EF, and GEF between Paulus's shilling and your image? I'm going to have to get you to do my shopping in the Autumn! I'm still on GVF myself, though!

That's GVF for me! I'd be really interested in a number of views, as these Cromwell coins, which I think are a stunning series, are meeting with quite some variability! Nice spot, Paulus, I wonder who he's selling that coin for? Edit: possibly even a smidging better than GVF, I really like it. You've always got to mark Uncle Buck's coins down a notch on eye-appeal, as his images always look very 'lustry' and colourful, whereas, in-hand, the story is mostly very different!

Pictures speak a thousand words! Bring it on Peter....... I did wonder just how long it would take for a pennyman to arrive...

Very, VERY, nice, too!

Difficult to contest your view, as no-one can deny you have some absolutely amazing coins, but fine? Crikes you're harsh!

I think you're right, the reverse is a smidging better. Really top condition for grade, though, def GVF money overall I think.

VF for me! Pretty coin, though!

The problem is that any seller who wants a reasonable return has to overprice in order to recoup the ebay charges. When you are losing 15-20% in fees, it has to be recovered by charging more. If sellers still had the option to bypass Paypal, it would be possible to reduce the charges and so lower prices to the buyer. Many of my sales and purchases on eBay have ended up outside of eBay and Paypal, even with my first transaction with a buyer or seller Once a negotiation starts, it becomes immediately obvious that it would be mutually beneficial to cut eBay and PayPal out of the equation (once you have established some trust!). EBay hate it of course, but there are ways and means that are not complicated, and the best thing is it builds you an invaluable network of trusted contacts for repeat business! So I think you may want to experiment with the Bay Rob, see what you think! I used to. I stopped when they made accepting Paypal obligatory. Having previously had a fallout with them which ended up at the ombudsman and me a few hundred pounds richer, it was a decision that I was never going to rescind. eBay's policy of buyer good, seller bad is hardly welcoming, and to ensure you get a fair return, you need to start above £1 which means people ignore the listing. On balance, the hassle of listing for a week or ten days, but not selling because you aren't offering the item on a 99% discount is unattractive. I also find the whole experience very 'seller beware' and slanted towards the buyer. What I am saying has worked well for me is the 'BIN or best offer' listings that quickly migrate to a negotiation and deal outside of eBay and Paypal, and future deals with satisfied/delighted buyers. This can happen on the first deal, and is very common I think! Obviously the buyer and seller don't get the fantastic insurance offered by a regular eBay purchase, but when dealing with proper collectors this has yet to prove to be a problem for me ... might be worth a go for a handful of your hard-to-shift coins? Yes, but then there are the arseholes who bid on coins without any Intention of paying for them as is the case with my 1708 halfcrown. rsskyline from Belfast, registered as a Business seller no less buying everything in sight but Fails to pay for the coin he bidded on. So a wasted week in waiting for payment/wondering if he's going to pay, no email from them, no Response to mine and so onwards to the dipute to wait yet another 4 days. This is the part of ebay that irks me, new ebayer failing to pay yet they let him continue, absolute joke In all fairness, you would be no more protected from people who don't want to pay you, even if running a website! Arseholes are just that, wherever they shop! They probably take clothes back to high street stores after wearing them a few times too, they may even have shoplifted them in the first place!

Keep us posted, I've never heard of anyone actually getting to communicate with a human being at eBay before, will be interesting to see how things are dealt with! Best of luck!

Blinkin' 'eck, Stephen, you do like a challenge, don't you! I'm cosied up in bed now, but I'm sure the coin will be precisely ID'd before the morning? You're going to need something stronger than a Spink's in the future, me thinks!

No mincing there, then, Rob! Honestly, just his attempts to bamboozle was deserving of your response, he can't truly believe a word of it himself? Surely, no-one's THAT delusional...are they?

Rob please forgive me but I did belly laugh at his reply! Ignoring the many factual inaccuracies, is it remotely possible that English is his 5th language and he used various on-line translation apps to convert from Mandarin -> Vulcan -> Swahili -> Yoda and then into pigeon English? I would love to read your reply to him! :D Yes, c'mon, Rob! Let's hope he doesn't get it into his head to rook a brite one day! Edit: sorry, Wook a brite! Oh, dear!

I've had a couple of Japanese sales, no problems! I mostly buy 2, 3, 4 of everything, generally, and then shift on the least of them, it's probably quite a common practice with distance buying, especially with the more anal collectors amongst us!

Das verletzt meine Seiten zu lachen! Ich liebe google Ãœbersetzer! and back.. It does hurt my sides laughing! I love Google Translator! Huh. Disappointingly consistent (The translation back was using Babylon not Google - using Google got exactly the same English unsurprisingly) I was always told babelfish.com was a good translator...it returned this: That hurt my sides laughing! I love google translator!

The whole forum's gone bananas! I think we should all drink 'bottled' water until we can work out what the hell's going on around here? What's your problem. Ask questions and a few brain cells flicker into life in people's heads. If the topic is stimulting enough, a percentage will take it on board. No bottled water required - pah. Anyway, what's going on is a realisation that there are more things in the wider numismatic world than an individual's collecting sphere which is usually restricted on the dubious grounds of not being able to afford to collect something. This is a red herring because most people can't afford to complete the series they are currently working on anyway. Vive la difference. It's all great stuff, some really interesting takes on things recently! Nice 6d, by the way, thank-you!

The whole forum's gone bananas! I think we should all drink 'bottled' water until we can work out what the hell's going on around here?

Ive got last 2 or 3 Collectors Coins GB, same with Coin yearbooks. Guide to Grading British Coins and one Coin monthly yearbook from 1968:) And many Coin News magazines... Now after i read those and this Forum archives, seen thousands of coins on ebay and dealers' websites and spent couple grand on some rubish coins from farthings to sovereigns i decided i like 19th/early 20th century silver the most. That made me realise that i should read more books first. So i need something specific about english silver before i start spending money again Ah, and whats the best place to buy them? eBay? Thanks Dave Grooms book is a good companion to Davies (it comprehensively covers the 20th C)...you can get Dave's book by Private Messaging him directly on here! Davies, P. J. (British Silver Coins Since 1816) you can get from Amazon, or maybe Rob, John, Derek, none for sale on Pre-Decimal though (just checked)!

It's 2nd Issue S2558 (the Martlet PM is the thing you need to be looking at in the very first instance - just before Elizabeth on the obverse). For your ticket it's Bust 3H, and BCW Penny MR-2:a6. North 1988. Around £40 would be OK

I'd say 100% Davies for general English Silver, far superior to ESC, providing you don't want to go back any further than 1816. ESC of course goes back to 1649!

Looks like plenty of lustre! If I was buying on iPhone pictures alone, I'd say I'd take a chance on it being ok! Whether it is or not would require better images! Looks alright to me, though!

That was much better than I was expecting from our Tommy!

I really do fancy having a little play at that myself sometime! I'm going to try and catch Dave Moneyer over the summer if I can, would be an interesting meeting?

I was uploading on Auctiva today and got a message from Java saying my version was not updated and was a security risks (of course). However, following update, I now get a pop-up asking me to block or unblock when uploading images using the Auctiva applet (if this is the right term), and I can't see any facility to 'always allow'...any ideas?