Coinery

I'm holding a 1905 shilling of John's which looks very good, outside of super-macro photography! Regular photos wouldn't expose it, it's that good!

Have you read about the ghost of Matthew Boulton on it? Pffft. That's nothing. I saw Jesus in a Big Mac I AM John Lennon, and he was even better than Jesus...Oh, no, don't get the press going again! I AM Mark Chapman. Don't answer your doorbell, ok? I'd have to sign your album first, and I'm not going to fall for that old stunt again!

Have you read about the ghost of Matthew Boulton on it? Pffft. That's nothing. I saw Jesus in a Big Mac I AM John Lennon, and he was even better than Jesus...Oh, no, don't get the press going again!

Pretty cool, though I'm not sure how comfortable that sofa would be! I just hope they went through all the coins first to pick out any rarities before they trashed them. I somehow think the world will not run dry of washers to utilise. The results are not unattractive. I must admit to only giving the scrap pile a cursory check, mainly for the odd better quality coin. I'm certainly not going to check every washer for rare dates or varieties before they get consigned to the pot, and past experiences on ebay suggest people are reluctant to even pay a quid for 100 meaning they can't be bothered to search either. Saving the planet from un-necessary mining activity is the next best thing. You do make me smile, Rob! I'm just so, so, glad you don't take this whole thing too seriously! I couldn't take you seriously otherwise! :-) As I approach my fourth birthday, I'm thinking of settling down a bit and becoming more responsible. But I will draw the line at checking washers.

Pretty cool, though I'm not sure how comfortable that sofa would be! I just hope they went through all the coins first to pick out any rarities before they trashed them. I somehow think the world will not run dry of washers to utilise. The results are not unattractive. I must admit to only giving the scrap pile a cursory check, mainly for the odd better quality coin. I'm certainly not going to check every washer for rare dates or varieties before they get consigned to the pot, and past experiences on ebay suggest people are reluctant to even pay a quid for 100 meaning they can't be bothered to search either. Saving the planet from un-necessary mining activity is the next best thing. You do make me smile, Rob! I'm just so, so, glad you don't take this whole thing too seriously! I couldn't take you seriously otherwise! :-)

Pretty cool, though I'm not sure how comfortable that sofa would be!

I don't put all my eggs in one basket I still like the pub Talking of which, I'm off right now!

I wish things could have stayed that way: it would have made things a lot easier. I guess it still wouldn't have been easy, as you would then be required to choose between a matt-coloured, uninspiring-looking, Fine, and a weakly-struck UNC, which would likely have that bejewelled look of a lustred coin. Even beneath a deep tone, the full-lustred coin is supremely prettier, and a far nicer coin! Which would you choose, how much more would you pay for that?

I'll give you 50p for it!

Some ripe Stilton before you go to bed, with a Spink as your bedside read. That should do it! Ahhh, that'll be it, I've been drinking a bottle of port every night! Alchy lol. I only have penthouse at the side of my bed and an old sock So THAT's where you store your coin collection! So THAT'S how you get that nice old cabinet tone, you old scallywag!

Welcome aboard, good find re the G3, well done...really glad you're not scrapping everything! As Azda said, a couple of decent books, and a good rummage around on here should help you spot some of the rarities.

Some ripe Stilton before you go to bed, with a Spink as your bedside read. That should do it! Ahhh, that'll be it, I've been drinking a bottle of port every night!

I don't think either, or any, of the books appear to stand alone very well, though the Withers Galata guide would definitely be my first choice, over Wren, North, Etc. I know very little about the early medieval pennies, so cannot really say who's right or wrong from my own personal experience, hence the post! There is a lot of conflicting evidence, particularly at the 3g/class 4 crossover, I think because they share the same crown, and maybe this is unusual in the identification of the types, I just don't know enough about them! I'm feeling a little bias re North, because it's bloody useless for Elizabeth...I'd have a Spink's any day of the week for that, BCW notwithstanding!

Can anyone enlighten me, I'm finding conflicting evidence when using Withers, Wren, and Spink (I left North out of it, as adding the fourth book just blows it completely). The below coin has a Class 3g crown, which is used on 3g and Class 4. - Withers says Large Commas for 4a (rather than the more usual crescents of 3g). - Withers says Cross Potent for classes 1-5(Long Serifs present on 3-5), however, Wren says Cross Pattee for Class 4 - Withers says egg-waisted S for 4a, but Spinks says 'late S always used', which I think mine is (as illustrated in Withers, though North's late S is actually the egg-waited kind). On balance of evidence I think 4a, mostly on account of the obverse comma-wedges and complete crown, which starts to break down from 4b onwards, and also the Spink claim of late S? A lot of conflicting evidence, generally, of which I have only listed some...what's the consensus? Actually I said I wasn't going to involve North, but 3g for them is early or late S (late meaning egg-waisted for them) with varying stops!

That's worked out fine - obviously a recipe for success. Agreed, and it demonstrates how we all have our own little routines that achieve our end!

It's only been 5 days, I'm trying!

White balance raises its ugly head whatever the background. I also use backgrounds that give the lowest failure rates which, for me, involves 2 background colours, dependent on whether the coin is silver, bright bronze, or lustred, etc. I started using that old text background because it was the most effective, colour wise, but it made it difficult to cut the coins out with software afterwards, which I decided to start doing for tonal consistency of backgrounds across the website, recent additions list, etc. So I now use matt black and white for photography. As an indicator, the white background can be anything from blue, green, right through to pink, by the time I've played with the image in a photo suite! I then cut it out in Serif Plus and, hey presto, the background is brilliant white for all my images. That sounds like too much time required if all you want to do is load up a few images of coins for sale. As nice as perfection is, time has a cost. It already takes a few hours to add half a dozen coin images to the site given the vagaries of auto-defocus, flash working or not depending on the levels of light available, camera shake. Needless to say, it acts as a drag on the enthusiasm for listing things. I have to confess that I thought it would be much easier and take less time to take decent pics and upload them than it does in reality. It would be better if these clever cameras (which do everything except make a cup of tea), could adjust the image to give a standard colour. i.e. they know what 6000K white or whatever looks like, and every picture taken should be corrected, or at least correctable to this or these pre-set standards. I can see that you would need more than one reference point to cover absent reference colours. They must have some digital value corresponding to a particular shade of a colour which can have a specific number of bits added to or subtracted from it, or is that an unreasonable presumption? Time is money, it's true, but not as costly as having a stunner of a coin not selling on account of a poor image, so the effort is worth the cause I reckon. In actuality my backdoor route to an uploaded image has developed from not being able to do it properly in the first place. Timewise it's not as bad as it sounds...10 seconds for the shot...open the image in my photo program and adjust colours, tone, saturation, etc. (1min)...open up in Serif and cut it out (1min)...save as JPEG to PC (10 secs) X2 = under 5 mins per finished ob and rev. Photographing coins IS the world's biggest pain in the arse, though! Apart from Boy George, that is!

White balance raises its ugly head whatever the background. I also use backgrounds that give the lowest failure rates which, for me, involves 2 background colours, dependent on whether the coin is silver, bright bronze, or lustred, etc. I started using that old text background because it was the most effective, colour wise, but it made it difficult to cut the coins out with software afterwards, which I decided to start doing for tonal consistency of backgrounds across the website, recent additions list, etc. So I now use matt black and white for photography. As an indicator, the white background can be anything from blue, green, right through to pink, by the time I've played with the image in a photo suite! I then cut it out in Serif Plus and, hey presto, the background is brilliant white for all my images.

Yes, like a hawk, spw!

My approach is similar to TG's, I take my photo on a background which interferes with the white-balance the least (which is the function we all need to perfect) and then play around with the image in a software program to achieve the closest 'representation' of the coin I can! Sometimes my images are pleasing and are uploaded as-is, though, mostly, I fart ass about for hours and settle for a compromise of contrasty colours that are close. I haven't the mental resources available at this point to understand my setup as an expert would know it...I mostly (always) just bodge my way through as best I can!

D.Post!

Christ, Peter, are you sure? I know he's an arse in the rational communication department when things aren't right ( lost item in my case)! Have to take a look at the archives!

Nothing wrong with your English goomolique!

What's the spelling of the second half of Durham? It's probably going to be class 9 or 10 at a guess? Edit: Sorry, I meant 9, 10, or 11

The only modern fakes of the Edward pennies that I've seen are not really designed to fool at all. In fact they are much better described as copies, being generally at least 3 times as thick, with an obvious seam around the edge, where the two halves have been bonded together...your's is definitely not one of those! Also, the magnet test is pretty worthless for separating out pewter, as it doesn't stick to it, at least is doesn't stick to the pewter coins I have. It's certainly a cross-moline Durham penny, but I'd need to bury my head in the books to tell you more. Which, of course I will if the early hammered gents don't give you the full picture from a quick glance!