Coinery

If they're going on the 'bay, you could do a lot worse than BIN & BO! You can sit them on eBay for a year for under a fiver! The right buyer will turn up before then!

I should also mention that I stand beside a running tap, and the second the solution colours red, it's in the water...so it's in contact with the solution for maybe 2-3 seconds at most! You absolutely cannot tell where it's been, not on ANY of the coins I've tested in the past, at least! But, as I say, I have only ever used the edges, and always decontaminated the surface first with a bit of acetone!

You've got in there before me! I personally would recommend a pinhead spot to the edge, even the edge of hammered coins offer up a wide enough surface to 'touch' a tiny bit of the solution onto it! However, your example certainly proves the point! Interestingly, you'll find .500 silver won't react, the solution will stay yellow, so very useful for identifying the coins from the .925/.500 crossover. It's found out a few counterfeits for me, I swear by it, if used intelligently! Most coins can be determined genuine or fake by many other means, but for those nagging pieces, it certainly concludes one way or the other for you! The only problem I've come across with it, is you can't tell a seller that their coin's a fake because it doesn't test positive for high-grade silver...once they have evidence you've been slapping acid on their coin (even though you know the coin is unharmed), your case is over, so bear that in mind!

You've got in there before me! I personally would recommend a pinhead spot to the edge, even the edge of hammered coins offer up a wide enough surface to 'touch' a tiny bit of the solution onto it! However, your example certainly proves the point! Interestingly, you'll find .500 silver won't react, the solution will stay yellow, so very useful for identifying the coins from the .925/.500 crossover. It's found out a few counterfeits for me, I swear by it, if used intelligently! Most coins can be determined genuine or fake by many other means, but for those nagging pieces, it certainly concludes one way or the other for you! The only problem I've come across with it, is you can't tell a seller that their coin's a fake because it doesn't test positive for high-grade silver...once they have evidence you've been slapping acid on their coin (even though you know the coin is unharmed), your case is over, so bear that in mind!

I think their strictness could well have the reverse effect than that intended : as a result of how they graded your coins there is absolutely no way I would ever risk sending any of my best coins to them, to be marked down in the same way. So if I was ever likely to reverse my attitude to slabbing, there is now no way I would do so. I believe I can grade quite well, and I find I am very often in agreement with Derek (who wrote the book). I must admit, it's a bit galling to have some coins I admire, bought for my collection as EF and at EF prices, to be graded as VF, knowing that they would almost certainly be graded as EF once again by many dealers and sellers as raw coins! Some of the coins in this batch were sold to me by very highly respected dealers at a grade or more higher than CGS have given. The jury is still out for me, but their apparent over-strictness and unwillingness to move with the times a bit is certainly a double-edged sword at best! I am also a fan of Derek's grading, in my few dealings to date I had to break 3 coins back out of the slabs CGS delivered to me! I just couldn't swallow the grades and/or valuations! It sounds like you may be doing something similar? Did they value them favourably overall? Most CGS buyers will take a look at the UIN to check out the valuation on the CGS website, and you can be sure you'll be getting under that, even before selling fees!

Welcome aboard, Nek, plenty to learn here on this forum for all of us! 1) not all private sellers are unscrupulous. Some have their own reasons, and some are just, well, private! There are bargains to be had from genuine sellers who are private! However, maybe give them a pass if you are uncomfortable with it! 2) you've only got to unluckily bump into a couple of arses on eBay to get 95%, might be better to look at the big picture, namely, their full trading history, before writing off more potential bargains! 10) definitely wrong here I personally think! Take a look at www.quicktest.co.uk I have confirmed and reassured myself on endless occasions re the authenticity of coins, using their products, WITHOUT as much as a trace noticeable of damage to the edge! We're not talking the Crippen Test here! I'll put up some before and after pictures over the next couple of days, just to clear up the acid misunderstanding! I rate it as highly as the scales on the occasions where it's called into service. I would suggest around 2 in 100 for me, as I get more and more comfortable with what constitutes a genuine coin! Enjoy the ride, it's a great forum! Thanks mate, I just tried to be the most conservative in purchase since I've got almost no experience yet For the acid test, most articles said No; however, as an engineer and newbie I did order the test solution and some scrap silver. I plan to file on the groove of rim to do some test - then I could see the real damage - the online vid and pictures are not good for me (poor eyesight!) Top tip...don't use the file! You'll get the information you're looking for with just a tiny micro-dab from the applicator directly onto the decontaminated edge! Please don't use the file...I'll get that post up over the next few day! Ps: the filing bit it to determine whether something has been plated or not! With coins, particularly past a certain age, the plating is obvious, and not something you'd even need to waste a spot of test-solution on!

Those silicone-breast-implant-style 'grippers' take a print better than Sellotape, I've had a CGS print before! I wonder if John could get us a 'favour' and expose the sloppy slabber for us? We could then slab our coins whilst he's in Mauritius!

Blimey, I can't pick those mount marks up, even on looking a second time, i must get on the PC tomorrow! The scratches barely touched my retina, such is the overall balance and grade of the coin. They certainly don't detract for me.

Welcome aboard, Nek, plenty to learn here on this forum for all of us! 1) not all private sellers are unscrupulous. Some have their own reasons, and some are just, well, private! There are bargains to be had from genuine sellers who are private! However, maybe give them a pass if you are uncomfortable with it! 2) you've only got to unluckily bump into a couple of arses on eBay to get 95%, might be better to look at the big picture, namely, their full trading history, before writing off more potential bargains! 10) definitely wrong here I personally think! Take a look at www.quicktest.co.uk I have confirmed and reassured myself on endless occasions re the authenticity of coins, using their products, WITHOUT as much as a trace noticeable of damage to the edge! We're not talking the Crippen Test here! I'll put up some before and after pictures over the next couple of days, just to clear up the acid misunderstanding! I rate it as highly as the scales on the occasions where it's called into service. I would suggest around 2 in 100 for me, as I get more and more comfortable with what constitutes a genuine coin! Enjoy the ride, it's a great forum!

I'm no expert on gold coins, but it seems a clear choice for me on terms of grade! I can't imagine a much sharper pound! A really beautiful coin if it passes all the tests in hand!

It certainly doesn't, it makes the coin AUNC/EF...but each to their own! Please help me out here. When I started collecting the concept was the 'coin'. Now I may be old(er) but to me it is still the coin. It has only been in recent years (the last two) that I have begun to see descriptions as in AUNC/EF. I did suggest elsewhere that perhaps we should also grade the edge as in AUNC/EF/EF but that was very much tongue in cheek. I suppose there are collectors out there who may only have an interest in obverses or reverses and as such may not care what the 'other side' looks like. That is great and if collectors want AUNC/EF as a description that is also great. I actually wonder how many collectors out there are interested in the 'coin' as a whole (because that is what it is) or the AUNC/EF designation. As you say, each to their own. I'm not really sure about helping you out here, Bill, as I too see a coin as a whole, in all its ugliness and honesty, which is why I can't see an issue with looking at one side and going 'wow,' but turning it over and going 'ugh'! That's the grade for me... 'wow' and 'hmmmm', which humanly transcribes as lovely, and not so lovely, at least for me! This is straight truth for me, not calling it an EF or something on balance of its faults or strengths! Of course, I should say I don't just live by 'wow' and 'hmmm', there is also 'blindingly good' and 'amazing', as well as 'Jesus' and 'doh'! Always going to be a toughy! Edit: we all seek out the coin we can turn over and over without being detracted by a badly placed dig, or rim nick, and is hopefully UNC/UNC in its aesthetics! With you completely Stuart, also comes back to the eye appeal factor to the beholder again ... to be honest though, coins are not graded separately for obv/rev (let alone the edge), as a norm, by dealers, on web sites, or in auctions, it's a relative rarity ... I have just checked all my favorite dealers and it's true! So while I agree there can be important distinctions that should be made (especially if a grade or more difference), I don't think this is an enhancement that should only be applied to slabbed coins ... thoughts? As I understand it, genuine UNC coins are marked down by TPGC's for bag marks and rim damaged, and no longer qualify for UNC status! To clarify, if I took a perfect G3 UNC coin and dropped it, bruising the rim, and putting a dig on the bust, it would no longer be UNC according to a TPGC, whereas, in reality, it's still an UNC coin that now has a bruise and an unfortunate dig to the bust (in my eyes)! Now I totally understand it's impossible to have an UNC reverse and an EF obverse, because the obverse didn't have a merry time circulating without the reverse! So, whenever we are using these terms, we can only ever be saying that 'this particular reverse is in a state comparable to that of an uncirculated coin'! We know it can't truly be uncirculated, as the obverse has circulation wear. In some respects the term uncirculated has given the collector/market a real headache. The term 'pristine,' 'exemplary,' or similar, would have been much less complicated!

It certainly doesn't, it makes the coin AUNC/EF...but each to their own! Please help me out here. When I started collecting the concept was the 'coin'. Now I may be old(er) but to me it is still the coin. It has only been in recent years (the last two) that I have begun to see descriptions as in AUNC/EF. I did suggest elsewhere that perhaps we should also grade the edge as in AUNC/EF/EF but that was very much tongue in cheek. I suppose there are collectors out there who may only have an interest in obverses or reverses and as such may not care what the 'other side' looks like. That is great and if collectors want AUNC/EF as a description that is also great. I actually wonder how many collectors out there are interested in the 'coin' as a whole (because that is what it is) or the AUNC/EF designation. As you say, each to their own. I'm not really sure about helping you out here, Bill, as I too see a coin as a whole, in all its ugliness and honesty, which is why I can't see an issue with looking at one side and going 'wow,' but turning it over and going 'ugh'! That's the grade for me... 'wow' and 'hmmmm', which humanly transcribes as lovely, and not so lovely, at least for me! This is straight truth for me, not calling it an EF or something on balance of its faults or strengths! Of course, I should say I don't just live by 'wow' and 'hmmm', there is also 'blindingly good' and 'amazing', as well as 'Jesus' and 'doh'! Always going to be a toughy! Edit: we all seek out the coin we can turn over and over without being detracted by a badly placed dig, or rim nick, and is hopefully UNC/UNC in its aesthetics!

Not so much a laugh, really! I'm beginning to wonder whether the bidders have missed the former reverse brooch mount on this one! 111022820896

The most obvious feature of the forgery is an elongated serif to the 1 in the date, I only have a poor image of a forgery listed last year on Ebay, I have paired it with the Nicholsons coin. Many thanks for that, chingford, much appreciated!

It certainly doesn't, it makes the coin AUNC/EF...but each to their own!

Also, being quite new to post E7, I've noticed how variable the obverse and reverse quality can be. As I compare coins of the same dates and try my best to pick the better coin (buy one, sell the lesser), I am constantly struggling with 'yep, much better obverse, excellent', only to flip them over and think 'oh, bugger, why couldn't that have been simple and the reverse be better too'! And that doesn't even touch on the quality of rims (G5 HC's spring to mind) or bag marks, nicks and knocks, etc. I'm guessing an AU75 G5 HC could have a NEF obverse and an UNCish reverse, or be UNC with poor rims and excessive bag marks, or be a fantastic example of an EF coin? Could I buy those blind and say I'd be happy with all 3 coins? I'd definitely be able to pick a clear favourite from the three coins, but would it be an AU75?

Are there any good quality images of the forgery around, John? Is it a clear spot?

CGS going belly up is something I've thought about! If they were no more, would their slabs lose their value over time, as they fade into memory? What happened to the slabs of the comparable company that folded in Australia, I think it was?

Not being in the least bit legally minded, does anyone know of an idiot-proof template for a privacy & cookie policy, that would cover most the bases for a small coin website with shopping cart, etc, without being unduly complicated?

This one just doesn't look right to me, the devices all look a little cast...I could be wrong, but it could be a contemporary counterfeit! And that's no bad thing if it is!

I've never heard of a 'shift' + key combination being used in that way, it's usually Ctrl or Ctrl-Shift etc. Is that an I-phone thing? Anyway, pressing Shift-R or A makes no difference to my web browsing experience. Yes its to do with phone browsers, some networks reduce the bandwidth by limiting the picture size until you request an improved image. i have never had it happen on my i-phone, but I have heard of other mobile users having similar issues. Thanks Colin. I just did a quick google to find out about it and it seems to be that some mobile internet providers have enabled high image compression by default to reduce the amount of bandwidth eaten up by downloading hi-res pictures. It also appears that it can be turned off if so desired and you're happy to pay for the consequences. On the iPhone the screen it too small for it to make a difference, but on the laptop with Orange Dongle it really screams at you! Every image you move your curser over (including buttons [pay now, etc.]) you get a small pop-up telling you to shift and F to improve the image. It's quite time consuming when you're wanting to do a bit of quick sniping, as the 'improved image' isn't an instant thing, can sometime take a second or two! However, the mobile Internet is cheap enough, so can't complain!

Can anyone expand on my understanding of the 'shift & R/A' action? Basically, I'm putting together a little website, just to sell off my duplicate George coins [and maybe a few others] but, whenever I browse the site 'live', I'm having to Shift & R/A to see each image (including my logo) in its full 'sharpness' (I notice this too when browsing eBay images). So, is this something I can't avoid? Is this just a part of the web-browsing experience, or is it a setting on my computer? Would everyone else view my site and have to Shift R/A to view it at its best?

I believe that is something to do with your own internet connection and limited bandwidth, therefore other people would not see that suggestion unless they had the same restrictions in place. Brilliant, thanks, Colin. I only have a 3G dongle to work with, so that would explain it! Really put my mind at rest!

Top point, I was worried there for a second! Stamps have nothing of the heritage coins have! Phew!

Not Debbie D Dallas? I've just had a horrible thought - what if "our" Debbie didn't realise I wasn't talking about her? She may not be familiar with that eponymous piece of porn... Oh, you're in trouble! Lots of double negatives...Dave fill your boots!