Coinery

It was a sort of 'oh, no, what have you gone and done, Colin' type of oooooooooooh! Colin the starter of the discussion!

Oooooooooooooooooooooooh Colin!

Fully endorsed!

This was just one example, obviously this is happening with coins worth tenths of pounds as well. Also don't forget that lot of people are looking for alternative investments for their retirement etc. I am not advocating them but surly they should not be ripped off just because they are not experienced coin collectors (IMO). That's fair enough, but I wouldn't buy a diamond from someone as an investment, without learning at least the basics necessary to buy diamonds! If however I'm buying a diamond because I like the purple flash from its 4th facet, and I intend to keep it for its beauty alone, then all I have to be concerned with is whether I'm happy with the price I paid, because I was a collector first and foremost. What makes for experience in coin collecting for me, is the ability to make fewer and fewer significant purchase errors, based on a number of factors, grade and price to name but two. Not forgetting there is also pleasure in this process...silly things like discovering there are actually 'raised' buckles on the boot of StGeorge on a 1935 Crown. You don't have that pleasure of discovery if someone else sells you a coin like a pint of milk. My advice to all juniors who want to learn the art of grading, is to buy (and look) at a large number of 'uncirculated' cheap coins (G6/E2), that's the best way to painlessly learn these things. It would seem a real shame to me to chuck a newbie into slab collecting, without really knowing what it's all about first (and that's not to say I'm totally opposed to slab collecting...I do actually kind of get it) You'll never come close to the joys of owning a classic car if all you've done is go out with a big wad of cash and buy the best E-Type you can find. Coin collecting is exactly the same in my opinion.

I would think that anyone with £1500 to spend on coins is not a junior collector, and should really know his own stuff, and be happy in him/herself that they are indeed looking at a Choice coin?

Are you sure about the CGS policy 'or if it suffers in the slab'? That seems like commercial suicide to me because, as you already mentioned, other entombed coins have historically been seen to suffer, and they don't seem to be doing anything differently, at least mechanically speaking! The long-term gaurantee of CGS's product, must be a concern, not only to the collector, but also to CGS themselves (if they are genuinely offering a life-time gaurantee on entombed state), as they must realise the potential risks of a claim like that? I can't believe they'd get the backing of an insurance company on such a point. I guess, as numismatist has said LTD, LTD, LTD! Also, Bill, I just wanted to say again that it's very kind of you to come on here and present the case of CGS, and also that I don't want you to think there is any kind of witch hunt in my statements, I fully appreciate you are just another collector, greatly interested in coins and the slabbing process.

The hammered thing must be new, I've never seen that on their site, nor ever seen a CGS hammered slab! Also, just as another point of interest, don't CGS slab on 'rainy summer's days' then? Do they encapsulate in specialist environments? Do they decontaminate the coins of all the environmentsl cancers pre-slabbing? I've often wondered what's being locked away with the coin to wreak havoc 20 years from now?

Starters? I thought this was a thread about fake hors d'oeuvres for a minute! Surely it's manes not starters? ..and they're off!!! Buggers all round! Better make that burgers all round!

Thanks for your input, Bill, be good to hear the follow-up! Just in support of Bill's & AC's point above, my 1950 NGC penny which was recently posted here, and freshly out of a slab, has the dreaded verd.! CGS don't slab hammered...yet! Can you ask if they ever intend to, Bill?

I guess in the absence of any competitor for UK coin slabbing, we just have to swallow whatever treatment we're dealt out! I suppose we could always vote with our feet? Not that it's going to make a lot of difference when there are others queuing up!

Difficult series, never ever bought one yet! Good link, though!

Having exactly this issue right now with a 1942 florin. I could buy hundreds like the EF one I received, which the seller is insisting is the same coin, despite the fact I've pointed to another of his listings that has an image of the coin I've got! I did get a 'perhaps you can give me a call to discuss this'? Which I duly did, without the call being answered OR returned! I even offered to post the coin on to the winning bidder of his other '42 auction that was due to finish, just to say us all a lot of time and wasted postage...but no!

Their eBay postage times are about as reliable as their completion dates for slabbing, I'm STILL waiting for my eBay purchase! They were also a month late, of an already lengthy time period, when I got some coins slabbed! They need some quality UK competition!

Great looking site, Tim, do continue to drop in every once and a while, we can never have enough experts of types on here!

Easy mistake to make when there's no initial cross or i.m. Too kind!

I can't find this one anywhere? Any suggestions or references would be very much appreciated!

lightening response Clive, thank-you! Not sure what was going on there...I was reading it as LVND rather than LVNDE, meaning I was looking for some mystery moneyer beginning with E WHOOPS!

I was watching this round the £194 mark, and didn't think it had much left in it at that point. The bust is excellent, the flan looked good but, the very poor legend, off-centre strike, and overall scruffy look, has me saying no bargain!

Will be getting myself a cup of coffee and half an hour tomorrow!

Yes, that '68 is absolutely to die for, I wish it were mine! Or I wish I could afford for it to be mine!

The thing to do is look at one in the flesh rather than an image, it is surprising how different they look, and how obvious the difference is. I know there will be those debatable early strike examples, but a true proof is unmistakeable...but I used to think exactly the same thing!! Thank you all for your kind comments. I agree, it can be difficult to tell from a photo but proofs definitely have a different look and feel in the hand The 1868 above is, at least to me, very obviously different from a currency strike. In this particular case, the clincher is the copper content as currency strikes are all bronze. In some cases, though, proofs and currency strikes look identical in photos. The coin on the left is a 1964 currency strike, while the one on the right looks and feels like a proof (it also has provenance as such), though appears no different in the photo. I understand that the known 1964 proofs are all well-handled, as is this one. I need to work at capturing the essence of the proof in a photo somehow, but it's not easy! That should confuse things! They appear end on end on my phone, which gave me the chance to look at the images first, before going back to your text to check which way round they were! I had your currency and proof the wrong way round! I think it's absolutely right that experiencing the actual coins in-hand is the only way forward with proofs. You can hear the words 'specially prepared planchets,' 'even rims,' and 'this tone and that tone' for ever and a day but, the only way anyone is ever going to 'get' it, is by handling as many proofs as they can! It's comparable to dipping, and that is, you only ever really get to know a dipped coin by dipping a few yourself. The great mystery really quickly disappears once you've sat down with a box of old junk and a jar of Goddard's!

Can anyone explain what is meant by "artificially toned, as issued," in reference to the 1934 and '35 pennies in Peck?

I had a coin rejected by CGS with miniscule/near-invisible traces of verdigris. In fact, it was so minimal, it was totally gone, following a light wipe of Acetone.

I can't believe how horrible my penny was under magnification, and how much verd there was in the nooks and crannies, I struggled to put it up here! Feast your eyes as, believe it or not, this is apparently an NGC MS63, complete with verd!

That's a horrible coin, worth half of £400, surely? eBay is as crazy as usual! I know it's an R&P coin, but it's not in the least bit attractive. There's got to be a better one out there for that money?