Coinery

You know it intimately, Rob, you'll be getting yourself a reputation (I'm very impressed, though)! If I ever get the sense I've seen you somewhere before (when I finally bump into you), I'm going to know where from!

I'll bet Peter started it! A fellow veggie, Richard, good on you! Even more so that it's for all the right reasons. To actually like the flavour of meat, yet still make the call, great stuff!

I'm glad to say there are many emergency pit stops in the region! Fresh bread, a lump of cheddar, and some onion (spring or otherwise), is a perfect accompaniment!

I grabbed this one as I saw a high-point shining through a mediocre photo, and wondered whether there might be something unusual with the date! Does a 5/3 exist? Does the 5 date punch look anything like the 'shape' in the picture, or is this a 3 with nothing more interesting than a surplus 'BLOB' of something?

I have to confess that I did...quite some time ago! It has been slabbed since then ( not by me) and I paid a lot less. I was so attracted to the colour! I couldn't get over how a piece of copper could look as good as a B&Q compression joint olive! I was surfin' to see how the 4's typically looked on the type, as I spotted a coin on eBay with a 4 that looked so much like a 5/4 I was going to buy it just to see...I just couldn't justify it on this occasion! It was then that I stumbled upon this surprising link! I will be selling it on, now I've realised my interest in copper goes back another two generations! I have to say, though, it's an amazing area for someone to research, I've barely seen a die the same! O's all over the place, there must even be an O as an earring somewhere?

It's still around a fiver if you go to the local farms, where the yeasts are still the natural, unpredictable, 'uncultured' kind, and the outcome unfettered! Did you know that commercial cider had to reign in its natural 'limit' in order to stay within the alcohol tax band? Proper farmhouse cider more often than not breached the fortified wine category! The commercial variant has changed somewhat nowadays!

Lucky b****r. I had to drive to Thatchers. I always used to go and fill the van up on trips home before it became too commercial - 60 or 70 5 litre containers on every run at less than a couple quid each. Much easier to fit in the van than the 144 gallon barrels they had there in the barn. Taste as much as you wanted. Wonderful. It's all gone to pot now they've gone national and exported it outside the local area. The little family business is no more. Ahh, you entered my house there Rob! In Winscombe and the immediate surrounding alehouses you could buy Thatchers cider at .52p a pint, the earliest I can remember, and I'm only 45, Christ we were spoilt/ruined! John Thatcher was an ordinary man amongst our village, who still drank in the local pubs around us, was nothing special (THEN), the Woodborough Arms in Winscombe, the Legion Club in Winscombe (the scene of hand-peeled gibble and cheese, dominos, horse betting and singing, all in a lunchtime) and, of course, The Railway Inn, not 20 yards from the free-tasting room of Thatcher's in Sandford! Whilst the product has changed, I popped my head in there about 6 month's ago, and they still have their range of old barrels - you can get a few free tastes (though touristy now, of course), AND the same woman is still serving it there from 25+year's ago! Two of my old village friends still work there (from school), so something at the core is still strong, though Sainsbury's, Tesco's, and the rest, will never quite capture it! You may very well have passed me by, Rob! I had a lovely golden lurcher of Brian Plummer's, a box of ferrets, and a Merlin back then! My God, how life moves on! I'm now a gentle vegetarian, who has forfeited the capture of wild game for caravan Mosquitos, using nothing other than a cup and a piece of paper, only to cast them outside and let 2 more in! Hmmm

Can I ask for your thoughts about this: http://jonblyth.com/coins/coin-details.aspx?id=1475 The first three letters of CAROLO are obviously pointing towards a corroded/knackered die so, in view of the lustre and high grade, is the weak britannia reverse (although unconnected to the obverse, strictly speaking) also about die integrity? Would you say it's twice the market value with the price?

A friend of mine, who was a chef at Sidcot School, was also a dab hand with a homemade smoke house (he was in catering with the army in Germany, and ended up marrying a German girl and living there for quite some time). Anyway, he managed to convinced me to save up all the pig's brains and make them into a sausage (to his german recipe) called something like braeganvorst, after which he smoked them. I love smoked food, and thought these tasted really good, but I just couldn't get past the gag reflex and eat a whole one! Really strange, because i could eat just about anything else! V. Anyone for a carrot? caraway seeds and honey, of course!

Now we're talking! I was a butcher for 15years (nothing to do with my vegetarianism), and my top-favourite on a lunch break was a bag of chitterlings, with lots of pepper and vinegar, and a pint of Thatchers Cider (when it WAS cider [i grew up 2 mins from the original cider farm in Sandford]) in the local Legion Club. This was after hot trotters in the morning (these were all cooked up with the chitterlings and Bath Chaps on the same day)!

I've noticed this myself Nick. My normal pictures are bigger than ebay enlarged ones which to me is quite strange.......I've enlarged my own pictures on ebay only to find they are smaller than the ones i've uploaded or are on the main auction picture. I completely sympathise with eBay because their storage requirements must be gargantuan, but for me - if the button doesn't result in an enlarged image then don't call it 'enlarge'. Here, here! A huge bugbear for me too!

God, how I used to love smoked kippers! Been a struggling vegetarian for 15 years now! Actually, I'm nearly over it...thank heavens I can still drink SOME red wines AND cider (being a west-country boy an' all)!

Spink 2012 is £50 in fine!

£45 in F according to Spink 2005. It can't have gone up that much! That link doesn't work (Strangely, this Reply shows it beginning "http", but the actual post has some gunk in front of that, including "newtab". Weird, or what?) Wow, your edit must have gone through the instant I clicked Add Reply! Thanks, Paul! A damaged/spiked and nastily cleaned one too, a very lucky Monsieur would get £45 in 2012!

Ou est le £300 coin? 230855983448

Could I possibly have your thoughts on the following four images? If I can describe what I'm seeing to support what are 2 dimentional images, it may help? This is a W3 Shilling, and I'm wondering if this is a NO stop after DEI coin? In the second of the first 2 images I've circled what are two micro-deep (so concave) areas, the lefthand depression being fractionally deeper than the right, making me wonder whether we are looking at the result of a blocked die? All areas surrounding the 2 lower areas are lustred and untampered with. So, does anyone know firstly whether the 'NO stop' die was actually a BLOCKED DIE, or was it a die ommitting the punched stop? Any thoughts/instincts on the images, all elucidations gratefully received.

In the overall context of a collection it is unlikely to have much effect as very few people have a collection that could be counted on their fingers. For any single coin in a collection, when the time comes to sell, it may or may not recoup the amount paid. Collections should be looked on as a whole rather than as individual pieces and accordingly will only register a loss if coins are routinely bought way in excess of current market values. A balanced or diverse collection will probably increase in value over time as long as long as the bottom doesn't fall out of the market across the board. With the exception of Scott , we all overpay for something along the way. The key to building a collection that will hold its value is to only do this occasionally. 100% agreed! I confess to spending more than I should on certain individual coins, but this is only a recent phenomenon. I have always tried to make each coin 'individually' count, stand on its own two sides, as it were, in order that i might stay ahead! I guess this all starts to go awry once you get collectobrain! This is the science applied to those who suddenly realise they are closing a number of gaps in their collection, and then further realise they can create an even bigger block of 'finished' coins with one or two lavish purchases! Also, it applies to those who have a 'complete' collection, except for a particular coin that 'irritates' them to the point where they'll pay double to replace it!

A very prompt response from Spink's, thank-you very much! "Thanks for this which seems to confirm that the no stop after Dei variety we list for the 1700 Shilling is actually due to a worn die in which the pellet has become damaged or blocked. As such your coin should be considered as an ordinary type 1700 Shilling.  I’ll forward this to the Editor of the Standard Catalogue. And thank for your thorough research on this.  Regards" It does beg the question whether any of the no-stop varieties should be catalogued at all, if a blocked die doesn't count as such! How would you prove a no-stop IS an actual no-stop, as opposed to a blocked die? If there was a significant run of coins from a blocked die, it would only then fall upon the malicious to find a die-match WITH stop present, and bring tears to an awful lot of variety collectors who have paid double the money for a 'rarity'! As an example, if Spink subsiquently removes the no stop after DEI shilling from their catalogue, it makes me wonder about the many collectors out there who have paid a considerable sum for a coin they'll no longer be able to enjoy as a rarity, or market as anything other than a regular shilling?

Just out of interest then, when were die-punches finally phased out? I'm presuming there was a transitional period, where both processes were used (punching in of last digits on dates, and die repairs, etc.)? But, what was the finally currency die known to have used hand-punched components?

Unfortunately, as you would expect, I'm unable to add any academic weight to your proposals, though I find the reign of Henry VII far more attractive than Henry VIII's! He would likely be the next stopping place of mine if I were to take another monacular step back in time (and probably the Edward pennies). Anyway, I can't imagine for a moment that they aren't genuine, on account the contemporary public would have picked up on any counterfeit metals very quickly. If they were silver counterfeits, you'd have to launder an awful lot of underweight silver halfgroats to make it worth the while? Unless... With the number of individuals involved, a potential conspiracy like this would have to be overseen from the VERY top, wouldn't it? If there was a Crown involvment, this could possibly explain away the missing pyx documents? The Halfgroat would be the coin to put out underweight if you were to attempt it, with it being the denomination of the peasants, and amongst the coins to wear the fastest, and be clipped the quickest, better disguising any irregularities, maybe????? There would probably be a fall-guy/Bishop if any misdemeanors were exposed but, in the absence of any major public trials documented, we might presume any irregularities went undetected (until Oct 2012 that is ) I often wondered about the great variety of Lis IM's in the opening years of Henry's reign, LIS/sun, LIS/rose, etc. was this intensity of indistinct marks related to any underhand coining? Do we know the total weight of LIS halfgroats coined? What would the weight potentially saved on the halfgroats be worth? Would it be significant enough to justify the payoffs and risks to a king? ALL speculation, of course! A really interesting reign, and an interesting observation, Rob.

I had a Savage York one at 1.49g if that's any help?

nicely done!

Oh, yes it is... Oh no it's not! See the corrected photo in my post above! Now I'm totally confused! It's the highlighted bit in bold that's throwing me! Honest, it really wasn't me! I'd have taken a poorer, more distant, photo and said something like 'there's something odd about this coin. It look like they must've made a mistake at the mint, it's got what seems like a 1 underneath the 2, so damaged, I'm afraid, please bid accordingly,' and hope Dave or Steve spotted it! Oops, my mistake - I interpreted Peter's remark as meaning he thought it was a foreign coin. He should have used a capital C then I'd have 'got' it!!

No! I did look at that when Pies said! That bulbous end on the bottom loop wouldn't be on a 6! It also looks too much like a 5 to be a 6 IMO

Oh, yes it is... Oh no it's not! See the corrected photo in my post above! Now I'm totally confused! It's the highlighted bit in bold that's throwing me! Honest, it really wasn't me! I'd have taken a poorer, more distant, photo and said something like 'there's something odd about this coin. It look like they must've made a mistake at the mint, it's got what seems like a 1 underneath the 2, so damaged, I'm afraid, please bid accordingly,' and hope Dave or Steve spotted it!