Coinery

Sobering! The first things that came into my mind were the heavy chains of wedding bands and old rings, the endless small charms and sovereigns...the old Romanies knew a thing or two!

The Peter we know and love! Where would Waitrose be without you?

Didn't Ray Stevens sing about that in 1975? There's only one thing to say about that coin - "Don't look, Ethel!" "But 'Twas too late, she'd already been mooned!"

Purdy, Dave, real purdy!

It took me a few years of contact before I got Spink to recognise the 1920-1926 obverse as a new obverse, and to include the 1946 die flaw penny. And even then, it took a reproduced Coin News article and photographic evidence for the former (they still got it wrong!), and a scan of Gouby for the latter. I believe they will act, but it could be a long slow process for which you will need persistence. Cheers, Chris!

AHH, got it!

GONE, so let's see! Dear Sir/Madam, I'm wondering whether you could assist me in a small matter regarding the classification of your 2012 catalogued 1700 shilling (no stop after DEI)? If your no-stop is defined by a blocked die, rather than there once being an actual die in existence without the stop punched in, then I have a high-grade example which I'd like to submit for auction? I have located a matching die which, with transparency software, allowed me to overlay the two coins to confirm an exact match. My coin has a very shallow reccession in the precise location the second coin has a raised stop. I appreciate you are very busy, but I submit 3 high-resolution images for your consideration, I will of course post you the coin for auction if you think it a likely candidate for your no-stop variety. The attached multiple image is as follows: Top: This shows the two overlaid coins (using transparency), my coin and the die-match coin with a circle marking the perimeter of the stop on the second coin! Middle: This is an unadulterated crop of my coin. Bottom: This is the die-matched coin (with stop) slid down, leaving the circle in position on my coin to clarify location. If I could just further clarify, there is absolutely no raised component in the field between the 'I' and the 'G' on this coin, merely a light and partial concaved recession where the stop would've been on the original die. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Kind regards,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300785097856;jsessionid=FC9E7E191ABE14B1B1FF86357C0F40E6?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_sacat%3D0%26_from%3DR40%26_nkw%3D300785097856%26_rdc%3D1

Do you think it would be 'regular' to approach the editor of Spink, Philip Skingley, and request their source for the NO STOP, and whether they believe it to be nothing other than a short run from a blocked die or not? Has anyone made any similar such enquiries before and got a timely response?

I nearly asked them if they'd like to post the images on here for a second opinion! 1577/6 300785097856

I'm going to salt one away for a rainy day!

No shadow of a doubt in my mind! And doing very nicely at £45 so far with 12hrs to go!

Other than as a blocked die variety you mean?

Many thanks, Rob & Peter! Today I set out to crop-up as many images of the 1700 shilling as I could, to see if I could pin-point a typical location for the stop mark. I found around 15 with which to make a start but, at crop7, I realised I had an exact die-match for my shilling. So...I added transparency to one of the shillings and overlaid it, showing it to be in perfect alignment, and then marked off the stop location before removing the overlaid die-match which, incidently, DID have a stop after DEI. The indentation on my coin, which falls across the small crack is exactly where there should have been a stop, meaning it's a definite die-block, which probably caused the crack, as well as the concave impression. So, the only question left to answer is this: Is a blocked die the definition of a NO STOP in this instant? ANY information or thoughts would be greatly appreciated! The top image shows the 2 coins overlaid with a circle marking the perimeter of the stop! The middle image is a straight crop of my coin. The bottom image shows the die (with stop) slid down, leaving the circle in position on my coin.

No, I didn't update it, when's 6.1 out, Dave, do you know? My eBay app's up-to-date though??? Really annoying!

And two more to assist!

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.

Thanks, Dave, maybe faulty software then, time'll tell!

With you 100% on that one, except on the days when you can fiddle around in your pocket at a really boring Best Man speech and tie-up a best offer deal AND also buy a bargain within the space of 10 mins...though I have to say Auction Sniper has removed some of the functionality of a smart phone for me! Still good to be intouch with emails 24/7, especialy when they mean ££££'s that is!

Just a heads up! I've finally discovered conclusively that replying to eBay messages using the 'respond now' button on the inbox message section of the ebay iPhone app. does not always (maybe never, I'm not sure about that, yet) send your response, even though you can see your response in your 'sent messages'! The forwarding/send arrow on the bottom iPhone toolbar (ie not tapping on the 'respond' button embedded within the email) does appear to be working! I've had so many lack of responses to emails, where I've put a lot of effort into the 'enquiry' response, not to mention a lost item situation that I now realise was made complicated by my missing responses! I will be passing the info onto 'Sarah' later, my personal online assistant at eBay! I honestly believe I have lost sales that should have come from an intelligent, courteous, and prompt response, NOT good! If this is a global issue for eBay, they may have lost millions in revenue! We shall see when I have my one-to-one with Sarah later.

Yes, Sword, we never tire on here of seeing coins of that quality! Welcome aboard, you obviously have great taste!

I've seen a couple of these that have been 'decorated' recently! Of note was 3 stars in the fields and set in the base of a bowl!

Indeed. "The Penny Red The Penny Red was Great Britain's longest running stamp, from February 1841 to the end of November 1879. It was used for the standard letter postage rate of 1d and approximately 21 billion were issued. The 1d Red was a development of the Penny Black with the colour being changed from black to red so that the new black Maltese Cross cancellation could be clearly seen. This change was made following Rowland Hill's "rainbow trials" and "obliterating trials" to find the most sensible stamp and cancel combination to prevent people removing evidence of cancellation so the stamps could be re-used. Basically, his initial choice of very durable black ink for a stamp was a mistake! Until 1854 the 1d red was imperforate. In 1855 the watermark was changed from a small crown to a large crown. The first die was used to produce 204 plates, plus 6 reserve plates. A new die II was also introduced in 1855. This was used to produce 225 plates. Plates 71-225 have the plate number engraved on the stamp and these "penny plates" include the famous Plate 77 which you are unlikely to see outside of an exhibition as it is the rarest penny red and a good example could certainly fetch hundreds of thousands of pounds! The British Library has one on permanent display in the GB selection of the Tapling Collection. this stamp is mint. They also have a used on from the Fletcher collection too. The paper of the 1d red also changed from blued, to cream or toned to white (and a combination of the above!) between 1854 and 1858. A very great permutation of paper and ink shades were used to produce these stamps. The design was modified with letters in all four corners being introduced on 1st April 1864 and the plate number being engraved on each stamp. The reason that letters in all four corners was introduced was to significantly reduce the opportunity for people to reconstruct an unused stamp from the uncancelled parts of 2 used stamps. All 1d reds were printed using the line-engraved method by Perkins, Bacon & Petch (from 1852 Perkins, Bacon & Co) who finally lost their contract of 38 years in 1879 largely due to the fact that their stamps were printed in non-fugitive ink making their stamps more susceptible to being cleaned and re-used. On the 23rd December 1878 The Inland revenue gave 6 months' notice of the cancellation of the contract to print the 1d red. On the 8th May 1879 the Inland Revenue recorded that an agreement had been made for Perkins Bacon to continue to supply the 1d until 31st December 1879. In fact, the last plate was 225 which was put to press on the 27th October 1879 and was used for about 4 weeks, the print run ending at the end of November. This is confirmed by a letter from Mr Robertson of the Inland Revenue who comments on 3rd December 1879 "the printing of the Penny Postage label by your firm having come to a close." I suspect that all concerned would have been amazed to find that their "labels" are still enthusiastically collected and studied by people all over the world 150 years later! Incidentally, the Penny Red was originally called the Red Penny as well by collectors but that earlier term has now fallen away. " People collect stamps by plate number. Why not coins by die? Same difference to me! You've just answered an age-old question of mine about stamps! I must have some kind of colleptic virus, as that absolutely fascinated me! Blimey, Richard, you know a lot of stuff!

I guess with this provenance one has to presume fake until proven innocent! It may just be the angle of the photograph but, if you look at the reverse beads at 2 O'Clock and 12 O'clock, there appears to be quite a significant variation in gap between them and the rim? The photo looks straight-on enough that I wouldn't expect it to be quite so much of an illusion? Who knows?

1400 + premium. Estimate was 1500-2000 Looking forward to seeing that!