Coinery

C'mon Rob, my missus is much betterer than your's! http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/1/30/1327938751037/les-dawson-ada-007.jpg

Welcome to the forum Marina, it's nice to have some young blood taking an interest in our hobby! I presume it's tuppences you're interested in?

Welcome aboard, Greg, any ideas where you're going with this roller-coaster ride? You'll no doubt have noticed there's a fair bit of reading on here, so take a couple hours out and enjoy!

with eBay search in such a pickle it's an excellent time to be shopping! Bargains a-plenty. Not such a good time to be trying to flog stuff though... That makes so much sense! I've noticed a 50% tail-off for 2 weeks now, it's broke a consistent set of selling stats that have held up for nearly 2 years!

Would sell rather well, and rather quickly, are you selling it?

Doodly dee dah, dear Paulus, happy birthday to you!

Yes, welcome aboard! If you take a quick look at the past threads here (which I'm sure you already have), you'll find what it was that also attracted me to the forum...regular members, and enough information and expertise to drown you for many years! Everyone here, and I believe everyone, even the experienced dealers, will learn something regularly from the threads posted...from regulars, but most definitely from the new members, who always add a new dimension to the way questions are asked! Enjoy!

It's the old tie on the Dobbin that wins me over! You could write a novel holding that in your hand, it looks so completely steeped in history!

So, buyers beware, this is a non-silver copy of a Mary Groat! It's had the pleasure of Rob's company for a few days, and comes out poorly on a specific gravity test, so fails on many counts. I'm inclined to agree with nickr that it's contemporary, it just has all the 'right' kind of grazes and the complex multi-directional bends of a 'natural' burial, if you know what I mean! I'd appreciate it if anyone has a Mary groat, or comes across one in the future, that they might check them off against the dies on here, as it would be interesting to find out the scale of these copies. I will be marking off anything that stands out as defining die indicators (against known genuine examples) and be posting it onto the forgery network. Many thanks to all the contributers AND Rob! What a bummer!

Thanks for your contribution nickr, and interesting too!

Yes, good to hear from you, Mongo, hope you're well!

Of course, your average butcher's shop doesn't have the factory line, or the huge water-stripping technology, that your multi-million meat factory has! I didn't put ears in my sausages either!

There's nothing rare about a 1988 pound! The burger in a Big Mac is probably rarer. Enjoy Just to clarify, as I know where our Peck is coming from...a beef cell being next to the cell it grew up with is, indeed, a very rare thing, in ANY commercial burger! You'd better get used to it folks, your average 'meat' in a commercial burger is obtained by jet-blasting the wasted bones (after the expensive stuff has been taken off) with water (remembering that 'meat' is nothing other than an animal cell, no matter WHAT cell) so, this includes tendons, sinues, etc, left on the bones, which then has to be dehydrated to 'normal' muscle water-content and seasoned until it's a handsome quarter pounder for you guys! Pork for sausages includes the lot, i'm afraid, ears, gums, cheeks, tails, hoofs, tendons, spinal cords, delicious, it's all there slopping about in a huge vat ready for dehydration. I worked in an outlet once where the lamb meat sold for our famous 5-pint doners, consisted of breast of lamb as follows: Lamb ribs and cartilage were boned out and minced 4-5 times until they were a frothy pink purée. Onto this was added the remaining meat that was minced once. The 'blend' was mixed by hand, and then 'blended' again with a final mince! Lovely! Even bone cells are mince! This is not why I'm a vegetarian, I miss the flavour of meat very much!

That's a very impressive work, it's quite amazing! I'm not sure whether it's your photography lighting, or great skill on the part of the engraver, but that looks like some great moonlight! Yes, I was thinking of Mongo only the other day! And still no news on Gollum?

let us know how you get on with the coke!

Just don't type the word 'used' when you are browsing Ms Klass's smalls, or we'll never see you again! AND your internet bill will double!

Does that give you the first new unread post in every TOPIC Colin? I've never used that button before. I tend to use the dark coloured folders and the "In" button to see new content, but a drawback is that that only works for the first topic in a forum - for all other new content in a forum it only gives you the latest post, even if there are a whole load you haven't read. Yes, that button gives you EVERYTHING! I must start using it then! After all, I've only been here for 3 and a half years Ah, there's a snag. If I look in several times a day, it still shows me the new content since yesterday, not since my last visit. There's another button that says something like 'mark as read!' I'm not on the PC right now. I always click that when I've read the new content. When I next visit I just click view new content!

Does that give you the first new unread post in every TOPIC Colin? I've never used that button before. I tend to use the dark coloured folders and the "In" button to see new content, but a drawback is that that only works for the first topic in a forum - for all other new content in a forum it only gives you the latest post, even if there are a whole load you haven't read. Yes, that button gives you EVERYTHING!

Ah, but is yours slabbed? There's a whole can of worms right there, Gary! At the end of the day we're coin collectors, not platic collectors. A slab doesn't make a £1 coin any more than a £1 coin in a slab! I've only got one slab - it's a 1928 silver 3d, which I'd grade at VF+. PCGS MS64! So, instantly, there goes any incentive I might have to crack it out, as raw, it'll still only be a VF+. When the time comes to sell it, the best I'll be able to say, to cover myself and preempt the inevitable disappointment from the buyer: "slab says MS64 but please make sure you're happy with the grade of the coin, rather than the grade on the label". So I become as guilty as London Coins, and so the slippery slope begins... A little while back on an American forum it was being discussed that it was quite acceptable to pay $400 for a high grade slabbed 1934 penny. The idea of buying the same coin raw for a quarter of that was completely abhorrent to them. Perhaps we should devise a new TPG system that doesn't involve encasing coins in perspex tombs. Any ideas? As long as there are high-quality image databases, and numeric certificate/logbooks accompanying the coin, there's no reason why it shouldn't be equally as attractive as the current TPG monopoly...IMO

CGS quote £35 on their website for this coin. That seems an awful lot of money for an Elizabeth II coin that can't even be spent in a pub!

Better than TV, hilarious!

Class! Well done Gary, and welcome to the forum!

Leave it and move on Stuart Therein lies the problem, you see, I am in possession of it!

Thank-you both! I agree it's either a good fake or genuine. I'm worried for all Mary groats, as this coin is light, waxy, and doesn't test positive for silver! It has to have been hammered, I think but, the metal, it shouts fake!

Is there any possibility of Edward's base issue flans creeping into the Mary coinage? This coin also doesn't test positive for high-grade silver. Having said that, the test I use isn't sensitive enough to pick-up .500, and I also don't know where the test becomes positive above .500.