Coinery

I don't know if you ever watch Bargain Hunt on BBC? Some of those auctions feature internet bidders. They are treated just like floor bidders, except as has been noted, competing floor bidders will get the main auctioneer attention (but think about it - if you were there in person and two people were slugging it out, you would wait until EITHER they passed your maximum OR one dropped out, at which point you would jump in; so with the internet). As for not getting noticed, if only one bidder is left on the floor, the auctioneer will always glance towards the phones/computers before hammering - he will want to be sure there are no more competing bids. The only problem would be if you suffered an internet dropout, or there was a server delay; but there's nothing you can do about those situations anyway. So don't worry! Thanks, Chris! I guess it was not having the picture in my mind about how things worked in the room, it's getting there! It's not as if I'm looking to set the world on fire today, I'm just looking to slightly upgrade a coin, that will be sold if I'm successful. I bought the current one less than half price, so I can bid quite strongly on the replacement, and still not be out of pocket, hopefully!

Thanks, Dave, I'm actually feeling nervous! Can't say I ever experienced major nerves on the floor before! I think on this occasion the Live Bidding is free, but StJames 20% "PLUS" VAT is a little strong! Guess I'll just have to factor it in!

Thanks for the tip! I've done something similar, several times on eBay ( before Auction Sniper), where I've excitedly keyed in my top bid and hovered my mouse over 'place bid,' ready to strike in the final seconds! How often I've been left feeling sick, when a 'confirm bid' button arrives on the screen, instead of 'you are the winner'! These are invariably the coins that finish at £50 and your top bid was £300! It was even easier to make this error on the iPhone eBay app.!

Thanks again, I think I'm just panicking about the hammer falling before I get my bid away, though I'm sure it'll all come out in the wash! Good luck with your own bids tomorrow!

The answer depends on whether I want the same lot(s) as you do. It is straightforward. You register, then as each lot opens there is a bid button at the level set by the auctioneer. Obviously the room bids are spotted quicker than the internet because once the lot is open, you have to respond and then the person manning the internet bids has to register your bid and convey it to the auctioneer. The lag is less than a second, but in that time someone in the room has probably already put their hand up. It tells you if you are the high bidder, so you can't bid against yourself. If you are outbid, you have the chance to return with a higher bid. You can't enter an oddball arbitrary number in the same way as you can with a book bid, so you have to bid on what the auctioneer is asking for. Thanks, Rob! So NO entering of numbers at all, just single clicks of a button if you are happy to continue with the bidding? Also, do you click on the opening bid straight away to let them know you're out there and interested? And then, if two others are throwing their handbags at each other on the floor, will the bid come back to me for a chance to bid? Or do I just have to keep clicking every time the screen is asking for it?

I've registered to bid live on the saleroom tomorrow (StJames) and was just wondering what to expect? Is it quite literally enter your max bid and hit the button as and when, much like a 5 second snipe on eBay? I presume it doesn't work on a bid, outbid, enter another bid, etc, or does it? Any thoughts/tips would really be appreciated (before lunchtime tomorrow[today]).

Thanks coppers! Us iPhoners, eh?

Their amazing little coins. What's truly amazing about one of the three is a small field of copper outside the outer-beads! Even under magnification the surface looks as though it was rolled yesterday, not a pit to be seen! How does a micro-thin piece of 1600's copper survive in this mint state? Not to mention the hammered coin itself!

One for Richard! 251156021658

Thanks for going through that with me!

No shadow of a doubt in my mind!

I don't suppose the disposal of a valuable coin collection in the latter years would be tax-free, would it? Legal tender British gold coins can be sold tax free. The sale of other coins has been discussed here in the past and is more complicated. If you have a number of disparate coins (i.e. not part of a set), these can be sold individually and CGT is only payable if any one of those sales produces a profit of £10,000 or more but, and this is the big BUT, if the coins form part of a 'collection' HMRC will assess the total of all the sales from that collection in any one year and only give a single allowance of £10,000 for everything. The definition of a 'collection' is subjective. It may be that if you wished to sell, lets say, 6 very valuable crowns, 6 shillings and 6 pennies it would be better to sell a mix of denominations in each tax year to avoid the 'collection' definition. Selling all the crowns in one year, for example may be viewed as the sale of a collection for which only a single £10,000 allowance applies. Selling one crown, one shilling and one penny of different dates may be viewed as a sale of three separate coins for which a total allowance of £30,000 would be applied. Please don't take this as any offer of advice! It's just my understanding of the present tax rules. Many thanks but, just to clarify, is that £10K TOTAL sales price, or £10K PROFIT? ie if you spent £10K on your collection and sold the whole thing for £20K, does this mean the whole £20K is a tax-free sum? Sorry Accumulator!!!! The calculations are all done on the PROFIT. So if you purchased a coin for £10k and sold it for £20k, the profit of £10k is subject to tax (less any allowances). I should say that the CGT allowance is actually £10,600 for the 2012/13 tax year, not the £10,000 figure I used above. Is this a magic loophole by any chance? If we say, for example, on April 6th get really excited about collecting G4 silver, and then by the end of June can't stand the monarch, can we sell the collection off and declare the profit under Capital Gains? Of, course, on April 6th the following year, we're about to have a love affair with Queen Mary (you will note I didn't say Anne)!

I don't suppose the disposal of a valuable coin collection in the latter years would be tax-free, would it? Legal tender British gold coins can be sold tax free. The sale of other coins has been discussed here in the past and is more complicated. If you have a number of disparate coins (i.e. not part of a set), these can be sold individually and CGT is only payable if any one of those sales produces a profit of £10,000 or more but, and this is the big BUT, if the coins form part of a 'collection' HMRC will assess the total of all the sales from that collection in any one year and only give a single allowance of £10,000 for everything. The definition of a 'collection' is subjective. It may be that if you wished to sell, lets say, 6 very valuable crowns, 6 shillings and 6 pennies it would be better to sell a mix of denominations in each tax year to avoid the 'collection' definition. Selling all the crowns in one year, for example may be viewed as the sale of a collection for which only a single £10,000 allowance applies. Selling one crown, one shilling and one penny of different dates may be viewed as a sale of three separate coins for which a total allowance of £30,000 would be applied. Please don't take this as any offer of advice! It's just my understanding of the present tax rules. Many thanks but, just to clarify, is that £10K TOTAL sales price, or £10K PROFIT? ie if you spent £10K on your collection and sold the whole thing for £20K, does this mean the whole £20K is a tax-free sum? Sorry Accumulator!!!!

I don't suppose the disposal of a valuable coin collection in the latter years would be tax-free, would it?

I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am with the 3 copper farthings Rob supplied. Amongst the prettiest coins I hold! The classic difference between exploded images, and in-hand viewing, can clearly be appreciated with these coins! A good day, thank-you, Rob! I will post all 3 when the camera next comes out!

Not me. I was bidding online, so when it got to 130 I didn't hit the button. Can you bid online for StJames? LIVE I mean! Yes, you can. I usually use the-saleroom.com but there are probably others (eg sixbid, etc). Thanks, Nick! I did notice you could submit bids, much like paper submissions, but I didn't notice a facility for actual REAL-time bidding against the floor, I'll take another look!

That looks great, Numidan! The only thing that sprung to mind was how strike weakness could be factored into the equation? Superb idea though, which for the main part could work! At the end of the day a grade's a grade! Bag marks, edge knocks, etc, only affect appeal, and consequently value! Would be a very good start to get the grade right!

Not me. I was bidding online, so when it got to 130 I didn't hit the button. Can you bid online for StJames? LIVE I mean!

I think if you could sort out the bend then it would be quite a nice coin. The detail is good (VF or so, apart from maybe a few scratches). The problem being that it can be quite tricky straightening the things without leaving an obvious crease. But maybe someone feels confident? Looks possible when viewed from the reverse, but I think that's deceptive! When viewing from the obverse that crease is so acute that even with heat it would probably leave an ugly big stress line! It also looks to me to have been struck across the bust (where's Peter?) a couple of times with an iron, it looks stepped, and deformed generally! And what does the rest of that crown look like? £85 last time I looked! Wow! I've love to see the coin post treatment! It cost him £129 to practice a bit O silversmithing! He'd better be good at arc welding!

nah wasnt even close, 2k plus vat? and my dealer reconned it wasnt worth the estimate Hammer price was £1700, so with commission and VAT would be £2.1k - out of my league. It's ok to splash out way above normal levels once in a while for a particularly difficult coin as long as you don't make a habit of it when you know you can get that piece quite easily. If you really want something, you usually have to pursue it - hard, and stick with your decision. I didn't bother in the end, have my eye on a few other bits, and might need to snap some more of Rob's farthing tokens up now I have competition!! I had a sneak around your site last night but couldn't get the coins link to run, will check again later! I snaffled what looks like a nice farthing a couple of days ago on the 'bay, will get it up when it arrives!

A nice new adventure for me, I can't believe I stumbled across it so late!

I confess to being out of my depth with this period, but David Groom presents one in his book, P. Davies acknowledges their existence in his book, and Gary is saying that one has recently been acknowledged by CGS (I know!). Just out of interest, who are the consensus? Are these academics from the pre-Davies works? And, in all honesty, I really don't know, though I'd certainly be looking into it if I collected them.

1919 or 1918 or 1919 over 8 silver 3d. There was one on ebay a few months ago and I was not £75 convinced. It then appeared in a CGS slab in a recent London Coins auction so CGS must have been convinced. Looking at it again in the slab my money was still on a damaged 18. This one then turned up on ebay, UNC if is wasn't for the drilled in to it according to the seller. I thought it worth a couple of dollars to have a closer look. I've just looked at around 15 9's and 8's on these 3d's and it had me thinking I'd be happy to have bought that as a 1919/1918 3D. For me, even though the image is pixelating a little, the back curve of the 9 is not sloping inwards nearly as much as the other 9's I saw, suggesting the bottom right-hand edge of an 8 is hinting. Adding to that the slight bump in the same back line, it provides further evidence for me that there is an underlying digit. Also, and more obviously, of course, the left hand mid-section is also suggestive of an 8 IMO. What's interesting however is the example in Dave G's book, which looks to me more like a straight 9 than a 9 does - I can't see the overdate in that image at all!

I think if you could sort out the bend then it would be quite a nice coin. The detail is good (VF or so, apart from maybe a few scratches). The problem being that it can be quite tricky straightening the things without leaving an obvious crease. But maybe someone feels confident? Looks possible when viewed from the reverse, but I think that's deceptive! When viewing from the obverse that crease is so acute that even with heat it would probably leave an ugly big stress line! It also looks to me to have been struck across the bust (where's Peter?) a couple of times with an iron, it looks stepped, and deformed generally! And what does the rest of that crown look like? £85 last time I looked! Wow! I've love to see the coin post treatment!

Another one that mystifies me! I can't see anything special about it, unless I'm missing something? 360490069416 (link appreciated)