Coinery

I've always admired Iron Maiden, and absolutely love D Gilmour, what a stunning album that 2006 'On an Island' was!

Thanks, Mongo, that's very decent of you!

Emails delivered into the hands of Chris Comber who, I'm assured, will pass it on to Messrs Brown & Wilkinson...result! Many thanks to Paul Withers and Richard 'The Thinker'!

No significance really, as very few coins have clear beading to begin with, plus the bead numbers would vary for each die! Also, double-strike, even by a half a degree would change the orientation of the beads altogether (and numbers, of course)! I guess if you had a couple of extremely well-struck coins from the same die you could certainly utilize the beading in those instances but, on the whole, i don't think you'd convince very many people in the hammered world that your coin was X on account of a point to bead etc., so I'm avoiding that marker altogether...unless there's nothing else left to go on! I keep praying now that all the mint workers were pi**ed on die preparation day, as the misaligned legends are undoubtably the best friend! Ironically, the larger denominations are more difficult, as there are far fewer misalignments and errors, or the cramming in of letters, because they quite literally ran out of space. Also, lest we forget, that blessing of letters encroaching one upon the other! All very interesting if you're a nerd/spotter, I mean collector!

Actually I have seen some LJG fantasies, gosh knows if Richard Lobel hasn't made some already, surely he will. Oh, I've had some of those too. Oops, did I say that out loud? I had to scroll back up to check you weren't Peter then!

I think it's Geordie too? Hinnie is the North East version (or "bitch" if it's the woman talking to the man) It was always "pet" we used though. I lived in Sunderland, South-Shields, and Washington, for a few years, it was always 'whay yeh, pet' when I was there!

I think it's Geordie too?

French coins can get quite interesting Usually a Mint Mark - normally a letter, but a little cow for Pau. Further complicated by additional dots adjacent to the mint letters, indicating the so called "Provisional mints" in the Constitutional period (1791-3) Coins prior to 1793 often have a raised dot (eg under the D of Ludovicus) to indicted the second simester (ie the second minting period of the year) Then there are what the French refer to as "les differants" a symbol for the National Chief Engraver, plus another for the local mintmaster Even more fun when you get to the Directoire (lan'5 - l'an8; 1796-1801) 5 centimes and decimes have not only overdates but overstrikes of the mint letters and/or the differents! David Crikes, really glad I asked! Thanks, both, between you guys and Richard it's getting clearer!

'me babber,' where I comes from!

It's all speculation, of course, but I'm thinking around 1000 dies for the shillings alone. Without making it a chore, I mean to have a go at a couple in the small hours of each evening (about an hour with all the staring included), so a couple of years for the shillings! I have only just realised that I enjoy collecting the images nearly as much as the coins! Well, nearly! The A's are really a poor place to start, as there are very few 'A' shillings that don't have enough of the privy mark remaining to classify them. I just happened to have a number of images at hand to make a start.

No Stuart, both just folk art love tokens, the worked "Scottish" one rather dubious in my opinion/experience! Wish I could make one!

C'mon, get your wallet out! 221092707248 Really pretty, I think! Would this be another trench piece? And another particularly old and interesting one 350585172154

Not fancying a Philip & Mary shilling or sixpence then?

I think I would probably count the combined-bust coins separately, as you may have done for W&M and W3? For the Henry/John coins, many identifications can be had using spink's, if you compare the moneyer information(at the end of the section) against the other pointers in the actual descriptions. It's more often a process of illimination, so identification working in reverse, but quite possible, even with low-grade coins! Which brings me to another point, why buy the halves and quarters and make your life really difficult? whole coins can be purchased really cheaply in the lower grades. Superb idea for a run, though, will certainly stretch the grey matter in the period you're now entering! Great stuff!

Yes, although it's imposrtant to distinguish between coins that have been professionally cleaned ('museum' cleaning) and those that someone has buffed up using some aluminium foil and spit (yes, people do that!) which effectively polishes (and rather ruins) them! A type of 'improvement' that always brings tears to my eyes, and I never keep them, is the one which smears silver-coloured deposits actually over the original black deposits! I've always attributed it to some foiling-type process or other???

On the contrary. The Civil War started during the currency of the Triangle in Circle mark which ran from July 1641 to May 1643. With output spread over 2 years, this was the most prolific mark of the reign with £1324 silver in the pyx. Contrast this with Heart which ran for 1 year June 1630-1 where the total value of silver in the pyx was £4. As a specific amount of production was removed for the trial, this gives a pretty good ratio of the amount produced. T in C is so common that you could reasonably argue that it is overpriced in comparison to other marks, but given the usual production standards seen it is still worth paying good money plus for a top rate piece. Any premiums will be the result of conditional rarity or type rarity. Within every mark there are types which are extremely rare. It is this rarity which drives the price and competition, as witnessed by the recent discussion on the T in C marked F7/2 shilling which virtually all collectors of hammered on this forum would have bought if they had been quick enough. 8 known, dire condition comes as standard, everyone wants one, but few manage. The price was almost irrelevant. I do hope you get to write a book one day, Rob! I always really enjoy reading your posts. Always logical and well constructed, makes sometimes difficult content an easy read! (_|_) I'm serious, though!

And another 'bright' coin from the Bedale Hoard!

I had a very pleasant email from Mr Davies this evening, pointing out a die variety I'd not noticed two lines further down in his book, and very kindly added that I could contact him should I want to discuss any future cataloguing issues! I have to say, I felt mildly starstruck! I would still very much love any actual, or tenuous, communication links with either Brown, Comber, or Wilkinson! Anyone?

Ahh, yes, I remember it now, a bit of a long debate about the reverse if I remember correctly? I'd say that is the prettiest 'modern' silver coin I've seen in a very long time, beautiful!

Yes, the reverse has been well and truly Brillo'd. Not even EF in my book. Nowhere near EF, even without the Brillo! Nice avatar, Paulus, is that your's? Back to thread...isn't that a bit of silver-peel going on too?

Well, I see Paul Withers did the illustrations for the book. Why not contact him (Galata) and see if he can put you in touch? You have a superbly illogical mind, Richard, you have a talent for thinking outside the box! Thanks for that!

Nice pictures, what's the bottom coin?

Now I do mean to grab a VF one of those, once the boat's paid for!

Thanks Hussulo, very much appreciated!

Fools beware! I have just taken receipt of an amazingly beautiful MS64 copper in an NGC slab. The seller very kindly cellotaped the slab with gusto to a piece of cardboard, presumeably hoping to protect at least one face of the slab. Anyway, after cursing under my breath for 10 minutes, I had in hand a lovely sticky lump of plastic, with a coin encapsulated somewhere beneath the goo! So, me thinking the best tool for the job to be acetone, I gave it a good rub with a soaked tissue - result is an opaque slab and partially damaged NGC histogram. F**k! nb: slab and histogram are genuine, and the coin inside is the one photographed on the NGC website! DO NOT USE ACETONE ON SLABS/HISTOGRAMS!