Coinery

Even the sharpest get stung there occasionally. The most successful strikes on e bay fall into two camps, in my experience:- a) Nice coins with a high initial bid price, which nevertheless is still nowhere near their true value. Would be bidders are strangely put off by the high start price, and often by-pass it completely, leaving someone else to make the only punt at the original price, thus bagging a real bargain. b ) Really high end coins which would be better off in a proper auction. They will sell, for sure, but usually end up at between 55% to 75% of what they could potentially realise elsewhere. It's a real mistake for high quality expensive coins to be put on e bay. Gambling strikes which may or may not pay off, are on those with poor photography, where the coin cannot properly be seen. This often puts buyers off, leaving the speculator room for a potential killing, or to get their fingers burned. I'd agree with this analysis apart from the one factor you missed out - certain key dates that somehow seem to do far better on eBay than elsewhere, I'm thinking of things like 1903 and 1905 halfcrowns. Regarding the above point b I absolutely agree with the percentages, but I'm not sure which auctions outside of eBay are being talked about for better prices? I spent a few days, six month's back, looking at the realised prices for a number of major auctions...I didn't find that many there that were making Spink book prices either, and sellers premiums aren't any better than eBay (mostly). I know minus 5% has been mentioned before but, generally speaking, eBay aren't off the scale at 10%, and they know it! Does anybody know how often nice coins make their book price in major auctions? Would it be more often than not? I mean, the book prices are set according to the major auction results, so one would think they must more often do, it just doesn't look that way. Do you think books like Spink attempts to 'drive' the market, rather than be an honest reflection OF the market?

Really enjoyed them, got a chance to see them later in the year Good taste Colin, I missed their Bristol gig last week, but they are playing again in Bath in October!

I've tailed a few birds in my time but I'm a happily married man now....... well, married at least. Not tailing in the work's car I hope? Gotta be a good pull, though! ;-)

That'll do nicely, the image is your's! :-)

I'm sorry to keep dragging you all into this, but I'm just about to make a massive investment in time creating the following tile cut-outs, so would really appreciate absolutely any thoughts on presentation. As you all know, I would like to present all the busts and distinguishing features of the Elizabeth I silver series in an eye-pleasing photographic form, and maybe put it on the web as a reference for easier identification of the hundreds of different varieties of Elizabethan coins. I played with the below a little while ago, and felt I may have made it too pretty, I'm wondering if I should make it look a little more 'old,' medieval perhaps? Honestly, negative thoughts, constructive critisism, ANYTHING, please bring it on...how would you like to browse a webpage for something LIKE this? It could be Victorian overdates, anything really!

I can't pay you, I've not a penny to my name, M'lud! I see what you mean! :-) You could always sue for breech of copyright What could I get? A couple of nice shillings, possibly? ;-)

I can't pay you, I've not a penny to my name, M'lud! I see what you mean! :-)

New band Dry the River...superb, best thing out there at the moment! Not forgetting Tallis and Byrd, of course!

I can DO whiskey AND wine quite nicely! :-)

;-)

You're a tough cookie to crack! Thanks for all your input, Debbie!

And there is the first lesson, gauge opinion then choose what you think works you will never please ALL of this lot The first blue looks much better Thanks Colin Just noticed you're only 15 posts away from the kingdom of Gods!

Where's the crying emoticon? I could put a really light cream in the label background to tone it down...worth trying!

It's just a tad too solid, I agree...I think?

Thanks Ski...for you! Do you think it's better than the muted 'medieval' brown-type colour?

And my own favourite to date! And THAT'S IT!

Ok, solid background (choolie) and a more modern font (Gary), any final thoughts? Also a green graduated background and that's it, I'll just get on and do it then! So, any thoughts overall?

Thanks Gary D, will see what I've got with the software, everyone's feedback is really appreciated! New Times Roman is not considered cool now days. Try an Arial or something more modern.

Thanks for your input, choolie, I'll give it a try!

Any more thoughts, particularly background prissyness, does is need to be solid colour? Times New Roman, does that give a more academic feel? I'm thinking of having these as little click-on tiles on their own page of roses (19 rose punches in all), good plan?

Thanks Colin, good filing is a must, that's for certain! I have learnt that even today, with a 6-part picture! Disciplined disciplined, disciplined...then wine! ;-) many thanks!

:-) the background coin was meant to be the 'arty' bit, it was only to give a bit of context to the rose, it's totally uneccesary really! That particular rose is present on lots of other very different varieties! I think i've definitely got carried away with a new piece of software:-) If you know anyone who wants a coin-themed wedding, I could always do the invites???? :-) Thanks Azda, will keep adding compositions, hoping to get it right! Keep the comments coming for me, I'd really appreciate it!

Wow, that site of your's is developing fast; amazing resource, and something to aspire to! The only thing I'd say is the BCW line drawings are presently the major resource for all the variations, and I thought a cut-out photograph to be far more representative, and much simpler for identification purposes, without losing valuable information. The BCW book ignores legend variations, other than to state the numerical composition of the letters (FR/FRA 2/3 etc) and their placements before or after the leaves. There really are many hundreds of variations, but most types being able to be identified by pretty much anyone armed with a pictures of the rose, lions, LIS, shield, leaves, and bust...that pretty much does it! We wouldn't 't be dealing with anything like the details you're looking at...no serifs, letters, flaws, scratches, etc. just a simple collection of just: The busts 19 roses 69 LIS 97 'cats' 28 leaves 63 shields AND 2 sceptres Just these few 'course' identifiers are all that's required to pinpoint any one of around 1050 different recorded die-pairings, so I thought it would be possible to replicate the line drawings in photos? And 'neutral' background, I think you're right there too (maybe simpler, at least)! Thanks, Seuk!

Cool, but I think ovelapping the images confuses things a bit. I think the James I shilling you have on ebay (is that you?) makes a good striking image to start a section, but when discussing the marks themselves, I'd rather have them apart, though I like the idea of having the coin the image comes from there too. And the 'plaque' with text doesn't do it for me. I think I'd stick to text alone .. and not italics. That way the text more closely resembles the legend lettering. But I wouldn't worry too much about that aspect. Stick to one font, similar to the one you have. Brilliant feedback, I definitely need to make it look a little more academic, far too frilly! Weird how you can get sidetracked by software, I'm surprised now that I didn't put a bow on it. I think the second image gives context, but maybe make it more transparent. Keep it coming please, I'll put up some different variants as soon as...

Just the kind of feedback I'm after, Debbie! The more I look at it, the more I see 'wedding invite'!