Coinery

azda, i sincerely hope that you and peckris both understand that my posts were meant in good faith and also meant to differentiate between the bad that occurs on ebay, those you have highlighted as shill bidders, those who clearly sell the utmost of polished crap, designed to mislead, and the genuine dealer, whom may have had a difference in grading to personal levels. we may all disagree on grade of a particular coin at times with bona fida dealers, that happens, we have different ideas and ideals, different knowledge of a specific coin/dies....etc etc, but it sure must be difficult to be all embracing. azda....how many times have you come on here to ask for die pairings/references for a particular penny.....loads azda....how many times have you asked for a grading on a particular coin...................................loads does that make you or any other here better than CC or Rendell........maybe yes, maybe no. but yes it does make YOU and Peckris and CC and Rendell and all the others here far and away better than the those shill bidders, crap sellers on ebay...........and that was the whole point of my original post....... im gonna leave this forum now................theres clearly no place for a prick like me here. ski Hey Ski, hang around, you've been here a long time! This thread had a few twists and turns in it, but I certainly never spotted anyone out of order, just a good stimulating look at things. Nobody should ever get sensitive about this kind of stuff, none of it's personal! Don't forget, sometimes you have to shake the tree to get at the fruit! I think plenty of fruit fell in this thread! Take it easy out there!

Extremely happy!

I mentioned CC, that i sent a coin back to him as i did'nt agree with the grade, he freely accepted the return and got my money back as did Chris Perkins i think mentioned the same. Personally, I expect dealers' grades to be accurate. After all, they will often have more grading experience than the majority of collectors. We are also often told that a dealer will only pay 50% of what a coin might be worth - therefore that is the dealer's profit margin. So when I see a dealer inflating the grade, I see that as an attempt to take an extra profit at the expense of the buyer. I too have complained about CC grading, but at least they are consistent and do accept returns. I think that's the important point here. The only sufferers - as from many dealers, auctions, and eBay - will be the inexperienced who don't realise that what they bought is over-graded. I think Nick's got it just right, really! If a professional dealer and auction house at the top of their game can't get it right, it's a poor show! You would expect nothing other than 100% from any other professional service! How about your surgeon or your defence lawyer 'trying it on'? I bought around ten victorian 'uncirculated' coins from an auction house, a good one too, and probably half were better described as GEF ( my own fault, of course, but disappointing all the same)!

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? Out and out raities, best known or way better than average pieces you can disregard the book. Just below that will try to push the boundaries, but not too much. Mid-range pieces will probably make around book after you have added buyer's premium, low grades won't sell unless an acknowledged rarity. Spink doesn't attempt to drive the market prices. As a rule, there will always be a specific coin that goes way over the odds and the reason for it doing so filters into the market gossip. Consequently the yearly price revisions will not reflect a high price in full. We all notice the lots that sell for more than expected, but rarely comment on those that mark time in keeping with the estimate. The latter is a truer reflection of where the market is at and will probably go in the future. The top end is driven by a larger number of people who recognise relative quality and have sufficient funds to not worry about overpaying on occasions. If you are happy paying £10K or more for a coin, it doesn't really matter if you pay £300 for a £100 coin in the overall context of the collection as the overpayment will be a praction of a percentage point of its total value. The problem with overpaying on ebay is that most culprits are doing so out of ignorance with respect to the general market, what dealers have on offer (usually at substantially lower prices), have a reliance on the quoted grade as gospel, and mostly have never seen a high grade coin with which to make a considered judgement. Thanks for the feedback, Rob! I haven't forgotten our most recent discussion, by the way, I'm on the case! Albeit slowly!

I'd personally get your trials done re the cookies pop-up's, and then get rid, at least until the law states that EVERYONE has to comply and it becomes commonplace. I'd say I felt pretty comfortable on a PC but, in all honesty, when i was being asked whether i actually WANT to accept something that we know happens all the time, I thought 'fork that' and got off the site! Looked good for the two pages I sneaked a peak at around your pop-up's, though!

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?