Coinery

Do you mind if I have a dig at this one? I'll get in first so I can reflect on any other grading suggestions to follow. I'd personally go with fine/good fine, probably pulling the whole thing back to a fine overall, in view of the obverse scratch, and the reverse 'stain'. So I'm going for 'fine'. I'll watch out the other opinions with the greatest of interest.

I often wonder why it is, for the sake of £20 worth of silver bullion, that the counterfeiters don't just do the job properly and be done with it?

An' a merry Christmas to ya too Mr Peckris! An' I suppose you'll want payin' for Christmas day an' all? Bah, humbug! The finest of forums, sir!

Very similar to the Afghan Taliban in their philosophy My first belly laugh in ages! :-)

Definitely the young busts of Elizabeth for me, especially 2B. All my other favourites are already mentioned above, excepting William III, who looks so completely regal on his coinage, yet so efeminate in his oil paintings. Young head Victoria, so elegant and cameo, and Cromwell, appearing so alive on his coins that he looks for all the world like he could leap off of it and rip your throat out at the mere mention of a dance in church!

Freeman & Gouby it is then, many thanks for that! At the risk of sounding pathetic, this is such a great forum. I'll check out MC's site too.

Can I just ask, as I have never browsed Gouby or Freeman, but do these books add anything more to Peck? If I was wanting to collect Victoria pennies, for example, would I be finding a great deal more to collect, many more variants listed, if I had Gouby or Freeman on the shelf? My God, the mentality of collectomania, the insanity of wanting to know the existence of ever micro-detail...and then seeking it out!

Thanks, Debbie, thanks Nick! Another one in the grey matter that hopefully won't catch me out!

Has anyone still got that 1905 saved in their 'my eBay,' I'd be interested in the exact title or number of the listing, so I could pull it up and take a look myself? Also, welcome Debbie, I'm very much a newbie myself. I have learnt more about coins this last few months on this forum, than I've learnt in over ten years of wading blindly through the hobby unsupported.

Re the hair detail on the 4 over 3, it never occurred to me before that this would be the case. Is this because they only used worn 3's to overdate, or is it because the dies used were worn, thus the hair detail a consistent weakness throughout that particular mintage?

There is; http://www.forgerynetwork.com/Default.aspx . I have to say I find it rather a muddle and not that user-friendly. Perhaps I'm just not doing it right! Many thanks, that's a superb and interesting link!

RE smelting silver coinage...I looked into this a year ago, and followed ever lead I could and concluded, though I haven't the time or energy to surf it all out again, that you cannot smelt silver coinage. If you ask any reputable silver smelter, for want of a better word, he'll tell you it's illegal to smelt the coins. Anyway, it's of no interest anyway, as the coins are of much better value unsmelted, quite simply because they have the best assay stamp any horder of silver could wish for. Namely, its form, which is easily recognisable the world over, unlike a lump of melted 'silver'.

Just out of interest, I think you'll find it's illegal to smelt British silver coins! I know the Americans did something similar for some of their coinage too!

Hi all again, I'm sorry that all my posts are questions, rather than a sharing of information, but does anyone have any up-to-date information on the following? If you buy coins in auction, or by any other means, from other countries (USA, EU, AUS, etc.) with the intention of reselling them (namely, as a business), are there any duties levied by Customs & Excise and, if so, what should I expect to be charged? Also are there any other hidden import charges to watch out for? I have recently been browsing the world auction scene and have missed a few items of interest on account of my fears of large taxes upon import, so I need to get this one explored. Many thanks in advance for any knowledge shared, Stuart

Hi, did you move your book on? If not, what are you wanting for it? Many thanks, Stuart

Hi all, Am I just being paranoid here, but does anyone have any insider information that could shed any light into whether the practice of bidding-up absentee bids is common practice? I just wonder about this because if an auctioneer has an absentee bid of £500 in his hand, and a top floor bid of say £350, would it not be an easy thing to put in a ghost bid from the floor to drive up the amount charged to the absentee bid? After all, this is where the auction company makes its money. Bidding up an absentee bid would be a win, win, situation...any thoughts? Many thanks for the expertise, Stuart

Thanks Azda & Seuk, I was too quick out the blocks, I did mean HC. Is there a good central resource for all the known fakes, other than platforms such as this, of course? The contemporary fakes are mostly not a problem to spot, but the modern stuff is pretty damn good in the pictures, I just hope they 're a doddle to spot in the hand???

Hi Azda, just out of interest, what's giving the geo shilling away? The pictures look good. Is it weight? Material? Edge? Is it obvious in the hand?

Two great preceding posts, thank-you! And a massive thanks to every contribution into this enquiry, a superb insight into the original question, thanks again, Stuart

Thanks Seuk, they will catch one or two out on eBay (before delivery, at least)! Wouldn't it be great if these kind of 'arrivals' were met with a wall of resistance? Namely, that anytime anyone spotted one of these coins, as identified by your research, they did kindly send a copy-and-paste of the facts for the porentially fooled's judgement. I remember someone doing this for me once (thankyou swissnome [something like that] whomever you are). It would make these things less commercially viable at source if there existed an honourable and reactive/proactive SWAT team! I for myself will use your observations to warn others (should I notice any falling foul)...if you don't mind, that is? What about, as a start, an eBay account, centrally held by a forum such as this, which provided nothing other than a service to those who are not spotting those individuals who are scamming...maybe even a direct and respected link to eBay central, possibly, that highlights these individuals, without being directly involved, for 'listing extermination'! I think, the message would soon get out there...I presume eBay is where these type of coins would be headed? Many thanks, Stuart

So, would I be right in thinking that auction houses are typically realising book prices for their lots (on average, that is...some above, some below, etc.)? Are we talking spink prices here? I've yet to get on the floor of an auction house. I was hoping to place a few absentee bids about the place. However, I think the general consensus is NO!

I'm staggered yet grateful to read the findings, absolutely the reality no doubt! It seems to me that the only way forward is to be there on the day, which is impractical for most of us middle-of-the-road traders and collectors, it is an 'all or nothing' adventure it seems! Human nature! Good practice for the seller, though!

First, it depends where you live, assuming its the UK, then they seem very much relaxed when opening packets from the USA etc. There is no tax to be paid on anything inside the EU, anything outside can be charged tax, but only if they open the package. I live in Germany, and the bar stewards open EVERYTHING from outside the EU, so i have no choice but to pay 7% on the value over 22 euros, under that is free, so i tend to either not buy outside the EU or ask the seller to drop the price on the customs label. I've also bought from an AU auctionhouse, and they had a very clever was of disguising what was inside. It was like a small book, to thick pieces of cardboard, when i opened it, it was like an advertisement for stamps etc, but taped under that was my 500$ worth of coins, very impressed I'm always amazed at the speed that this forum picks things up, thanks ForumGod Are there no documents (custom's declarations, etc.) that the auction houses are obliged to put on the packets they send out that would get them picked up by the UK customs' bods?

Hi, I stumbled across a few forum discussions from this site whilst browsing on google for books on grading hammered coins (interestingly, I couldn't pull them up from this forum using book + grading + hammered + coins). Did anything ever come of it, it sounded like a great idea?

Hi, and thanks for troubling to look at this post! Can anyone suggest from experience the best UK auction house for coin sellers? I would be looking at submitting 10-15K of British coins, around four times a year. I have checked out some of the realised prices from London Coins and Lockdales, but obviously haven't got the full picture from that! On average do the realised prices ever come close to book prices, or am I dreaming on this one? Also, a lot of questions I know, but do slabbed coins typically reasure the online/telephone bidders of auction houses enough that they realise better prices? I'm very much green about the gills, but have discovered enough to realise that this forum is probably the best online solution to such questions. Many thanks in advance, and many more questions to ask, Stuart