Coinery

A couple of scratches in the field but, for the money spent, I'm rather pleased with it to be honest! Happy days, Pete!

I've only been looking at the 97s because I sniped a £28 1897 penny off eBay the other day as part of my new exploration into Victorian coinage. Just a little play, but it could get serious, you never know!

Possibly, but aesthetically unpleasant, which has rejected many a coin in the early days!

Interesting, CGS 78! I had coins returned for lesser sins 8-10 years ago.

Give up! Will try again later!

Totally agree it looks fine! It was a spontaneous post, ahead of actually getting the chance to dig around a bit myself. So, from the wonderful Withers' Galata Guide, in which I believe you have been duly credited, Dave, I give you below (because it won't let me add it here) class 3b. I love this series.

Got to give it to you Zoo, 10/10 for effort!

Ha, Paulus, I really loved that coin. Yes, the weak centres, but very pretty! Your photography hasn't done the coin justice for once! Rob had the best of my Liz bell halfgroats! Same but struck up centres!

Many thanks, chaps! Not my kind of grade, but caught my eye as being unusual, so always worth a quick discussion on here.

Don't you think the hair/crown and bust look wrong though? i'll get the Rev up, it's a York coin!

Frustrating stuff!

Told me the image was too big in the first post! Obviously much smaller 30 seconds later? ?

Rob, you love research and writing as much as I do! It's still my greatest desire to live the life and be acknowledged as a poet! An Emily Bronte or even a Julia Donaldson would do me nicely. I'm on it! I have now established a sustainable existence, that by 2018 will free me, with only myself to blame should I fail! Very happy with that position! ?

The material would make for a fabulous historical novel, though, even if it doesn't reveal the leads you're looking for!

Can't be fill though, because the the die would be made up of raised dots to produce the incuse stops of the coins. They could certainly be broken off or damaged, producing the effect of the top stop after D. Question is, if the raised device on the die became so damaged as to affect the aesthetics of the coin, would they grind it off smooth? I personally think they would.

Looks like it could be a swirl of scraped gunk, much like you see in the bottom loop of the 0. To be honest, regardless of whether it's metal or deposits, it would only be a recut 6 anyway, imho! All good fun exploring these things, though!

That's really interesting, I never knew they existed, let alone were popular. Nice 1903 halfpenny, by the way!

I'm genuinely curious, what's the low down on religious tokens chaps?

Just in case you missed my point @Jester, the concern is not just with fake slabs, though your approach will certainly help fish them out! I was referring to a number of occasions where TPGCs have themselves slabbed obvious fake coins, and even misattributed basics like denomination!

Hey Jester, good points, and absolutely fair enough, though I have to draw your attention to one statement which I quote below, which is totally false, with many examples to prove it! ? "At a minimum, buying a coin already slabbed/graded guarantees authenticity"

I don't think it will open much of a can of worms, @Rob, because I think most the people on here are exhausted and bemused by the gulf between the two collector types. I agree with absolutely everything you say and, interestingly, I've only just noticed a very obvious detail that I've overlooked before. Namely, that there are those who buy slabs and miss out on the exploration and, in my opinion, numismatic essence of it all...and there are those who know their stuff and enjoy manipulating the slabbing phenomenon, whether that's taking advantage of that which is already slabbed, or still having a good finger on the pulse of what makes a great raw coin and then getting it slabbed! A big difference, very different animals! Having said that, it could open up a can of worms!

I've just noticed it's awaiting validation? How long does the whole process of registering a find take, then? Anyone know?

I know nothing of the period but that doesn't 'look right' to me, has a very cast look about it! Guess they must know what they're talking about! It would be interesting to compare it to the other documented coins to check for any replication. At least I'd want to if I was considering it for myself.