Gollum

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BOYS-TOY-GADGET-COOL-THIS-USB-MICROSCOPE-/270896224208?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DDLSL%252BSIC.NPJS%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BUA%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D220930149024%252B220930149024%26po%3D%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5752971494754612965 Damn...I missed that one. Thats ok Peter, I missed an identical one yesterday for £6.99 All in.. Well I couldn't make my mind up on whether I should or not and lost it.

"The trouble is if detectorists don't record then they are accused of stashing hoards of treasures away, and self interest" Yep and the archeologist does it with approval.

Prime example of a museum / state dept "keeping national heritage safe!. http://germanherald.com/news/Germany_in_Focus/2011-12-08/1142/Minting_It

http://www.coinworld.com/articles/ban-on-sales-of-replicas-starts-on-ebay-feb-2/

I think it is false economy to think small in terms of reference material. Unless you are determined to only collect within a fixed range in perpetuity, having books which only cover the existing collecting criteria means any expansion will result in you having to buy literature which in all probability will also duplicate your current books. An added advantage of having literature outside your current field is that you can do a bit of reading and maybe find that it gives you inspiration to broaden your collection. Very few collections can ever be completed. Currency issues over a narrow range possibly, but beyond that you will in all likelihood struggle to find a few rarities. I can almost guarantee that you will see things outside your current range of 1816-1936 which you find atttractive and wouldn't mind collecting. Post 1816 there are a few killer dates for whichever denomination you choose. For halfcrowns it is the 1839 currency issue, though a decent 1828 will be problematic too. Shillings come unstuck with an 1850, florins with 1854, sixpences you are stuck with the solitary 1847 - so which lucky person is going to be the one that completes the series? For the moment it appears to be quite easy to say that only 1816-1936 are collected, but in time, as it becomes more difficult to fill the gaps, the temptation to diversify gains momentum. View having reference material for both current and potential future collecting periods as a means of problem solving. I have to say that I was stuck on collecting decimal coinage, primarily because of finances and they are so easy to get, however after a visist from Rob and some other words of wisdom by Peter, I then started to look at other coins of other eras, the truth is I like ALL coins even if I berate French ones as junk !, they still do some nice stuff and will keep them if found. So I am now in a phase where I love the shilling, mainly from Victorias era, but any will do as they are all shillings, I was then sent some coins from George III's reign by forum friends which also got my interest, this has culminated in my having to seek out literature on various types to the point that many may think I am just wandering in the dark or leaping all over the place when I am not, as Rob says, a diversity of literature is a good thing, and if for no other reason I will seek out all manner of reading material even if not in relation to what I like most because it may be that one day I will change focus and then find those books etc I want will then be out of print or also be more expensive at that time. If I had the finances I would in all honesty collect hammered as well, sadly that is not a reality for me at present even if I do like the look of them, but may be in the future as well, I have a thing for druid coins as well, but those I can not find from my armchair, so maybe one day I will have to leave it and face going further afield. I say collect ALL books, and you can also look at it in the light that even if you never use them, they will also become a collectors item or appreciate in value with age.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BOYS-TOY-GADGET-COOL-THIS-USB-MICROSCOPE-/270896224208?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DDLSL%252BSIC.NPJS%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BUA%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D220930149024%252B220930149024%26po%3D%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5752971494754612965

LCN.com do webhosting for about £2 - £3 per month or £20 something a year, so maybe when the year is up I will change host !. Customers can be sneaky too.

The only thing I coud find on HMRC site or whatever it is called is in relation to gold or bullion coins, and someting about other coins of value as collectible but no VAT rate, only soomething about if the coin is of lower value due to it being damaged or worn and of less value as a collectors item. They do not make it easy to surf or find things on their site do they, typical Gov't misdirection or obfuscation so the average person gives up looking.

Thanks, Azda! You really will have to forgive me here, as my knowledge of these things are ZERO, but are there any reasons why a camera is better than a scope that could do the full job? Also, was there a particular scope you were referring to? Many thanks for any further info. Sometimes a scope can get closer than the camera could, this is only to check if a letter or digit is stamped over something else, that's the ONLY reason i use it, camera is for pictures alone. Gollum mentioned a usb scope in another thread somewhere and i gave him another ebay number to which the scope i have relates to which is selling on ebay just now at 20 quid or so http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-Microscope-1-3-Megapixel-Camera-Traveller-/180797585224?pt=UK_BOI_Medical_Lab_Equipment_Lab_Equipment_ET&hash=item2a18603748

Sneaky? Why sneaky? It looks a good deal at $10 for the year, i might give it a nibble myself. I consider it sneaky putting a direct debit into a link without informing the person clicking it, amazing what companies do these days.

Erm what link, I didn't see one, and i just emailed you too. The one in the post above Sneaky aren't they !. Ahh well, i will leave it for a few months then cancel it, let you get your freebie first.

Erm what link, I didn't see one, and i just emailed you too.

Kendal Mint Cake = that's the prince of mints :-) ooh only if I can eat them of Naked Felicity herself

and how do they know you sent me ?. and how do I stop the autorenew, is it an option presented to you.

I suddenly have a lot of foreign relatives

They had been placed in "Spring water", silly idea really. Spring loaded tins are not fun.

So there I was, hungry and bored, nothing on the forum, so I went downstairs and rummaged about in the cupboards, i spotted a tin of sardines in a tin and thought "hmm lets give them a try" I prefer Pilchards ( same thing really ) in tomatoe sauce, but hey beggars can't be choosers and I have coins to buy, so it's student food for a month. As I stood there looking at them the cats came in and they knew what this tin meant, little sods. I started to open the tin very slowly so as not to spill the contents and the cats getting them ( I am very mean to my cats, I am the only one here who loves them )when all of a sudden the ruddy contents flew across the floor and the cats leapt at them and they where gone( this is all true by the way ). I was most aggrieved, I had lost my supper and the cats had gained. So, its too bed later hungry, I have no more left. Of course it wasn't my fault, and it wasn't the cats, but I do know what was to blame. I bet you can't all guess. Go on, it's dead easy to work it out.

I would like to see a site where the info is upated freely by such as Rob or Peter or Dave Groom and others here and is not just done by the large companies. One that would be freely available to download by forum members and the like. realtime info on new finds, errors, or the such. Dream on huh.

Hi Peter, I actually got some today in the post. a set of Fuzion rogue 650 ones. So its all go now. How have you been keeping , ok I hope ? My girls are studying (14&16) so they have exclusive use of the laptops to catch up on work so, I've been putting my farthings in my new cabinet. and watching a few DVD's with my wife. Glad to hear you are ok, i myself am having fun reading and collecting Vikki shillings and some other things, like finding someone to rip down my large bits of old mahogany window frames etc into planks for me.

Ok so what digital scales do i need and to what accuracy ?. is 0.1g enough of an accuracy ?

http://tinyurl.com/72rug2x

Oh you have got me started now !. I despise most archeologists, as far as I am concerned they are nothing more than self serving hypocrits and egotists, their ardent belief in the fact that only they are intelligent or superior enough to preserve or catalogue a coin gets my back up, it is nothing more than to promote their own positions and perceived importance as the upholders of our natinal heritage ( many of such things having come from foreign lands so really aren't our heritage! ) they want it all for themselves and fame, one word comes to mind about most of them, it begins with w and ends with s. I recall a lot of the tricks they pulled in the 70's with leaflets calling detectorists thieves and how they were robbing the countryside and how you were asked to phone the police and report them or not let them onto your land. They are for want of a better description by myself and in my mind nothing more than detectorists without a detector, a plague on those who actually do do the work in the cold and wet out of their own pocket. They of course would not dream of going out on a cold wet day to do such unless they had a team of followers and a packet of money donated from some institute or rich person, they take what they proclaim ou heritage and hide it away, later to sell it to anyone who can bail out their failed museums or such. They are nothing more than leeches with a funny and recognised title from some educational establishment. I agree with Peck, it's spot on. If it wasn't for those detectorists much of the "history" and national heritage those clowns called archeologists whine about would never have seen the light of day and they would never have had anything to write their fame seeking thesis about. I'm stopping because I am more angry than logical now and I am losing the plot !, arghhhhhh.

Ok so all of you that would like to see it, what would you want a web site to show you in reference to a coin and its value, what layout etc.

All editions are an improvement on the previous ones and 1992 is the last printed, but anything in the 1971 would still be valid. Alan Rayner died a few years ago, so there will be no 6th edition. Like all reference material, it has omissions and many rarity values are demonstrably incorrect, but it is still a valuable addition to the library, listing as it does a reasonably comprehensive summary of the milled silver coins. It doesn't go into as much detail as Davies, but covers a longer period. Thank you Rob. I just got this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310369811829?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 £7 isnt a lot for educational paperwork. Must go look up Davies. Doh ! duh ! was I blonde the last time you saw me. That's actually the 1974 edition - same as the one I've got. It's a useful book especially for the early milled series (Davies is better from 1816), and is virtually the defining work for pre-19th Century milled silver. Though as Rob says, such books are always going out of date - however it's a great learning tool, and the rarities it lists are all genuinely rare even though more have been discovered since. Arrived today and it's not in bad condition so I am happy, lots of educational material to read now. Should catch up with some of you in about erm 9-10 years rather than never now.

I can get my hands on teh 1971/2 issue, is this still valid today. what has realistically changed since in the 1992 edition.