Paulus

The reverse pic is in the main description section, do you want bigger/better pics of it? What die pairing is it? I can't seem to find any daylight bulbs that fit my desk lamps, I am using 2 cheap Ikea desk lamps (your suggestion!) with halogen bulbs - so yes to the offer of the spare bulbs! - but the fittings are the 'small Edsion' screw types (is that what they are called?) and the local wholesale leccy shop does have any daylight bulbs for that fitting in its (extensive) catalogue. I am just getting to know the camera, it has all sorts of WB settings, I am currently using one called 'K' - whatever that means! A lot better than no WB, then my silver collection comes out more like gold, but much room for improvement! Colour temperature is measured in Kelvin, so it could well be a WB mode that allows you to specify the colour temperature as a numerical representation. Daylight lamps are usually 6500K. Thanks Nick - a whole new knowledge chasm has just opened up for me! Better get swotting ... Just looked at the PDF manual for your camera and that is what K mode is. You also have the option to set your own WB, so you can use the plain white piece of paper illuminated by the light you intend to use (let it fully warm up first) and then save it away for any future coin pics. That's mighty good of you, I will have a thorough go at it this weekend!

What a 'pleasing' elephant - 1666 too - I must get me one of those one day, and a CII plumes of course, bit rich for me at the moment - £2,100 as I expect you know

The reverse pic is in the main description section, do you want bigger/better pics of it? What die pairing is it? I can't seem to find any daylight bulbs that fit my desk lamps, I am using 2 cheap Ikea desk lamps (your suggestion!) with halogen bulbs - so yes to the offer of the spare bulbs! - but the fittings are the 'small Edsion' screw types (is that what they are called?) and the local wholesale leccy shop does have any daylight bulbs for that fitting in its (extensive) catalogue. I am just getting to know the camera, it has all sorts of WB settings, I am currently using one called 'K' - whatever that means! A lot better than no WB, then my silver collection comes out more like gold, but much room for improvement! Colour temperature is measured in Kelvin, so it could well be a WB mode that allows you to specify the colour temperature as a numerical representation. Daylight lamps are usually 6500K. Thanks Nick - a whole new knowledge chasm has just opened up for me! Better get swotting ...

The reverse pic is in the main description section, do you want bigger/better pics of it? What die pairing is it? I can't seem to find any daylight bulbs that fit my desk lamps, I am using 2 cheap Ikea desk lamps (your suggestion!) with halogen bulbs - so yes to the offer of the spare bulbs! - but the fittings are the 'small Edsion' screw types (is that what they are called?) and the local wholesale leccy shop does have any daylight bulbs for that fitting in its (extensive) catalogue. I am just getting to know the camera, it has all sorts of WB settings, I am currently using one called 'K' - whatever that means! A lot better than no WB, then my silver collection comes out more like gold, but much room for improvement! The bulbs I have are screw fit, the larger screw size, will measure tomorrow, all your's if they fit! I think the reverse liz image is a duplicate of your P&M coin? I think I will buy some different desk lamps if not, they are dead cheap and it sounds like daylight bulbs are the way to go! And what a pillock I am, I was listing while multi-tasking, always a mistake! Think I will have to get my eBay listings checked by you lot first in future! And despite the incorrect reverse being pictured, I already had a bid, so couldn't edit the description! I have added the correct reverse on now, so feast your eyes on the incredibly rare die pairing I know you are hoping for!

The reverse pic is in the main description section, do you want bigger/better pics of it? What die pairing is it? I can't seem to find any daylight bulbs that fit my desk lamps, I am using 2 cheap Ikea desk lamps (your suggestion!) with halogen bulbs - so yes to the offer of the spare bulbs! - but the fittings are the 'small Edsion' screw types (is that what they are called?) and the local wholesale leccy shop doesn't have any daylight bulbs for that fitting in its (extensive) catalogue. I am just getting to know the camera, it has all sorts of WB settings, I am currently using one called 'K' - whatever that means! A lot better than no WB, then my silver collection comes out more like gold, but much room for improvement!

A few odds and sods are listed now, for anyone interested. Unsold CGS coins next week. eBay pics are experiments with my new camera - which I am very pleased with! It's a Panasonic DMC LX7

Just teasing!

I wonder if I can detect the green shoots emerging of some healthy competition amongst our members on CGS grades achieved! I expect Bill will be reading with a big grin!

Nothing listed as yet, a few in the next day or 2 hopefully, nothing particularly exciting! EBay id is starling69 How do I clear out my inbox?

Actually I'm not. Not sure lower grade is really their thing. Probably said this before but I've certainly seen one of theirs graded F which really should have struggled to make Fair. Could have been an aberration, but unlikely as it was hen's teeth rare. In this case I'd give it NF but could change in hand. A good £69 worth - that definitely doesn't suck! I concur with your assessment of Fair+ Peck (obv better, reverse only Fair), but at £69 you stole it! I am old school when it comes to this issue and find it hard to reconcile F, GF and NVF (which most dealers and auctioneers would grade it) with a coin exhibiting so much wear. I think W&W back then were more realistic in their grading, and (if memory serves) didn't rate it even Fine. But prices have certainly gone up dramatically since then! But it wasn't as much of a steal as my 1903, which I bought from a US dealer for the princely sum of £26 !!!! Ah, the good old days Ebay used to have loads of nice bits on across the pond at very reasonable prices too. Sadly our cousins have caught up in the pricing game This was the 1990s (pre-eBay) but still one hell of a steal when you see it... It actually looks better than that in hand - there's lots of lustre on the reverse, which tends to disguise what appears to be heavy wear to the shield edges and is not so noticeable really. These days it would probably grade VF so £26 in 1999 really was a steal. When I saw it on the dealer's list for that price, I thought it was going to be a pig, but you should have seen my face when I opened the package! I was selling A/Fair 1904's at the time for £12, so you get some idea of the context. SOOOO glad I have stopped collecting dates and 'micro' varieties! For me the added spark of a rare date didn't/doesn't give the same buzz as a new type, and I can't do both! Btw I have a few boring old rare varieties and dates I will be listing on the Bay soon!

Wow! I didn't realise my collection had risen in value so much! Question is, is the bubble about to burst? Hold or sell ... thanks for the heads up Rennes, must have taken my eye off the ball for a moment!

If it's actually that coin you're getting then it is a fair price. Common year and therefore not bargain of the century but decent deal nonetheless. Don't see how it can be if it's the same coin ... unless you are selling it already Rennes?

Regular I think

I agree, I don't think it is acceptable to delay posting once the grading/slabbing process is completed, after all we prepay SD postage. In my case I received them 2 days after they were marked as 'Completed', so that was good.

im going with the hearts, or no hearts coins......were nearly there and we havent seen it yet...man were good......... Semée, feel me, touch me, heal me... lol, to think that Tommy was about that all along, I shall probably have very weird dreams tonight now! Didn't you realise that "We're not gonna take it" referred to eBay fees and policies? And 'Fiddle about' was really about certain coin sellers!

im going with the hearts, or no hearts coins......were nearly there and we havent seen it yet...man were good......... Semée, feel me, touch me, heal me... lol, to think that Tommy was about that all along, I shall probably have very weird dreams tonight now!

Well, that's EAST!! Any further East and it would be Holland I know I for one would not be metal detecting there! Better ways to spend your time in Amsterdam? The good old 'visiting Anne Frank's House' used to work a treat with parents when I was a teenager!

Coin No. 3: 1897 B or B/E Sixpence (purchased from Middlesex Coins at the London Coin Fair May 2012 as B/E):

These coins are offered to Forum members in advance of going on general sale. This is part of a trial run of the CGS/Slabbing service to simply form an opinion about the sale-ability of slabbed UK coins, to serious collectors and general collectors. I am deliberately not putting a price or reserve on them, but all sensible offers will be considered. I also leave the grade up to you to decide. After 03/04/2013 any unsold coins will be offered for sale elsewhere, until then they will be exclusively available on this Forum. These coins have recently been authenticated and slabbed by CGS. The photos you see here are from CGS. I welcome any comments any members or guests might have, in addition, of course, to any offers! Please PM me if interested in acquiring any of them. Coin 1: 1820 Half Crown:

Coin No. 2: 1712 Shilling

I received the coins back yesterday (21st March). Overall I am happy with their service, although it took slightly longer from start to finish than I was hoping, if not expecting - a 43 day turn around - to be fair, one of the 8 coins were in the 30-90 day bracket, while the other 7 were in the 30 day bracket (this is based on the submitter's valuation of the coins, anything sub-£200 (price paid not Spink or other value) qualifying for the £11.99 fee but the 30-90 processing time, £200-£2000 is £19.99 and 30 days). I have phoned their offices a couple of times and got straight through to speak with one of the graders on each occasion, who remembered me and my coins and was happy to chat - so that was a good experience and not one I would expect from a much bigger US TPG. So the next stage is to see what I will realise from the coins I want to sell, for reasons of having upgraded and/or change of focus. I intended to sell 6 of the 8, and 3 have already been sold privately, a good result all round and better (for me) than I would have got on eBay, I'm sure, unless unbelievably patient! So the remaining 3 will be offered to Forum members in the first instance, and I will then consider where to place any still unsold - please see the Items For Sale section soon if interested! As usual, all and any comments welcome!

I'll guess at a regulation sixpence or shilling

says he who has been banging up above average pennies like they're going out of fashion! Oops, having a senior moment there, Ski, getting you all confused with pies offerings! Sorry! You must be having another senior moment ive only bought a couple Plus the new one from CC today that you have just displayed (I assume you have bought it, or are you just showing off some dealers' coins on here?!)

Me too - I'm sure he is slowly getting the message! I have sent him a slightly less polite message - knowing that now he has been informed over and over!!

You see that frequently where there are large price differentials between grades. If the seller can manage to inflate the grade by a fraction, it could make the difference of several hundred pounds for a 1905 HC, whereas for a 1902 HC it's just a few quid and probably not worth the effort. How would you grade this, out of interest? Near Fine for me (at best) - Fair Details!