scottishmoney

They haven't dropped their toilet wipes on my doormat in quite a good number of years.

I am in no small way chaffed at watching American coverage of the Olympics and hearing their perfidious commentators referring to all Brits as the English. I really want to throw something at the tube, but only if I could actually knock off the talking head.

I'd try a Single Malt for removing residue, one for me, one for the tomb, twice the more for me, only once for the plastic tomb.

A shop vice and pliers also suffice. I had to crack out poor Annie out of her plastic tomb a few years ago: Surely she wasn't deserving of such a punitive condemnation as being plastic tombed. Now she breathes once the more.

Inasmuch as the monarchy is a phenomenal tradition, I do believe amends must be made to skip a generation or otherwise just insure that the interregnum will be duly brief betwixt the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King William V.

I find that people in the West tend to "overuse" banks, which is why all the perfidious charges. I haven't had a debit/atm card in over 15 years, I don't care for being charged to withdrawal my funds from a bank. If I have to draw funds, I go into the branch and do the deed. Surely one reason fees are so usurious these days is that the banks are having to cover their real costs - jaunts to the Algarve, extra entertaining ladies at the Playa del Sol etc.

Curiously Barclays was a Quaker started bank. But by the 1930s others took over and well we see where they are today.

Ford and other automotive concerns were interested in short term profit for shareholders at the expense of long term viability. One does ponder the irony of Tata Motors coming in and buying up the assets of British manufacturers, a sort of "bottom rail on top now" scenario. Surely in Delhi they have a wry satisfaction... But in reality you have to wonder what you as your own person are doing to contribute to the abysmal situation. I find myself in a situation where I would rather purchase older ie 1960's era power tools in great condition than this plastic garbage that is made to save me from myself. As bad as you might think your Chinese manufactured goods are - you are indeed fortunate for that veritable rubbish - in Eastern Europe we get the same rubbish that the Chinese foist off on their own consumers. People run around in markets lamenting how unfair it is that we get the rubbish whilst the west gets the better imports. Of course the government is more concerned with corrupting and gouging than to set a standard for imports. Indeed we have a disposable mentality whence it comes to tools, durable goods. Nothing is made with long term pursuit anymore. Even whence there are regulatory procedures there are literal boulevards around them - those clever people in Asia have occasioned to make substitutes that slid under radars. I am becoming to see that unless for mere raw materials, all manufacture should be localised which affords more control. Banks are surely regulated, but by the government which is indeed in their pay. They should be regulated by the borrowers, the deposit holders. There should be a lofty ethical standard that must attained.

Curious and quite ironic it is to find this discussion - for I am at the moment reading "Chocolate Wars" by Deborah Cadbury. The premise of the book is how Quaker ethics played no small part in the industrialisation of Great Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries. Their beliefs were such that they had to run honest and equitable businesses in a Godly fashion, with a dedication to their workers. Happy workers were the cornerstone of the economy. Manufacturing and self sufficiency were primary for the basis of a sound economic situation. How such contrast so much with our 21st century reality. Surely greed have taken primacy, look at the banking scandals. Manufacturing, consumption, and self sufficiency are out-sourced to lesser economic situations with significantly less paid workers that do NOT contribute anything to economy because their economic situation doesn't permit such "extravagance" as purchasing the iPod they assembled. From our vantage it might appear as though there were indeed faults with early theories regarding manufacturing and self sufficiency. But I am suggesting perhaps we need to slow down and take a took - the economic miracle of 19th century Britain surely must have some lesson for us now.

Hmm, does seem as though one could find enough dribble if one wished too, yet I find myself in pursuits of ever more elusive 16th century hammered gold coins which are in a finite and seemingly, diminishing, availability.

It is a mystery how a man can seemingly have everything, but feels something is missing. In contrast someone might have nothing, yet have it all together and be completely at peace with their predicament. But there is always the plausibility that there is might more to the story than is out in the presses.

I completely like the Treasure Trove Act and believe that as a result of it that many wonderful pieces have been documented and well researched as a result of it. I have a particular token from the 17th century that I had to get an export license for to take it out of Great Britain because of the nationality of the token, Irish, and the fact that it was found in rural Shropshire - far from it's home in Dublin. In essence the piece travelled long ago and is testament to a cross Irish sea trade that must have existed then. So as a result with the reporting, the export license etc I have a neat documentation of the piece from the moment it was found until it ended up in my clutches. That aside, I would rather be paid a finder's fee than risk prosecution for non-reporting and whatever subsequently could result legally.

I'll make sure your haggis is extra juicy.

Which unduly and unfartunately brings to mind the seller of farthings back a few years ago on fleaBay that seemingly missed the h in all the hundreds of his auction titles.

Welcome aboard, you can collect anything you want - as long as it is not Scottish. Those latters are my exclusive domain. BTW I also collect NI notes, specially the ones with lovely ladies.

Welcome aboard, you can collect anything you want - as long as it is not Scottish. Those latters are my exclusive domain.

Coins are chaeper an' less taxin' on the soul than the wife an' a wee'un.

A whole auction of early dated coins: Early Dated Coins in CNGCoins auction

Frankly I think the tracking and trace fee is nothing more than a very profitable money grab on the part of the posties. I got registereds months ago that are still in "out for delivery" status. They don't really make dosh on lettres etc, but sure do on all those extras.

I am proud to say that the Scots were the first to produce dated coins, and also the first with the then new renaissance portrait of the Monarch with the James V gold coins in 1539.

Poor auld bloky in the first had a rather rough existence me thinks, ta much meade, an' got bitten by Yorkie. But a nice example of the coin all the whiles.

Indeed, it was as though the Chancellor of the Exchequer had forgotten Thomas Gresham's witty "bad money drives out good money" axiom. Curiously Britain had suspended specie payment during the war, then re-instituted it again and then cancelled it for good by the early 1930's - but the sterling had retained most of it's foreign exchange value until after the devastating financial consequences of WWII took hold in postwar Britain. I do find it curious that .500 silver coins were circulating into the 1980's particularly after the silver run up in 1979-80 that drove whatever remaining circulating silver in other countries completely out of the picture. But that said, I went to my local credit union the other day and bought $340 worth of halves that the teller had told me about a couple of days previous. Wow! I am darned glad I did, because I mined out 53 silver halves, 9 of them 90%ers, the others the 1960's era 40% halves. Total silver melt value - $350, a more than 100% return on my very short term investment.

Actually if one of those tabloid type coin dealers got hold of it it might be priced in the thousands of quid.

Britain's changeover from sterling to 50% fine silver coinage had much more to do with Britain using silver stocks to pay the USA for war materiels during and right after WWI than the price of silver. In many ways WWI had a huge effect on coinages around the world. The Latin Monetary Union in Europe, which France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy and Austria-Hungary were signatories to, collapsed leaving only Switzerland and the newly reborn Poland(Zlotych in 1925) and far off Venezuela still using LMU units of currency. We all know what happened in Germany, but also happened in Austria and Hungary. The Russian ruble collapsed into a myriad of various ruble denominated currencies that rapidly lost value. The Japanese yen began a slide in value. Only in Switzerland and in the USA did the currencies retain value, and in the long term to the present only the Swiss Franc has held it's relative value and actually appreciated vs. all other currencies.

Ah, you are a generous one, only a melt, and not a total burnout to ash for these perfidious eBay sellers?