divemaster

I am safe then, phew! i have no coins, no money, six starving german shepards, a wife thats a boxer, live on an island in a castle with a drawbridge, and dont have visitors!

The whole point of banking valuable collections is so that a thief cant enjoy your life long collection/investment. We all think that it wont happen to us, but it can, then you try claiming from your household policy, good frigging luck!

Yes Rob thats the about cost from "Waldrop" which i thought was quite reasonable, it also includes transporting collection, and up to 30days at home.

That's interesting to know as my collection is largely complete and I was thinking of banking it rather than spend £500 on insurance, you can buy a couple of good coins for that. Can you explain that a little more please! I'm just upgrading really now, all the major obtainable holes are filled. Really just things like the 1935 gold crown, the old 1920's cupro nickel bits, unconfirmed varieties ect which I don't expect to find for prices I can afford. I intend to sell my collection in about 7 years time and paying £500 a year for the next 7 year so that it can stand in the corner of my living room. I can think of better things to spend my money on. The whole point of having a valuable collection in the bank and having it insured is so that its not sat in your front room waiting for burglars!!

Complete collection? What does that mean? I set my goal to collect 1900 to 1967 Farthing to Crown. Well I,ve added most of the major varieties and many of the minor one's as well to keep it going. Not much else to add now. Wow well done, that means you have all the wreath proof crowns and all the VIP crowns, thats great ive been trying to do that for all my life, tell me your secret!!

That's interesting to know as my collection is largely complete and I was thinking of banking it rather than spend £500 on insurance, you can buy a couple of good coins for that. Can you explain that a little more please!

The people i used were Wardrop & Co ltd (Lloyds) from Colchester, member of FSA, found them very easy to talk to and very helpfull. Tel no 01376 563764. They will cover you when transporting collections as well as within safe storage.

If anyone wants to know a good contact for insurance of coin collections kept in banks, let me know. It was really annoying me that my bank would not insure them for me whilst kept in their strongroom, after lots of looking and research i found a reliable insurer that would.

I have the same issues with my wife, but i always point out to her that the dress she bought for a hundred pounds will be worthless in two years, whereas my coin for a hundred pounds will not have lost value (hopefully) and may even have gained value! She says shame lager dosnt do the same! Ooooops!

Does anyone agree with me regarding "good investments for the future" that the 1935 REI proof crown with only 2,500 minted could be a way forward? With that limited mintage, and seeing what has happened to prices of the 1934 wreath it makes me wonder. The only doubt i have is that the 1932 wreath crown has not kept pace with the 1934 pro-rata. I wonder?

Hi Jay, firstly security, there are still banks that have safe storage, secondly a safe, bolted to the floor in a place that is not obvious, also helps, i find that the smaller wooden coin boxes stack well in safes. Secondly storage, encapsulation (if it suits you) not only gives you coins that are virtually sealed, but also they then, are photographed, graded and listed in a professional manner for insurance purposes. Just bullion coins however i do not think justify encapsulation costs, just safe storage. Good luck.

I attended the coin fair at the NMM in Birmingham last week, and was horrified to overhear, as i wandered about, the amount of cleaning of coins by dipping that was being talked about by dealers! Is it that people are attracted to shiny coins rather than a lustre or what, surely it should de-value a coin rather than enhance the price. I have had coins re-jected from grading because of cleaning, why is this so obviously widespread?

Doubting Thomases, when you put the 1965 VIP next to the other variants it stands out like a very sore thumb. Even i have to say tho the photos dont do it justice.

VS, they have on the CGS website a picture of the 1951 VIP for clarification against yours. I think this 1951 type is on of the ones that is readily distinguishable, take a look at UIN 16000

VS, sorry ive done a typo, i have the 1960 and 1965 VIPs not the 1953 (thats on my wishlist)

VS, i dont have a picture to post (and woulnt know how to anyway) but the coin can be seen on the CGS website.

I like the VIP proof crowns, they are rare and hard to find, i aquired the 1965 and 1953 VIP crowns many years ago and they appear to have been good investments. Locating the others is proving quite hard.

Has anyone here ever seen or heard of the 1902 crown variant which was sold in London Auctions no 136, lot 1780. This was a new one to me and described as "lettered edge, with bright proof like finish" I viewed it at the auction but was not sure enough of it to bid above the £480 that it went for. Any knowledge about this variant out there?

Azda - Their are two types of error edge, the proof, and the currency type. I have the only one of either types that appear on CGS listings, i have the proof version which is listed in esc as R5 (5-10) its the currency type which is listed as R6 (3-4). The whole point of my previous thread was to see if more than 10 people owned up to owning the proof variety, this would indicate to me that i shouldnt be believing all that is written. Anyone wanna sell me a currency version?

Before i started having any coins graded by CGS i booked up to go and watch the grading process. As Mike says it is very carefully and professionaly carried out. When starting out it is shocking how brutal their grading can be, but it sets benchmarks and gives the collector tips on many aspects of collecting. After a while it becomes one of the few things i trust. I often get CGS to "cast their eye over a coin" before i purchase it.

Dont handle them too much, it de-values them when you pass them around.

Most people who are so against any form of grading/encapsulation are typically, an old coin collector that doesnt believe that anyone quite knows as much as they do, they then assume that any nice coin that they have purchased is in a far better grade than it actually is (god knows ive met enough of these type) they also then doubt and rubbish any coin graded by anyone else because they know better!!!! I have much more respect for collectors who just say that encapsulation/grading is just not for them, and allow and respect people that do grade professionally.

That it is going to become more widely used.

Who mentioned "market trends" who mentioned "market will be driven by slabbed coins", not me, all i believe in is that for storage of my collection (after having had all the mahogany trays) its the way to store, and catalogue them, for my grandchildren in the future. I have never tried teaching you to suck eggs because you probably couldnt.

Yes, i have a love hate relationship with encapsulation, or slabbing, i love it and a lot of people hate them. Anyone that hates them, be carefull you dont get your feet wet trying to hold the tide back!!!!!!