Sword

"In 1858 this shinny new penny paid for a book of stamps that sent 1/2 a dozen love letter across the south of England. In 1914 it was given in change to a ticket aboard a ship and the spent straight away on a bag of liquorice that can. E found 1/2 eaten at the bottom of the Atlantic. Many years later is found by an old blind women and given to her grandson along with 100s of others to see if they were worth anything." Reads like a bad story written by a schoolkid for homework. Postage was expensive in 1858 and it cost a whole penny to buy just a single stamp.

I do like the 1983 and 1984-87 piedfort £1 coins. The designs are really very good. I brought the 84-87 piedfort set a few years back which cost £55 + juice which was (and still is) the standard price. Strangely, I don't have the slightest interest in any of the other years.

The bidder is m***o and the seller is "mitmitchantho". Hence, it does look like a shill bid and he is not being very subtle either This person has not got a single feedback for selling either. His recent feedbacks were for buying anti stress pills and sleeping pills and so it looks like some desperate and naive attempt to make some money.

I just can't believe the seller's story. He states that the story was reported in: "1926 - Dundee Evening Telegraph (April 21st), Lancashire Evening Post (April 21st & May 29th), Northern Daily Mail (May 29th), Newcastle News, Pennsylvania, USA (June 12th). 1934 - Nottingham Evening Post (February 7th & November 22nd), Western Morning News (November 25th). 1940 - Angus Evening Telegraph (January 28th). 1955 - Birmingham Daily Post (November 1st). " Can't see how anyone can possibly get this extensive information. And no one can check any of the above now.

I don't collect modern proofs but I did once when I was a teenager. Reasons? 1) Couldn't afford high grade 19C coins. Worn coins had little appeal for me. Modern proofs are always in FDC. 2) Some can be attractive in design. 3) Some are very nicely presented. Easy to handle. 4) A possible way to collect world coins ...and very occasionally, the odd one can be a good investment. ... and some people buy them to tick a box

This guy is back: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/George-V-1933-Pennys-my-grandmother-said-son-only-sell-when-times-a-tough/123397155401?hash=item1cbb0b2a49:g:4l4AAOSwIJdblqpW Hasn't taken it to "a local auction if it didn't sell in two weeks" No mention of raising money for his grandparents' headstone this time or that he was robbed recently Now trying to get £25 rather than the £400 😄

You can always let London Coins know that the seller is not the owner of the photographed coin and has used their images without authorization . Semra might want to do something about it.

I think you have every right to expect proof coins to be free from marks or fingerprints. Unless you particularly want the 2018 set now, getting a refund from the mint and buying the set on the secondary market in a year or so time will save you some money.

I think you have probably answered your own questions. People slab junk thinking they can make a profit by doing so: "I noticed a price tag on it of £49" NGC Grading is not cheap in the US. Doesn't look like there is any"ethical customer service where they might say "stop" to the person asking such a token being slabbed" or you shouldn't see this token slabbed otherwise.

The sacrifice made by the Soviet soldiers and civilians was of course truly enormous and can never be underestimated. Almost 10 million soldiers had fallen by the end of the war. But Stalin did sign the non aggression pack with Germany which encouraged the start of the WWII. They took half of Poland as their prize. When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union they were totally caught by surprised. Stalin purged so many of the Red Army officers (I have read that it was as many as a third when I was at school) which made their deference much more difficult. I think that Stalin has undermined a bit the huge contribution made made by the USSR military.

I agree that Britain did not quite "stand alone" after the defeat in France. Members of the Commonwealth had made their own independent declarations of war on Germany. India as part of the Empire declared war in 1939. Nepal for example was at war and was not a member of the Commonwealth. Thousands of Irish moved to Britain to fight. Even though France, Poland and Czechoslovakia were defeated, thousands of their soldiers, including those evacuated from Dunkirk fought with the along side the British and as members of the RAF. De Gaulle was leading the Free French forces. However, Britain was the only country in Europe that was at war with Germany and had not surrendered. In that sense, she was proudly standing alone.

"I know little about ..." usually translates to FAKE, FAKE, FAKE

I do wonder if the "currency" 1928-36 crowns were issued at the face value of 5 shillings. VS, do you think the general public had the chance of applying for a proof at the time or were they just minted for various institutions / museums / VIPs etc?

VS, I think it would be interesting to e-mail DNW and express your doubts. It is all to easy to say a coin is a proof if it say so on the slab. But they might change their mind if someone were to question it. The strike is not great (but I am certainly not good enough to tell a proof from a currency).

The coin in question:

He has realised claiming he had 3 wasn't a good idea and so has removed this claim now 🙂

Or you can just return the coin to Michael since you have just brought it. In this case, the grading is off (and that's why I wondered if he actually graded all the coins himself) and the photo looks very much like VF. I don't think you can get more money for it unless the I/D has actually been established as a variety in a catalogue.

Ebay sellers? Sellers previously unknown to you?

I am fine with the JH portrait and sometimes wonder why it was so unpopular compared to the OH. If it was about the crown being so small, then Victoria did wear a small crown. The YH is a really nice portrait and a hard act to follow. Do you think the OH would also have been unpopular if it immediately followed the YH?

pies! Long time since you were last here!

I wonder how much of the grading is done by Michael these days. On the Micheal Coins website, it says that "Michael is helping with the orders received by Michael Coin Ltd. However, he is doing this now in a more relaxed way as he is semi-retired he and his wife are taking more 'time out' !" I think it is possible that Michael Coins is more of a brand rather than about Michael G himself.

I agree with Non. "Bright" usually implies dipping or cleaning. Dealers tend to use terms like "lustrous", "brilliant", "retaining some original brilliance", "just beginning to tone" etc otherwise. But I also don't think you will find any issues in this case. On a separate issue, I really don't think experienced dealers should use ? in grading. In this case EF?/EF just sugars the pill that the observe is not quite EF. aEF would be more straight forward.

£27 = total amount of money pay £27 = price of the meal £25 + tip £2 Adding £2 to £27 makes no sense at all as £27 already includes the £2 tip. £30 = £27 (money paid) + £3 (£1 refund each) as pointed out above

The Duke supposedly asked the lad "Would you like to to be sent into space on holiday?" and he just replied "yes". The follow up remark (like his others) was rather uncalled for. But it is hard to be too critical of an aged Royal.