Sword

He has now added the following: " I hope gathering data from a variety of different sources and putting it down here may help shed some light on these most interesting coins. The regular 1935 Crown, struck for circulation, has mintage of 715,000 pieces and was produced in .500 silver with edge lettering that is incused (sunken into) the edge surface. Normal edge lettering reads DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO REGNI XXV but errors exist, more on this later. Some examples of the circulation Crown, presumably early strikes, can have a somewhat prooflike quality to their surfaces. The edge lettering on circulation coins was applied in a seperate operation from striking and was done without regard to whether the obverse or reverse side of the coin was facing up. Only Proof and Specimen coins, where the edge lettering was applied at the time of striking, are oriented so that when the edge lettering is rightside up the obverse side of the coin will also be facing up.Proof issues of the 1935 Crown were also struck. One of these being the Raised Edge Letter Proof with 2500 examples struck in Sterling silver and issued in red boxes. " Basically, he just quoted a paragraph from the article: http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/The-1935-George-V-Crown-types-and-varieties-/10000000009549585/g.html without acknowledging it. (It is a nicely written article by the way). He has totally misunderstood the article thinking that if the edge lettering is right way up, then it must be a proof / specimen. Obviously he didn't understand that the article is saying half of the 715,000 currency coins also have edge letters right way up. He doesn't appear to know that there is a difference between proof and specimen for this coin type and so uses the term "proof specimen".

£500 asking price. I wonder if he is related to Yestodtom. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1935-Silver-Crown-possible-circulated-proof-specimen-/272500845633?hash=item3f7250ec41:g:bsoAAOSwa~BYY6EY

It is interesting that Thomas Wyon Junior (the engraver of the bullhead halfcrown reverse according to p261 of ESC) didn't give his full initials TW and simply used W instead. Bit strange as he used WWP for the mint master. I wonder if he was collaborating with his cousin William Wyon on the engraving / designing and so "W" stood for both of them? William Wyon even used "W Wyon" or at least WW on his own work.

Orient Express no doubt. Good for you! Must have cost a pretty penny though ...

Everything is great in Venice apart from the cost of eating out in restaurants!

Welcome to the forum and happy 2017. Can't be certain with regard to grades from your photos. Looks like VF to NEF for the silvers, penny looks to be aUNC. There is no right or wrong way to start collecting and the initial purchases depend a lot on one's budget. Buying a starter set like this is perfectly fine (providing it was reasonably cheap) if just to get an idea of the denominations you might like to focus on in the future. But I would advise not buying many more such "sets" as they were put together by dealers using coins that are difficult to sell individually. E.g. GVF is not a very collectable condition for a 1937. Better off spending £20 or £30 on a real UNC coin instead in my view. And if you are changing your mind regularly about what you want, might be it is better to do more reading / research on the internet before buying more. Otherwise, you will accumulate a number of coins you won't want to keep later on.

Taken on a break to Venice in October. Enchanting city.

Merry Christmas! Just got back from a break at Rome. Photos of life size manger scene outside St Peters.

An EF or EF+ Lima halfcrown is something I want to buy at some point. I totally agree with Paulus and Stuntman that only you can decide on its eye appeal. It is nicely toned and that certainly helps. I personally have got a bad habit of always focusing on the worst parts of a coin and so I would avoid coins with defects. Consequently I can only afford to buy very infrequently...

He is saying that 8 items he sent to Merseyside went missing. I had a look at his other items yesterday for amusement and you might want to check out a coin he describes as "fabulous". His items are not currently showing on ebay. Might be he is revising the descriptions ...

2p coin after it has been in concentrated nitric acid for a few minutes. The flan has become very thin but the design is still mostly there.

I didn't place any bids this time but LCA always publish results on their website the day after the auction.

A few slabbed coins won't take up a lot of space. But space does become an issue if one were to slab too many ...

Very nice. But I bet it will cost a fortune though. I hate those TPG plastic boxes which look cheap and nasty. I brought a Lighthouse wooden 3 tray box last year which cost £55. I have since brought another one for Quadrums (or 2x2s) with each tray holding 20 coins.

Oscar Wilde also said " One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art. " Seriously though, I think coins that have good designs / fine engravings are more desirable and sell for considerably more. E.g. the Gothic Crown surely shouldn't cost so much given it's mintage. But it is considered as one of the most attractive milled coins. Would the petition crown be worth so much if the design and engraving are not so fantastic and lettering is missing from the edge?

I love art and like to visit galleries when on holiday. There are quite a few obvious reasons why the general public are more interested in art than coins. 1) Paintings can be hung up and admired by all. A nice painting in a home can be a nice talking point. Coins need to be handled a lot more carefully and need gloves etc unless slabbed. 2) Paintings are larger. They can decorate rooms. 3) Each painting is unique. Coins are not. Rare coin varieties are often not very visually appealing. 3) Anyone can give an opinion on a painting without specialist knowledge. 4) People study art and art history in schools and colleges. Owing works by well known artists give you "social status". 5) There is a lot more history associated with art than coins.

Might be so. But I just prefer to leave commission bids with auction houses that are not likely to give me the hassle of returning lots afterwards.

Grading is a matter of opinion and small discrepancies are expected. (e.g. GEF and AU, GVF and NEF etc.) However calling that 1902 matt proof crown FDC is just rather dishonest or at least incompetent. Most of us have put in commission bids without being able to view the lots in advance. In such cases, you often need to rely on the auctioneer's grading and descriptions to some extent. We are not moaning pointlessly but are just keeping each other informed of the auction houses that are more likely to give poor descriptions / over grading / flattering photos. People have also pointed out places like DNW give photos that don't always do the coins justice. Information like this help collectors (especially those that are less experienced) make more informed decisions when placing commission bids.

Acquiring those coins is the really hard part! I have not even heard of the 1926 Pattern Wood Peace Crown until now. Just read about it on http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/collection/collection-highlights/coins/peace-crown-1926/index.html I wonder why it is not listed in the latest edition of ESC (now that ESC has decided to include uniface coins).

The steel penny was made by dropping the coin into concentrated Nitric Acid. The Copper gets oxidised away leaving behind the steel penny. The reaction gives off poisonous brown NO2 fumes and the acid will even boil due to the amount of heat given out. Not something to try at home and must be done in a fume cupboard in a lab. The brass penny was made by coating a copper penny with zinc (again a hazardous procedure requiring a lab) . Using a temperature of 800oC or so, the copper will react with the zinc to give a nice shiny layer of brass.

This 2p has a brass coating instead of the usual copper. Definitely not electroplated.

It's all relative. VS has many fabulous coins in his collection and I would be very happy to own coins he describes as "quite" good. It's certainly better than mine (which I later slabbed and got CGS85)

No one want to be in front of any of his queues. Who knows what he has in mind. EU can go first and then UK will then know what to expect. (I am being selfish, I know)