Sword

Here is another example of a coin brought from LCA in 2013 and was immediately slabbed by CGS afterwards. Again the CGS photo is better. The LCA photo totally failed to show the patchy gold toning. I am not convinced that the CGS setup is the same as LCA. This is the LCA photo

I spent a day in the Tower of London recently and was impressed by the coins they have on display. Firstly, the Petition Crown. Simply an amazing coin.

Nice coins Paul. With regard to mine. The 1902 crown was purchased in LCA in 2011 and I had it slabbed before it was posted to me. There was might be a two months gap between the dates of the LCA and CGS photos. The 1888 was purchased in LCA in 2013 and was also slabbed immediately afterwards. Hence a gap of might be two or three months between the photos.

The gate price is £25 per adult which is too much in my view. However, this is equal to £6.25 in Tesco's Clubcard vouchers. But most people go to the tower for a day out to see the crown jewels, armours, history and not the coin displays.

There are no raised hairlines as far as I can tell. However, I do think the CGS photos show up details better. E.g. for the matt proof crown, the contact mark on the horse's rear shows up much more clearly on the CGS photo. For the 1888 halfcrown the CGS photo suggests that the lions' thighs might have received slight rubbing and hence the different toning. This is not evident on the LCA photo.

I would say the CGS photos are closer to the coins at hand.

If you shop in Tesco's, you can trade £5 of your clubcard vouchers for a £20 voucher towards admission. Then you have the option of upgrading your day ticket to a one year pass (for free entry to six palaces including Hampton Court) at the end of the visit.

Now CGS photos (later graded as CGS 80)

LCA photos of 1888 halfcrown (described as UNC with colourful tone and some very light contact marks)

Now these are CGS photos (later graded as CGS 85)

I do think CGS photos somewhat better than LCA photos. I will give two random examples. These are LCA photos of 1902 matt proof crown (graded as nFDC)

Charles II portrait punch. It was used as a master tool to make dies. Reverse punch of Charles II.

Trial plates were used to test the purity of coins. These are the Commonwealth and Charles II Plates.

There was a little blue colour around part of the edge when I brought it. It has been getting bigger since. Likewise the brown colour has been developing from the rim inwards.

Oh, it is inside of the window. I would never dare to leave a coin outside!

Initially I covered it loosely with the lid of a coin capsule. However nothing happened for ages. Then I took away the capsule lid and use a blower to remove the dust on the coin once in a while. That window gets the sun in the afternoon and it must have helped.

Since "cleaned and retoned" has been talked about lately, I will post my example of such a thing. It was one of the first coins I brought (from an auction house in Warwickshire). It was described as "1902 crown AUNC". I was very inexperienced at the time and didn't realise that the description should have been "1902 matt proof crown, cleaned". It has been toning on my window sill for several years now and is gradually looking better.

Thanks for your advice guys. I am into halfcrowns at the moment and will try out Quadrums / Everslab as the coins will fit perfectly in 32mm holes.

Many thanks for your expertise gents.

I wanted to buy my first hammered coin and have decided that a Charles I halfcrown would be the best bet. A common type can be picked up at a reasonable price. The history of that period is fascinating. A halfcrown is an impressive large lump of silver too. The problem is that my knowledge of hammered coins is very limited and I am not certain about what to look for. (But then again, I will probably not get better until I have brought a few). At the end I have brought this Charles I halfcrown from the recent LCA. I like the coin because 1) it's round, 2) well centred, 3) no weak areas, 4) decent enough grade, with rather good details ( LCA graded it as VF) 5) full flan as far as I can tell. It ended up costing me £260 + juice. I am very grateful to receive any comments. Are there any problems with it? Would you grade it VF? Is the price OK? Just be frank! I noticed that there are some letters missing on the legend and think this sort of thing is rather common. Can any one tell me how that occurred. The mintmark is bell and I assume that the year is therefore 1634-5 (from Spink). The Bell mint mark is given the number 60 in spink. How was the number 60 assigned? Many thanks!

My understanding is that you can access photos, population reports, CGS valuations etc. once you have paid the £99. In addition, you can also apply to be a grading member if you pay a £499 deposit upfront (unless you have slabbed enough coins with them in the past) If you don't want any more coins graded but simply want to access the CGS data such as photos, then they intend to charge £49 for it. However, this level of service is not currently available and you will have to wait. http://www.coingradingservices.co.uk/lcgs_menu/price.php You might want to consider trying to take your own photos instead.

You can no longer download CGS photos from the London Coins site unless you have paid unfortunately.

My Charles I halfcrown has been delivered today and the weight is 15.09g. Can anyone tell me what is the acceptable weight range? Thanks.

GF examples are indeed very common in auctions. Thanks for the link. Looks like I might want to aim for better than just VF. This particular coin type loses its appeal for me if one of Edward's eyes is not showing well (as in GF examples)

Just to add that Guy (The Coinery) has also been super efficient when it comes to delivery. I brought the coins on Friday afternoon and he posted it on Saturday morning by royal mail special delivery. Guy even took the trouble to PM me the tracking number immediately afterwards. P&p was also included in the purchase price. The plastic slabs themselves were in excellent condition too. I am very happy with the coins. He certainly has my recommendation!