Colin88

I was right with you...until Step 1

Hi Bill, No need to apologise about the telephone number thing ...it was true, but written here in a toungue-in-cheek style on my part...

Hi Azda, They must do hammered as well as I'm sure I bought some CGS slabbed ones in the past.

Azda....lol.... how do I do a reply using a previous reply or part thereof.........??

Hi Bill, I may not be the sharpest tool in the box, but I can assure you that I called the right number....especially when I said... "Is that CGS" and they said "Yes" You say that they CGS dont discount because their prices are reasonable....the prices in my business are reasonable too. However, if a customer comes to me with a volume deal then I will be even more 'reasonable'. The bloke that I spoke to when I asked if I could bring my coins to them quite catagorically said that their offices were'nt open to the general public.?...he spoke good English and my hearing is reasonably unimpaired. Having said all that I fully appreciate that yours and other people experiences with CGS can and will be different to mine and I have no other end-to-end experience of any other TPGs from the point of view of using their services....(I have bought many slabbed coins though and have not had any real issues so far ). It's just that personally I now wont be using the CGS service (especially when I read stories above about 'meeting in car parks..') and will be selling my collection via auction as is....which is mainly in the raw.

Fank u, mutch appreeshiated..

Unfortunately nothing on the internet is really secure be it eBay or Banking online....its doubly frustrating when these organisations take the view that there is nothing wrong with their systems and the problem must be with you...and triply frustrating when you have to discuss it with someone, whose first language isnt English and can only talk to you from a "script" and quadruply frusting when clearly they dont give a monkey's. The flakeist and most dangerous is the Chip-and-Pin technology that is used in the UK...needless to say that we opted for the cheapest and least reliable technology on the market at the time about 10 years ago...it was already dangerously out of date software...and within 6 months of its introduction an estimated £200m had already been scammed...personally I dont know of a single friend that hasnt had one or several cards cloned or comprimised in the ensuing years. I upgraded my SKY TV box today to HD....I had to speak to SKY Support....you would think that I was trying to buy industrial grade plutoniom with all the security questions I had to answer and failed (I couldnt remember the password from 14 years ago when I first got SKY)...I'm certain it would have been easier to buy a pound of heroin than to just upgrade your TV.

Azda....you sweary bloke you.....you're right, I was thinking of Bernie's son....did Bernie ever sell the 1933 currency he was punting around a few year back?..(PS had the pattern I seem to remember )..I'm a tad out of touch on the penny front I'm afraid...

I've just had a very rare coin up on ebay with a 'buy it now' in the £thousands combined with a 'Make an Offer' facility...it was a nice VF and priced at £2k under VF...not an unreasonable buy and I dont think I'm a full cat type of seller...it was up for 10 days..272 views and 22 'watchers'..it ended a couple of days ago..since then I've had 5 emails asking me 'what do I want for it'...none of them appear to be Nigerain Scammers.... What was wrong with the "Make an Offer" option ?? What a lot of faffing about, I really cant be ars*d with eBay any more....its all going into auction proper.

Thanks for the responses...I suppose it does make sense based on what you've all replied.

I was going to post this on COIN SOFTWARE forum but I dont seem to be able to get into it?. Anyway I want to finally construct a website with pictures of all the my coins...can anyone recommend a SIMPLE way of doing it? Has anyone used WEEBLY for example....looks like I might be able to cope with that...but if there's anything simpler out there then I'd appreciate someone pointing me in that direction....failing that I might have to get a techie to build one for me. Thanks

I was with you all the may then you mentioned "...looking at html behind browsers..??" unfortunatley at that point the eyes glazed over and the shutters came down....its gone onto the too-difficult pile.....I'll contact my IT techie and get him to do it ......thanks to all anyway. Hi Pies......as for TVR's (..and I dont mean Tequila/Vodka/Redbulls....a fun drink by the way) I would love to buy one but I live in London so no guarantee that it would make it to Newark...)

I'm not sure that running out of stock is the issue, I believe they have just spent around £60k on a collection....although I guess these days that doesnt buy you much. Personally I always got on well with CC, he was good to have a chat with and I used to buy well off him , but not been a huge fan of "CC" since he died. Although I'm not proud, I'll buy off anybody if they have something that I want at the price that I'm prepared to pay (and no, I dont give a monkeys about how much profit they may or not be making, as long as I'm happy with the price)...my long term fave dealers are Ras and Stephen Mitchell of Studio Coins. Does anyone remember old Tony Matthews of Foley Island Coins?..

Spink have clearly spent a fortune on their latest websites and technology platforms...unfortunately what they havent done and clearly never do, is to test any of it before putting it into 'production'....by that I mean after they've done something new, then actually allowing real users to test that it all works...dont just take the IT bloke's word for it.

Its definitely been spangled at some time.....you can tell by looking at the bi angle tri angle border on the cusper ridges.....

Personally, I'm a 100% with VickySilver on this one...based on what I'm looking at, there is enough wear on his hair to warrant a generous EF at best and similarly many of the higher points on the reverse do not warrant GEF and again IMO only a generous EF at best.....it does look like it's been cleaned but that could just be the picture. A nice coin nevertheless, but not a tad strong at £5.5k.

I sat near Patrick Deane for a while (who I hadnt seen for years...I seem to remember he told me he'd lost a fortune on some investment in a water park in France or Spain??)..or had the cheap wine kicked in by then? I think he was with Ras...so we must have been close at some point. Anyway, that farthing is going into auction soon with a load of other stuff...I'm selling up..I cant live in this country any more...I never thought I would ever say that but that's it for me.

Yup I was....I flew London to Plymouth via Newquay on some knackered old aeroplane with an overhead wing and propellers...and I had to turn right as there were only economy seats ...shock, horror ...horrible rainy day too I recall. I remember the day not least because I remember getting into a taxi at the airport and giving the Eastern European driver the address...he clearly had absolutley no idea where the Auction House was (nor did I) and dropped me off in the rain nowhere near and pointed to a building and said "there"... I then finished up walking into a nearby office and asked them if they knew where it was and one of the women on reception did...I was nowhere near and it was pouring...had to order another taxi...anyway I did buy some good stuff on the day.

Bernie had one of the best collections.....he sold most of it if I recall.......? Even his duplicates of which I bought many were fab. Peter Simon's collection (Alderney) was fairly impressive too ....especially in the short time frame he completed it in....mind you having several hundred million quid in your hod does help..

Harry, $5000 is an outstanding offer for a vanilla 1887 £5 in EF or UNC (there is a big difference between EF and UNC and any proffesional dealer should be able to differeniate for you)...if you want to sell then take that offer quickly before they change their minds ! Personally, as for the 1694 2 Guineas, I wouldnt touch it based on those pictures...the soapy pourosity look of it is slighly worrying...but the good news is that NGC consider it to be genuine.....I would leverage that view and sell it.....should make around £1200 - £1500 (very approx $1800 - $2300).

torsional .....love that word too. Do it again but put it in a plastic bag first to avoid the killer shards....

Rare but nasty...a bit like an old Berni Inn steak....

I like wacking things with 'ammers... Hacksaws and screwdrivers ?...I'll lose a finger somewhere along the line !

EBay will charge you listing fees and final value fees. Paypal will also then charge you fees. You can then wait for several days if you xfer money from Paypal to a designated bank account. I estimate that it's possible to lose up to 14% of the final price. Most coin auction houses wont charge sellers for individual coins with a value of £1000 or above and I have found that you can negotiate their fees with coins of a value less that £1000 (depending on what it is you're selling). General with auctions you lose 15% + VAT on that 15% which amounts to around 17.5%.....which is only marginally more that eBay/paypal and a lot less hassle I have found. One of my most recent and laughable experiences with selling on eBay is that the winning bidder, clearly having led a sheltered and pure life, pulled out of the sale of an extremely rare coin because he "found out" that I was making a profit ???!! Yup, what a scoundrel I am....I bought it well at auction 4 years prior...the price of these coins had soared in the interim and he was buying it well under catalogue and would be unlikely to find another at that price...well, that went straight into auction God only knows what he will do when he finds out the profits that Tesco makes on tins of baked beans or M & S makes on their clothes....I suspect will he will have to lay down in a dark corner somewhere.

The way to release coins from their plastic coffins I have found is: Put the slab on it's side inside a plastic bag then a sharp whack with a large head hammer.....does the job. You must put it inside a bag as the shards are lethal when it breaks.