jaggy

Once again, nothing of interest there for me.

I looked at the British coins and saw a lot of gold and a lot of proofs neither of which I'm especially interested in. Lovely collection nevertheless.

I just had a look. Nothing there of interest to me.

I suppose you have to decided how badly you want a coin, how much you are willing to pay for it and factor the charges into that number. I have always been an auction buyer but, in this last year, I have made more Ebay and private purchases than ever before. The auction house charges are a big part of that. Still, given their ability to attract quality material and the hammer prices being paid, the auction houses seem to be getting the commercial equation about right.

Just two coins that interested me but not enough to enter the bidding and especially given that DNW has a very high buyers premium at 24%.

I would be bidding on that one.

Just arrived - 1918-KN. A nice addition to my George V penny set

Picked up one of my 1893 Jub 6d at Waterbird. Nice coin but marred by a couple of scratches. My other one, AU53, I got at Heritage. Both were pricey. There aren't really many bargains around these days unless you can spot something with the coin that isn't listed. I did buy a 1887 JH sixpence with JEB on the truncation for £95 hammer which is very reasonable. It wasn't marked on the NGC slab which is why I think I got away with it. I remember back in the 1980s and early 1990s buying from Glendinning's and thinking prices were high. Many of these coins look like absolute bargains today.

I have a big box full of catalogues from the 1980s and 1990s. Mainly Glendinnings but also Buckland Dix Wood, Lepczyk, Hoare, a Dolphin catalogue and a few others.

Picked this up about three weeks ago but I was away so didn't actually have it in hand until a couple of days ago:

Just won - and paid for - this 1914 penny at BSJ. Slabbed NGC and graded MS65 RB:

I was interested in one coin in this auction which was an 1892 florin. However, it went for £600 so, if I had bid, I was probably looking at £650 or £700 plus DNW's exorbitant buyers fee and it just wasn't worth that much to me.

If the description says cleaned then I won't touch the coin. Unfortunately, not all auction houses and not all auctions offer an accurate description of the coin and often the photography doesn't show up flaws. Increasingly, I will only bid if the coin is certified NGC or PCGS as I have been 'burned' too many times. Not an absolute guarantee, of course, but better than the description or photo. It's a shame that it has come to this.

This is one of mine: