jaggy

1. I think the original question wanted to know if it is a database of British coins? Which would be pretty damn useful, and a computerised Spink if such a thing exists. "A database that's already been set up" in this case is simply a blank pro-forma into which you input your own coins, right? (Which is what mine is - it all had to be input by hand, and new coins added manually). 2. Not as long as you might think. I used to be a computer programmer, and FileMaker's scripting language (which no user HAS to use - you can set up a working database without any knowledge of scripting at all) is fairly simple and basic. It's just knowing how to do what you want to do, which I suppose is the same in any computer language. Being a relational database, I have a separate table of values for each coin, and simply add a new record for each coin when values change. Then in the master database, I have a layout with a portal to the related file which pulls in all the values it has for each coin. When I said "going back to the 60s", that doesn't mean every year! I have 1965/6, 1968/9, 1976, 1980, 1985, 1997/8, and every few years from 2000 to the present. The critical periods were from the late 60s to 1980, then it subsided and stagnated for ages, and started to take off again from the late 90s. Sorry Peckris, I meant it was an empty blank database with which you would have to enter the data, I believe that you would have to collate from a few sources though. Your second answer makes a lot more sense now! It must be nice to see the appreciation in value of certain coins? Jaggy I wholeheartedly agree with your pros and cons, are you making the switch then? Regards Honest answer is that I haven't decided yet. I like the software and I like the price. What is putting me off is 1) the need to re-key everything. If there was an import function then I wouldn't hesitate and 2) the lack of a print engine.

I downloaded the demo version of this software and spent an hour playing with it. Pros ... it works pretty well. I like being able to customise the on screen display and I like being able to attach a photo to the record. There are a lot of useful fields, probably more than I need but that is okay. Price is very reasonable at $25. Definitely more user friendly than my current Excel spreadsheet and a 'prettier' user interface. Cons .. I would like to be able to customise the record field labels. So, for example, 'other reference' could become 'Seaby' or 'ESC'. The word wrapping in the description field doesn't work well so that in display mode it truncates the odd word. In addition, I could not see how print reporting works. In fact, I couldn't see any print options. Also an import function from Excel would save a lot of re-keying. Overall. At the price this program is good value for money. Definitely better than my Excel solution. I would hope that the creators will continue to improve the software as identified in the cons.

Can you import data from Excel or does everything have to be re-keyed?

Does it come with an included database and, if so, how comprehensive is this? How does it work with British coins?

I will admit to having a chuckle when I saw that description. The more so that the close up photo of the coin does not really match the hyperbole. As a sixpence collector, this and other coins in the auction do interest me. But the prices are completely over the top. Which is a shame as I would have been willing to drop a decent number of dollars at prices which more accurately matched what I believe to be the value of the coins. I have bid and won a few times at Heritage in their weekly internet auctions and, usually, the prices are more or less what one would expect. But this particular auction seems to be completely over the top. I don't know if this is due to unrealistic reserves being set by sellers or by an auction house trying to manipulate market prices. It will be interesting to see how much success they have. You've hit the nail on the head Jaggy, OTT prices coupled with market manipulation. I said it before in a thread a few months back, but Heritage normally start the bidding at Spink book for grade and work upwards from there. Just because a Common 1853 sixpence is a Good UNC does'nt mean i want to pay 3 times over Spinks price guide. Of course, a quality soecimen i would have thought in the £259-£350 range, but over £1300 is a bloody joke if it Hits top estimate, in fact the £650 start price is a joke, thats Double what spink Rate a UNC at , and checking back on Londoncoins previous auctuons, best i can see sold for £160 in 2011 and another in UNC or near so in 2012 for £135 I don't have an 1853 sixpence so naturally I was interested. But, as they say, patience is a virtue so I am happy to wait for one that is appropriately priced. I was also quite interested in the 1887 pattern sixpence ( I already have the aluminium one) but, again, the price is way over the top. A similar one sold at London coins for £380 (or $600) in 2009. I might have gone to $750, $800 or even $900 but $1400 which is the Heritage minimum is out of the question. American collectors may be willing to pay silly prices but I am not. Even though I live in the USA, bidding and buying from the UK is perfectly possible. As I have said elsewhere on this forum, the internet has made this a worldwide market. Heritage should take note.

I will admit to having a chuckle when I saw that description. The more so that the close up photo of the coin does not really match the hyperbole. As a sixpence collector, this and other coins in the auction do interest me. But the prices are completely over the top. Which is a shame as I would have been willing to drop a decent number of dollars at prices which more accurately matched what I believe to be the value of the coins. I have bid and won a few times at Heritage in their weekly internet auctions and, usually, the prices are more or less what one would expect. But this particular auction seems to be completely over the top. I don't know if this is due to unrealistic reserves being set by sellers or by an auction house trying to manipulate market prices. It will be interesting to see how much success they have.

Just for info .... I have a lot of Glendinings catalogues from the 1980s and 1990s at home as well a a few others such as Downie Lepzic (spelling?) should that be of any help in the future.

I wonder if nonacceptance in the US is a concern they are trying to rectify. I suspect the average yank with treat a CGS slab as raw and cross it the moment they get it. Sorry ... double post

I wonder if nonacceptance in the US is a concern they are trying to rectify. I suspect the average yank with treat a CGS slab as raw and cross it the moment they get it. Slabbing is all about the market and the US market is a very big one.

That comparative table was very helpful. However, and no matter what the grading system in use, one still has to see the coin and make up one's own mind.

To put into perspective ....... I started my first job in 1970 and it paid less than £6 a week .... and I thought I was rolling in money. In 1970, a pint cost 1/11d In 1973, my week's rent was £4.

One of the reasons I choose to avoid Ebay.

Sadly that is not the case at all. Forgeries already exist in forged slabs, it will not be too long before the forgeries become better and then your online protection is not worth the stamp it will cost to post it. The rest of your post I have no argument with at all. If we all liked the same things, in the same presentation, the world would be a dull and very expensive place. Unfortunately, you get forgeries in every collecting market whether it be antiques or art. There will be forgeries whether they are in slabs or not. But that, in itself, does not invalidate the practice of authentication.

I really don't understand where the problem is. Just because a coin is 'graded' does not prevent the collector from making up his/her own mind. When I bid on Heritage lots I look at the coin not the grade the TPG has given it. And just because a coin arrives 'slabbed' does not prevent anyone from breaking the slab and storing the coin as they see fit. Of course, from the buyer's point of view, finding that rarity and paying a fraction of its value is always attractive. However, from the seller's point of view, that might be somewhat less attractive. People collect coins for different reasons and enjoy them in different ways. Grading and slabbing is not about collecting. It is about protecting buyers and sellers in a global, online, market.

Yes, but neither an artwork nor an antique is housed in a plastic slab, which was my point. And your point is well taken. But art work tends not to be minted in the thousands or hundreds of thousands and it is, therefore, much harder to substitute an inferior example for the one you think you bought.

Art work is usually/often sold with a certificate of authenticity and is signed (and in the case of prints, numbered) by the artist. Antiques are often 'authenticated' especially if they go to auction. It is essentially the same principal as TPGs for coins.

I can see the point here regarding the protection for the novice with their investment but what happens when these 'investors' or novices after say a decade of study start to realise that the 'guarantee' given on the slab maybe wrong for whatever reason? What I'm saying is that in my opinion the judgement given by these slab graders are not always correct, and a very small 'mistake' could make a huge difference to an investment. Buy nice coins, not this plastic crap!! and most important buy things with knowledge without relying on other 'experts' Agree with this. I have been bidding in Heritage auctions recently where all the coins are slabbed. Fortunately, their photos are good enough that I can make up my own mind based on the coin and not the grade. But that is me and I have been collecting for long enough to be fairly confident in my assessment. I got my first slabs a couple of weeks ago. I thought I would hate them and want to break them immediately. But, to be honest, they really are not that bad.

The reason why there is third party grading is to inject confidence into a market where not everyone is necessarily a collector or an expert in their area of interest. A higher level of confidence makes a market more attractive for investors. It is not the 'slab' that matters here but the grade given by a 'trusted third party' (yes, that is a technical term). What the slab does is to give confidence that the coin is the one that has been graded and not some inferior substitute. Any investor knows that you can lose money as well as make money on your investments. But for people who want to balance their portfolio across a range of investments and not just the traditional stocks & bonds the existence of TPGs is a plus. Because, in the US market, many dealers will buy coins on the basis of the grade given by the TPG that also injects a degree of liquidity into that market which, in turn, increases its attractiveness to investors.

So, to summarise ..... just because that 1839 proof says 1839 does not mean it was actually minted in 1839?

Interesting. I just bought an 1839 proof sixpence in the London Auction: Sixpence 1839 Plain Edge Proof NGC PF64 I will have to look closely at it when it arrives.

At the risk of sounding stupid how does a coin end up with a reverse which wasnt used for another five years If you think that is strange, check out this proof sixpence. The reverse is dated 1839 but the obverse is the third young head circa 1880. Rarity R5 in ESC (No. 1738). Yep, I saw that. I would love to bid on it but would probably have to take out a second mortgage to actually win it.

I gave this some thought. I could probably select 10 or 20 coins which are my favourites but it would be impossible to select just one. I don't have a single preferred coin.

There are three factors I look at: What the coin is worth (CCGB and usually at least one other source) What the costs of acquiring it are (buyers premium, postage, etc.) How badly I want the coin and how much over the odds I am willing to pay to get it (call it 'goodwill') Based on that I work out the maximum I am willing to bid or pay. Sometimes I will bid on a coin which I don't especially want but because it looks very cheap. I always tell myself that I can then sell it for a profit. But, to date, I have never sold a coin. I just enjoy having them.

I just factor it in to what I am willing to pay for a coin.

Actually they do come up quite often, usually in high grade as do a lot of these late colonials (1902 and 1913 1/3 farthings being cases in point). Seems most were just put aside as curiosities and hence the survival rate is high. Spink in my opinion seriously overvalues them at £80 (EF) and £185 (Unc.). That's the bad news though, yours looks at least EF and seems to be nicely toned, so imho a nice thing to have even if it's not worth a fortune. Yep, I looked at some auction results and they do appear quite frequently. Still, it is a nice little coin. The photo doesn't really show it but the fields are really quite shiny. So much so that, at first, I thought it might be a proof. Not bothered about the value because it didn't cost me anything and I don't plan on selling it.