Paddy

Yes - I have mentioned this in another thread. Been down for a couple of months at least now. Keep badgering them!

This has just appeared on the BBC local news website down here in Devon: "A large quantity of rare UK sterling coins worth about £4,000 has been stolen from a property in Plymouth. Devon and Cornwall Police said the coins were taken during the summer, from a property in Efford. They said: "The coins were not just a financial loss to the victim but of great sentimental value as they had been collected to pass on to family members". The coins included. A £25 gold & silver coloured coin A large number of £5 coins, A £5 Princess Diana commemorative coin, Five 50p Shakespeare commemorative coins, A £2 Isambard Kingdom Brunel commemorative coin A quantity of 50p London 2012 Olympics commemorative coins complete with packaging." Now I have every sympathy with the victim of this crime BUT - either the reporting is a long way off the truth, or someone is bumping up the value of their coin collection a long, long way! Or maybe the collector genuinely believed his coins were worth that much? In any case, worthy of comment...

Welcome to the forum and a handsome coin you have there! Sadly I would only be guessing at the origin and I would probably start with India or nearby ancient nation. I don't think there are many non-British ancient specialists here - you might try cointalk.com where I know there are several avid collectors of Indian and Asian coins.

No disrespect but I am afraid I don't buy the watch stopping the bullet story. How many bullets do you know with a perfectly flat end? That also only just have enough energy to dent the watch quite mildly? And how many "female RAF pilots" were there? ATS yes, but not RAF pilots... If you look on Ebay at any time there are lots of bullet stopping stories and I fear this is another one.

... and while on the topic, the summary pages for £2 to 50p coins are still missing and have been for a couple of months. I emailed them a few weeks ago and got a standard "non-answer". There must be a business school somewhere that teaches them how to reply to complaints or concerns without actually saying anything at all. The standard answer seems to start with: "We value your custom and take **** very seriously" but we are going to do nothing about it.

Thanks for the endorsement Dave. I will stick with the coincraft book for now - I don't collect Non-English coins so it serves it's purpose in giving me some help with identification. Also it makes a great stand for my camera when photographing coins, thanks to the ridge along the spine - and it only cost me £1 from a coin auction!

I am sure they do already. The only reason we are not discussing it is because they are impossible to detect by all normal means. About the only way would be isotope analysis of the metal content to identify if the composition is consistent with the metals used at the time.

I used to be a Travel agent but I got the sack - I took too many holidays. Before that I was a computer consultant - but they stopped talking to me.

Yes - appears to be an Alexander III Halfpenny. Obverse reads "Alexander Dei Gra", reverse "Rex Scotorum". Three varieties are listed in the Coincraft book - yours appears to be the one with six pointed stars on the reverse and only one star pierced, which is marginally scarcer than the other two. Their reference is SA3HD-015. Their comment on scarcity is: "Whilst scarce, these issues are obtainable but coins in better than Fine condition are rare." Values (from 1999) are VG = £60, F = £150, VF = £400. Those were probably well over the top in 1999 (Coincraft being consistently ambitious on their pricing!) but may be about right by now. (If there is a piercing in the second star the prices drop to £45/£90/£275 respectively and the reference is SA3HD-010.) I leave others to decide on the grading of your coin - my gut says around the VG +/-.

I found this among some coins I bought some time ago. I had not noticed before the circular mark, which looks to me like a countermark. Is it one? What is the significance? (A google search turns up one Elizabeth I Peeny with a lozenge countermark at Spinks, but no explanation as to what it signified.) As far as I can see the coin is S2570 - Third/Fourth issue Penny. Mintmark maybe Lion? Thanks for any assistance. I should add, last image rotated - Elizabeth's ear now at about 2 O'Clock. I thought I could see a head shape in the countermark but cannot get it to come out clearly in the picture.

I picked up this one at the auction on Saturday (mis-identified as possibly Russian would you believe!). I am fairly sure it is a medieval jetton but I have yet to find another to compare it to. One site (finds.org.uk) has something with a similar reverse but a seated king obverse and quotes a Mitchener reference, so I wonder if my one is in that book? Any help much appreciated:

Wow - thank you Jerry - that is good enough for me! I only picked it up because I thought it was interesting, in remarkably good condition for a jetton - and because no one else was bidding! I will probably move it on as it would be a tangent to my usual collection, so if you know of anyone who would be interested in it, feel free to point them in my direction. You may see it on Ebay soon...

That would be wonderful - thanks. I have put a post on Cointalk but got nothing constructive there so far. I got to something like Surmatent, but I wondered if it made more sense as two words - Sur Matent? Is the first word ECHAP?AUD and does that help?

I didn't think so, but a quick search on Ebay turns up this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brand-new-William-Shakespeare-souvenir-coin-Album-filler-50p-collector-silver/253951301570?hash=item3b20ad57c2:g:MBAAAOSwxLdb01-x If this is what he had in his collection he was severely deluded!

I've seen quite a few in the last week - mostly still very nice condition. I have NOT gone looking for the errors, though I am sure there are lots! 🙂

Yes - I have used this for years and I personally find it better than acetone, particularly if you add a little detergent.

... and then this 1932. Shame about the spot on the reverse but the rest looks good:

A couple of Penny upgrades from a local auction yesterday - nothing scarce but nice grades I think. First this 1904:

Well these seem to have started appearing in bulk. Dealer friend at the market today had acquired a whole bag of "W"s which he was selling at 50p each. (He would have done better to disguise how many he had!) 🙂

Very useful - thank you for posting that. I do quite a lot of online bidding and have tended to settle on Easylive as giving the best value when commission bidding is not viable. Your post confirms that. I am also a bit fed up with Saleroom.com - I have clearly registered that I am only interested in coins but get a constant stream of emails for everything else they sell.

Anyone else use Cointalk forum in the US and finding it down today? I viewed it happily this morning but since lunchtime I have not been able to raise the site at all...

Yes - it was back up Monday morning but down most of Sunday - not sure why and it may have been a local issue as it seems others were still posting while I couldn't get it. Useful site anyway, though only really for US and World coins - their following for GB varieties is pretty low.

It is a very lovely thing nevertheless. Pomander looks favourite. It may have been made in India or some other colonial situation where hallmarking was not the norm. I would guess late 18th or early 19th century by design but I am no expert.

Can we keep the politics to the non-coin section of the forum. I came here to avoid thinking about it!

Because just once in a while someone falls for it and they make a fortune for a piece of scrap metal. Or you can take a more charitable view and say they are just pig-ignorant! (Apologies for the insult to pigs, which are actually quite intelligent and likeable creatures.)