Red Riley

I should learn to read posts from beginning to end! Thanks Dave.

Hi jgw3d welcome to the forum. Mintage figures are given in publications like Collectors' Coins GB (see above) but beware, these are simply the coins minted in that year, not coins which bear that year's date, and the two can be radically different. Silver threepences aren't a bad denomination to start with as they are generally very reasonably priced and actually go back a fair way (at least to Elizabeth I), so best of luck with your collection.

Another, wholly unrelated website of which I am a member, uses American software which flatly refuses to print the name of a perfectly innocent North Lincolnshire town. Can anyone guess what it is? Clue: they are Wycombe Wanderers opponents for the first game of the season.

Thanks Rob

Unfortunately, my knowledge of hammered coins is a little limited. I acquired this coin in a small bulk lot at a local auction and it seems to be listed in Spink as S2579. The entry states that the mm. should be a bell, but in this case it appears to be 'sunburst'. Is this significant or have I made a crucial error? Sorry about the size of files, my knowledge of computers is even less than that of hammered coins!

I know some that try to serve you while talking to their boyfriend on their i-phone whilst simultaneously chewing gum.

Except it's NOT a flat disc That's why it's something different It seems to have two dates as well.

Peter is right, it is easy to look at these things in hindsight, but the public would have jumped on anything that promised to end the war quickly and the well-known attrocities that the Japanese commited in the Far East meant that there was no sympathy whatever among the populace at large for even the most innocent Japanese citizen. Not nice looking back but it was true. As I understood it (and I haven't checked this), the Japanese had not responded to the American ultimatum after Hiroshima and hence got the second bomb at Nagasaki. Incidentally, this bomb was actually intended to destroy the vast Mitsubishi works on the outskirts of the city but drifted off course with catastrophic results. I do have a personal interest on this, as my father was en route to join the invasion force when the Nagasaki bomb went off. He got as far as the Bay of Biscay...

My big claim to fame is that one day President Eisenhower waved to me. I was only 5 at the time... According to Keynes, an economy should raise taxes in the good times and spend what they have saved in the bad. Nowadays governments (on both sides of the Atlantic) spend all their money in the good times and panic in the bad!

It was inevitable that some day, someone, somewhere was going to send such a post...

True, but I thought I'd try here before succumbing to the vagaries of ebay! Your second point is also valid, but I've just spent £1.99 on a plastic step for my wife for that reason, so no need for her to dirty my nice book! Certainly worth £100 of anybody's money but you'll be for it if she falls off the plastic step.

I would agree with that, the 2nd most common of the 12 generally acknowledged 1874 varieties. Looks around GVF, retail price £30-£35 perhaps less as mid-grade bun pennies are hardly flying off the shelves at present.

Unfortunately there are lots of people like that in all walks of life. I have had many different hobbies over the years and although the vast bulk of people are honest and straightforward, there is always a minority that cross the line - from the golfer who doesn't tell you about his extra four shots in the bunker to the classic car dealer who pays the widow a quarter of what her late husband's car was worth because she doesn't know any better. Yes, coin collecting contains its fair share of sharks but it's no worse than anything else and in any other hobby you take up to replace it, you will come across the low-life that make you seethe. I would echo what others have said, take a step back and maybe a few weeks out and just let it out of your system. You will feel the better for it.

I once did a photoshoot for a motoring magazine with an M40 police pursuit driver - me in my old Riley and him in a police Vauxhall Carlton. It turned out that the mileage on the Carlton exceeded that on my 50 year old Riley by a wide margin. 'Still' I said, 'at least it's been well maintained'. His reply was unprintable. So that's the reason I run and hide whenever I hear a police siren. Honest m'lud.

Try putting a toothbrush in your ear. Hahahaha that is genuis Nice to see somebody appreciates my sense of humour.

Try putting a toothbrush in your ear.

At the expense of sounding like the archetypal Daily Mail reader, some while ago I sold a batch of nice but not devestating coins to a customer through my website. They are now appearing on e-bay, each one with the grade increased by up to a couple of points e.g. GVF becomes EF etc. Where is the 'rage' emoticon when I need it!

I too am spending a great deal of time, rather than money, on old cars - but it was ever thus. On the other hand, a friend is threatening to pay me to restore his MGB to health, so that might at least supplement my meagre income as a coin dealer...

No offence to these people but having seen them on TV, the first thing they ought to think about spending their money on is an extended course at a health farm. That way they might actually get to enjoy their money for longer.

Who's defensive? Actually I really like farthings but can I sell one? Seriously though, pennies have been in the ascendency for many years now, I believe mainly because they were the most interesting coins for the 'Baby Boomer' generation to collect from change and the level of expertise in the field is unrivalled. As new, younger collectors come into the market and older collectors slowly vacate their perches, I think this dominance will fade away and we will have a much more level playing field. However, for many people, size matters and the larger silver denominations will always be worth a premium over smaller coins, whatever the metal (even gold if you take away the bullion value).

I wonder who you're talking about? I shared a stall at the June Fair and although other dealers do have a snoop round before the show opens, there is literally too much stuff for everything worthwhile to be snapped up, so it's not all doom and gloom. Although prices can appear high it is very much a haggling environment which can mean that decent deals are available.

I sold a nice AU example for £90-odd back end of last year but am struggling to replace it at a price which would allow me to repeat the deal.

Hi James, welcome to the site. Tell us a bit about yourself. What coins are you into?

Hi Fortify101, welcome to the forum. As you have already discovered that it is worth very little, I would also say that if it's a coppery colour then it's a forgery which were very common at the time. George III has always got a bad press in the colonies - but he wasn't that awful a king. Just look on him as a modern day (American!) republican.

I guess we're all different but like Declan I've also just bought a very worn penny - an 1869 this time. Whilst it is very worn, it has no damage to speak of, a reasonable tone and just good honmest wear. As I've said before, a heavily eroded coin tells you more about the contemporary culture and economic condition of a country than a sterile BU specimen ever can.