Red Riley

I think I would agree with you John, the ear is distinct from the side of the head which is really what clinches it for me. Incidentally, a little anecdote about these little 'joeys'; just after the war, an old friend of my father, now in his late eighties and living in Canada, used to work in the ticket office of a suburban railway station. He said that the poor little things had become so unpopular that you literally handed them back in change and ran because people were in the habit of demanding the brass variety even though they were intrinsically less valuable. Rather an unfair comment on quite an attractive coin I think, but there is no doubting that they were wont to disappear down the back of sofas ans what not. I have a vague recollection from somewhere that they are still legal tender either as a result of being included in the Maundy sets or simply because they got forgotten about at decimalisation, I can't remember which.

Thanks for your info on this coin Chris,Is it a common coin and would you say the condition is good for the age? Lastly is there any value? I dont want to keep it and will probably sell if its worth anything to anyone thanks again The pic to this coin has gone as well! it was there to view earlier! Is it just unavailable to me or are other members getting the blank box with an x in it!? Yep. That's what I'm getting.

Ditto. I got a certain pleasure out of deleting adverts for viagra and fake Rolex watches from my inbox, so if you need an assistant...

Yes I think it's coming up VF. Has a rather rough surface though which may detract.

In reality that's ludicrously expensive. I believe Azda posted on here saying how much cheaper it was in Germany. It's not the £30-£50 a year that's the issue, but the £10 every time you want to access it. No doubt he will confirm, but apparently there is no access charge in Germany.

Has definite tones of urban myth! Similar to the one that claims The Daily Mail is a newspaper The last time I heard this one it was just before decimalisation. I don't think anybody has ever managed to dig up the copy you refer to. On a more serious note Peckris, how dare you criticise the wonderful Daily Mail. It's an outrage! They should bring back hanging for such offences! Talking of newspapers, I remember hearing the following in about 1970; The Financial Times is read by the people who own the country; The Times is read by the people who run the country; The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think the country ought to be run the way it used to be run; The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who think the country ought to be run the way it used to be run; The Daily Express is read by the people who think it still is; and The Sun is read by the people who don't care who runs the country as long as she's got big t*ts.

I don't want to disappoint you, but the first thing I would say is that the coin appears to be Fine rather than Very Fine. Value approx. £20. If you were to sell to a dealer maybe £12? I would like to have a closer look at that 'I' though.

The vendor has obviously been very honest in telling you this, but in my experience this series often exhibits a virtually naked silver appearance. Strangely enough I bought a 1916 half crown last night amongst a job lot of other things, it was very dirty and sticky and so I decided to give it a wash. With nothing more than a J-cloth and some washing up liquid I spent no more than 10 seconds gently wiping the surfaces and what emerged was a GVF halfcrown with a shiny silver appearance almost as if it had been dipped. I have often suspected other halfcrowns from this era of having had the dreaded chemical treatment but I now wonder if I have misjudged them.

I am assuming that foil is the similar kind as foil caps that seal milk canisters...it must be backed with some kind of material to create that lasting impression with such sharp detail. I would not recommend anyone trying this with rare coins directly on foil... On the Mohs scale of mineral hardness aluminium is 2.5-3 and copper is 3.0 so there is every chance of scratches being sustained! However here is my attempt, and I think it summarises my thoughts on the idea too! As your all friends I am happy to do a discount... Foil 1944 impression halfpenny RARE £125.00 Blu-tac 1944 brockage halfpenny RARE £62.50 Genuine Rare halfpenny RARE £0.05 Or I am happy to do a deal on all three for £150.00 Free postage, and I don’t charge for using paypal either :-) Hmmm... you haven't mentioned plasticine. I think I see a gap in the market.

Photocopy of the Mona Lisa anyone?

There is definitely something under the 2 which has an odd shape, as if it were cut to accomodate a pre-existing 1 and a slight projection into the field in the middle of the 2. The '0' shows no sign of having been re-cut. My scanner is getting a little elderly (like me) so this is the best image I can get.

At present I just incorporate mine as part of the household insurance: 1) Who do you use, mainstream contents insurer or specialist ? Just changed from 'More Than' (stupid name) ex-Sun Alliance; to Asda Insurance Services who worked out a lot cheaper. 2) How does the policy work ? I just tell them how much the collection is worth and it is incorporated within the house contents; 3) How much does it cost per £1000 ? If it works that way, they don't tell me! 4) Are there any specific conditions like the use of a safe/bank vault ? Not that they have ever told me. Wait for a claim I guess...

Absolutely bloody typical of the Windsors! They own a 1933 penny and don't even care about it. Come the revolution...

Now who's the grumpy old man? The heading of this section is 'Nothing Whatever To Do With Coins', which makes this a perfectly legitimate post in my eyes.

I have this theory that no music is ever as good as whatever was in vogue when you were 17. Me? Pink Floyd of course.

Hi St. George, not certain whether I've welcomed you yet, but take that as read. I would go VF with that, don't think it's worth splitting the obverse from the reverse here.

A very good point Rob. Most coins though don't come with provenance but 1763 shillings are rare enough for a good proportion of them, you would have thought, to have picked up a bit of paperwork on the way. I sometimes think we are in danger of looking down the wrong end of a telescope when discussing forgeries. Despite taking every precaution, it is still possible that you might pick the odd wrong'un and unless you are spending too high a proportion of your available cash on coins then it oughtn't to be a disaster. Annoying yes, disastrous no. The important word here is 'collection', i.e. an indefinite number; tens, hundreds, thousands even. Coins are not fine art where you buy one excrutiatingly expensive Monet that turns out to have been painted in a garden shed in Northampton, nor is it the cut and shut Mondeo that leaves you in several pieces on the northbound carriageway of the M1. Coins are plural and unless someone throws a cartwheel twopence at you with considerable force from point blank range, do you no harm. The best insurance policy against being stung by a fraudster is the rest of the honest coins in your collection and a sense of proportion.

I think as we have said before, few reasonably well-informed collectors would buy such an object direct from China. However, once in this country, attempting to pass them off as genuine is fraud, although the perpetrators could and surely would, plead ignorance. It has been known for some while that a high percentage of the Northumberland Shillings on the market are forgeries. I guess the answer is to keep your ear to the ground and only buy types which are known to have been forged from somebody you trust implicitely.

To be fair though, that's pretty much what I did at their age (I assume they are teenagers). My coin collection went into abeyance from about the age of 16 and I didn't really pick it up again until I was at least 40, once the attractions of birds and booze began to pall a bit. I did say pall, not go away altogether...

But it would be illegal to pass it of as an original item, or at least to imply as such.

What is the world coming to when we can't even welcome a newcomer to our Forum without suspecting he's up to no good.

Absolutely true Scott. I think that's how we all started. Went round a friend's house last week and her 6 year old was busily ferreting through a box of small change. We did a few experiments to see which ones were magnetic and he was enthralled. No doubt he will be receiving a packet of bun pennies and old sixpences in the near future. Sadly my own kids (now 27 and 24) couldn't give a toss.

No, I last spoke to him in early June, but since that, nothing.

Welcome to the forums Brian "the whole 30 years" of what, exactly? (By the way, you'd be better creating a new thread for something like this - just for future reference. But it's no biggie.) If I'm wrong I'll apologise but think this might be the prelude to a spam attack...

My recommendation for surplus coins of little value has always been 'find a kid who looks interested and donate the things to them'. Working on the 'little acorns' principle.