Red Riley

I think that really depends where you are in the social strata. If you are on benefit, then it would be a massive improvement, but everybody else would end up paying for it; the rich would carry on going private as they always have. The problem with insured schemes (certainly as they exist in the UK) is that they don't cover existing conditions and this means that in the likely event of a recurrence of a previous illness, you find yourself back on the state system. Carping about the NHS is a national pastime (as I proved above!) but few people would swap its certainties for any other form of healthcare.

Typical of medical care generally in the UK. I'm convinced my cat gets better medical treatment than I do.

You'll be fine, the first one's always late.

What about the T over E error?

On teh stocks and shares side of things - my collection value grows almost every year, stocks and shares are a risk that i am not prepared to put into. I believe my return on investment would be huge if i sold the full collection. But, I am only interested in selling my doubles and do not have the need for the money.

Any body else get grief of the missus?

The picture isn't good enough and the impression given rightly or wrongly is that the coin has been polished - horribly so. You can't tell for certain whether it is the modified effigy or the second issue because you can't see the BM on the truncation which makes an id simple. The ME has BM to the right, the previous issue has BM more central. It is illustrated in Spink's tome on p.471. If I had to guess I would say it is the ME type because the parting in the hair is more pronounced with a longer line, but I wouldn't gamble on it being so. Pictures like this usually hide a multitude of problems, so "if in doubt, leave it out".

I have spent very little on coins this year (a side-effect of earning very little...). Pennies are my particular speciality and I would endorse what has been said above. It appears that many people have got close to completing their bronze penny collection and are now starting on the much, much rarer coppers. Hence, the scarcer dates are becoming ludicrously expensive. For an 1849, I would start off at £250-£300 in fine; the market moves so quickly that even that may be an underestimate, with a top end I would have thought maybe £4,000. 1843/5/6 are rarely available these days for much less than three figures. Going back a bit however, in my view most George IV/William IV pennies are holding steady with only a minimal increase - the result of previous overestimates of their value. More generally, the gap between the best and the worst coins in the collectable range continues to widen with the better examples outstripping inflation, but the lower grades barely holding their value. In particular, the differential between EF and AU seems to be stretching out. Still a seller's market in my opinion.

A bit out of my area here, but as the Canadian federation was not formed until 1867, it strikes me that in all probability, this coin is not a token at all, but a regular issue.

Definitely a crosslet (aka T-tail). Marginally the scarcer of the two 1864s, both of which are pretty uncommon.

Fame at last! Well nearly. Actually, I would grade this a little higher than you Chris, although the tone does worry me. Incidentally, there is a curious phenomena I have discovered on jubilee busts in that the VR brooch tends to wear quite early on in most coins, with the exception of the half crown where it persists way down the grading scale (even to 'fair' on one example I saw). I have examples but can't attach them at present. Would anybody care to help out?

I have heard of over grading coins ,but come on!

Okay, so this is how I do it. I am not a hoarder and never have been. I have a core collection currently numbering about 400 coins, almost all British - half of which are pennies, my specialty. I first of all started off collecting pennies in F-VF grade, then added a few other denominations in much the same condition. I then embarked on a long-term project (which I have yet to complete) of collecting one example of each design from 1838-1970 in EF, and from 1662 in VF. To be honest, due to rising prices, this is never likely to be finished, but I keep on trying. I have also improved my penny collection so that the average is now above EF. Whilst I can understand why people do, I do not collect admass varieties - 8 different variations on the 1874 penny are good enough for me! In the absence of any clear direction at the moment, I have started to dabble in hammered, Roman and even Celtic, which is nowhere near as expensive a proposition as it sounds. Beginners are often amazed at the ridiculously low cost of Roman coins, but it is hardly surprising given that metal detectorists are turning them up by the skipload. As money is not as plentiful as it was, I now pick coins by 'eye appeal' i.e. grade is more or less irrelevant, just so long as the coin has good tone and an absence of damage, and of course worn coins are more historically evocative than pristine examples. Not the best way to make a killing, but anything which looks tidy should still sell if push comes to shove. So there you have it, one collector's philosophy on 45 years of collecting.

That's actually a fascinating area which I've been toying with getting into for some time. My idea was to collect tokens from the areas where I have traced my family roots i.e. the towns/villages around Battle, Reading, Marylebone, Bath etc. etc. Did they ever issue tokens in Ireland? Basecamp - you are doing the right thing - collect anything and everything for the moment and if you feel the need to specialise later do so, but if not, hey what the hell. Pinman has hit the nail on the head, just enjoy yourself.

Red I agree with you in that it is nice to have coins to study in hand. In fact I have a lot of (non valuable) coins lying around, plus some medium value ones in a small safe at home but my valuable coins are at the bank. Even if I had a great safe or in house security what’s to stop thugs breaking into my home in the hope that they might steal the safe, coins or frightening my wife etc..? There are some crazy people out there that would steal from their mum for drugs and I'm sure they would steal from me if they thought I kept coins of any value at home. Not that I am some kind of scared paranoid guy, but why invite trouble? Besides its not hard to nip to the bank and get your coin/s out if you want to study or look at them.

I'm sorry, but I just can't see the point in collecting if you haven't got the things to hand. You might as well invest in stocks and shares or put your money in the building society and cut out the coins altogether. Now, in-home security measures, that's a different matter.

So that's how you met Lillie Langtry

[ We seemed to have crashed this with cars.

Trust you to pick a cow named after a Porsche!

Do I have to? Okay, it's Goya's La Maja as if you didn't know. The Australian art critic Robert Hughes described it as a painting he would love to jump into and have a marvellous afternoon... Bugger all to do with coins, but it did once appear on a Spanish postage stamp.

I have been asked to give my opinion as to whether this coin might be a proof, and although it's hardly an area of expertise, neither the edges nor the design look sharp enough to me. I would however appreciate a second, third, fourth... opinion! Nice coin though.

I have seen various publications over the years refer to fourpenny pieces or groats as 'joeys'. My recollection however is that, certainly in the sixties, the old silver threepenny pieces (by then only just out of circulation) were always themselves known by this name, certainly within my family. No publication I have ever read however, refers to them in this way. Does anyone else of sufficient antiquity remember this, or were my relatives short changing themselves? Incidentally, if anyone is really old, when was the last time you saw one in circulation?

OK, I seem to have messed that up. Will try again when I've established what went wrong.

Welcome Steve, You'll find we're generally a reasonable bunch. So where do your main interests lie?