ozjohn

I just thought it wasn't necessary. 15000 1927 crowns were minted all proofs. One thing in favour of the 1928 crown in question is the fine detail of the King's eyebrow is visible, something I never noticed until I obtained a 1927 crown . This is hard to see on the smaller size currency issues of the ME coinage and not always present as is like the fine detail on the thistle on the reverse of the halfcrown. These details are the sort of thing that could be missed by a forger.

True a better strike perhaps but the question posed was about the authenticity of the coin to which I compared the subject coin to the closest I had ie a 1927 proof coin of the same type. I cannot see your problem with it being a proof. We are still waiting to see a scan of the reverse.

Compared it with my 1927 crown and cannot see anything obviously wrong. Perhaps some cleaning in the past. Seemed to be a slightly lighter strike than my 1927 crown.

In many Australian country towns the original business name is still on the building. I do not know if the Rockhampton (Rockie) building still exists but it would be interesting to find out. I doubt if the Brisbane building still exists as there has been much redevelopment over time. This may help. According to tis link the business still exists. https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/2474

Brought a cople of bottles of Spitfire Ale at our local bottle shop and noticed they have reduced the alcohol down to 4.5% from about 5%. I noticed on my last trip to the UK that this had already been done to the on tap beer. After all the hype about the Battle of Britain associated with this beer it seems that the Germans have won. They must be laughing! Where is the CAMRA? or have they descended into politically correct toothless tigers?

Only got a Hook Norton 12 Days Porter left, Still a respectable 5.5% again the same deal 4 for $20. Adnams, Adnams etc.

Not in Australia we're 10 hours ahead of GMT.

So sorry your majesty and I hope you have a happy New Year!

Just enjoyed a Admans Broardside. 4 for $20 at our local bottleshop, say GBP 2.50 / 500ml. which is not bad for an imported beer.

Then there is the issue of strike v wear which can be very hard to determine.

Couldn't agree more. I use it all the time. On the Ipad Kindle app you can magnify the image to get an even better view of the coin .

Maybe it would be better to adopt a number scale ie Shelden 0 to 70 or even the GGS 0 to 100 and cut out all the abts. VF+ etc.

Tax or no tax Shepherd Neame and other UK breweries have managed to ruin good beer. I've noticed Admans Broardside is an insipid 4.8% on tap in the UK but the bottled product still sold in Australia maintains 6.3% alcohol and ain't a bad drop.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Victoria-1-2-Crown-1884/333443059800?hash=item4da2c15058:g:i3YAAOSwfV9d-o-1 This one doesn't seem right to me. Could be a contemporary forgery What does everyone else think?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1908-Great-Britain-1-2-Crown-NGC-MS-63/312893723770?hash=item48d9eb547a:g:IZYAAOSwZQ9d-C7W Not sure this offering makes the grade of MS 63. As I have said before the strength of TPGing should be accuracy and consistency which they fail to achieve sometimes

Should read NGC MS 60. I looked at the coin on the NGC site which did not seem to add anything useful as the photos were too small. It has to be said both CGS and PCGS's photo documentation is far superior to NGC's

Depends upon if you adopt a top down or bottom up approach. To quote NGC MS. Weak or average strike with no trace of wear. Numerous abrasion, hairlines and/or large marks. IMO this coin fails on the wear criteria. In general not many UNC coins achieve a greater than MS 64 grading with most lower. IMO the inconsistency in grading applies to all TPGs.

Sorry "waring" typo should be wearing.

It may be worth looking at the NGC site which has a video which takes you thru their grading process. Assuming they follow their process mistakes in grading should not happen. The coin is independently graded by at least 2 professional graders . The wellbeing of encapsulated coins has also been an issue on these forums. I pointed out at the time that coins were handled by the graders without any protection and also noticed on looking at their video the person encapsulating the coins was not waring gloves either although I did not see the operator touching the coins as they had already been mounted. However I would not be surprised if the coins were mounted in their formers by unprotected hands given NGS's earlier practice. As for difficulty in photographing encapsulated coins I agree but IMO the NGC product seems to have a more transparent holder than PGCS and should be easierto photograph. Of course this may be due to the white background of the NGC holder.

I couldn't agree more. Here's my one that I obtained from Colin Cooke. It was graded at EF but I think it's a tad better and I paid GBP 425 which I think was a fair price. Perhaps I should have it TPG ed.

Sorry a typo. Should be with not Wilh. 1949threepence. You are right about a London elite but as for labor winning with a different leader ? No way the people wanted the result of the 2016 referendum implemented. That's all

In the late 1920s and early 1930s with the world still in the grip of the great depression. 5 shillings was a considerable sum of which most people at the time would have found difficult to find from their weekly budget assuming they had work which many people did not making it even more unlikely they would buy these coins.

Poincianas are tricky things to grow. My advice is to keep them dry in the winter., You could also try soaking the seed in hot water for 24 hours prior to sowing as this aids germination. They also like plenty of sun. I can send you some seeds if it is legal to import this material as they are everywhere on the ground around here. I don't think it will grow to the same size in the UK. However it would make a very nice pot plant. When I was in the UK some time ago I visited the Horniman Museum at Forest Hill where they were selling Poinciana seed pods at GBP 1.00 each I am not sure they Were aware what they were selling

Christmas in Queensland. delonix regia in bloom otherwise known as Poinciana which is a native of Madagascar .

Just a quick look on ebay.co for 1902 UNC half crowns shows a price of GBP 200 + - with GBP 200 fo the rest of the coins GBP 400 fot the lot does not seem unreasonable. Retail coin dealer's prices are usually higher than those realized at auction.