Colin G.

Oops missed the important bit - 1848. I have trawled through my scans of 1848 farthings, just to double check, and no previous example is in there (I keep a scan of every Victoria and earlier farthing I handle)...I think it must be some form of OCD Not in Batty or Bramah, I can not believe this one has never surfaced before...get checking!!

Snap!! I always try and do the upgrade route, although I do now admittedly buy bulk lots to more and more because they are the best way for me to be able to examine large quantities of farthings. I agree that Ebay has its bad points but as Declan says for exposure as a relative newbie, it does take some beating, but the better your stock gets the harder it gets to sell it for a decent price on Ebay...it is a strange phenomenon!!

John I am more worried that I did not see the totty

Now that is a strange one

Being a detectorist myself I find this sort of thing frustrating, it makes us look like the "treasure hunters" a lot of people think we are. I know where money is involved, it always strains relationships you only have to look at inheritances!! It will inevitably end up in court where the costs will eat into most of what either of them would have gotten anyway!!

The mule was a shame, had a large corrosion spot, but was otherwise not bad. Think the same coin has gone through london coins twice!! I have to be honest, when I talk prices I talk about the bulk lots which is mainly what I go for, unless something really catches my eye , so the grading issue would not really affect me since they are not given for bulk purchases. But Peter/Rob I know where you are coming from

I didn't bother with them Colin after my last 2 attempts at buying there ended in 65-80 negatives! I didn't bother. I looked at the catalogue, felt underwhelmed, and decided to find something better to do. If by normal service you mean lower prices, then that would be expected because any initial weakness is likely to be in the mid-tier coins. Actually there was a nice copper/bronze collection forming quite a few of the lots, which would have been a very nice collection. By normal service, I mean realistic prices which made sense

At least one will be out there somewhere, I would put money on it. It has happened with all other varieties (except for the obvious die number coins etc) and I am sure it will eventually happen with the 1903 open 3 so keep looking!!!

Colin, Many thanks - I received the coin sheets today. They certainly do the job, although just one will hold my entire collection at the mo I'll put an order in for the albums, and start looking like a real pro Glad they arrived safe and sound. They are a great folder option, plus it gives you plenty of gaps to now fill

Definitely, keepsakes were made for loved ones before departing to the far flung corners of the world fighting for the Empire!! I have a few on farthings which I collect. Not many of them about, sign of a cheapskate I suppose

Phil, There are some good fairly cheap coin albums about nowadays. The Optima range from Lighthouse is quite good and I have had no trouble with them, other than the odd pocket splitting due to the stiffness. I have got a raft of old pages because I changed to pages that could hold the 50mm coin flips. If you want me to drop you a couple in the post so you can have try them let me know as a newbie I will throw them in the post to you free of charge. The albums and spare pages can be bought from Chris on this site, where I sourced my pages from

Welcome to the forum, always good to see a new face!!

Thansk for that, it's a great read!!

Scans are wonderful for detail, sharpness, and evenness of focus. They are dreadful for tone and lustre. Anything blown up that large will show the tiniest scuff, dig, etc, that aren't apparent at normal size. I'd be more worried about some evident wear showing up - but even that may not be apparent at normal size. I agree scans are essential for comparisons, detailed studying of the same denomination, but will always show every flaw. They will even show tiny patches of verdigris not visible to the naked eye if you look close enough. Scan a coin, then photograph the same coin, you will be astounded at the difference. Surprisingly cleaned base metal coins can come up very well under a scanner and seem to suggest lustre that is not there Scans for study, photographs for admiration, recording and selling every time

Don't they just give it a genuine tag and not a grade, or has that changed?

that worked, thanks Peck how big is it, send it to me and I will host it for you?

The farthing issue is certainly a worry but I suppose human error is always a potential, if it becomes a common issue that's when confidence will drop. The big issue for me with the mule was that PCGS defended the attribution

The wonders of modern technology, Dave's phone has a mind of it's own

I think I can see the angle of the 7 top right, but everything else is just not visible to me, but that may just be the image

He is not the only grader at CGS, there are a panel of graders, who determine the grade depending on the denomination, it is no different to PCGS or NGC, I remember when it was being set up receiving some literature where they were actively looking for graders to cover fields they specialised in. I always find I am defending CGS on this froum for some bizarre reason, but it is not the case, just that the experience I have had with London Coins and the very limited experience I have had with CGS have been very positive. It was an old topic on here previously about an 1860 mule farthing which put me off the US grading companies http://www.predecimal.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3156&st=0&p=24942&hl=+1860%20+mule&fromsearch=1entry24942. I have to admit I would rather have an English coin graded by an English company/dealer, I know it does not guarantee a positive result, but it must improve your chances of getting someone with expertise on the coins of England

Perhaps they are going to dish out some free gifts free sovereign with every enasement

And that must be their target market, along with the authentication benefits For the seasoned collector/numismatist then it becomes a matter of choice/storage, and this the market that will be the hardest to break, but it seems to have captured a large portion of the market in the USA, so is it inevitable that it will slowly happen over here? I am not necessarily an advocate just condiering the facts

I think the appeal is either to people who strive to have the best, and if they are not willing/experienced enough to determine that by themselves, they will collect a highest number. This may also be true for investors. It inevitably reduces the risk to buyers. It is also a method of confirming authenticity on a scarcer piece, or piece that can be easily misattributed to give confidence to potential buyers (although this is not always a certainty as we have seen in the past!! ..... mistakes do still get made) Finally, for some people it does offer a long term storage option, and I would also say will inevitably help should the need ever arise to make an insurance claim. I don't know yet whetehr there is enough confidence out there yet for CGS to say with certaintly that it adds value to a coin. Because people will inevitably see that CGS AU 75 as not being UNC, and therefore it may put off some buyers who may in fact have wanted the coin in its raw state. I think it is those rarer coins where it will add value, but on the more modern/common coinage, you would do well for it to pay off.

When in hand there is no mistaking a proof in my opinion, unless it has been mishandled or had some degree of wear. they just shout PROOF at you when you see them, photos just do not capture a majority of the proof qualities unless you bounce light off it at the right angle Standard photo Angled photo of the same coin

Woohoo...dream find, well done whoever it is