Colin G.

I did chuckle at that post...I also get those looks at work

Just got back from Warwick & Warwick, and can safely say auction prices are through the roof at the moment. Lots are consistently going for more than I could sell them for I know I only aim for a specific portion of lots, but is everyone finding this to be the case. The last three auctions I have been to I have not stood a chance

Charges and time periods taken from their website 1 Economy Under £200 No picture £ 9.99 30-90 days 2 Standard Under £200 Computer archival picture £11.99 30-90 days 3 Normal £200 - £1999 Computer archival picture £19.99 30 days 4 Deluxe £2000 - £4999 Computer archival picture £35.00 15 days 5 Premier £5000 - £9999 Computer archival picture £49.99 10 days 6 Star Over £10000 Computer archival picture £75.00 5 days

Oh go on then, send us the images via e-mail to colin(at)aboutfarthings.co.uk, and I will crop them and host them for you But not all 200

I have never had a problem, just play the idiot and say, I've got this, I think it's x, what do you think it is ? I think if you tried it every week, you'd get a different response, but as I say, they've always been very helpfull to me. Sounds like he is trying to pull a fast one, why not offer the £550 in the first place? You can also try the Fitzwilliam museum they also will offer advice/identification, and are generally very helpful (or so I have been told).

You are quite right that I don't know all the ins and outs of databases (or spreadsheets for that matter), in fact I find computers incredibly depressing things to use as they frequently don't give me the answer I want - usually because I don't have enough in depth knowledge of a program. All I need is something that I can understand and use easily to provide me with the information I am seeking to collate together with an image of the coin which I can compare with an illustration in another catalogue and so record the new coin within an existing provenance, or I can generate another known example of that type. In the case of the example above I know that its provenance is ex E W Wigan (collection bt by Rollin & Feuardent 1872), H Webb 560, J G Murdoch 194, G Hamilton-Smith (1913) 126, K Vaughan-Morgan 336, V J E Ryan 1307, J R Vincent, J G Brooker 1153, 3 x SNC references, A Morris (from Roddy Richardson) and finally me (from Lloyd Bennett). It is no help to have the details neatly tabulated out of view from my perspective as the list of names immediately tells me which coin it is, just as the auction catalogue will have a list of past owners underneath the description. This is why putting all the names into one box works so well for me. Any system that requires a single field entry for each name dismembers the provenance. Having a link to the image allows me to compare a new catalogue reference with an existing provenance. I have been giving Sion a few pointers on access, and would be willing to do the same with anyone, the basics are surprisingly easy, and then its a case of tinkering!!!

Not really a collector of proofs, trials, patterns etc. but I spotted this one on Ebay because it stood out like a sore thumb!! It Appears to be a Peck 1418 the main change being the legend where the DEF: is much closer to FID: than the currency version, Britannia is also a bit smaller, with the gap between the helmet and border teeth being greater. I have only ever seen three of these, one was as you would expect a trial piece to be in UNC condition, but the other two looked like they had been heavily circulated. Is it normal for trial pieces to make it into circulation, or is it possible that the trial die was utilised for currency issues? Excuse the image quality they are scanned images, I have not yet got the camera on this one!!

Thanks for that Hus, it will give me a chance to try and at least study images of one!!

I think my wife dreads it when I say, well that's a new combination...it's just my strategy for keeping hold of them!!

Strangely neither I nor many of the other dealers that I speak to use Spink for pricing purposes. What I do use it for is to check the price of one coin against another e.g. in my opinion a 1916 half crown in EF is worth £x; I have just acquired a 1917 in similar condition, will this be worth more, the same, or less? The actual prices, I tend to ignore. I would totally agree, I can not remember the last time I priced something based on Spink values. I have bought 1 or 2 hammered farthings on that basis, but they were coins I was willing to buy anyway, so it was just a double check that I was not way off the mark, and because the sale needed to be quick!!

See what I mean about differences of opinion!! I agree that clarification could help, but it won't happen anytime soon and would possibly take some of the fun out of it!!

Scott cataloguing these farthings will be an absolute nightmare, I have several that do not fit perfectly into the "varieties listed" but there are that many subtled differences that the page would be about 3 miles long!! I only record those farthings where there is no mistaking the variety, and usually would look for a higher grade example to act as confirmation before adding it to the site. I get numerous submissions daily, and it is a constant battle trying to determine what warrants inclusion and what does not. Spotting the different Obverse on that coin would be impossible. It is determined by the brooch design, and therefore any other subtle differences could not be used as a determining factor without careful comparison against numerous other coins. "so what to do, is this now the offical 9+B? or is this 11+B" I only wish everyone saw my numbering as the official system I understand what you are saying in that it appears to my 9b prior to it having the 3 recut, but because the exact combination could not be determined with certainty from that coin, I would only record it as a potential variety to keep an eye out for, it would not become 11B just yet

If you insert the file into the table you can choose whether it displays the icon or the picture. If you then create a query based on all the fields (including the pics) and sort by date for example. Then base a form on that query, you can get the image to display automatically. Send me an e-mail and I will send you a screenshot back

I really can't believe that people can still get so frustrated by the grading terms UNC/BU. No one person/company sets the standard, they are based on historical terminology, and the introduction of grading houses has mixed that issue even further with the introduction of numerical scales. I can understand that people may want a clear set of technical rules to try and make the system simpler, but it never will happen, there are just too many factors to consider, and whose opinion is going to ever be so perfect that every collector/dealer buys into it. There are only a limited number of us on here, and even we can't agree on things 9 times out of 10 At the end of the day we all have price guides, but they are just that "price guides". Nothing says that you shouldn't pay more or less for a particular coin, and the range of coins covered by the Spink catalogue inevitably will lead to several inaccuracies. Collecting patterns and markets change, and the guide is only as accurate as the data it is based upon. Spinks state that their prices are based on UNC with full lustre. The next grade down is EF, so all other coins that are from EF up to BU fall into this range somewhere. Then it is a case of you determining the price you are willing to pay by using a combination of the guide, your own knowledge and experience and your desire for that particular piece. You will always get anomolies on Ebay, which is no different to auction houses and I would guess that this is one of those anomolies, but theoretically two people were willing to pay that price for that piece at that time, so market forces have determined it to be correct. Whether the slabbing played a major influence we will never know. There are examples in Spink where I would gladly pay double their list price for an example, and others which are way overpriced in my opinion, but that is where I think experience becomes invaluable. As an example the recent 1825 farthings I acquired gave me a real opportunity to study a decent number of UNC examples of the same coin side by side. A large portion of them could easily be described as UNC with full lustre, but there were a range of different aspects that affected each coin (strike quality, lustre quality, planchet quality, die quality, tiny carbon stains, contact marks) that would all affect value. If I selected the best one out of the bunch in my opinion it should easily double the value that many of the others would realise, and if I am honest I would have paid a premium for that example because it was near perfect, it does not mean that the other coins were not BU, but can go some way to explain why certain coins command that premium (but it does not explain why people will pay that premium based on a photo, unless they have genuine faith in the subtle differences between the MS grades given by the grading houses)

Nice one. Is it possible to eliminate a forgery? i.e. is there anything to positively link the punches used to known mint output? The fact that you have seen 3 should tell you if they are all from the same die pair. Even if the reverse die is always the same, more than one obverse die used would be highly supportive of an official issue that somehow got used for currency. Forgeries tend to use the same pairs of dies, and if non-standard as in the reverse would be even more likely to be paired with a distinctive obverse die. If the obverse die can be found used elsewhere, this would also help. This is the third I have seen, the last one I saw was also on ebay about 4 years ago but I found it after bidding had finished The other one I saw on a coin website in the USA at £350, I tried to purchase it, but it had already been sold. Stupidly I never kept images of the others, so I am somewhat in the dark and can not find reference to any others at the moment. Weight is spot on and at the top of the range at 4.8g. Most 1821 farthings have the I in GRATIA recut, so that the underlying I can be seen off to the right. This example does not have this feature, which continues through a vast majority of the remainder of this series. There are only some 1821 dies that seem to have this feature (early dies?), and the odd example for each year thereafter. None of the lettering is recut on the obverse which in itself is unusual for any George IV farthing? From your experience Rob, do many/if any trials make it into general circulation? I just could not see the logic in someone spending what would inevitably be worth more as a collectable?

Can anyone else see anything http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120682046117&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp5197.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D120682046117%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

And its a farthing!!

The obverse is from the dies for the "To Hanover" tokens, so it will be a gaming counter of some sort. I have seen that reverse design in Spiel Marke before.....I think

The 680 did not sell in the first wave of bids, but disappeared off the list shortly after so must have gone somewhere

Pics dear boy, get them up!!

a)Colin Cooke's example was described as Near FDC and estimated at £800 - 1000 b)Colin Cooke's example went for £120 near EF. You do see these sell quite well on ebay poss £20 - 40 on the right day

Another thing that I noticed at W & W last week was what I perceived as a severe shortage of individual lots. Did anybody else pick this up? I have only been to one W & W auction before so this may be normal, but in my view there just didn't seem to be a huge amount there. They do tend to have a high percentage of bulk lots, which great for the sifters out there like me

That's a new one for me If you would be willing to send me scans/photos of the coin in question, I will get it added to the site, it is a nice clear repunch. I would say it should add a slight premium, I would certainly pay a bit more than the norm for it if I saw it for sale Fascinating find thanks for sharing Thanks Colin G.

If anyone has got a 2011 Spink, would they be willing to let me know what the prices are for an 1825 D/U farthing? Ta