jelida

Looking at athenacoins_7’s offerings(now relisted, having been pulled en masse a week ago) and the silly sums that some have reached, particularly the this penny https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1860-Penny-Error-PCGS-MS65RB-Victoria-Great-Britain-S3954/174301977930?hash=item2895351d4a:g:MjsAAOSwjDJexYYQ I had a look at the bidding patterns and note that bidders with feedback ‘0’ and ‘110’ feature very strongly throughout his items. I strongly suspect that this dealer does indeed have the full shilling. Shill bidding being illegal , perhaps reporting might be appropriate if you agree. Jerry

Pm, Pete. Jerry

Either way you get wind.....

Pm sent. Jerry

I can’t comment on the VAT, but the wire transfer fee stands out to me. I use Transferwise, part owned by Virgin, for all of my overseas bank transfers, for much bigger sums, and have a fee of a couple of quid. Basically the service links (en masse) people in say Germany who want to transfer money to the UK for example, with those who wish to transfer money in the opposite direction so the payment is made to Transferwise In UK pounds and paid into the recipients bank by Euro held in Germany thus negating currency exchange fees and making the transfer very rapid. Looking at the equivalent bank transfer rates and fees, or Paypal etc, I save £10-20 on all my auction payments. And this is a worldwide service. Sorry about the ad, and hope I haven’t misinterpreted how it works, but I highly recommend the service. Jerry

I was watching four or five of his coins, including the 1860 T over T penny, one of a batch of identical coins sold by Baldwins a couple of years ago- I bought one then and I know Secret Santa did too; his coin, now slabbed, had already reached double the Baldwins hammer price. And the nice 1868 penny was already at a good figure, and his William and Maria halfpenny, stated to be UNC (more like AEF to me and not a particularly good strike) was at £700ish, all were withdrawn together, with three days to go. Altogether rather strange unless he made a bulk sale, or just felt the market wasn’t supporting his aspirations. Jerry

If anybody can correct the pics orientation, please do! Jerry

More. Got to keep Historic England happy, two small areas of cobbles and a remnant of flagstone floor was revealed when I broke up the concrete cow-house floor (With listed building consent). The flagstones I used were already on site from works in the ‘70’s under the previous owner who had taken them up, and the reclaimed cobbles had been used as hard-core under the C20 concrete. Jerry

Excellent piece of work.....though I tend to find that I have to put in diagonal braces to stop wobble after a while, even when bolted. I am starting barn shelving out of 3x2” pine and 18mm shuttering ply later today, wife and I put last coat of limewash on the wall this morning. The homestead is almost starting to look tidy, have spent the last couple of months laying flagstones and cobbles!

Something very strange going on there- the coin is not aligned with the slab on either side, which would not be usual even for a TPG; I wonder if it’s been out of the original slab for a rub, hence the fibres? Jerry

Now that is a good idea, will give it a try, next time verd comes my way! Jerry

Well done! I would definitely remove the verdigris, and start by removing as much as you can with a sharpened cocktail stick before using acids. If you have a binocular microscope and a steady hand a blunt needle is useful but only picking at the verd, obviously. Are you still after an F18? I have spares, in fine or a little better, for what I paid ie much cheaper than you bid for the F21! If you want pm me and I will take photos. Jerry

Yes, Freeman 13, looks a decent example with reasonable lustre. Ticks all my boxes! Jerry

The cruciform badge is ‘Church of England Men’s Society’, plenty on the net. Jerry

True, but many times I and others here have reported items without any action being taken; I don’t know if there is a trigger point, a certain number of reports or whatever. Ebay really should have a small panel of ‘approved’ expert reporters who carry greater weight, I am sure there are members on this forum, for example, who might qualify. I believe there was a similar system operating for Ebay USA for a while, subsequently disbanded. Jerry

You would be very welcome! I had some Tannoy 10”, I lent them to a mate to run with some Quad II amps I sold him, and his wife promptly kicked him out and he bu**ered off to America to another woman, taking his HiFi with him. She subsequently booted him, and now he lives on a yacht on a lake near Atlanta. Last saw him two years ago, neither of us talked HiFi. Sad, good speakers, my pair came from one of Van Morrison’s roadies. I still have a Radford amp that I bought from Tommy Hoy of ‘70’s band Magna Carta! Jerry

Reported, for what that’s worth. There have been some very active sellers of these fakes based in Poland and Serbia, a whole variety of home-made dies and they sell a lot at around £100. Some buyers, or their families, will get a shock in due course. I don’t understand how Ebay can get away with facilitating this trade, though I suspect there will be changes in the legal responsibility in years to come, in the same way that pressure is building on social media to be responsible for moderating what is posted on its sites. Jerry

Close-up.

Perhaps I should adjust that to impaired good fine, it has clearly been deeply toned and cleaned in the past, now I look at it again. As I say, halfpennies are not my thing. here are photos, hopefully someone can tell me the dies? I will dig out Freeman later. These are low res pics, if higher res are any help I can email them to you Richard. Jerry

I don’t have many half pennies, but I do have an 1861 R over B in BRITT in good fine, if you need a photo. Jerry

I have many sets of speakers, but have never made my own. I have a dozen Quad electrostatics, the ESL57, and it’s a pair of these on stands I always end up going back to; I have a pair of ESL63’s I must re-panel soon, I have the materials, they have been sitting in my study, partly disassembled, for months but something else always crops up. My next favourites are a pair of Castle Harlech, the polyester coned ones from the late ‘90’s. In the workshop, awaiting their turn but working, are a nice pair of Lowther Accousta PM7a’s, B&W DM3’s and the massive B&W P2’s with the ionofane tweeters (serviced, you can still get the electrode and quartz chamber from the USA). Also Kef Concerto’s, Spendor SA1’s (really nice BBC LS 3/5a competitors, and others I can’t remember at the mo. I have had several Tannoy red and gold speaker pairs, but they have ended up in the USA and the Far East. Much of my HiFi has been sold on to generate cash for pennies. Jerry

No, that is certainly different. There have been a number on the ‘bay sold as ‘dot’ pennies with raised mark consistent with the ‘blob’ on mine, which is something to watch out for, clearly not the true Freeman dot. Jerry

Thanks both, most interesting, my other three ‘eight bisects’ 1898 are all the previous BP1898B variety, nice to add the BP1898Ba, unknowingly! Any idea of the relative rarities? Jerry

Here is my wide date 1898 Pete, I think it is 11 teeth too, so BP1898Ab too. Jerry

Thanks Pete. Lovely coin! I think I have a ‘wide date’ 1898 somewhere, will see if I have photos. Jerry