jelida

Yes, modern Chinese fakes cheaply purchased from Aliexpress. and similar, available in all dates. You have to look out for examples of the bronze series too, indeed most denominations. They are close, but not exact copies. Here is another seller, his British copper are clearly fake, and I suspect his foreign coins may be too. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1839-British-Large-Penny-Queen-Victoria/174324549566?hash=item28968d87be:g:pegAAOSwmGde75AZ Jerry

This vendor has had a box of coins given to him by his mum, mostly genuine but low grade but it seems his mum also collected modern Chinese replicas, and even battered and toned some for her collection. Inspirational! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1843-Victoria-Copper-Penny/164249753649?hash=item263e0c5831:g:xCYAAOSwBDle6pMz Jerry

112 is the number of ‘feedbacks’ he had received, not percentage positive, which is a different matter. If you look at an individual, it is his feedback total you see beside his id, not percentage but you can look into greater detail on his feedback page including percentages. My Ebay feedback is nearing 2000, for example. And 100% positive. Jerry

Of the 18 coins on his completed listings, of which one attracted no bids, 14 have been won by a bidder of 0 feedback, all at silly money, and 3 might have gone to a genuine bidder (or a shiller with feedback). I hope he has to pay Ebay fees- but I suspect the ‘winners’ will mostly fail to pay and he will reclaim any fee. Look out for re-listing in a few weeks. He should be banned. Jerry

Oh, and the second suspicious bidder on many of these coins now has feedback of 112. If you look, you’ll see what I mean. Jerry

There is a category for reporting this activity though, under ‘fraudulent listing practices’, ‘Seller is using other accounts to inflate the price‘ would fit the bill. But as we have discussed so many times before, Ebay are not seriously interested in potential victims of fraud, and seem rarely to take action on reports. The sooner internet giants are liable for the fraud they enable, the better. You or I would certainly be certainly liable in other spheres of life if we didn’t take action, once aware of an issue. Jerry

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