zookeeperz

I did read somewhere that on a certain coin and for the life of me I cannot remember there were 2 different finishes on the coin because half were struck at the royal mint and half were struck at Illastraint mint (hope I have the correct spelling) where one exhibited a more matt finish whilst the royal mint coins were shinny and lustered?

1797 Copper Penny George III .Not a world beater but wow check the edges. Unbelievable a coin so old has come through the years pretty much unscathed. Especially knowing how easy these were to take damage. So I thought it needs to be kept that way. Just gives a real sense of history and the hands it may have passed through

I found a wide rim penny But I only thought they came in the smaller denom 1967 half penny?

CGS overstep their grading scale I don't accept their grading system never have never will. I'll judge it by what I know when I see it. Even from a distant view its AEF All the raised areas are sharp front of the face and helmet ,fingers,breastplate and the scroll . Tiny rub on the ear but looking through plastic very hard to judge it properly. Plus these are notoriously weakly struck coins. Plus nothing hideous is jumping out. I'll take a pic when it arrives. I used to follow CGS grading criteria but when they became Judge,jury and executioner I changed my mind.

I reported the creep. Only for the fact when I saw the original adv there was nothing whatsoever in the descriptions that these were copies repro's or just plain fakes. He described them as an auctioneer would with all the legend wording. Who would bother to do that with fake coins. It is purely an advert to deceive so I pressed the big red buzzer (you're outta here)

Ohhhh no you don't me ole fruit bat . Busted!!!!! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1717-Four-Crowned-Cruciform-Shields-Obverse-GEORGE-I-Silver-Shilling/162702776669

About security reasons that is total BS. A buyer of mine wanted to ask me a question and Ebay when ebay and paypal were the same entity gave the bloke my home phone number. I went absolutely beserk. I told them my number is private any contact is via email or through the site Q&A. How dare they give my personal details to some muppet living in another time zone ringing me a 3 am to ask if the coin has C.O.A. When in the bloody picture it was sitting on the C.O.A. They are worse than useless

Not yet I am hoping it will be like the last one nothing fingers X

Hold fire Spot the deliberate mistake Do my eyes deceive me or did I pair 1971 with 1976 lol. My apologies it was meant to be this one. Also the 1 is larger on rev C I am confused i will get this right lol pics to follow

So this is the rare 1976 Penny? How rare is it? Obv 2 rev C or 1+C on the older identification.

I use the pencil garage inspection tool with its own copy stand for close up work if you have windows 10 it is far better than the black cylinder version with the led lights and the big plastic rim. If that wasn't there it would be ok but you can't get close enough and the detail is often fuzzy. Unless you have a lot of money the stereo scopes are the best but bloody expensive. I use two one for close up work for over dates and such and 1 for distance . I have had about 10 different ones and tbh they are all pretty much alike. Apart from the cheapo ones with the lens upside down and moves inside the casing lol. All 2nds from bob todds market of naff items. the ones I have now are 2MP USB Digital Microscope LED 500x 8 Endoscope Camera Stand for IC inspection £29 New Digital Camera Microscope X300 Coin Jewelry Gemstone Stamp Photo Stand Video Lighthouse £165 (not worth the money) Cheaper versions are just as good. I have tried most of them . But you have seen my pics they aren't too sad it's just virtually impossible to show proof mirrored surface or luster to some extent because its 2D top down so you make a trade off between quality picture or lack of detail. It doesn't do both unless you fart around with a glove and try catching it in the right light without it blurring lol. This pic is from the little pencil scope I can go right in close on those but if you go too close you lose perspective of what you were looking for lol. But at that range it's nice and clear and sharp. The lighthouse one couldn't get that close but it is better for pictures of whole coins.

I thought you put the coin in the jar with the egg shells and the crushed up egg in the container was for you if you got peckish waiting for the coin to tone ?

Yup that is my gut feeling. Some of these repro's to the untrained eye look very convincing . Already seen one guy earn £7k+ off of fake kew's.

And the latest. I ummed and arred about getting it seeing as it was from across the pond but I think £128 inc postage of £15 oucherooney was a fair price? 1904 Florin in a NGC jacket AU55. Call it EF Still feels like I got a little bang for my pound

Yes I know that but there are scores of newbie collectors who wouldn't notice. Surely the time has come if it isn't authentic it must say so or it cannot be sold? Wouldn't take ebay 30 secs to amend their ever growing rules and regulations. They are quick enough to change policy if it means they earn more out of it.

Nothing wrong with the sale. Seller calls it as it is reproduction florin but how good is that copy? I can see these being snapped up and farmed out by the dodge pots https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Queen-Victoria-Florin-reproduction/232551477299

Great reading material. Just seems to me TPG abusing collectors . Call it something different another grading tier cost?

USA collectors are rather more passionate about cameo effects than the actual coin being simply a proof or a business strike. It is pretty common across nearly all aspects of collecting. What the US collector finds truly appealing and in a vast majority of cases @ very high premiums. i.e rainbow toned coins, Die cracks, Doubled dies etc for UK collectors for the majority this holds no extra pull or value to the coin. Mainly because it was probably more rare to find a coin without faults. Only buck against that trend is error coins and over dates. But cameo affect might make one guy more interested but it wouldn't make the masses flock to the auction houses to buy them. Brits are more about the prestige of the coin. How it looks and the strike qualities . Lower mintage rare coins. Although I do feel it is the TPG that set the extra criteria purely for commercial gain. If a coin is cameo proof that is it done and dusted. Why then does it have to be ultra cameo ? somehow suggesting that the cameo proof is somehow inferior. We could do that across the board with extra descriptions like subdued luster, 50% Luster etc. Everyone who collects UK coins this side of the pond knows that BU coins are 100% just left the mint red (for copper bronze) fully cartwheel lustered ( for silver and gold) . If anything else was added like proof-like it wouldn't add any bearing to the value per say as the coin would be judged on it's merit as it stands. We do not have a grading system that includes proof-like. Not like USA and Canada. To the Brit collector it just means a circulation strike with exceptional eye appeal. Yet overseas sellers of British coins always sell well over the book price and because of the different grading scale they ask BU prices for AUNC coins and as we all know that can mean £1000's in real terms.

So it boils down to several strikes or 3 to make a proof qualify as opposed to circulation coins that are only struck once Specially prepared dies with ( Mirror finish) as opposed to normal luster (1937 brass threepence hardly has mirrored fields) and most pundits when you read their synopsis on which coins are rare and which are just tall stories. They all comment on not being able to tell a proof apart from an unc /BU coin unless they have both in hand to reference. Special treated dies to make everything stand out as detailed as possible. So where do proof-likes come from because unless they are early strikes from business sets of dies it would infer these were also treated or made on pre-prepared dies. I just can't make the leap between normal lustered finish to mirrored finish if a coin came from the same die pairing?

Thanks I suspected it was a dodge pot. Been kicking around for seems like an eternity. In one of them joblot boxes Lots of things like that hanging around did have some hammereds somewhere. I guess there in the safe place marked research lol

Anyone got an idea what this is Date doesn't make sense . Tiny coin smaller than 1/2p

1992 both 1p and 2p were struck in two metals giving magnetic and non magnetic versions as the non magnetic were still struck in bronze . exclusively in the sets only as no business strikes were issued for that year in bronze and the mintage of only 78,421 . If you find any and surprisingly they do turn up they do command a good premium higher than what the book suggests. I predict fake news will catch wind of this very low mintage and we will have Kewmania all over again. So if you own any hold on to them It is also a little know fact that the 1999 £2 coin standard issue non commemorative is in UNC and BU virtually impossible to locate. No BU sets were made and no proofs with this year were struck with the standard £2. Prices are in the Kew range . I do own 1 but Slightly short of unc but not a million miles off EF and even in this condition very hard to find. i'll post a pic when I find the darn thing . it is in that safe place again

This kind of follows on from the LCA coin that is way over graded And also gives solid doubt as to the intentions of a company that is a grader and an auctioneer and a selling outlet. Now if this isn't a cause for concern over conflict of interest or stoking the pot for your own profit I don't know what is. We know our coins when sent to CGS are very much under graded yet some coins you see for sale look vastly over graded. Coincidence? Well I don't believe in coincidence when you see coins that just don't warrant the grades given by a so called reputable grading house. Not unless they are their own self sourced raw's that are being slabbed with wishful thinking grades to maximise profit. If you look long enough it is glaringly obvious something fishy is going on. This coin is a perfect example of grading for profit. I cannot see that they would grade that coin 65 unless they owned it to begin with? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-KEY-DATE-1925-FLORIN-SLABBED-CGS-65-BRITISH-SILVER-COIN-FROM-GEORGE-V/201845918225

Wonder if it is one of their own coins. Must be nice to be the grader and the auctioneer. Surely there must be some law on things like that. Jesus talk about licence to print money.

Yes I think that the real VIP coins would be with provenance as they were only given on special occasions to dignitaries. Foreign ministers visits from heads of states. as has been already stated I guess the most famous but equally as elusive the EEC 50 pence Piedfort proof that was also only given to the foreign ministers to celebrate (god knows why) joining the european community.(I wonder if they will make a brexit version? ) So unless there has been a mass clear out from all the foreign ministers to the public at large (which I highly doubt) something like that you would never part with. Unless there was a death and a family member moved the on. It wouldn't come in a 50mm airtite without a box or C.O.A