DrP

That being said, you do hear some horror stories... although in an organisation that big there will always be errors and misplacements. I think they are great - I won't get into the politics of funding it, lol. I don't think it should be privatised though, we should pay what we need to to keep it going, you never know who will need it and when.

I have a couple of sixpences from Fiji. They have a tortoise or turtle on them or something - I think they are quite cute. I know nothing about them but if I am ever sorting through a lot of foreign coins then the ones from Fiji always catch my eye. :-)

For all the moaning people do about them they are great - and having it free (paid through taxes) is an amazing service. What are we rated? 3rd in the world? Can't praise them enough. Any 1st world country should have a system where you can be treated regardless of how big your pay check is. Easily funded through tax. I can't understand why the USA doesn't follow suit on this one - no brainer - keep the population healthy and they live longer work harder and pay more tax. I think that their health system makes so many people rich that any attempts at helping the poor are shut down right away. Horrible attitude.

This last one - it's 1937 - I would have said EF - but look at the visible wear on the head. This was heads up in the folder. The rest of the coin is spotless and almost UNC apart from the toning and the wear on the head. Maybe I am just not that good at grading - but I found these hard to grade because of the fact they have never been in circulation - but have wear from poor storage. Thoughts welcome. Obviously a Whitman folder isn't the place to store high grade coins, esspecially if someone keeps opening and closing it. I think some lateral slippage of the pages during transport of the folder and due to lots of opening and closing the folder and taking coins in and out - I guess this just counts as circulation. Thanks again.

OK - Lets see if these pics are clear enough for wear to be shown. The 1917 coin here still has lustre - there is little to no wear on most of the coin - byt look at her arm - it is worn down as bad as you would find on a coin that is graded F/VF. ? The head side of the coin is pretty good - wasn't face up in the folder. The 1920 doesn't have much wear, but has some dirt marks/dust from being in a whitman folder.

Looks to be in a really nice condition - must have been many hundreds of pounds surely. Unless there is something not right about it - I am no expert. What did it cost? If it was £40- as the slip suggests in the pic then it was either the bargain of the decade or a fake imo. Don't take my word for it though - others are much more knowledgeable than I about such things - I am just being curious - if it is real then it is a lovely coin. Much better than my E1st shilling by a few hundreds of pounds. :-) Mines worth about 30 to 40 quid. Looking at my coin, it is better than I though - but the portrait has gone - still, it's a gap filler that I wouldn't be able to afford otherwise.

I'll try to get some decent pics at some point. I'm talking about damage/wear caused by the ion being kept in a whitman folder. That's how I often see EF defined now and what I would use for grading. I think everyone suffers a bit of unconscious bias when grading their own coins too. Even if you think you don't. :-)

Maybe I am confusing the UNC grade with BU grade a bit. Is the coin still UNC with wear or a patina... if you look with a loop and there are no scratches but there is slight wear? Now I'm thinking that if it has the wear then it drops the grade regardless of the rest of the coin. just a very good EF or VF. Sorry for going on - thoughts or critic welcome.

Or a coin that is better than EF,is UNC but has some visible wear on the very highest parts due to poor storage? I think maybe some of the other grading scales could cover it I do not know. I have only ever really graded coins by the English method - VG/F/VF/EF/UNC/BU//MINT Thanks.

yea, looking at others and more closely at this it could be a H or N... then an S before the HVB. Thanks anyway Paddy. I have a half penny here too that is a bit worn and squashed and I can't even tell if it is Edward or Henry. I get Henry III and John coins mixed up too... even when I have pictures of them in front of me they are hard to identify. I think I am getting better though. lol.

There is a II on there which made me think it might be Ed II, but I am not sure that is right or not.

Oh I hope so! I bought a small number of really nice silver coins from Hungry a few months back.. 1860 to 1890 odd... they were about florin sized and uncirculated, this will go nice with them in my small Hungry collection. I'll look into it, thanks. I'm not sure what Edward the penny is now - should be easy but I forget what to look for before the HVB to see which Ed it is. Any ides? (I shouldn't be so lazy and will have to look them up again, I have been know to get them drastically wrong though) There is a small nick in the Edward penny unfortunately, other wise is is in nice condition compared to most of my hammered pennies.

Now i'm thinking Germany. From looking around. :-) A Denar maybe 1500s?

ah! hold on - it has Ferdinand written on , so probably a Spanish silver hammered coin, lol. Looks similar to the Tudor pennies though, lol. I was hoping it was British as most of the others were. I have some Polish ones too. Henry Penny would have been nice.

Henry VII or VIII penny? I really do not know - not had one before. I can try to get a clearer pic later if this is too blurred. Have to pop out now though. BL - have a nice day.

I bought this in a bundle of hammered coins of varying qualities... this is one of the nicest Edwards pennies I now own. :-) It is very round, the portrait is clear and everything is readable. Might keep it, or even sell it to recoup what I paid for the whole bundle. Any help appreciated - is it Edward II? It is a London mint and probably in the best condition of my hammered pennies... or at least up there with the best. Shame I am getting blurry photo's today... I'd show the other side, but it came out blurry - it's just a normal London mint longcross penny on the other side.. nice readable letters. Also - what is this other coin? Tudor penny or half penny? Not had one before.It is about the size of an Edward halfpenny - sorry - I should have put a scaling object in the pic... they are a bit blurry too. :-( Thanks in advance if you can id it. :-)

Hi - got a new £10 note in my change today with AA01 69 on it. It has a couple of folds though but I might keep it. I know roughly what these go for on e-bay, but, er, do people pay more for a 69 with it? ;-)

AA01 690019

Thanks again. Does the cut double patard look a bit too new to you or is it just a very nice one? Has a similar look to a fake Elizabeth 1st crown or half crown I have. Looks a little too clean and new but not sure. Seller was not sure either but the other stuff he had was fine. Looking at the prices of those Henry VII groats I am quite liking mine now. There is a bit missing though. :-) I thought I saw Edward on it but that must be a different coin - I might need to get my eyes checked, lol.

OK - Not pennies... The groat I think is Edward.... because it says Edward on it, but do not know which one - is a bit bust up, but it's old and the only groat I have of this type. The cut coin... I do not know what it is... it looks too good to be real and I think it is probably a modern copy but I do not know, I don't see how it could have remained this minty for so long - it came with a few other hammered and Roman coins that were real so I bought it... (French?). Not pennies! :-)

Thank you. I'll use that to identify some of my other ones when I get the chance. I've got some other Henry III's and I'm sure some are king John, but I get them confused. I'll use that guide at some point and try to sort them out. Some are hard to see though and are beat up a bit. . How do you know it's 3a1?. Star straddling the crown jewel, stop between the straight limbed X and III? I think that's what that link says.

Here are 2 pennies I got recently. I know they are quite worn but I like the age of them and they are identifiable - I already have them but am not sure which is the John and which is the Henry (Henry III?): I think the short cross is John. Not sure about the long cross one... the Henry III one I have looks like he is holding a sceptre or something, but there is noting like that on this... any ideas appreciated thanks.

Here's my best one probably. And the others.

I have 3 or 4 Charles 1st pennies. None of them have as good a face as your's though - one isn't too bad but very worn still. The shield is better on 1 or 2 of mine though I think. I like them. I put the best one in my penny collection and will probably flog the others.

I bought a fake gold coin thinking it was real because it was slabbed... turned out to be the right weight if you included the weight of the slab as well.... I thought it might be a copy but was at least hoping for a 9c gold copy - it was clearly brass when I got it. My fault for being greedy I think - it was a few years back - it was an extremely 5 sovereign at a half soveriegn price on a 1 day auction... If it had been real it would have been thousands. Lost 120 sobs there. :-( I guess I should have reported it but it was years ago. :-(