Leo

This is the homemade box that I use. The camera is a Sony e-lens with a long tele and some extension rings to be able to focus close. The lights are IKEA. The copystand is a recent addition from eBay and I am delighted with it...

Despite recommendations to the contrary, you may want to give axial lighting a go. I've built a small box and been playing around. So far I've found that a combination of one light source doing the axial thing + another one on top you can get quite nice results, specially with bronze/ copper. I attach a couple of examples:

A curious way of giving change when you only have a big coin...

I was thinking that! Which is quite difficult sometimes as there are loads of contact marks, bag marks, clogged dies, weak strike, polished die marks, etc that can be mistaken for wear.

If it's technical grading what you're interested in, there is a book titled 'Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection' that, although solely focused on the Sheldon scale on American coins, is wonderfully detailed and explains many of the small aspects and intricacies of the grading process and I learnt a good few bits from it. I wish there was one adapted to the European grading scale.

But they are just opinions, and it's different how a coin looks in hand than in a photo. Auction prices are in some way more solid: if a coin that is clearly worse than yours sells for £150, and a better one for £200, then you can work out the value of yours.

What it's odd is that they only cleaned the obverse.

They all look very collectable to me. In my opinion, the Victorian pieces are anything between VF (the 1/2d) and EF the others. I find difficult to judge farthings as they are so tiny and sometimes weak - would need to tilt them under the light to detect loss of lustre. And with a loupe. I suggest that you look into the realised prices section of Londoncoins to get an idea of grade and value, see if yours is better or worse than what they grade as 'AUNC' or 'NEF' etc but don't be too fixated on grade - just compare with your coin in hand. Grades are too subjective, but if you want to go that way, the Rotographic grading book is excellent, and goes hand in hand with Chris Perkins' catalogue for prices. You can get both for £20.

Is the last one bigger than a cartwheel 2d?

What does reveal that it is a matt proof? Apart from the crispness, and the matt surface. Other examples I've seen on this forum sport a nice streaky toning, like a very fine buff on the fields

That is very interesting. It is a very abstract symbol alright, specially on the last example. Fascinating history that of Genoa and Venice!

They're normally very quick, so I would expect monday, tuesday the latest. Which is impressive considering that they process bids and everything manually. I've put bids in for 4 lots, but a tad stingy... my hopes are low but I can't wait to see the results!

What represents the construction in the obverse (as in your avatar)?

Hello, My collection is not very large and I don't own expensive pieces, but it would kill me if I got burgled. My house insurance covers it in theory - its value is within the limits of a single item under my policy, but in case of a loss and claim I would be unable to surrender proof of purchase for all the pieces. The insurer has told me that the best would be to get the collection valuated. I'm not wild about this as I suspect it would cost me a lot, not to mention that my collection is constantly growing. How are you dealing with this issue? Can photographs be used as proof of ownership in case of claim?

Is this from Alibaba?

That's a very good hint

Well, it's the very concept of insurance... you pay someone else to take on a risk that you don't want to deal with. Perhaps if I had good hiding places at my disposal, or Cerberus sleeping in the kitchen while I'm at work, I would think it again!

That's what I want to believe! Hopefully I will never have to put a claim. For completeness of this tread that I initiated, I finally took out a policy with Catlin, broker being Highworth. They accepted my own schedule of insured items and valuation and gave me flexible terms to revise it. Their quote was competitive, around 2-3% of the amount insured, which is modest. For high value collections the premium may be too high so maybe a proper valuation brings it down.

I scan them all and upload them to cloud, just in case...

Yes, I just looked at them. They are knackered too - but maybe that's why they are PR62 rather than PR65. Definitely not VIP You mean for instance the thistle details being poor?

Uncirculated, but the date is very weak

Is she Sigourney Weaver?

There were quite a few, alright. Loads of groats too!

A separate invoice for each coin you win, eBay style? I've never won anything in DNW, you see.

Only wondering because if I didn't win, that means I still have budget to charge again tomorrow.