Leo

That is very revealing, Declan. Thank you for disclosing it. I did notice the love for bulk junk lots, and also the d*** Andorra Vatican and Monaco euro sets flooding the whole place. I don't know, it's a weird place. Most of the lots in the UK and Spain auctions are offered by the same sellers, every week. It looks like it has better penetration on the Dutch market though. It was in catawiki where I saw once for auction a slabbed panda coin (weird!). Just thinking, in terms of fees, LCA gets 27% (10% from seller and 17% from buyer). Catawiki gets 21.5% and eBay gets 13.5% including PayPal fee. But in my view, in terms of service and security for both buyers and sellers Catawiki is way closer to eBay than LCA. Some sellers pass the fees into the P&P charges which explain some very high postage fees. Well, this happens in eBay too, and there is no way of controlling it.

Thank you. I think I will take a look on saturday morning. A good excuse to pop into London!

Coinex 2016 is in two weeks' time. For a new collector looking for affordable, common coins in good state, and a bit of chat with other collectors and dealers, is this the place to go or should I rather go to one of the monthly Birmingham fairs?

Congratulations on your decision Declan! So what would you say is the problem with catawiki? Management? Business model, target? The idea behind is good, it is essentially to fill the massive gap between the eBay jungle and the established, formal auction houses. However I think their fees are high compared to what they do - lot description, photography and postage all is still to be done by the seller. I don't know how they would act with fakes, fraud, litigation etc. Considering the amount of publicity they are spending on, it looks like it is doing well however. Hammer prices are high.

Very interesting Sword. As your coins look flawless, none of the two sets of pictures show any defects because there aren't any! Or are there? For me the CGS photos show a more attractive coin, which is the opposite to how I thought it would be.

Perhaps the LCGS photos are more objective than the auction ones and reveal problems, where these are present, more honestly than the auction ones which have an obvious commercial purpose. It would be interesting to compare.

But the auction photographs are free, aren't they?

OK I have changed the hosting of the photos. Let's see now. Halfcrown A common Edwardian halfcrown in good quality. Described as: Halfcrown 1902 ESC 746 A/UNC with some light contact marks This is LC photo: And this is what I got: My photos are horrible and do not do any justice, the coin does actually hint a start of a lovely golden tone, but one can clearly see Jaggy was damm right about hairlines not being evident from their photos, denoting a scotch-brite-like effect, specially on the obverse. I guess they cover themselves with the 'some contact marks' expression but this is a bit more than 'abrasion marks' on my book. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I paid £100 plus the tip, for your information.

And this is the second one. Same year, same principle, but in this case the beautiful florin. LCA photo: An now my horrendous photograph: This is described as Florin 1902 ESC 919 UNC and attractively toned over underlying lustre, a few minor contact marks barely detract. There are quite a number of abrasion marks on the Monarch's neck and some funny hairlines on the reverse's fields. The tone is beautiful and I'm proud of this purchase - just over £100, which is my psychological boundary at the moment (still a rookie), but I suspect I have gone about 20% over what is expected, lured by the tone. Which is much nicer than that shown on my pics. I would probably be better at it if I wasn't having some wines on the process.

OK I will start. A common Edwardian halfcrown in good quality. Described as: Halfcrown 1902 ESC 746 A/UNC with some light contact marks This is LC photo: And this is what I got: My photos are horrible and do not do any justice, the coin does actually hint a start of a lovely golden tone, but one can clearly see Jaggy was damm right about hairlines not being evident from their photos, denoting a scotch-brite-like effect, specially on the obverse. I guess they cover themselves with the 'some contact marks' expression but this is a bit more than 'abrasion marks' on my book. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I paid £100 plus the tip.

Do you leave It to the mercy of the elements, or in a ventilated box?

Incidentally, this same seller has a handful of pieces for sale in this weekend's catawiki auction. http://auction.catawiki.com/lotsfrom/KosCoins. Mostly George V halfcrowns.

Understood now, thank you

Indeed - I only realised now that the ad is not fraudulent, the error on the coin is real, it's just that it was not mentioned in the LCA listing so the dealer found an opportunity. My error of judgment. We can still question eBay's diligence in other matters though, like the abundance of fake material, self-bidding, etc.

If he sells, he will make around £250 profit after fees. Tempting

It's awful but I wouldn't feel much compassion for a buyer though. You have to be very careful splashing out over £2k in eBay, and be an expert on the subject. I also think it's in eBay's interest to keep an eye over these practices. But of course that requires hiring somebody and spending a bit of money. Their choice.

All up for that! I may have overpayed. Rookie after all!

That's not very nice of him! Anyway, to your question... Like you, I don't care about small varieties, but probably because I'm a beginner and for now I just aspire at having a different type rather than year, not to mention die or variety. In a few years I suppose I may have developed a liking for a certain denomination and/ or historical period, and that may lean me to study some of these subjects as the more experienced collectors do.

I'm happy, first purchases in LCA. 2 wins out of 3 bids, both within the range I was expecting. Now I'm looking forward to see how they look in hand. I've got the impression that this house grades generously.

When I saw this first I thought: Why would anybody slab an ugly bullion coin with no numismatic value? http://auction.catawiki.com/kavels/7225477-china-10-yuan-1995-small-twig-small-date-panda-silver-in-slab-pcgs But then I searched and apparently some pandas have little variations and small mintages and therefore command high prices. There are collectors for anything out there, definitively

Certainly they must have a following. It still looks odd to me that somebody would spend money certifying uncirculated bullion.

You guessed it. I have followed BRG's excellent guidance and purchased two small LED spotlights, fitted them with some DIY paper diffuser, and arranged the setup but then I realised that all of my coins are in Leuchtturm holders and the mylar plastic gets in the way - not to mention annoying micro-creases in the plastic that I was not that aware of. The result is quite dull I have to say. Any ideas, apart from the obvious one of ripping the holder away?

Very nice Nick...

Thank you all for your input. Basically one size for each denomination, if not several sizes as in the case of the florin. I'll work it out... I do take it that it has to fit perfectly, not like with the holders where you just leave a couple of mm gap