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Diaconis

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Posts posted by Diaconis


  1. 24 minutes ago, Rob said:

    As these coins are money of necessity, I still think that standards were subservient to demand. The only consistent thing is that the silver standard of Royalist issues was maintained throughout the war (except the Garter issue), but that is the practical reality of the raw material mostly being touched plate, so no refining required. Some refining was done, but only if the quality of silver taken in couldn't be guaranteed.

    1

    Rob,

    What's your view on the anomalous and base York half-crowns?.

    If standards were subservient to demand then this would support the argument of debasement for an emergency issue (and a secretive one at that given that some contain arsenic as a 'whitener' thereby intending to deceive). Also strange that they seem unknown to Folkes and Snelling yet are common today.


  2. We had an extracurricular stamp club at school, organised by the Geography master. His albums were extraordinary, he painstakingly annotated them in a beautiful gothic script. I developed a passion for penny reds, tuppeny blues and first day covers for years after that.

    All now relegated to the loft and gathering dust.


  3. 3 minutes ago, Coinery said:

    In reality it all depends on how hard a device has been punched, the deepest appearing as the digit on top, regardless of which one was entered first. 

    Just suppose for a moment that it's fake and the error did not occur at the mint.  Someone may have doctored the '8' to look like a '5', that is how it looks to me. If I would want to create another 'full' number out of an existing number I would take the one with the most meat, I think the '8' would be the ideal candidate and a '5' would fit perfectly over the top in a hollow punch.

    Spink mentions this as 8/5 as being Extremely rare, and conventionally, the first digit predominates over the second. This is a 5/8.

    Just found the slab photograph at Heritage which looks even more suspect don't you think?

    623141718_Screenshot2019-03-17at21_27_14.png.1f00307aa01e24d2e0565933b0b553a1.png

    It would need RM (not PCGS, sorry PCGS) authentication before I coughed up over $4,000 for it.


  4. looks to me like someone has punched the 8 using a concave tool with a recessed 5.

    The 5’s are also slightly different.

    There is also an indentation surrounding the number which looks like the striking tool edge. This wouldn’t be present on an over strike. 

    Be interesting to see what the mint thinks of it.


  5. 14 minutes ago, VickySilver said:

    Not to divert, but as far as OMS, there are some grey areas to be sure. Some were of a purpose, and others genuine errors and others "mint sport". Sometimes a coin may fit into more than one category.

     

    Examples of alloy testing OMS (some are specimen/proof, some are not):

     

    1923 nickel 3d

    1923 and 1924 nickel shillings (the latter in 5.0 and 5.7 gm)

    1925 3d, 6d, 1/- of new coinage 1927 type in nickel

    1922 florin in gold, 1927 half crown in gold (possible alloy testing for foreign coins); also gold 3d and 6d specimens from Pretoria mint

    1927 OE sixpence in nickel

    1946 1/-, 2/-, 2/6 in copper nickel all as testing for the upcoming copper-nickel general coinage of 1947

     

    These are not cheap with the gold halfcrown being offered by Baldwins for 80k+ quid; the 1923 and 1924 issues in the 2.5-3k range.

     

    OMS mint sport or error can be had for usually 2-300 pounds, the decimal 1971 1 & 2p and others not so much.

     

    Blah, blah....

    VickySilver, interesting and worthy of a chapter in itself. 

    Is there an old thread about this anywhere in the annals?

    Overlapping groups of classification is interesting, is there any form of classification in print, a sort of taxonomy for Patterns?

     


  6. 1 hour ago, Rob said:

    I'm sure it would generate interest, and wouldn't be difficult to compile, but the cost of a print run means you would be in danger of spending a lot of money and sitting on the books for a long time. It wouldn't be like CCGB where you have a flimsy paperback, which presumably has quite a low unit cost, but rather a hardback printed on better quality paper with its attendant costs. There wouldn't be any point in producing something printed on loo roll because it wouldn't need to be updated very often. You would be looking at a RRP somewhere between 50 & 100 which most would refuse to pay.

    There is also the terms of reference to consider. Do you include proofs for non-public set years?

    I also thought about producing a concordance book. Super boring, but fundamentally useful, to the extent that it ought to be a staple for anyone doing research.

    The cost is a major stumbling block for the simple reason that most people want the info, but are rarely willing to pay for it. Consequently nobody can be a***d to do the spadework other than for personal use.

    There are plenty of books already in existence. Do I get asked for them? Nope.

    Point taken Rob and you have considerably more knowledge on the subject of demand and publishing costs than I ever will. Even Eimer must be sitting on a fair few copies of his book judging by the copy number I purchased from him  some time ago. Having said that, I’d love to see a modern collective work on patterns and off- metal strikes..


  7. 8 minutes ago, Rob said:

    There is no general reference, and more unrecorded pieces appear all the time. Most people with an interest in patterns will generate their own reference lists from the usual books, supplemented with observations from auction catalogues. Despite the desire and expectation of a 'complete' reference volume, there is insufficient interest to produce a comprehensive list. i.e. you can write the book, but relatively few collectors will be willing to pay for it - a request for 'Is it recorded?' or 'What is it?' is a regular question on this or any other forum.

    Personally, I think that such a tome would be a very welcome addition to numismatic literature both for collectors and those who have an interest but hesitate to collect due to difficulty in finding information on availability or pricing. The small realm of collecting Commemorative medals is covered by Eimer quite comprehensively, such a guide covering patterns and off-metal strikes would find a market I'm sure. Surely such a book would also generate interest?


  8. 10 hours ago, Peter said:

      I don't think English is his 1st language.

    I contacted the chap to let him know it was a copy. This is his reply.

    "No problem and thank you for letting me know at the moment coin is investigated by some specialist from Royal Mint Museum I ask them for help and I wait for respond if they confirm that coin is genuine the price rise up. Thank you one more time and have nice weekend.

     


  9.  

    2 hours ago, oldcopper said:

     

    Aka Sebaceous Pete....tiny white and oily flecks, can't be anything else

     

    Hi Peter, I think I can help here. I too used to conclude my viewing by dabbing off with a cotton glove. Now I make doubly sure the coins are well out of the way before I start. Hope this helps.


  10. 2 minutes ago, Unwilling Numismatist said:

    They went on sale at 7AM, pretty much another 30minute gold rush.

    even better👍🏽

    that’s £229k in raw materials leaving £656k for design packaging and marketing and a ‘little’ profit. Sweet😋


  11. 1 hour ago, sabrejv said:

    Just managed to get onto the RM website and apart from the BU pack all have been sold out,  even the BBC was 'advertising' the coins release on Breakfast TV.  Result another another frenzy on the RM website .    Coins already on ebay!

    £858k sold out almost overnight, not a bad little earner for the RM there, one can easily see their interest in producing these commemoratives.


  12. 8 minutes ago, Sword said:

    I once made the mistake of buying a 1937 proof crown based on the CGS photos as the auction house photo was very poor. There was a carbon spot next to the nose of the king which was not present when the CGS photo was taken. It wasn't an expensive coin of course and so not much damage done. 

    But to be fair to TPGs, I still think the chances of a coin deteriorating inside a slab is somewhat less than a coin outside a slab, at least for the less advanced collectors (i.e. those of us not bothering with humility control etc). 

     

    Numistacker is CERTAINLY not bothering with humility control 😉

    • Like 1

  13. 6 minutes ago, craigy said:

    not sure if anyone has noticed the haze that some of the latest proofs from the rm are prone to getting, seems to be the 2014 to 2017 coins from my own observations,  but what happens when you get a coin slabbed then it develops a nasty tone or spots, does that mean the coin is still the grade assigned to it or not,    or are the slabs air tight ?

    If a rumour started circulating that the plastic adhesives used in slabs had the potential to contaminate its contents we might see the numismatic equivalent of the 1857 Indian rebellion. Shhhh🤫


  14. He does seem pretentious to say the least.

    My objection to slabbing and TPGs has nothing to do with my wanting to deceive someone for personal gain. It's the other way around IMO.

    I'm sure they would assign grades to grandmothers if there was a market for it.

    "Mrs. Edna C. Dutton. b1931. XF45, cleaned, wrinkled, spotting, titanium hip"

    • Like 3
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