TomGoodheart

That's pretty much spot on Sword. A quick glance through John Brooker's collection gives a range from around 14.5 - 15.3g. Actually the legal requirement, tested at the Trials of the Pyx, was 232.25 grains (which = 15.0495 grammes). (Another snippet from the Brooker book which can sometimes be picked up cheap on eBay).

I think you're on the right lines Sword. With hammered, my view is that grade is not always as important as 'eye appeal', by which I mean for example that a slightly more worn coin that is centrally struck can be more pleasing than one that is crisper but has bits missing or a weak area. Obviously full flan, nicely toned EF examples are ideal, but generally I've found some compromise is usually needed! I suspect everyone has their own criteria as to what is essential in a coin and what weaknesses are forgivable, though it takes time to develop an eye for this and views can and do change with time. In other words, collecting hammered is a much more personal and subjective thing than with later milled coins. That said, your round / well centred / no weak areas / decent enough grade, with rather good details and / full flan covers the main areas well enough. Now you just need to buy a few more! I guess the only other thing I would add is that I have found comparison useful in my own collecting. A few (more modern, as they tend to be more fully illustrated and sometimes in colour) auction catalogues for decent collections can be a useful investment, enabling you to see what discerning collectors selected as an example (or in some cases had to make do with) of a particular coin. Then you just have to look for similar or better! Obviously it's easier if you have a particular area that interests you. Any idea what you'd like to buy next?

Mmm .. I tried to remove my Title and got 403 ERROR Sorry but the page you have requested has encountered the following error: Forbidden Please feel free to browse the rest of my website You may also use the "Search" feature to find the product you are looking for I apologise for the inconvenience. Any ideas Matt?

Welcome Stephen. A fair number of dealers will value a collection for insurance purposes, either with a fee or sometimes a charge for travel expenses. In such a case receipts wouldn't really be needed. Years ago I had mine valued by the local Numismatic Society. Of course, I've sold a few and bought others since. Hence I do keep receipts and provenance information. As my coins are all effectively unique (being hammered) I keep photographic records of all of them so if they ever did resurface on the market they would be easy enough to identify. You can also get stuff like SmartWater .. I don't see why it would mark coins and it's linked solely to you, so again if stolen coins turn up they could be identified as such. Mine are covered by my household insurance policy, though they do require anything over a certain value to be listed separately. How well a lump of cash would compensate for the work of 10+ years of collecting however I'm not sure. And hope never to need to find out. Insurance is good to have, but other precautions (such as not advertising you collect, keeping the collection out of sight of casual visitors etc) shouldn't be overlooked.

I know I'm coming into this late in the day. It's not something that really affects me. However I do find the whole thing very odd. Surely, from a marketing point, one of the selling points of a CGS (or NGC, PCGS etc..) entombment is that, should you decide to sell your coin, potential buyers can then find it on the grading service's database, confirm it's the same coin (and have the possibility of inspecting photographs of it) before committing their cash? Now that is surely impractical, unless you're a dealer. For a casual occasional buyer, paying £50 to validate a coin seems daft. To me, what LCGS seem to have done is made their service much less attractive an option. If you want a database of coins, you'd surely be better off photographing them yourself. Protection? The afore-mentioned Quadrum capsules sound ideal. Certification and grading? NGC or PCGS are better known and grade to an internationally understood scale. Even if their current customers are the loyalest of the loyal, I just don't get how CGS think this is going to be viable.

I quite understand Pete. As my fussiness has increased, the number of my purchases has decreased. One year I bought just two coins. Then Daughter was studying the French revolution and I got interested in the symbol of the Republic, Marianne. She's obviously used widely on French (and French colonial) coins. But also other 'revolutionary' states, such as Cuba, Civil War era Spain. Plus of course, the US. They come in copper, silver, nickel brass, aluminium, zinc ... It provided me with a new theme, the coins are generally cheap (you can add in advertising tokens, jetons and American Civil War Tokens if you like ..) Not suggesting you do the same. Just that you might like to look beyond one denomination or nation for something that takes your fancy?

Ah, thanks Peter! Good idea!

My exhaust fault light went on. My garage were busy so I took it to a place that do performance retuning. They checked it and say it's the actuator which, if it was a newer model would just need replacing, but as mine is an early version might entail the whole thing. They are checking to see if they can source a repair kit, so fingers crossed ..

Someone's been busy!

I like my Octavia. Cheaper than an Audi, decent build quality, VAG engines ... I've got a 1.4 TSI saloon. Good size boot (popular as taxis here). First car I've owned from new. Good luck with the car shopping! .

I only post when something interests me. Which tends to only be in my rather narrow collecting area I'm afraid ... And to keep on topic, the turbo in my Skoda might need replacing. Not as pricy as a new car, I know. But ..

The next questions might be where it was bought. If from a dealer that usually gives some reassurance. And provenance too. Though I didn't find this particular coin during a short web search..

More Clive's or Rob's area Nick, but there's nothing about it that shrieks 'fake' to me ... looks nice.

Not posted recently because I've not bought anything. And although I did pick this up, I've found it difficult to get a representative photo so I've had to use the seller's. Although it looks a uniform grey in the pic, it's actually a bright silver with mirror like fields. Ex Middleham hoard (1993) Spink 2789, Sharp D2/1 The second pic - which is the best I can do at present, but doesn't really represent it well - is in case anyone was curious. You'll just have to trust me, it's a nice coin in the hand ...

In the 60's we went on holiday to Austria. While driving through Germany we parked up at a stop on the Autobahn, this large chap wandered over and inspected the GB plates on our car. He turned to my Dad and said "You were in war?" "I was in war" Reached over to pop the boot of the car next to ours to reveal a case of beer. "Now we friends" he went on. "We drink". And they did. That was the only time I remember the war being mentioned.