Jump to content
British Coin Forum - Predecimal.com

50 Years of RotographicCoinpublications.com A Rotographic Imprint. Price guide reference book publishers since 1959. Lots of books on coins, banknotes and medals. Please visit and like Coin Publications on Facebook for offers and updates.

Coin Publications on Facebook

   Rotographic    

The current range of books. Click the image above to see them on Amazon (printed and Kindle format). More info on coinpublications.com

predecimal.comPredecimal.com. One of the most popular websites on British pre-decimal coins, with hundreds of coins for sale, advice for beginners and interesting information.

oldcopper

Sterling Member
  • Content Count

    607
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    14

Posts posted by oldcopper


  1. 14 hours ago, Peckris 2 said:

    I simply cannot believe the climate change deniers in this forum. Even knowing your politics, I still cannot believe it. Even Boris Johnson was so concerned about it that he passed a law banning new petrol driven cars from 2030, and has promoted energy alternatives to fossil fuels.

    You know, does it matter a damn whether climate change is caused by man (yet the facts point very clearly to it)? The average global temperature has steadily increased since it started being measured. And the proportion of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased during the same period. Ice caps are melting. Coincidence? Obviously not.

    Ok, let's indulge ourselves in the climate equivalent of Pascal's wager:

    1. Climate change is happening (whether caused by man is not relevant)

    2. We can spend trillions trying to prevent or even reverse it.

    1. True. 2. True. result: a positive impact on the climate, which improves the lives of every creature on the planet

    1. True. 2. False. result: things get worse and worse, and the habitable areas on the planet diminish, with severe fires, floods, storms, etc becoming more and more frequent

    1. False. 2. False. result: things stay much as they are now

    1. False. 2. True. result: the world economy goes into the same recession as covid caused, and all for no good reason.

    This shows that the second alternative is by far the worst. I'd rather be proved wrong on climate knowing that even so we did our best in case (as the science indicates) it was true.

    Congratulations! Textbook stuff.

    Let's run through it. "Deniers" - great start. Shoehorned that into the first sentence ie anyone who looks at something from a different angle to you or has a different opinion is a "denier". Then the made-up (as usual) amazement that people are pointing out..., well what are they pointing out? You ignore the elephant in the room and despite looking very closely I can't see the word China anywhere in your post. But where's "Daily Mail" - you used it last time but missed a trick here. That killer riposte is taking a break I see. 

    I tell you what amazes me - that anyone in their right mind can assert that the intermittent renewable energy sources of wind and solar (not nuclear, but that's going nowhere fast at present) can in any way be a substitute for fossil fuels. You can't run any industry, especially heavy industry, on an intermittent energy source, much of society's needs will depend on a high carbon-footprint manufacture and installation technology which supplies low and fickle electricity, and these solar panels and wind turbines will last 15-20 years then be chucked away. Fridges, ovens, building heating - all required reliable energy. And you won't be able to drive anywhere if last night wasn't windy enough. Or is every household going to have a massive toxic Chinese-produced battery the size of a chest of drawers to give stability of energy supply? Eco-friendly or what!

    But don't worry, massive improvements in renewables technology will come along and save us just in the nick of time - we just have to take your word for that, but even your illusory massive improvements won't change the whole flawed concept of renewables I'm afraid. Nuclear excepted again, yet 30 years of non-investment into nuclear has buried that one for the foreseeable future. But here comes Bill Gates, nuclear plant manufacturer par excellence......he's got an idea you say?

    "I'd rather be proved wrong on climate" - no you wouldn't and you're quite prepared to sacrifice our economy and standard of living in a pointless gesture to give you the satisfaction that "at least we tried". so hang the consequences, so long as your media and government primed conscience is satisfied. That's the important thing of course.

    If any of the politicans or XR idiots actually really believed in the link between CO2 and global warming, wouldn't they be banging down China and India's doors to express their terror at what the world's major polluters were ramping up. That they couldn't care less says it all.

    • Like 2

  2. 2 hours ago, oldcopper said:

    "Never was a truer word spoken"!!? If so there must be a pattern that indicates this is not a freak event. Have our previous Summers been getting this hotter and drier? Is there a long-term gradient/trend which has not been matched before? And was 1976 a freak event? - yes it was, but if that happened today the end of the world would be nigh! You can see the desperation in Peckris in trying to ascribe everything to climate change. It's like a religious cult.

    If the next few summers are as hot and dry, or hotter and dryer that would indicate a pattern, but it may just be a cyclic weather phenomeon anyway. It might, just might be down to man-made CO2 emissions, but we have very little was of confirming that. But a pattern will have to happen before anyone can pronounce on this.

    Secondly, p*ssing in the wind is the correct analogy. China is increasing its coal use by 300 million tons this year to just over 3 billion tons. In 2021 India consumed over a billion tons of coal, the USA 0.5 billion. Our coal use last year was 8.6 million tons by way of comparison. Work out the percentage that is of the others!

    Sorry, "very little way", not "very little was".

    Another worry is that high oil and gas prices might actually mean higher CO2 production, not lower, as poorer countries switch to cheaper coal, a less efficient and more polluting energy source that emits far more CO2 for the heat it produces.


  3. 29 minutes ago, secret santa said:

    Never was a truer word spoken because, as sure as hell, the biggest culprits are going to do nothing about it. And, with our 1% emissions, we're just p*ssing in the wind.

    "Never was a truer word spoken"!!? If so there must be a pattern that indicates this is not a freak event. Have our previous Summers been getting this hotter and drier? Is there a long-term gradient/trend which has not been matched before? And was 1976 a freak event? - yes it was, but if that happened today the end of the world would be nigh! You can see the desperation in Peckris in trying to ascribe everything to climate change. It's like a religious cult.

    If the next few summers are as hot and dry, or hotter and dryer that would indicate a pattern, but it may just be a cyclic weather phenomeon anyway. It might, just might be down to man-made CO2 emissions, but we have very little was of confirming that. But a pattern will have to happen before anyone can pronounce on this.

    Secondly, p*ssing in the wind is the correct analogy. China is increasing its coal use by 300 million tons this year to just over 3 billion tons. In 2021 India consumed over a billion tons of coal, the USA 0.5 billion. Our coal use last year was 8.6 million tons by way of comparison. Work out the percentage that is of the others!

    • Like 1

  4. 12 hours ago, Peckris 2 said:

    The result of the Gulf Stream sinking further South does in fact mean we will lose its protection. However, you can't compare us with Canada - even without the GS the prevailing tendency will still be westerly winds off the Atlantic so though colder than now in winter, we'll still be milder than 'over there'.

    However, measures to slow climate change right down are the best thing.

    it's all based on computer modelling, none of which has been even remotely right in the past. The arctic isn't ice-free yet despite all the forecasts from "climate experts" and polar bear populations are doing well, despite the forecasts again, the Maldives hasn't sunk yet........

    It's like Neil Ferguson from Imperial College (donation at least £150 million courtesy of the B&M Gates Foundation). Nobody could be more wrong more often, yet he's still in a job, wheeled on by the awestruck BBC now and again. Yet the computer code he undertook his Covid modelling on was found to be old and deeply flawed. But he did get the sack temporarily, because he went to see his girlfriend during lockdown. Just like the government, all these experts are quite happy to break their own rules, because they know the real risk ie they aren't in their mid eighties and/or suffering from serious co-morbidities....

    • Like 1

  5. 8 hours ago, Rob said:

    Probably.

    Covid ensured they had a couple years to trial in house auctions without people attending, so they will have the figures to compare with the previous returns obtained when the sales were in the hotel. One can only assume the returns in the current buoyant climate persuaded them to continue with the in house sales.

    As it stands, there is no need to hire the hotel room for a few days, move all the lots from the office to the other venue together with about a dozen people involved in the sale who would also have to be put up in hotel accommodation for a couple nights. 

    Whether it is sustainable in the future - who knows? Based on the lower estimates (£1.420m) for the featured lots listed as of 20 minutes ago, the commissions just on these few lots ought to give a good start for their sale income, assuming all find a buyer and the vendor isn't being too greedy. I would hazard a guess that the status quo will prevail until such time as income takes a hit, because any business is essentially a numbers game.

    I notice that some of their estimates are remarkably low.


  6. 4 hours ago, secret santa said:

    No, at least on Ebay you can see the progressive bidding but with LCA you're completely blind, submitting commission bids and hoping that a) you'll win and b) you won't have to pay your top bid.

    It's all up in the air and c ompletely non-transparent. Say your maximum bid is £800 for a £5-600 estimate. If you get it for £600 you might think they're being honest and you've done well. However, in an open auction you might have got it for £400. Who's to say anyone bid £400 - £550? So who flippin' knows. The fact they're carrying on this blind bidding is a bit worrying as well - it obviously suits them.

    A lot of the Noble Numismatics copper went for way below estimate, but I don't think LC would allow that to happen. They'll pump it up to at least low estimate if the sole bid maximum is above that. 


  7. 34 minutes ago, Sword said:

    That must be a consequence of no live or even room bidding. 

    It's OK, we'll just have to rely on the honesty of the auctioneers! Which is a completely unknown factor behind closed doors. They will have completely free rein to do as they like.  So not all bids will win at their maximum of course, that's too obvious, but who's to know how honest their final price is? 


  8. On 8/6/2022 at 10:36 PM, 1949threepence said:

    Yes, the ending was a bit odd. Effective, but odd.

    I thought the ending was complete rubbish, considering we'd been teased for all those episodes about him escaping. It was just nonsense and none of the built-up expectation they'd stoked up over all those episodes was resolved. Sorry, my one and only comment on the Prisoner!


  9. 18 minutes ago, secret santa said:

    Is it the copper proof (P1502) or bronzed copper proof (P1501) ? I don't think that I have ever seen a copper proof penny with full lustre - I assume that, when newly struck, they were lustrous ?

    Yes they were - both the 1825/6 and the 1853 copper proof 1d to 1/4d's were all seemingly struck with full lustre, a few remain with pretty good lustre as above. Many have toned beautifully, as copper proofs can do.

    However, the only really full lustre copper proofs extant are from Soho. The James Watt collection (Morton and Eden 2002) had some incredible1806 copper proofs and 1805 Irish copper proofs, definitely a class above the Royal Mint ones. Brilliant fiery mirrored orange red. A set of the 1806 copper penny to farthing (along with the sets of the gilt and bronzed analogues) reappeared on the market a few years ago.


  10. 10 minutes ago, 1949threepence said:

    Beauty - yours?

    Totally free of marks though, apart from a tiny blemish on the Queen's neck.  

    The smaller one is also a gem.  

     

     

    Yes, couldn't resist showing it! - bought Stacks Bowers 2013 for ~£1800. Bought it with the following 1841 colon:

    https://www.noonans.co.uk/auctions/archive/lot-archive/results/272162/

    That only cost about £200, but I sold it to a dealer friend for not much more than that - I had a better example already (the LCA 2009  Roland Harris one) and bought it as it was cheap. He stuck it into DNW and got £850 hammer for it! 

    Both these coins came from the "Demarete" collection, According to Stacks Bowers he bought much of his stuff in London from the mid-50's onwards. Coincidentally Peck's P.1480 was sold in SNC mid-60's and described as having a mark on the face, which this one does as well. So I wonder if both this coin and the stunner 1853 were both ex-Peck, as in the same SNC list was Peck's 1853 copper proof penny (FDC as all his coins were graded in SNC - "all coins FDC unless stated otherwise").

    The photo of the proof in Stacks Bower's archive is the same sort of appearance as the Verene specimen, which just shows how flattering the PCGS photography is! 

    • Like 2

  11. 12 hours ago, 1949threepence said:

    My photo is an accurate reflection of the overall true colour. Just doesn't bring the best of it out, as already stated. 

    You were lucky to get yours for a song. But then coin prices are going up and up.  

    i like this one! The 65RB - takes some time to load the full image.

    https://www.pcgs.com/valueview/victoria-1838-1901/1853-1d-s-3948-rb/3946?sn=202429&h=pop


  12. On 7/31/2022 at 3:02 AM, shagreen said:

    The Verene sale  enables some  observations on the current state of the market for UK predecimal proofs:

    Gold and large silver proof 19thC coins (particularly 5 sovereigns and crowns) are extremely well bid. Most of these in the collection were bought by dealers

    Bronzed and copper proof coins are not chased by dealers, particularly anything smaller than a penny

    ultra rare coins like patterns, mules and die orientation varieties are mainly hunted by collectors and the prices are reasonable

    slabbing is not required if the coin has great eye appeal and knowledgeable purchasers actually appreciate their opportunity to self grade and maybe get a bargain

    Ephemera such as the original cases for the early sets are not chased by dealers and were comparative bargains in this sale given their much rarer than the coins

    I think there are mitigating factors re the copper and bronzed proofs. This is a facet of buying from Noble, for example their silver always photographs well and shows colour, lovely blueishness in many of them,, gold is gold of course, one assumes good brilliance in proofs and the colour is normally not too variable. But the copper photography is in my view understated.  Not the definition of course - that's top rate, but the general appearance. As it's Australia, no-one (except Australian buyers near to Sydney) will likely see them in the flesh and thus have anything more to go on than a single photograph taken in incidental light, so the only way to ascertain any colourful toning or brilliance is through the auctioneer's description which will always be subjective to an extent.

    So are you going to end up with a matt brown dull bronzed proof or a colourful or brilliant example? It's a bit of a lottery unless you know the coin from a previous sale.

    Interesting how the two coppers to most buck the trend were both copper proof farthings, 1826 and 1853 (erroneously labelled as W.W raised), $1900 and $2600.


  13. 51 minutes ago, 1949threepence said:

    That's actually a very very fair question. 

    Besides coins, another one of my interests is the weather and the number/location of weather recording stations does seem slightly biased to this observer. 

    Many decades ago (and over a century ago in fact), one of the recording stations which time and again came up with top readings, was Raunds in Northamptonshire. There is still a legit weather station there, and it still registers interesting readings (see link), but you NEVER ever hear that name mentioned for readings or records. Raunds is a perfectly reasonable semi rural  South Midlands weather station, typical of many which day in and day out do a great job. But not a single word do you ever hear of them. I mentioned Raunds as it has been famous in the past. But there are others scattered over that area and the Home Counties, such as Rugby, Milton Keynes, High Wycombe, Banbury, Meriden, Buckingham and Oxford - all of which are locations which can reasonably said to represent England as a whole, and are in non biased locations. But again, you never hear mention of them (occasionally Cambridge crops up, such as for the previous record high in 2019)

    There are also numerous officially recognised recording stations in the North of England, which again you rarely hear about. Although with that said, we did hear of one on Monday night - Emley Moor, which recorded the highest ever minimum temperature of 25.9. That was surprising given the Northerly location. It's quite high ground as well, and that may have caused a bias. The old ITV tv transmitter at Emley Moor was brought down in March 1969 by a thick coating of rime (layer of ice caused by persistent freezing fog), which caused its weight to increase massively on the side facing East.

    But back to your original point, yes, I think there might well be a logical case for excluding airports, especially Heathrow and Gatwick as their readings could well be biased upwards given their urban locations and concrete bases. All weather stations use Stevenson screen thermometers, but what they're sited on, and their proximity to other influences, may well make a difference.

    There was bias in the old days as well. Many earlier records were set in Camden Square, London, which was an urban location later considered too biased to be meaningful. Yet they use Heathrow? link to Camden Square info        

    Photo of Camden Square as it was when used as a weather station:-

     

     

     

       

           

    camden Square.jpg

    Thanks - very interesting! 


  14. I'd love to know why all these temperature readings are taken at busy airports - large amount of hot tarmac, plenty of jet streams providing localised warming. It's almost like they want to get as high a temperature reading as possible. Heathrow and Gatwick (Charlwood). Coningsby is an active RAF base as well. The cynic might wonder if they were deliberately wanting to record as high a temperature as possible. I was reading that higher altitude temperature measuring stations have been closed over the last few decades and most if not all the readings are now obtained in the vicinity of busy airports.

    If so, there may be a good reason, but I wonder what it is. Any ideas?


  15. 36 minutes ago, 1949threepence said:

    I've just looked at mine through a strong loupe, and there is absolutely no sign of any such hairline.

    Nor, interestingly, is there any trace of an upward die crack through the 8 of the date, as there is on some.

    There is, however, slight evidence, barely visible to the naked eye, of the common die clash mark, which shows up between the bottom of the Queen's pony tail and her neck. Often this is very visible and easily seen.  

     

    Strange it's not apparent on the copper proof. Worth further research as they say. My currency has the noticeable fake ribbons as you mention, probably more evident than yours.

    img.php?a=124&l=641&f=o&s=l

    • Like 2

  16. 40 minutes ago, secret santa said:

    I can't detect that line on any of my specimens.

    Definitely on my currency and the BM's bronzed proof. And also on the bronzed proof sold by Colin Cooke several years ago.

    I would have thought that as the colon variety is always presumed to be a mono-die variety (after striking the proofs), it should be on all. It may be that yours are later strikings or more worn. It is a very thin  hairline.


  17. 17 hours ago, Peckris 2 said:

    Ok. Name me one benefit Brexit has delivered?

    Not really relevant. The twin pillars that are going to do in our economy, and are already doing so, are Net Zero and the massive government borrowing/money printing due to lockdowns and furlough, which is devaluing our currency, and inflation was already on a steep upward trajectory before the Ukraine war.

    Both of the above I'm sure you were and are fully in favour of, and how are our fellow European economies doing - booming? The powerhouse of Europe, Germany in an energy crisis of its own "green" making and about to tip into recession, according to economists. 

     


  18. 19 hours ago, Bruce said:

    A real bargain for the large rose, great👍

     

    20 hours ago, PWA 1967 said:

    A couple i bought at the weekend.

    1929 Missing waves and rocks ,clear nice example and hadnt seen one for the year before.

    1858 Large rose ,not the best although have seen worse and only £10 not attributed.

    290425511_567708101577176_7037828867768726687_n.jpg

    291510142_1398660253975412_6614804907968688975_n.jpg

    The Baldwins large-rose example coming up next week, cleaned but eye-catching in the photo, is at £1200 when I looked yesterday. 

    • Like 2
×