Peckris 2

It's quite hard to say - you could make a case for either.

Many years ago, the rich dined on horrendous fatty protein-rich diets, and spurned vegetables and most fruit. Hence they were fat. The poor couldn't afford to eat enough to keep body and soul together, so they were thin. Now, the poor have to fill up with cheap carbs, e.g. pasta and spuds, so they get fat. The rich can afford healthy gourmet diets so while not thin exactly, they don't have the obesity levels of the poor. I imagine they were more or less the same size during the War.

Unless it's 12-sided 3d bits for testing new machines

Presumably that was the charge for producing the piece? But as you say, a serious amount of money for the average person.

Yes I'd say so - but what denomination size is it?

Thank you. I'm still fascinated by the subject of pennies between 1922 and 1926 - a lot of mystery to be cleared up!

He had a selection of 1909 pennies all Unc - I got in early and picked up one of the best of them. Perhaps he'll look by eventually and say hello - I remember I took a break for a year or two (mainly because most of the posts back then were about the awfulness of the GPO and certain auction houses, and less about coins!).

Thanks for that. Interesting discussion (several comments from @Paddy - he hasn't been on here for many months. Anyone heard from him, is he ok?).

I'd say a plain 1865. The 3 isn't fully curved, it's the type with two straight lines for the upper, so a 5/3 shows a straight line angling down from the top right to where the 5 begins to curve. I see no trace of that. However, it's a very nice 1865.

That will last no further than 2023! Remember in 2001 when 1951 crowns hit £20 which was double what they were in 2000?

Is that Royal Albert Museum by any chance? I only ask because we have a RAM and that's what it stands for.

I rather think (on a hunch) that Putin initially pushed as far and wide as he could, hoping for a quick result. But he possibly didn't expect to succeed in that aim, and that he then concentrated on his primary strategic motive: to gain the separatist Dombass giving Russia a secure land bridge to the Crimea and the Black Sea. He seems to have achieved that, at least for now, and I wonder if that will be the final outcome? If it is, Ukraine need a strong defensive border to the Dombass so that Russia wilil think more than twice before attempting a similar invasion. Just as an added note - it now seems that Russia's biggest pop star (their female Paul McCartney if you like) has come out against the war. Whether it will have the desired effect or not remains to be seen.

Ah, NOW I can see it!

Also, they were demonetised a good 2 years before pennies.

Sorry, but if there's a dot there I just can't see it. It should be obvious. Here's mine:

Can you see the edge through the plastic tomb? Just to rule out it being a sawn in half pair...

I remember when you had to apply for a licence to own gold, and I think there was a maximum number of sovs you were officially allowed to have? I was talking about the late 90s though, when the price of gold dipped quite low and I was seriously tempted to buy some post-53 sovs. £55 was probably comparable with £8 in the 60s? Or not far out, I'd guess.

I've just watched this. Not only is it a fascinating documentary (her portraits and images in photographs, paintings, and film), but there's a section near the beginning which is about her images on coins. Including a very brief video showing Gillick at work, and an old interview with Machin doing his thing.

It was on BBC One, so I guess you can see it on iPlayer.

Farewell to our long lived and longest reigning monarch. I'm no Royalist, far from it, but I had great respect for the Queen and her enormous achievement of public service. It's rather bizarre that in all my many decades of life, I've never known another monarch, yet now I must get used to King Charles. I will miss her in a strange way, as a level-headed and even-handed ruler, who nevertheless is known to have had a great sense of humour. Her smile gave that away. I don't what else to say. Words are not enough.

The weird thing is - if you look at the bidding history - the last 4 bids came from the same bidder and for the same (winning) amount, but at separate times.

I've been watching all the MPs' tributes all day. Not only moving, but - to prove her sense of humour - full of amusing anecdotes. My favourite was of someone being shown in to meet her at the Palace; to his absolute horror, his phone went off as he was being ushered forward. He managed to turn it off only for the Queen to say "Perhaps you should have answered that - it might have been someone important". One slight twinge was when Chris Bryant (MP for Rhondda) said that his constituents would have seen her face constantly since 1953 when minting coins at Llantrisant. Oops.

I was born only weeks after she came to the throne. It's not only tragic but rather strange that she's no longer there.

Yes, but in the 19th C they weren't generally interested in anything after 1816, and were even less interested in base metal coins though marginally more in prer-1860 perhaps?