Rob

They were made by Kempson, a documented producer of tokens, and not by some murky individual. The allegation they were intended to deceive is questionable given the comical nature of the portrait. They are quite common in decent grade too - must be if I have one.

Any way you could make it 3/5? It would probably depend on the shape of the top half of a 5, which at this time were slightly slanted forward, so not a right angle top left.

And the 1824 which shows much deeper cuts to the hair, but the 3 strands pointing to GR are in better agreement with the ebay piece. If it wasn't for the reverse, I don't think many questions would be asked.

I agree with Paddy that the reverse looks too deeply engraved. The bead count is the same as on an 1824, 1825 and 1829 I have images for here, so that appears to be constant from pattern through to currency. There are minor detail differences in the hair between this one and my 1825, but the hair is in better agreement with the 1824. Conversely, the profile of the earhole is a better match with my 1825 than the 1824. It's probably reasonable to assume that there were several bust punches made, all nominally the same, but needs someone to do the spadework to confirm. An 1825 here which differs slightly in the three hair strands pointing to GR.

'Necessary' is a very small box in the context of life. 'Desirable' on the other hand covers a multitude of sins, many of which are conveniently shifted into the 'necessary' box to justify the expenditure. You only have to look at the vast amount spent on vanity and ego to see that. How much is spent on clothes that never get worn? How many people feel the need to be seen in a high end motor, and for how many is it necessary expenditure? For a few it will be a spacious car with seating at bum level for ease of access on account of physical issues, but for the vast majority it will be a case of 'because I can afford it', or 'look at me'. Once you have risen above the destitute, this blurring affects all levels of society, so I'm not sure the safe is any different.

No, it was broken almost to the base.

You're already there - you have a house, a car, you go on holiday, you save for a pension etc etc. All of which you have already determined are more desirable than buying coins.

This was liberated from the base of a Georgian drinking vessel which had the glass broken nearly down to the base, so the original shape is moot. Judging by the grade (the reverse is pretty much as struck) it must have been made in 1731 or soon after. Also helpfully listed on ebay as a sixpence. Happy days

Mine. Ticks the Peck R13 box. It was one of those sold by the Boulton family 15 or so years ago.

Et voila.

Many of these collections named other than the person involved contain an oblique reference related to the collector or where they live(d). e.g. North Yorkshire Moors - he worked there at some point. Slaney, middle name of the person who put the collection together. Alderley and Cheshire collection - they live there. etc etc. To throw people off the scent, I shall name my collection the 'Oddball Collection' given its eclectic character.

It's not too much over melt and the reverse shows it to be an 1899P which invariably sells at a premium. Even if the obverse is a mess you can only lose 10 or 20 quid at the most. I don't think the vendor had much idea of what he was selling, o/w he would have put up a wrong image of an 1899 P.

You can get quite reasonable rates on insurance - say 0.4-0.5% of sum insured, and that figure will halve if you use a bank for storage. In reality, you will never look at the collection in its entirety more than a handful of times, but a policy that will give you cover for a smaller amount outside the bank/home allows you to study groups of coins of interest or gives the opportunity to show a couple pieces if giving a talk. You can set the lower limit at what you feel you will need.

I've just taken one out of a slab and increased its value. With hindsight, I probably should have doubled it. Same description for type though I lowered the slab grade. Unslabbed, it was free of the baggage of a small number which frightened off all those collecting by numbers.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for pennies, I still regret being underbidder on the Adams coin. Such is life - must put money where mouth is.