Rob

Yep, just like the parcel of Northumbrian stycas I sent to France that went awol for 10 days before turning up in Tahiti. Still, I suppose it is French, so close............

Presumably there is, but I've never seen it. It's reasonable to say based on his English that it will be comprehensive with a mixture of choice and low grade examples. I don't know how many coins are involved, but presumably sufficient and varied enough to make disposal problematic.

Coins have always been lost to the collecting community. The mint has been melting demonetised coins throughout its existence, or in the case of current coppers is trying to withdraw as many bronze coins as they can. Burglaries such as Willis in the 1970s it must be assumed have resulted in a number of unique gold coins being melted for scrap because they haven't appeared in the market in the ensuing 45 years. Stewartby's Scottish collection is still missing, which although destined for a museum still constitutes a loss. It's a fact of life that many bequests are made to museums, thus saving the coins in question for posterity, but in the case of many, safe from the public. I would like to assemble a full run of Somerset mints, but thanks to the only Petherton in private hands (the Lockett coin) being donated to Somerset Museum, this is no longer possible. I have to live with it because I certainly can't do anything about it. On a personal level, as per your above point, the unique Freeman 689A did a 7 month tour of the world's postal system before finally returning to Heritage in 2007. It was accompanied by a Peck 1156, so a potential loss where there were 1 and 4 known respectively, but the money was reclaimed following their non-arrival and the coins subsequently repurchased at the prevailing exchange rate once they had reappeared. That is the only unique example I have that has gone awol in the past.

I've had 4 or 5 things go awol in the 6 months prior to lockdown and had no issue getting my money back whether itemised and accountable to the penny or not. Values were anything from a fiver to about £100

Things are not normal as far as the PO is concerned as for some reason they continue to be in panic mode. A lot of things are not documented on track and trace at present, which is not altogether too surprising given they aren't asking for a signature on delivery. Although this is an internal shipment, there is no clear pattern as to how they are providing their service. I have had several items take an eternity where track and trace just said received at the post office, but then the next day something arrives quicker than the last half dozen shipments. When people ask me when it can be expected to arrive, I usually say any time in the next few weeks. For all the delayed items, nothing has gone missing with Royal Mail in recent times because even when you think something is lost it has turned up eventually. At the end of the day, it is insured, so nobody loses out.

I don't have anything on this one other than it was with AMR 7 or 8 years ago, but haven't finished the 3As yet.

Edward IV half angel with mm. cinquefoil over pierced cross both sides. This is Blunt & Whitton obverse XX and their reverse XXI, though they don't record the reverse overmark which based on the underlying mark would be reverse XX, which they don't record. The extensive cinquefoil issues appear to approximately postdate the second pyx trial (1st December 1475) of the second reign. A notable feature of the cinquefoil group is the almost complete absence of muling with other marks, whereas prior to cinquefoil there is extensive muling of marks giving a clear chronological sequence. Only a single groat mule is known, where a cinquefoil obverse is paired with a XIX reverse. A characteristic of the this overmarked die is the 4 line ship whereas later cinquefoil coins have a 5 line ship. There is a cinquefoil 4 line ship from a different reverse die (TWW rev. 13) in the BM from the Clarke-Thornhill bequest in 1935, but it is not clear from an illustration if this is overmarked. Whatever, cinquefoil over anything is notable for its general absence and possibly only seen on the approximately 5 or 6 half angel coins extant. There appears to have been a wholesale withdrawal of existing dies, with completely new dies introduced for the new mark. For further reading of Edward IV & V gold coinage 1465-85 see Tim Webb Ware's excellent article in the 1985 BNJ. This coin from his dies 5*/14.

They don't always enter the transfers in a timely manner, though have to say that Special Delivery has been the only part of the postal service that has functioned reasonably normally. I've had everything from a second class to somewhere south of John O' Groats taking one day, to a tracked to Liverpool taking 3 weeks. It is a genuine lottery. If it has unintentionally gone astray then it could go anywhere, including worldwide which might take a week or two to appear (from wherever) on the tracking. If it entered the international chain it is safe to say it will take a minimum of a couple weeks to reappear as most of my tracked international shipments have taken 2 weeks to be registered as leaving the country. Even though it went Special Delivery, I wouldn't panic yet.

Yeh. Get a grip on it and put it back in its place.

The date of Mr T's post is a bit of a giveaway too.

The point I'm making is that you can't dismiss things based on a single coin at what appears to be a highly inflated price. You have to look at all of them. By ignoring everything that is above whatever you consider a good price will inevitably mean you miss things that are not mis-priced. Which at some point must include things you might otherwise buy. If it is on eBay, then every BIN has to be 15% over what it would otherwise cost just to cover fees, so by the above argument, no BIN should be considered. At the end of the day, all that appears cheap may or may not be a bargain, and all that appears expensive may or may not be overpriced.

Dismissing the others could be false economy. They might be trying to rip people off, or I suspect in many instances particularly on ebay, they haven't got a clue. A bit like those in the £600 for a Churchill crown thread. You've got to check for mistakes. What would you do if a listing as a bog standard coin was 10x market value, but the coin in question was an unattributed variety of that basic item usually selling for 10x that of the normal one? Would you cut off your nose to spite your face? I paid £100 for this (unattributed) one in 2007 having sold an aEF of the same variety for £400. I would have happily paid £500 for it given the one now slabbed MS65, but raw at the time, sold for £600+ hammer in 2003.

Proof of what? Make your own mind up on that one.

I don't get it. Why would anyone list anything at many multiples of market value? I know hope springs eternal in some eyes that someone will be stupid enough to pay way over the odds, but to me, the only message it conveys is a that of a vendor who has a grossly inflated view of its value, who wouldn't accept a sensible offer even if you made one. i.e. Don't waste your time and move on. It's bizarre.

Both will do. I don't know the answer, so 'a couple, generations back' will presumably apply at some point even if they were cold blooded and had feathers. A couple of generations back is less certain, but possible.