Rob

Halfpenny 3 punch possibly if the small protrusion to the right of the upper section is related. My screen also shows a thin line continuing across the vertical level with the base of the top bar.

Yes, but the portcullis is double struck (at least). Use the translated strike and it is in the right place. The question is which bit refers to which impression - which is why I said 'I think'

That's all right. I think this is the same obverse die as the Cypher over Anchor I got from you. Different reverse though.

I have to say that I don't think we could have wished for more considering we took in someone with whom we have nothing in common for as long as it takes. She will have been here for 4 weeks this coming Friday. Language is a bit of an issue as it is proving difficult to find her work where there is minimal customer contact, but every day I hear a few more words used, so hopefully within a few months the communication problems will reduce. The first few weeks have been a bit labour intensive on my part carting her around to get the basics sorted such as signing on, registering with a doctor, taking her shopping, trying to teach basic English and write benefits logs and job applications etc, but that's part of the deal when there's no common language and will ultimately pay off when she is able to stand on her own feet comfortably. Frankly, the above post where someone claims they have spent a lot of money on the refugee is complete b******s. Additional costs for taking someone in - a gas safety certificate and some energy, set against which the host will get £350 a month paid in arrears for the first year. There's no obligation to feed them at your expense, though most would at least until cashflow is established. The host would be quids in if calculated on an honest basis, even if food was provided. How much does a set of house keys cost for God's sake?

And do they both use Davies groat obverse 1, or is one a later obverse (apparently from the threepences)?

I reckon so. It is the only way you can reconcile a third head (where the earliest known use is 1880) proof sixpence obverse paired with an 1839 reverse. The mint shut for refurbishment in 1882 when the old Soho presses were replaced, making this a possible terminal date for the sets, unless the die fixing mechanisms were compatible. I suspect they ran off a handful to order in this late period, the number of said sixpences extant giving a rough estimate of total sets produced. There was one in a Heritage or Goldberg(?) sale a few years back, but the sale date eludes me at present, so I would have to check the library. I vaguely recall it had the opposite die axis to the sets with the regular obverse sixpence, which leads me to think that the 1839/41 halfpenny in my possession may well be concurrent with this oddball sixpence as it also has an inverted die axis and is correspondingly rare, contrary to the regular 1839 or 1839/43 halfpennies. There is an 1839 proof groat with an inverted die axis, noted in ESC as being rarer than the regular en-medaille proof. Is this a third instance of a late strike? If so, the scored reverse would tie in well with the article I wrote in the BNJ about the inverted die axis 1841 halfpennies, where they had used the same worn reverse die. The condition didn't matter as the obverse was the die of interest. By extension, it is also possible there are trials extant of all the denominations if there had been a long period without any 1839 sets produced.

Perhaps it was nothing to do with an 1862 proof groat at all. Maybe they were trying out replacement obverse dies for the late run of 1839 sets.

I think I'll wait for a later version - which may well not be the 8th edition. Better still, just use my own database.

I had a not far off as struck gilt 1854PT which I sold to a forum member in 2006.

Bits missing from letters are usually filled dies, and much less often from a broken punch. In the case of the latter, the character would normally be repaired, e.g an 'F' with the bottom bar added separately to make an E.

The dies have had the fields polished to differing degrees. The greater the percentage of field visible, the more it has been polished, and the corresponding reduction in peripheral relief detail is clear.

Thanks for the suggestions folks. Google translate is where we ended up. It's far from perfect with quite a few hovercrafts, some self inflicted when the wife switches from English to German in mid-sentence, but also when you speak too fast, or maybe it can't cope with accents so well, as it produces garbage on occasion in both directions. But, it's workable, which is the main thing, and has comedy value to lighten the mood. Ah, the wonders of algorithms.

I reckon it would be outbursts of bad, probably manifested as war, which are overcome by good in whatever timescale, only to have recurring bad periods etc. until time runs out. Some leaders are naturally aggressive, greedy and incapable of resisting the temptation to take someone's land, resources, wealth, right to live etc as we see today. Good people can be 99% and the bad 1%, but it only takes one despot from the 1% to screw things up because of the destructive energy at their disposal. They always intend to be the last man standing in a fight.

I take your point about PCGS' procedures, but it still doesn't address the question of how do I distinguish between those treated with solution (MS something?) and those that are 'PCGS or NGC blue'? Call me old fashioned, but I like to receive a coin that visually is at least a close fit to the colour and tone as listed at the time of purchase. If I was to purchase the coin in question and armed with the knowledge that it started out as a brown coin, would I receive a blue coin or a brown one? It matters because I have bought a blue coin in the past that actually turned out to be blue in hand and I wasn't overly impressed. Assuming I am addressing Mr Rix, in 2008 I purchased a coin from yourself whilst still at NEN which was euphemistically slabbed NGC MS63BN. See below for a good approximation to the colour. It's so unnaturally coloured with an even blue sheen across the whole surface that nobody could reasonably defend it as un-tampered with. The slab even had a little blue sticker which matched the coin's colour to perfection - designer colours? On a serious note, there is a genuine credibility issue here when the images don't reflect reality.

So, a few questions here. Is it genuinely blue, implying it has been treated with whatever that solution is that leaves a blue residue? Are the hair strands now in higher relief having been 'improved'? That guy in the states does a good repair job, so enhancing the hair would be a simple job for him. Do PCGS routinely alter their images from the colours seen naturally in hand? Many images have this blue colour, implying consistency of manipulation, even if not giving an accurate representation. The US market apparently likes this colour scheme based on realised prices. If the images are routinely doctored, then how do you differentiate between them and those that have been artificially coloured?

Sweden and Finland might have liked their neutrality in the past, but not being part of Nato has screwed Ukraine and so minds have been focused. I recall in the mid 80s when chatting to a Swede about Reagan's star wars program, he said 'We are neutral, but 90% of our forces face east". Not much has changed really, and that sadly out of necessity.

There was never anything other than the elimination of Ukraine on his agenda. When the leader of a sovereign state stands up and declares another sovereign has no right to exist, then follows it up with an invasion of the enemy's territory, there is only one possible way to interpret the intent. Couple that with Putin's reading of the Russian poet who stated that Russia must never lose the Ukraine, and if there is a danger of it happening then it must be brought back into the fold by whatever means are necessary, then I fail to see what ambiguity there is in his actions. I just hope that the west is thinking coherently enough to realise that if he goes through Ukraine, then he will also feel compelled to come to the aid of the Transnistran enclave in Moldova. Securing a safe corridor to Kaliningrad anyone? In his ideal world, Russian control would be as in the Cold War. The only way to stop this is to give Ukraine sufficient arms to enable them to force the Russians out and stick with them for the long term if we are not prepared to put boots on the ground. We need to stop clutching at straws in the hope that he will be satisfied with territory gained and stop because dictators always want to expand their control. The hope that he might be toppled internally will take time that Ukraine doesn't have.

Not sure how to get the cartoon working, but this is so timely Hanna Liubakova @HannaLiubakova So funny. Soyuzmultfilm has reportedly restricted access to the Soviet cartoon Treasures of Sunken Ships on YouTube. In it, children in a submarine called "Neptune" find a sunken ship with the letter "Z". One of the children exclaims: "Clearly, a fascist's destroyer!" Brilliant 9,593 views 0:29 / 1:10 Copy video address 2:44 PM · Apr 17, 2022·Twitter Web App 187 Retweets 16 Quote Tweets 630 Likes

Thanks all. It wasn't a difficult decision once no.3 took up a teaching job in Berlin and freed the room up. We worked on the principle that it wasn't good to be where they lived - next to an airfield that was flattened a few weeks ago and was now 15 miles inside Russian held territory. A no-brainer really. For anyone thinking of doing the same, the easiest way to find someone is to get in contact with a Ukrainian, or one of their social groups. The wife spoke to someone at work who is Ukrainian and they asked around the local community. You get pot luck because it isn't a beauty contest - they could be 20 or 120. Our application was sorted by a local Ukrainian lawyer, so it took 3 days to find someone and get the visa application filled and submitted. Forget the idea that someone in govt will fill the beds offered via their registration scheme. For your part all you need to give is id plus tick a few boxes such as you have to get a landlord's gas safety certificate, which in my case cost nothing as the guy who does my safety certs, did it for free, but would otherwise cost about £50. You also need a smoke alarm on each floor. They will do a DBS check because there are obvious safeguarding issues around children, and most of the people taken in will be lone women or ones with children. Language issues or not, it will work.

Yes, I know. The wife is trying to use it as I write. Ideally what is required is a program that you speak into and translates. Got a week or two until the govt. gets its backside in gear. We are taking in a 41 year old mother, while her 21 yo daughter is not far away with a family where there is someone of a similar age. They don't speak English or German though, so there might be quite a lot of hovercrafts full of eels

****. It might come back as an Anne farthing. Be careful what you write.

Does anyone have experience of and can recommend any translation software for Russian or Ukrainian? Ta.

The only important one is the lower left quadrant, because everyone else will put themselves in the top right quarter. Bandits will lie about losses to others and helpless people will likely think something they have done for others is beneficial to themselves

Thing is, there were 4 Elias 288s on the list. So unless there is corroborative evidence that it is indeed ex-Elias, you can't use the provenance. In this case, Patrick Finn listed 4 pieces from St. Lo (506-509). The Elias sale (1990) had 3x Elias 288s (lots 417-419), but none of them were the same coins as on the list. So unless there is something else to indicate ex-Elias, I'd ignore it. Some of the Anglo Gallic coins noted in list 18 were ex-Elias, but all were referenced with the corresponding lot number, so can easily be checked.

thanks