Nightvision

Just a heads up to let you know my local museum is doing a coins and hoards day featuring the Acton Hoard - details as follows: -------------------------------- Nantwich Museum is holding a free public Coins & Hoards Day on Saturday 4 June, 11am-3pm, as part of its Treasures of Nantwich project supported by the Art Fund. Visitors will be invited to view and handle objects, talk with experts about the items on display, and bring in their own coins for identification. At 1pm there will be two free talks: Roman coin expert Matt Ball will be speaking about hoards in the North West, and the British Museum’s Henry Flynn, Project Curator of the Money and Medals Network, will talk about the region’s wealth of numismatic collections. Members of the South Lancashire & Cheshire Metal Detecting Club will be on hand throughout the day to answer all your coin-related questions. The event will also be an opportunity to view Nantwich Museum’s most recent acquisition the Acton Hoard, fresh from its display in the exhibition Hoards: the hidden history of ancient Britain at the British Museum.

Hi again, I was gifted another mixed bag of predecimals this month. Got all excited. First item out of the bag was ... a rusted dog tag. Heart sank. I now have a bunch of coins with rust deposits partially obscuring everything. I attacked a few with acetone, a cotton wool bud and a cocktail stick to see what would happen. After three hours work I was able to rescue most of a german 5 pfennig but got quite high during the process so I'd rather not repeat it. (I'm kidding, the room was ventilated - I just got really bored). Next step, olive oil bath. Or will that most likely be a waste of time too? All tips gratefully welcomed.

Thank you both. I will proceed, in the interests of science and under the assumption I probably can't make matters worse!

This will teach me not to impulse buy. eBay no 400876766637 is a William iv 1837 sixpence. It has a weight of 2.02 grams (I will double check this on a better scale) and the alignment is off by about 200 degrees - basically coin alignment with a little bit over. My spidey senses tell me this is not good and I need to contact the seller, am I right? Sorry for lack of active link, I'm on a mobile device.

The rim is high and the field comparatively thin on this coin, if that makes a difference. I'd be severely worried if it was temporarily sold out as I've committed my feedback now. I'm aware this could be my first expensive beginners' mistake. It is an interesting coin though, I don't dislike it.

The weight with calibrated scales reads 2.30g - better, but an element of mystery still remains. Fortunately I do have access to calipers but at this point I've decided to hang on to the coin. Thanks again for all your input, it helped me make up my mind.

Thanks to everyone for your advice on this, I'll keep you posted as I really need that second weigh-in!

I figured it probably wasn't a minting error; the weight difference is what really concerns me. What margin of error should i allow? There aren't any other obvious dubious signs that I can see, or any odd colour patches but then I'm not very experienced.

Slightly off topic but http://resizeyourimage.com/ is an online tool very useful for anyone wrestling with image sizes for the web. I think it was mentioned elsewhere that 600 ppi is a decent size to show off a coin.

I've just bought a sixpence which I was ruminating over for at least a week. I chose it because it was within budget, had the toning I like, and basically was the best of the eBay bunch I had shortlisted - except for a noticeable rim nick which doesnt bother me much. Should it? Aesthetics are a large part of my collecting pleasure but years down the line when my collection passes on to someone else how much will rim defects impact value?

Are there any other coin restorers of good repute to know about? I have some coins begging for their freedom since they were made into brooches.

Ah but after the objective valuation comes the subjective. I wouldn't write it off: there are always completionists looking for a missing date in a run. A few collectors may want examples of counterstamps - People collect for different reasons.

Thanks for the feedback. I figured the reason no one had snapped it up was because of this. But without it the grade would be really high - you can virtually see the twinkle in Victoria's eye. It would be a prime candidate for that coin restorer guy in the States. At any rate, I'm not regretting the purchase. Good point about patience, Rob. I am only just starting out, one just tends to think quantity over quality at this point.

With the advent of technology and the rise of digital currency, and contactless payments etc we might phase out metal and paper currency completely. I hope not, but we don't really know what the future holds. Coins might become scarce after all, decimal or no. The Royal Mint are encouraging a collector culture with their Great Coin Hunts but they are still late to the party. Churchill crowns make nice heavy coin jewellery, I hear. I agree that engraving standards have gone down. Compare the face on Britannia 50p to Britannia on a farthing.

Paulus your site is excellent, I especially like the inclusion of historical details to add context. I had up til this point never seen a Henry 8 groat before.

WordPress has the advantage of a huge user base so support is rarely far away. It also has a massive range of themes Templates with a different look and feel) that you can change at the click of a button, also if you need more bells and whistles there are things called plugins that can add more specialist functions to your site. The website builders that are provided with Internet Service Providers are nice for beginners but sooner or later you encounter something they can't do. And if you want to change your provider you lose your site. WordPress has a backup function so you can keep your work and restore it elsewhere with the help of a techy person. disclaimer: I am not a techy, just have used it in the past and liked it a lot.

In answer to the initial question, you might find after some research some types of coin capture your interest more than others. It's a very organic process. With me I really like sixpences and other silver coinage, but couldn't begin to tell you why. Grading coins is fun if you like attention to detail.

Camera has let me down again. But in real life the toning has crept around all the details outlining them in shadows, almost as if an artist did it.

Surely a sixpence would be better for that. *runs also*

Thank you for for the warm welcome! I'm starting out really and haven't chosen a focus yet - I inherited a small collection from a relative, quite literally a mixed bag. I've been lurking around this, and other forums to learn things. It looks like me relative wasn't an expert but knew a good thing when he saw one, that penny is safely tucked up in a coin folder with her drab sisters. I've got some nice farthings as well (yes, aboutfarthings.com is a great site). I'm teaching myself to grade with the aid of Derek's book. I had graded that one as a tentative XF so good to know I'm on the right track!

Just to let you know, I bought the Kindle edition of this. It is SO HELPFUL! Thank you! Are there any plans for future editions, with more illustrations etc?

Nicest penny I have, but my amateur photo doesn't do it justice. Considering all her companions in the same bag were F or below...

Hello all, it's been a while. I had some stellar advice here years ago so am back for more. It's pretty much as the topic title says. I did a bit of web research and see that (once again) the interesting coin in my change is not so interesting after all. So cracked die coins aren't worth much. Should I just head to the sweetshop with it, or do you think anyone would be interested in it? Cheers much in advance, Suz

Thanks for this, I can definitely see it now. I will hang on to it just in case. Always good to learn something new!