Generic Lad

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Anyone know some good sellers of antiquities? I'm looking for a Roman (or really anything Victorian or older) intaglio either pre-set in a silver (or gold) ring or loose to be set in a ring for me to wear as a signet ring (since I don't think I'll see one come through the scrap gold pile anytime soon).

Thanks! I'll take a look!

Hasn't the Queen been on all banknotes for the past 60 some years?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/UK-1940-6-PENCE-UK-1940-6-PENCE-UK-1940-6-PENCE-UK-1940-6-PENCE-/281136870855?pt=US_World_Coins&hash=item41751035c7 I'm not entirely clear of what this seller is selling. Selling a 1743 farthing... no wait, that's not it. An Australian sixpence? No, not it either...

-wipes drool off of keyboard- Lovely coin, granted, its certainly overpriced but I'd love to have it in my collection! ...Christmas present?

This is very worrying, most of the fakes that I've encountered have been very poorly done and no one looking at the coin under a loupe (or with good eyesight!) would think it was genuine, but that half crown... I have to say that if I saw that one on eBay for a decent enough price (or in person) I most likely would have bought it. The hard part about these things, coming from a US buyer is that provenience is rarely recorded, especially not for foreign coins. Dealers don't blink an eye if you've got something slabbed in a NGC/PCGS slab so long as the online verification works and if NGC/PCGS can't identify that these are fakes they will enter the marketplace without much suspicion.

Yeah, it seems that their logic is, "we're not going to tell the collectors about what we know, instead just buy from us and we'll do the checking" No matter how good the fake is, it can never be flawless but the only way that collectors can know what the fakes are is if there's an open and public database of fakes compared to the genuine coins.

I'd imagine that if you promoted the 1776 date enough you'd be able to find a buyer in the US who'd buy it for the date alone for more than someone who collects UK coins would buy it for a year/type example.

What about three-halfpence? Or are those not considered to be part of the British series proper since they circulated in the colonies.

I think its really sad that the west has adopted such a silly, inflationary monetary policy that makes discontinuing a coin make sense. Personally, I like the US penny, cheap to hoard the pre-1982 95% coppers and with enough searching you can find 100+ year old wheats and even older Indian heads with some searching. I'd just like to see a return of circulating gold and silver coins...

Depends who the seller is. Some sellers of "bulk coins" are dealers who are just getting rid of stuff they can't sell and it will most likely be junk. Others are truly unsorted, either as a result of people inheriting a collection, non-UK dealers getting rid of foreign coins, etc. If you're buying stuff on eBay, check to see what else they've sold, if they're selling or sold stuff like minor Bun Head penny varieties, its likely the coins have been cherry-picked. If they're selling unrelated stuff, its more likely to be unsorted. But there are certainly some good deals to be found on eBay in bulk lots, its just having the time to comb through various listings for them. I'm with you when it comes to overseas shipping, being an American collector of British coins its often hard to find coins that really fit my budget, especially when it comes to older, hammered coins which might only be $5-6 for a low-grade coin but have $16 postage! And over here most British coins are low-grade George V or later, so no real use going to coin shops (although there undoubtedly are a few gems...) If you've got any coin dealers near you, you might want to check their "junk bin" I know a coin dealer near me has a huge container where he puts in any Cu-Ni non-US coins and sells them for 15 cents a piece, I managed to snag a 1952 3d proof in there, along with most of the George VI and Elizabeth II bronzes in decent enough grade for a small collection.

Silver's down to about $22/oz and gold at around $1300/oz although the premiums for physical metal is insane at the moment ($28/oz for generic bars/rounds and $31 for Eagles from my coin dealer) anyone else out searching for some sovereigns or cheap silver coins?

I was going to say that it looked very familiar and that I think I know where you can get one... until I read the bottom and saw that it was the exact same one I found

Undoubtedly with the accompanying letter, they are worth more than 5p. The good news is that out of all the errors, wrong planchet errors are some of the most desirable. But naturally they're worth more if you can identify what exactly it was struck on which off of the top of my head I don't know what it would be that it was struck on, but since the Royal Mint made the coins for a multitude of different nations in the 1970s it perhaps might not even be UK coin. The bad news is that the coin doesn't really look different than most 5p coins and less dramatic errors tend to fetch less than more dramatic. For example, your coin would be worth quite a bit more if it was struck on a copper-colored blank intended for a 1/2p, 1p or 2p coin, rather than the silver-colored blank it is struck on now. If you could provide a weight of the coin in grams, that would assist us in identifying what it might be.

So I was looking on the Android marketplace trying to find an app that calculates the scrap prices for UK silver coins and couldn't find any... so I made my own! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appinventor.ai_Taycouchman.UKSilverScrap Nothing too fancy, just made it in about an hour, but its free and has no ads and works without internet access so enjoy! Any ideas for other apps that would be useful (but rather easy to implement!) for coins on Android? (Sorry, no iPhone port due to the fact I'm a poor student and can't shell out the $1K for a Mac/license fees!)

Yes, PCGS/NGC will refuse to, indeed PCGS is proud of their "sniffer" which is supposed to catch doctored coins ( http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=17156 ) and NGC/PCGS will refuse to grade artificially toned coins ( http://www.ngccoin.com/details/altered-coin-surfaces.aspx and http://www.pcgs.com/nogrades.html) The problem is that they often miss some and since they claim to refuse to grade them any that get by are immediately considered to be "natural" toning to American buyers even though its as fake as fake can get. There's also people who claim to be able to tone coins already slabbed in PCGS/NGC holders, further making them questionable. Like all TPGed coins, buy the coin and not the piece of plastic.

I've heard that there are people who will apply toning to coins still in the slab since slabs are not airtight. But the question also remains what is "natural" toning? You can get wild toning by keeping a coin near something that burns coal, you can also get it by storing the coin in cardboard for a long time, or you can speed up the process by adding heat. What is the dividing line between "natural" or "unnatural" toning?

Older American banknotes sell for quite a bit. Keep an eye out for "star" or replacement notes when it comes to US notes and US Military Payment Certificates Depending on the year, a US star note will either be something like *234234F (the serial number but preceded with a star) or something like F234234234* (ending with a star) these are more scarce and can fetch much higher prices, especially for older years or uncirculated notes. A US military payment certificate will have a serial number such as F23423423F, however, if it is missing the last letter, it is a replacement note and the values soar to tenfold or more the normal prices. Both star and replacement notes are caused by mistakes in the printing, for example the with the star note *234234F the note bearing 234234F was found to be defective and destroyed. Since they don't want to have printed 2 notes with the same serial number but still want some consistency, they printed *234234F

I found this gem today http://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-VERY-RARE-gold-unite-coin-/121063755618?pt=Coins_BritishProofs_RL&hash=item1c2ff64f62 Don't scrap it! It has historical value!

Can you still ship contemporary counterfeits to the US? Also, what about evasion coins?

Depends on what you have. Selling a coin only worth silver scrap is completely different than selling something like a Gothic Crown. Selling a bun penny variety is different than selling a William IV halfcrown. When it comes to low-price or low quality items its usually best to just stick them up on the 'Bay and see what they fetch. Some local bullion shops may be able to give you a good deal if you've got common, worn silver coins just worth scrap silver. When it comes to high-end stuff you might get the best $$$$$ to look at higher end dealers or consider talking with a major auction house. When it comes to specialty stuff, you'd be best to see a dealer who specializes in that area and from there see where the best place to sell it is. But I'd start by posting pictures and descriptions of what you have here on the forum, because there's really no way to advise you on the best way of selling something if we don't know what it is, because a great way to sell one thing is the absolute worst way to sell something else.

I wouldn't. Why would any honest person want a faked document? There are plenty of reasons why an honest person would want a faked document, I mean perhaps not in 2013 Europe, but such a thing would be useful in Mali today, or in the iron curtain, certainly useful in Germany in 1941 or in Burma. A secondary passport (legitimately obtained of course!) is quite useful as an insurance against disaster, although to legitimately obtain one it costs in excess of $50K or involves time actually spent in that country.

Yep, I'd hang on to them, they're worth more as heirlooms than to a collector.

With both you're not looking at too terribly high of value. If uncirculated and a great strike you might be able to get about $40 for the pair if you're lucky. Assuming that both have been circulated, they generally just sell for little more than sterling scrap. (However, I don't have my copy of Spinks on me, but a quick Google suggests that neither are key dates)