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Red Riley

Accomplished Collector
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Red Riley last won the day on October 6 2014

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About Red Riley

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    http://www.pennycrowncoins.co.uk

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Interests
    Almost anything British and numismatic from Celtic through Roman, Mediaeval etc. The largest chunk of my collection is in bronze pennies which I collected from the late sixties to the present day.

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  1. Red Riley

    more FAKES

    Just a quick word on the BNTA, they now effectively self-select as one of their entrance criteria is that members have to be VAT registered, which cuts out 99% of dealers anyway. The more I look at it, the more it appears as if they are acting as some sort of numismatic freemasonry. Information on fakes should be in the public domain and not used as some type of sales tool.
  2. Red Riley

    Michael Shut

    This has been on the cards for some time, Michael is nearly 70 and really wants an easier life - his lifestyle involved staying in London all week and only returning home at weekends. As I understand it, he is preparing an office at home but I am surprised he has pulled the plug on his website so soon, it was a mine of useful information full of 'well I never knew that' moments. He still has a colossal stuck running, I believe to tens of thousands of coins and it could be a lifetimes work cataloguing and putting them up for sale!
  3. Red Riley

    Bloomsbury Coin Fair

    I went yesterday. In a small room with very few dealers, most of whom also do Birmingham, and comparatively few customers. The dealers (presumably not by design) tended to display mostly hammered and ancient. I came back without buying anything...
  4. Red Riley

    Paypal Ffs

    The other lot are worse!
  5. Red Riley

    Peck 1970 Edition

    I have just acquired a copy of Peck in good condition without dust sheet. Looking for £85 plus postage (£10.77 to UK at current prices). Alternatively, if the purchase wants to cut out the postman I will be at Midland Coin Fair on Sunday. Derek
  6. Red Riley

    Toning Madness Lives!

    Odd isn't it? We have no choice of whose portrait goes on our coins and end up making them look like Miss World (young head coins of the last two female monarchs at least...). But with the whole world to choose from the American mint go and choose some munter with a nutcracker chin! Actually I'm rather fond of Morgan dollars but can't really say why.
  7. Red Riley

    Death To Pennies?

    Why shouldn't Americans call their cents pennies? Where I come from right up until decimalisation, five shillings was always known as a dollar. I am sure some American collectors will fill you in (!) but I have a feeling that there is some history behind the American 'penny'.
  8. Red Riley

    Freeing slabbed coin.

    Too risky for me that. I'm fortunate in having a workshop with a vice. Other than that all you need is two blocks of soft wood to clamp the slab in the vice and a hacksaw to cut along two sides; no risk of jagged bits of plastic scratching the coin. And always keep the label.
  9. I do take your point Peck. To reduce the gap between rich and poor, which has been ever widening since the seventies, income tax would need to be increased and indirect taxes such as VAT need to reduce. The problem with income tax though is that the higher rates don't actually raise much and to make any kind of difference, the basic rate would need to be increased and you can imagine the howls of anguish this would produce from the dogs in the manger. As a result raising it is probably politically impossible. Despite it being a maximum of 50 miles from me, I have never heard of Elmbridge!
  10. It was very important that it wasn't Northern Rock. If the government had allowed the plug to be pulled on the first bank to hit choppy waters, then there would have been a run on every bank - result, financial chaos. I do agree that the banks were being vastly imprudent but in letting them fail ad hoc, the government would have been doing way, way more than giving a rap across the knuckles to those who had taken advantage of the situation. Unfortunately, as is always the case, those that suffered most would have been those who were least to blame for the carnage, and least able to ride out the storm. I think we can agree though that people do need to learn to live within their means and insisting that the banks are not complicit in individuals' imprudence will go some way to curbing their worst excesses.
  11. Red Riley

    Newbie Seeking Advice

    Hi Lee, Welcome to the forum. My advice is to suck it and see for a bit. I am actually quite old(!) and started to collect from change before decimalisation, initially pennies as they offered the greatest variety and the longest date run in circulation at the time. I then started to buy all sorts of stuff from a dealer down the Portobello Road and ended up, in addition to my pennies, collecting (or at least trying) to collect one of each coin type issued in the milled series since 1662. Didn't quite manage it but hey... Nowadays I no longer collect but deal in coins instead - so a kind of gamekeeper turned poacher so to speak...
  12. I'm sorry Rob I don't agree with that. The financial crisis got dramatically worse when the American government allowed Lehman Bros. to go to the wall. Allowing Northern Rock to go tits up would have put even greater pressure on the UK economy and would certainly have meant that the cost of bailing out the other miscreants would have increased exponentially, perhaps to the point that it became unviable. This would have then led to the UK going cap in hand to the IMF and conceivably to global economic meltdown. Don't forget it was a very close-run thing and the odd percentage point here or there could have tipped the whole thing over the edge.
  13. Red Riley

    Grading And A Pricing Query

    I have to say that for people new to the hobby I am in favour of collecting randomly - a few modern pieces, farthings, florins, Tudor, mediaeval, Roman - all can be purchased for less than you think. And (unless your age is approaching three figures!) there will be plenty of time to specialise later. The main thing is simply to enjoy it.
  14. I have to say I rather favour Scottish independence (although is any country truly independent these days?) for all sorts of bizarre reasons; 1) Ulster Unionism? The effect will be interesting... 2) The Union Jack? would we change it or pretend nothing had happened and carry on rather like we did when doggedly putting the fleur de lys and the legend 'Fra... Rex' on our coins two centuries after Calais had returned to France, or grabbing that extra year of 'Ind Imp' on our coins after Indian independence. 3) English National identity? As it stands we don't have one, we regard ourselves as British. When the Scots play 'Flower of Scotland' and the Welsh 'Men of Harlech' we just trot out that awful dirge of a British National Anthem that pre-supposes we all subscribe to the infallibility of the House of Windsor. Do you think we could have our own one please? Not sure an English identity will be pretty but it least it will be ours. 4) The utter confusion that multi-nationals will get themselves into - you know, the ones who refer to London, United Kingdom or whatever, when that address has never really existed. And that's just scratching the surface. Go for it Jock, you might even do us a favour! (hides behind the sofa...)
  15. You would think the 2nd wouldn't you? I have a nasty feeling however that the first would be easier to sell.
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