secret santa

Interestingly, the picture is now not viewable again but if I right click on the icon (labelled 1038091.jpeg) it allows me to view it OK in a new window. Very confusing.

What we say and what we I.T. boys do are two different things !

Just restarted my PC this morning and it's there !!!!!!!! Bill Gates moves in mysterious ways.

It shows on my tablet but not my PC. Very strange !

Scott, your picture doesn't show. I get this quite often. Any suggestions, anyone ?

Thanks for the pics Cliff.

Very politically correct Ian - excellent !

This is the sort we're all looking for

Terrific - thanks - v useful info.

Pete, may I enquire as to how you are so sure ? John's description doesn't seem very precise.

I have a lustrous Unc example - it was mentioned in John Jerrams' book on the Bun Penny (top of page 20) as a 2 over 2 much as Rob describes.

Are these types of Battle of Britain 50p defined anywhere ?

I see Spink are as bad as ever - Lot 519 ( a standard F10 2+D penny) is described as Gouby J+g (an unlisted variety) and Freeman 62 !!!!

Any cabinet which causes friction to a coin when you open it should be avoided at all costs - I believe it's actually a myth, or a euphemism for plain old "wear".

Stephen Locket always starts a lot with the phrase "£x is bid" when in fact it's often the reserve price or one bid below, which has actually NOT been bid, but he's looking for a bid at or above reserve. I was originally under the impression that a lot had been sold at the quoted price when I first observed it only to find that it was unsold.

This coin is a Freeman 22 penny and, as such, fairly common. Many coins exhibit this doubling of characters under high magnification and some collectors seek out these characteristics but in my view they do not merit either a separate variety identity or a premium on value. Just my view.

Just checked mine - nothing like that.

Around 2 weeks ago I "bought" a Squirrel Nutkin 50p on Ebay for a friend. The vendor was a "nicholsonmelanie" with plenty of feedback history (although I never checked it) and was offering the coins at £2.50 and open to offers. I offered £1.50 and accepted the counter offer of £2.00. To cut a long story short, the coin never arrived, the vendor removed all trace of themselves from Ebay, never replied to emails and I received a refund from Paypal. Now, he/she only made £2.00 on this transaction but I wonder how many people were fleeced like this. I guess some people will put it down to experience and not apply for refunds but this person will probably be back under a different name to make some more money from unsuspecting people. £2 from a lot of people adds up over time and is likely to entice more buyers than an expensive rarity.

This incident gets more and more bewildering. My Ebay purchase history shows no sign of the purchase but Paypal history shows that payment was made, and has now been refunded. I received notification from Ebay that it had been despatched. All my attempts to contact the seller through Ebay and direct email to ask for their side of the story have brought absolutely no response which is surprising. If I search Ebay for "nicholsonmelanie" it finds no results and yet Nordle found a link that works ! When I click on his link and go to the seller's history I find the transaction that I won ! As Rob says above, it's probably a bug in Ebay but I would love to hear the seller's side of the story. I'll probably never find out what happened.

Thanks for posting that, Terry, I think I misplaced the earlier pics. Considering these matt coins were supposedly struck for photographic purposes, they don't seem to photograph all that well !

I think you would - just as when you tilt a normal proof against the light, it is mirror-like, then a matt proof is uniformly matt Matt !

Voila !

Just bought an interesting coin - matt proof 1953 penny but struck with the circulation obverse die (121 beads; A of ELIZABETH to bead) rather than the proof die (120 beads; A of ELIZABETH to gap). I suppose it's logical that, if they were struck for photographic purposes, they would strike examples of both circulation and proof coins in a matt finish.

Pete You don't know all the facts and you may be right but - I did not click to follow the seller, I did receive notification that it had been despatched with a tracking number that Ebay now tells me doesn't exist, I did send emails that weren't acknowledged, I have received a refund on that basis, attempts to click on the vendor were met with a message that the vendor does not exist (at the weekend) - but now they have reappeared. Something is very strange. Maybe my computer has been hacked ? I have now contacted the seller again to ask their side of the story and if things are cleared up to my satisfaction, I will apologise to the vendor and get the thread taken down. Satisfied ????????

I even sent emails outside Ebay with delivery receipt set but didn't get acknowledgement back. Most peculiar.