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ozjohn

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Everything posted by ozjohn

  1. All this is true but I have to say 1821/ 22 & 23 are easy to find but 1920 is elusive despite the official Royal Mint figures for 1920.
  2. I was reorganizing my florin collection and noticed I have an 1892 jubilee head florin. I checked the value with the Value of UK Coins of Great Britain and England site where it is listed as F 30 GBP, VF GBP 100 GBP & EF GBP 325. The first question is are these realistic values and the second is what is the grade of this coin? My grading of the coin is VF+ to EF-. Any comments please.
  3. ozjohn

    1892 Florin

    Thanks Gary 1000, Only one problem he doesn't mail the item to Australia.
  4. ozjohn

    1892 Florin

    I looked at tripods. Again anything that was any good was very expensive and they did not seem to be able to pointed directly downwards which I think is necessary if you want to reduce distortion of the picture. Possibly you can correct this with Photoshop but the least post processing the better Also the stability of the camera tripod combination is questionable as the camera is not over the center axis.
  5. ozjohn

    1892 Florin

    Trying to improve my coin photography rather than a flat bed scanner which seems to show flat surfaces where the coin comes in contact with the glass plate. This was taken with a hand held Canon A540 6MP with close up lens. I'm looking for a camera stand but they seem to be just about impossible to obtain in Australia although I have seen some cheapies on Ebay but the freight is GBP60 for something costing GBP30. I hope this shows the coin better than my last effort.
  6. ozjohn

    Alex Salmond

    Not at all I was referring to Salmond Having been born in the UK I think I have every right to comment on the self destructive actions of a few who exploit many for their political ego. This madness was started by Blair who setup the separate governments for Scotland etc. with no regard to the English who only have the Westminster government. At least I think we have got it right here in Australia with the State Governments whose activities are regulated by our Constitution. The irony of it all is our Constitution was a bill of the House of Commons where they managed to get it right for Australia but fail to do so for the UK. For example if Queensland wanted to leave the Commonwealth of Australia it would require a referendum with a 2/3 majority and also be carried by a majority of the States. A union is the sum of its parts and all should get their say not just the Scots in this case. Given the ill will that has been generated by this exercise and the unequal distribution of powers like for example free Universities in Scotland I get the feeling that many English would now vote for Scotland to leave the union if they had the chance as they are by and large financing this.
  7. ozjohn

    Alex Salmond

    He ain't no scot and has little grasp of the truth.
  8. ozjohn

    Pobjoy Mint

    I don't think the coin listed on ebay would fool anyone that it is a reproduction. However there are coins listed on ebay that are reproductions and not marked as such which could be used to defraud people as they are cast from molds made from real coins and you cannot tell if they are the real thing or not from a picture on the ebay listing. It has to be said the seller points out they are reproductions but if they are brought by a third party and relisted as genuine no one will be the wiser until they receive the coins and realize they are not silver and are fakes.
  9. It's a nice coin but I am just wondering if it has been cleaned at one time as I can see slight scratch marks all in the same direction especially on the reverse of the coin.
  10. Last week I asked about cleaning a 1913 half crown. After a week of dithering I decided to do it. I was cleaned with bicarb of soda dissolved in boiling water in a bowl with aluminum foil in the bottom of the bowl. The pictures of the cleaned coin are included. Do I clean the coin some more or leave as is?
  11. Mark, The coin is in an old 17th C oak flight of draws maybe something in the oak wood helps. John
  12. The opposite end of the scale to my I've Cleaned It. One way I have found is to breath on a coin like you are cleaning glasses and leaving in a protected place open to the air. Repeat as many times necessary but it's a slow process. The coin illustrated took a year to retone. I have to say it wasn't dipped by me but it was very bright when I obtained it.
  13. ozjohn

    I Cleaned It

    You are probably right but I could not find Goddards locally and all I could get were various preparations offered by chain jewelers which all contained sulfuric acid. Funny thing is Goddards used to be available from discount stores in Australia but no longer it seems. Even the polishing cloths seem to have disappeared.
  14. I've just received a 1927 florin I brought on Ebay. I can't believe the relatively low price this coin brings as there were only 15000 minted for the proof sets with no issue for general circulation in 1927. Also I have noticed several circulated examples of this coin turning up on ebay which suggests many sets would have been broken up and spent as it was released just before the start of the great depression. I suspect the number of this coin still in high grade is considerably less than the 15000 issued adding to its rarity.
  15. ozjohn

    I Cleaned It

    sorry John not Johni
  16. ozjohn

    I Cleaned It

    Hi Mark, I used sodium bicarb plus salt in hot water with aluminium foil in the bottom of the dish. I tried to make the solution fairly weak so I could control the reaction by removing the coin and then washing it. I did this about 3 times (hard on the fingers with the hot water) until I was happy with the result. I looked around at various commercial silver dips to see if they would be suitable but most contained sulfuric acid which I thought would not be very good for coins. Johnj
  17. A lot of coins are dirty around the lettering as the surface is more protected there by the lettering and the rim of the coin. On the other hand it is harder to clean in that area for the same reasons.
  18. I checked some Australian predecimal coins which contained the DG up to about 1964. but was missing on the 1965 50c rounds. Funny thing is Australia has gone from strength to strength since then.
  19. I looked at our Australian coins you are right the DG has gone. The history of Australian coins is interesting initially we started with a motley collection of coins, British and foreign, called proclamation coins. These included the cartwheel pennies and a coin called a holey dollar which was a Spanish 8 reales with the center punched out and marked 15 pence while the rest of the coin was valued at 5/-. Nothing new about debasing coins! Also beware of forgeries This is considered to be Australia's first coin but in reality the idea of debasing the coin by removing some of the silver in it was an attempt to keep these coins in Australia. I think similar strategies were applied elsewhere in the West Indies.. After the English recoinage English coins were issued and branches of the Royal Mint were setup in Melbourne and Sydney and later in Perth for the production of soveriegns. These mints also issued English coins in the later 1800s for circulation in Australia while earlier the coins were imported directly. English coins continued to circulate in Australia until the 1930s then they migrated back to the UK as the Australian Pound was devalued to 15/- in 1932. In addition Australia issued its own set of coins in 1911. Florin, shilling sixpence, threepence, penny and halfpenny. The fact that English coins were the currency for close to a centaury seems to escape most collectors here in Australia when in truth coins of this period from a historical perspective should form part of any comprehensive Australian collection.
  20. ozjohn

    more FAKES

    If you do not know about the I in QUI close to the top LHS of the shield on the reverse of the coin it convincing as a genuine 1905 halfcrown.. Buyer beware.
  21. ozjohn

    I Cleaned It

    Thanks for all the replies. On the whole they seem to be positive which gives me confidence I have done the right thing in this case. I hasten to add I would not embark on cleaning coins lightly but in this case I think it was the right thing.
  22. ozjohn

    I Cleaned It

    I gave the coin some more time in the bicarb of soda/ aluminium foil bath and I am pleased with the result. Most of the heavy toning has gone while the coin still retains good eye appeal. I am pleased with the result. On reflection the bicarb of soda/aluminum foil bath is a fairly gentle process as it does not contain sulfuric acid as many proprietary silver dip preparations do. The process involves removing the sulfur from the silver sulfide (the toning) and converting it back into silver metal and the aluminium in the foil is converted into aluminium sulfide.
  23. ozjohn

    I Cleaned It

    Exactly the other coin I showed I think has been over cleaned and it was not the same coin.. Not badly cleaned but it has removed all of the toning. What I am trying to achieve is a compromise. Also one reply notes wear on the ear. That's fine but there is no wear on the eyebrow. I suspect the ear was not struck up initially. As I said previously the milling on the coin is pristine. Of course this is difficult to determine for sure but I think the grading is some where in the MS area,
  24. ozjohn

    I Cleaned It

    This is the other end of scale.
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