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UPINSMOKE

My Latest Acquisition

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1 hour ago, azda said:

Just a curious question though, how much was the slabbing

Slabbing costs £15.95 per coin.

 

47 minutes ago, PWA 1967 said:

Sorry to interupt your thread but can i ask how long it took from the time you sent it please 

I had a friend send them for me and as far as I can recall they were sent on or around 15th Sept and they arrived back with my friend today I think he may have collected them or arrived yesterday. So approx 5 to 6 weeks.

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Thanks and why i posted straight after my intial post not needing a reply ;)

Pete.

Edited by PWA 1967

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1 hour ago, UPINSMOKE said:

 

 

As I promised this is the grade LCGS gave my 1899 Farthing well worth sending IMO. I am sure you will want to discuss some more.:unsure::):)

 

UIN 0040529
img.php?u=0040529&f=o&s=m img.php?u=0040529&f=r&s=m
Coin Type FA.V1.1899.01
Origin Great Britain
Description Farthing Victoria 1899
Variety Dies 1+A
Standard References Freeman 577
Provenance  
Grade CGS 80
Population Level 3 out of 6
Value £ 50

Neat - NEF was my personal assessment, although maybe something was lost in the photography. They had the opportunity to see the coin in hand.

There did appear to be some wear, notably to Britannia's fingers around the trident.   

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A bit late into the conversation...that's the trouble with this place you walk away for a few days and you miss such a lot!! :lol:

It is surprising how many people grade these artificially darkened farthings incorrectly. That coin had the darkened surface in place across virtually all of the coin. Don't mistake weak aspects of the design for wear. Many of you would not do this with a bright lustred penny/farthing but people continuously do it with artificially darkened farthings. If the surface coating is in tact the coin has had very little (if any) wear.

Even once the coating starts to be lost, it can in actual fact be just a case of lost lustre, and not specifically wear to the coin. I would gladly stand by my assessment of the coin having seen it in hand which I think was at AUNC.

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I would also add having now read through the thread in detail, that I do NOT grade my coins with an intention to achieve a specific grade from a TPG, as this is an impossibility. I give my coins a grade that I feel is fair and honest. My regular customers know that if they have any concerns they can return a coin for a full refund without issue, although I don't think this has ever happened to date on a farthing I have sold, although it is easy for a mistake to made and therefore I will accept that this is likely to happen at some point. Grading is so subjective and very difficult to do as a constant, and therefore hopefully my customers go away happy with their purchase and the service they have received.

London Coins do not sell there coins at auction with a guarantee that the grades they assign will carry over when assessed by a TPG even if it is their own grading house, and likewise neither do I. It is my opinion and even if the TPG had come back at a VF type figure I would still have stood by my own assessment (even though in this scenario it would appear they are in agreement).

Hopefully those people who have dealt with me will know I try to be fair and honest, and have to admit it does feel weird to be on the receiving end of forum scrutiny, but I suppose that is part and parcel of selling coins. Being scrutinised by my peers is something I have never really thought about :D

 

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On 26/10/2016 at 11:57 PM, Peter said:

Don't get it graded and enjoy a mid grade farthing (sorry Colin) that is a thrower.

@Peter my photos may be underselling the coin, but if that is shite then .......:o I may as well give up now!!

Perhaps you need to have more time studying artificially darkened farthings. The slabbing argument is completely separate...but you are seriously mistaking weakness of strike for wear.

 

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On 31/10/2016 at 3:35 PM, Colin G. said:

@Peter my photos may be underselling the coin, but if that is shite then .......:o I may as well give up now!!

Perhaps you need to have more time studying artificially darkened farthings. The slabbing argument is completely separate...but you are seriously mistaking weakness of strike for wear.

 

The  unfortunate thing about these mint darkened farthings esp the war ones,is  they can be badly struck and the part of the coin that is usualy badly struck is britannias head this often leaves many collectors with the wrong impresion as regards grade .

A coin can be unc or near to and end up looking less than EF grade  with a badly struck head .

TBH these coins are a bit of a nightmare to grade anyway .

The best thing you (the collector) can do is just get a coin that pleases you and stick with it , in the end very little else matters.

If you like a coin you can bet your bottom dollar another person will as well, so although common it should have a resale value .

Edited by copper123
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Well I have now started my "Jack The Ripper Set of coins. Below the Halfcrown I recently bought on eBay. I have graded this at between Good EF and almost UNC your views please would be a great help again.I must admit it looks a lot better in hand than the pictures represent. I also manage to find an 1888 Groat 4d as well will have to post pictures of that next.

1888 Halfcrown Rev 1.jpg1888 Halfcrown Obv 1.jpg

Edited by UPINSMOKE
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Minor marks in the field, but realistically quite minimal compared to what could be there. Better date than 1887 as well. Looks good to me. :)

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Funny old thing just got a 1890 half crown yesterday of ebay I rated it a NEF and it was no way near as nice as yours so I agree AU/GEF.

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3 hours ago, Rob said:

Minor marks in the field, but realistically quite minimal compared to what could be there. Better date than 1887 as well. Looks good to me. :)

There are hairlines to the field shown on the original picture when enlarged or under a magnifying glass, but in hand it looks fine. On the reverse the three lions at the bottom of the coin I have notice that the top lion of the three has a worn face the other are all ok. Would this be due to circulation or a weak strike maybe?

 

2 hours ago, Sleepy said:

Funny old thing just got a 1890 half crown yesterday of ebay I rated it a NEF and it was no way near as nice as yours so I agree AU/GEF.

Thanks for your opinion it's appreciated:)

 

1 hour ago, Paulus said:

Nice one Mick! :):)

Thank Paul I put this down to everyone on here steering me it the right direction. All the advice and help has been invaluable to me thanks:)

 

1 hour ago, PWA 1967 said:

Shows how much i know looks UNC to me and a lovely coin :)

Well it does to me as well. Then I am bios as its mine. Whatever anyone grades it at your opinion will always be different especially when buying.;)

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Looks lovely in the pictures, bags of eye appeal for me.

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better investment than a 1887 as well , totally yummy coin - dont spoil it with a slab!

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Very nice coin Mick! I would be a bit nervous to go hunting anything better than EF- in eBay, you must trust the seller

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18 minutes ago, copper123 said:

better investment than a 1887 as well , totally yummy coin - dont spoil it with a slab!

Thanks for the comment I really like it as well. As to your other comment I am afraid it will get slabbed at some point. As I think I said in previous posts all the coin sets I collect will be entombed to be passed on to my Daughter when I am entombed myself.:o:)  

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4 minutes ago, Leo said:

Very nice coin Mick! I would be a bit nervous to go hunting anything better than EF- in eBay, you must trust the seller

To be honest I was just searching for any 1888 coins and came across this Halfcrown. From the pictures I really liked it but I did all the checks I could, even downloading the pictures and enlarging them to try and get more detail. Even then did not take it at face value with a grade of UNC by the seller. It was a BIN price of £100 but with open to offers, so jumped right in and made an offer of what I would have liked to pay for it based on the fact that at worst it would be a grade of EF. I offered £70 for it and with a counter offer from the seller ended up paying £81 plus pp:)  So I thought that was not to bad. The coin arrived today and to be honest if I had seen it in hand I would have been happy with a price of £100.

Oh by the way I have only used this seller for the first time, so will be keeping an eye on what they list in future:D

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Good purchase! I guess sometimes one has to take risks.

Quote

all the coin sets I collect will be entombed to be passed on to my Daughter when I am entombed myself

Do you think she will continue the collection?

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8 minutes ago, Leo said:

Good purchase! I guess sometimes one has to take risks.

Do you think she will continue the collection?

Probably not but I would hope she would a least keep the 1899 and 1951 sets to remind herself of her Dad and her Great Grandmother who she never met. As for the others she can sell them or keep them.

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Another new one for the 1888 set. Not sure I am quite as happy with this one, another eBay purchase. My pictures don't really do this justice, it does look better. I have graded this as Near EF. Your input welcome please.

1888 Groat 4d Rev.jpg1888 Groat 4d Obv.jpg

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On 31/10/2016 at 3:35 PM, Colin G. said:

@Peter my photos may be underselling the coin, but if that is shite then .......:o I may as well give up now!!

Perhaps you need to have more time studying artificially darkened farthings. The slabbing argument is completely separate...but you are seriously mistaking weakness of strike for wear.

 

What do you reckon on this one Colin? @Colin G.

1903_fa_02_1300.png

Edited by Paulus
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1 hour ago, UPINSMOKE said:

Another new one for the 1888 set. Not sure I am quite as happy with this one, another eBay purchase. My pictures don't really do this justice, it does look better. I have graded this as Near EF. Your input welcome please.

1888 Groat 4d Rev.jpg1888 Groat 4d Obv.jpg

NEF sounds about right to me, from those pics it doesn't shout eye appeal at me however

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On 10/31/2016 at 3:17 PM, Colin G. said:

A bit late into the conversation...that's the trouble with this place you walk away for a few days and you miss such a lot!! :lol:

It is surprising how many people grade these artificially darkened farthings incorrectly. That coin had the darkened surface in place across virtually all of the coin. Don't mistake weak aspects of the design for wear. Many of you would not do this with a bright lustred penny/farthing but people continuously do it with artificially darkened farthings. If the surface coating is in tact the coin has had very little (if any) wear.

Even once the coating starts to be lost, it can in actual fact be just a case of lost lustre, and not specifically wear to the coin. I would gladly stand by my assessment of the coin having seen it in hand which I think was at AUNC.

Talking about apparent wear on pretty much UNC coins, take a look at the state of the reverse on this aUNC1906 penny.

post-4682-052560600%201359931451_thumb.jpgpost-4682-016724200%201359931466_thumb.jpg

It is my coin, and I'd forgotten about it until this thread reminded me. 

 

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