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Only spoke to Michael quite recently, I had no idea!

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selling up and buying a nice place in spain at a bargain price if he has any sense.

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I spoke to michael yesterday.Was going to close the shop and sorting out the stock last few weeks.Will be keeping the website and continue running a mail order business .Has just bought a considerable collection of pennies and has a lot to list as far as he told me.Always worth sending a mail as i have bought a few that were not listed on the site due to moving.

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Spoke to Michael, he is in good health,

This area of Notting Hillgate has been approved for redevelopment for several years now, the premises were to be sold later this year, but things have moved a lot quicker than planned, an unexpected change in circumstances has meant the business had to be closed with immediate effect today.

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It is one of site i visit when im looking for something ,varieties etc..i will miss that site,hope someone will be next in line to continve all the varieties he discovered,michael may have loads of records and info on coins hope someone will kept it for reference.

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I am sure the time to run both a "Bricks and Morter" shop and a Mail Order Business has got to be a back breaker. Like most of us as we get into our retirement years, we want to slow down a little bit. I think Michael falls into this category. The nice thing about just a Web business, it gives you a lot more flexability with your time. I hope he enjoys the extra personal time he will experience from the change. :)

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I spoke to michael yesterday.Was going to close the shop and sorting out the stock last few weeks.Will be keeping the website and continue running a mail order business .Has just bought a considerable collection of pennies and has a lot to list as far as he told me.Always worth sending a mail as i have bought a few that were not listed on the site due to moving.

That makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately very few links are working on that page - Ancients, Records & Videos, appear to be the only two left.

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I spoke to michael yesterday.Was going to close the shop and sorting out the stock last few weeks.Will be keeping the website and continue running a mail order business .Has just bought a considerable collection of pennies and has a lot to list as far as he told me.Always worth sending a mail as i have bought a few that were not listed on the site due to moving.

That makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately very few links are working on that page - Ancients, Records & Videos, appear to be the only two left.

Maybe the whole thing will be updated when he has himself organised, he says he's just bought a bündle of pennies, so he has to sell them somehow/somewhere

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I didn't go there often but the shop will be greatly missed. I enjoyed the experience of going to a real shop and ALWAYS finding Michael was there ready to buzz you in. Because you didn't have to make an appointment you didn't feel obliged to spend big money. You could just pitch up with £20-30 and end up buying something without having to do lots of researching, Googling, exchanging emails, fannying about with PayPal, going to the post office depot to collect, etc.

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I suspect he was made an offer "he couldnt refuse"......we must be talking £millions.....especially with the flat above....whatever happened to his business partner when they where Michael Howard Coins....Laurence Howard was it?....nice guy if I recall.....

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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!

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Heard from Michael today, He has posted an update on the Front page on his 'old' site

As other members have discovered and posted, the urls on the site are still active for looking at varieties etc,, but not for trade.

John

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Good to hear from you John.

I worked on the Chingford Underbridge site in the early 90's...we had an Amstrad pooter monitoring the tunnel which held the leccies/telephone system.

Our pooter never worked but disappeared....all those games of golf with the RE(resident engineer)....11 0'clock was golf time.

Easy account to settle. :)

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Heard from Michael today, He has posted an update on the Front page on his 'old' site

As other members have discovered and posted, the urls on the site are still active for looking at varieties etc,, but not for trade.

John

John,

It looks like Michael may be up and running, as a web-only business now. All of his links work again, so I guess he is setup to buy and sell. http://www.michael-coins.co.uk/

Edited by RLC35
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On 5/10/2014 at 0:31 PM, Varietalis said:

I didn't go there often but the shop will be greatly missed. I enjoyed the experience of going to a real shop and ALWAYS finding Michael was there ready to buzz you in. Because you didn't have to make an appointment you didn't feel obliged to spend big money. You could just pitch up with £20-30 and end up buying something without having to do lots of researching, Googling, exchanging emails, fannying about with PayPal, going to the post office depot to collect, etc.

Yes, very much agreed. It would be great to actually visit an actual coin shop.

Not sure how many are left these days. Can't be that many.

There used to be one in my home town of Chelmsford, but that's long since closed.  

 

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I remember going to his shop when it was Michael Howard Coins ....in partnership with Laurence Howard? ..who had an extremely attractive Fench wife if I recall...or that might have been a teenage fantasy ?? 

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On 19 February 2018 at 11:07 AM, Colin88 said:

I remember going to his shop when it was Michael Howard Coins ....in partnership with Laurence Howard? ..who had an extremely attractive Fench wife if I recall...or that might have been a teenage fantasy ?? 

Fench? Did you mean 'Wench' by any chance? :lol:

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On 2/19/2018 at 11:07 AM, Colin88 said:

I remember going to his shop when it was Michael Howard Coins ....in partnership with Laurence Howard? ..who had an extremely attractive Fench wife if I recall...or that might have been a teenage fantasy ?? 

Here's an ad for Michael Howard Coins from the June 1969 edition of Coin Monthly:-

 

 

michael howard 1.jpg

michael howard 2.jpg

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Wow. I'll take the lot! :D

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1 hour ago, mrbadexample said:

Wow. I'll take the lot! :D

Apart, that is, I guess from the 1953 plastic set at £14 and the "de luxe" specimen set at £15 !

You'd be annoyed now if you paid that for those in 1969. Look what else cost a similar amount then and compare to values now!!

1743 VF shilling for me, I think!  Did anyone really pay those sums for plastic sets in 1969 ?

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20 minutes ago, Martinminerva said:

Apart, that is, I guess from the 1953 plastic set at £14 and the "de luxe" specimen set at £15 !

Good grief, yes I'd like to swerve those please. :o

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I think the thing that gives away the value changes since then most is that Registered Post was only 3/6 - 17.5p in modern money!

I think the other coin that must have been very much top whack back then was the 1904 Half Crown for £140. Even in EF that seems a lot and not far off what you would pay for one now.

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