Leaderboard

The early eighties saw a 30% drop in prices which basically unwound some of the large increases of the 70s that was due to the inflation seen in that decade. Prices then slowly increased from the reset baseline. The curve steepened around the millennium or soon after, then steepened again following the financial meltdown in 2007/8. QE has ensured that the supply of money is effectively unrestricted, with a lot of that finding its way into alternative investments for the collector, or easy credit for the spendthrift consumer. Should be a ready supply of used upper end motors in the not too distant future for anyone looking to pick and choose a restoration/old car collection hobby.

This is the homemade box that I use. The camera is a Sony e-lens with a long tele and some extension rings to be able to focus close. The lights are IKEA. The copystand is a recent addition from eBay and I am delighted with it...

Despite recommendations to the contrary, you may want to give axial lighting a go. I've built a small box and been playing around. So far I've found that a combination of one light source doing the axial thing + another one on top you can get quite nice results, specially with bronze/ copper. I attach a couple of examples:

Some recent additions, I do like the Half crown and the Groat looks much better in hand. Again none really qualify for coin of the week but the Groat means 1 more box ticked for now. The shilling is currently in a dodgy NNC slab but I intend to break it out ASAP.