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Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you hear, or are out to repeat a rumour. In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance, who ran up to him excitedly and said "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?" "Wait a moment" Socrates replied. "Before you tell me, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three". Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say. The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?" "No" the man replied "actually I just heard about it". "All right" said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?" "No, on the contrary..." "So" Socrates continued "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?" The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued "You may still pass though because there is a third test - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?" "No, not really..." "Well" concluded Socrates "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?" The man was defeated and ashamed and said no more. This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem. It also explains why Socrates never found out that Plato was banging his wife.

An elderly, but hardy cattleman once told a young female neighbour that if she wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a pinch of gunpowder on her oatmeal each morning. She did this religiously and lived to the age of 103. She left behind 14 children, 30 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, five great-great-grandchildren and a 40-foot crater where the crematorium used to be.

Davies notes five principal reverses for sixpences 1887-1893 labelled A to E and also mentions that "Numerous design & die sinking differences exist before adoption of rev. 'D'.". What is not mentioned is that there are 2 obverses and the changeover seems to have occured during 1889. The picture below shows the difference between obverses 1 and 2, left and right respectively. As long as you can focus that close, you can see the difference with the naked eye. The difference is a wedge cut out of the truncation above J.E.B. which is present in obverse 1 and not in obverse 2. I'm not entirely certain which crossover die pairings exist for 1889 but I have seen 1+C, 2+C, 2+D and even 2+A, so it is possible that all permutations are out there. As far as I'm aware all obverses after 1889 are obverse 2, unless you know different.

Very interesting...thanks for that. I slabbed my wife a few years back to keep her in the same condition. The Police have now informed me that that was a mistake, and are taking action. Should I show them the video?

Wait until you see the new packaging

I'm sure they'd all plead ignorance and "sold in good faith". What I suspect may have happened is that somewhere, (maybe more than once), along the line, a buyer realised they'd been sold a lemon, and then decided to off load it as a legitimate item to get their money back. Proving that would be next to impossible, as it remains between that seller and their conscience, with absolutely no witnesses.

The only thing that p*sses me off is that having selected an (upcoming) auction as part of a search, it doesn't remember that, so when you search the next coin(s) you have to also select the auction again.

5p Varieties 1969 – 1990 At first glance there does not appear to be much of interest, just a coin with what appear to be identical obverses and reverses. As with all coins that have boarder teeth (bt) or in this case boarder beads (bb), its all about the “pointings”. There are however some interesting obverse varieties concerning the shape of the truncation, which follows similar changes on all the other decimal coins, especially during the period 1985 through 1990. It is also worth noting that the early coins were released before decimalization on 15th Feb 1971, so in both size and style at least, they truly belong to the LSD era. See the Summary and Details section following the pictures for precise descriptions. Obverse 1 1968 – 1977 2nd portrait. Obverse 2 1977 – 1983 Obverse 3 1984 Obverse 4 1985 3rd portrait with a long pointed tip to truncation. Obverse 5 1986 – 1987 Obverse 6 1988 Obverse 7 1989 Obverse 8 1990 Reverse A 1968 – 1980 Reverse B 1972 – 1983 Reverse C 1982 – 1989 Reverse D 1990 Summary and details.

I have always been impressed with DNW, their website worked really well even way back in 2013 when i got my first (and profile pic) coin from them. They have a little work to do on their Archive search(works pretty well but not 100% there, needs a bit more standardising for denominations)

Yep, with some of them it's like trying to break into Fort Knox to get at the coin.

I imagine so. All of mine were stored in Lighthouse capsules inserted into trays inside metal box cabinets.

Everytime i have bought Lots from DNW the website has worked really well and always received the day after paying ,obviously geared up properly and Hat off 👍 Well wrapped aswell without all the daft sellotape some Auctioneers and Dealers use ,one lot i bought at an Auction house a couple of weeks ago they just put the coins in bubblewrap all together ,with selloptape wrapped round. I assume the capsules are ones that you gave them with the coins Nick ?

Welcome to the forum. I too started with collecting shillings when I first took up the hobby as a teenager. It's a very good series for the type collector. Books are very helpful to learn grading but there is no substitute for experience. It is all too easy for beginners to overgrade. My suggestion is to start off with cheaper coins (like George VI) but in UNC condition. Once you have seen a few coins in top condition, you will know what UNC truly means: absolutely no wear and no loss of luster on high points. Some George V unc shillings are economical too. Edward VII, Victoria old head and Victoria Jubilee Head are still affordable but things will get expensive before that. Also bear in mind that the age of milled coins should not affect the grade. One mistake I made in my early days of collecting was thinking that better grade = better details. But the loss of detail could be due to weak striking (which doesn't technically affect the grade). The lion's noise on the reverse of Edward VII and earlier George V shillings are usually rather flat due to weak striking. Happy collecting.

That's a really useful addition, and if you're interested in shillings, I'd also recommend David Groom's book "The identification of British 20th Century silver coin varieties". Obviously as the name suggests, it's only 20th century, but it's very good and served me well when I collected 20th century shillings. As far as coin fairs, if you're in Manchester, then maybe the York coin fair might be a great option for you. What would it be? about 70 odd miles straight along the M62. They're normally held every January and July, and are one of the principal annual coin fairs. In addition to the two you mention. Anyway welcome to the forum and good luck with the collecting.

I would say that will do fine for the time being, it’s a decent German brand. Over time you will come across the various alternatives, from card envelopes up to coin cabinets, and something else might take your fancy. But you do need to find some way of recording variety, price, provenance etc with the coin, perhaps using adjacent pockets for a card coin ticket or similar. Jerry

Obverse 5.

Absolutely right - I've read the packaging a hundred times and not spotted that ! Mystery solved - and not likely to be worth a fortune in the future !

Here is webpage for my 'bun head' penny sales, right click and then 'open in new window' https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/alfnail/m.html?item=402732525067&hash=item5dc4baa60b%3Ag%3AH48AAOSwQdhgQ4nS&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

Maybe you could post a link in the For Sale section for those of us who don't know your Ebay handle?

The phrase "We will give it 110% effort" Now that really Is not possible, is it.

PedANT !!!

I did see a VG or thereabouts F8B sell for about £300 on eBay last weekend, but surely there is no way to tell what dies were used on "The slightly worn coin". 😁