Chris Perkins

Yes, the double T variety should be scarcer than the normal version. It depends how many are sitting in the printers, the normal version might end up the rarer!

They're done. I should get the rest next week. But you won't believe there is a spelling mistake on the spine!!!! We just noticed despite checking everything 5 times!!! 'GREAT BRITTAIN' is spelt with a double T. Can you believe it. Hopefully I can get to the printers and prevent them all having a double T, but at least 1000 or more have a double T!! I could kick myself, such a stupid mistake in such a visible place (although the font makes it more difficult to spot). Why didn't I notice, why didn't the designer notice, why didn't anyone notice?

It could be cast or hammered. It wasn't until the British set up proper mints in India that they were able to make coins to modern standards.

Just to add to this: I recently purchased 3 slabbed UK coins from the people that I think Kuhli (or another observant American) mentioned before. They have set themselves up as the first seller of slabbed UK coins, and promote themselves by saying that the slabbed bug is just about to come to the UK from the US...So get them cheap while you can! The 3 coins I purchased with an investor customer in mind were: 1826 Plain edge Proof Half Crown PCGS PR63 1898 Half Crown PCGS MS64 1902 Half Crown PCGS MS63 I got them today and I'm not very pleased because: The 1826 Half Crown is a nice coin, but it does not have a plain edge. It's fiddley to see with it being surrounded with plastic, but at the right angle I am able to determine that it does not have a plain edge. Nice coin though so I think I'll probably keep it. The 1898 Half Crown (supposed to be MS64) has the most awful black carbon spot type mark on the truncation and another less severe one on the reverse. It's UNC and lustrious, but there was no mention of the black marks in the listing and the pictures were not good enough to see them. The 1902 Half Crown has unbelievably ugly patchy toning that is not visible in the picture either. I wil probably keep it. So my lesson today is that slabbing is all very well, but if you're going to sell slabbed coins you cannot just list the grade and have done with it. Descriptions of many coins are not complete if they just list the grade. And Slabbed coins are hard to take accurate pictures of. And god alone knows how a coin with horrible black marks Obv and Rev got away with MS64! (unless it happened in the slab, which is perhaps more scary!) And perhaps most importantly; slabbed coins are not always a great investment for people who know nothing about coins. I can imagine lots of people buying coins purely on pictures and PCGS (etc) grade only....Tucking them away and finding when they come to sell them that the coins are less attractive in the eye of a collector than the grade led them to believe. Any coin investment has to involve someone that knows lots about coins regardless of whether they're slabbed or not. I'm not saying the seller (who shall remain nameless) is dishonest, but I do feel that they are aiming themselves at non experts from the angle that a 'slab with a grade is all you need', and I believe that to be wrong. Also, they seem to be PCGS and NGC authorised...So if they're slabbing the coins themselves that's even more 'hmmmm'.

I don't like football, have better things to do. I do like a nice pint sometimes, but very infrequently. I can't remember the last. I don't trust people that use Lindner trays, as they must have money to burn My Lighthouse range is compatable, and so much cheaper!

Yes, I'll echo that. Go for sterling silver (all pre 1920 British Silver coins will be ok). I do hope that your first purchase will be from me!

Usually that's because people know very little about them and are cautious to get involved....Like jumping out of a plane for the first time. Plus the fact that there are plenty of newer coins to collect. I have a little collection of just over 30 identified Roman coins. I have them arranged by date. None are worth more than perhaps £25 and most are worth less than £5 but I like then. There is still a collector in me somewhere.

Yes sovereigns are always worth BV, it's just the high graders that are usually worth a bit more. For example bullion value is about £52 per sovereign and I've been selling 1925 S UNC sovs for between £58 - £79. They catalogue at £75, but usually go for less on ebay.

I reckon it's probably a forgery.

The mint letter M will NOT be in the exergue, it'll be just above it on the ground below the horses right rear hoof. It's important also to stress that 90% of half or full sovereigns are worth around £26 and £52 respectively unless they are alsolutely one of the best examples available. Always be careful with quoting raw catalogue values at people JMD, as coins have to be judged on their merits and doing so often raises artificial hopes.

(oh and Geoff, your Half Crown was posted yesterday. I say 'your' when I mean hopefully 'your' of course)

If you register, you can attach a picture, I thinks that's the best thing to do.

I had some maundy odds like that...Sold them as scrap!

There are also investor/collectors....People that buy big money coins that they find atractive, with the hope that they will increase in value.

Did you get my message Alex? Ciao

Thanks Custard, it justifies the price I paid for the other one quite nicely. I shall have a quiet word in someones ear about that coin and may well go for it. Thankyou very much for bringing it to my attention.

Great, but I hope you haven't just copied Coincraft or Spink (i doubt it). It has to be your own work. What is is, .doc format?

History is always good, and prices depending on what you see. In a couple of year when you finsish doing what you're doing, consider yourself commissioned!

I was asked by my Australiasian Rep if I could add gold coins to CCGB2005 to make it more complete, because he thought the Aussies would like it better. I don't think i will because it would make the book bigger, and therefore more expensive. On the other hand, a book about post 1816 gold coinage wouldn't really be very big at all would it. So what about a book on all milled gold coinage? The only thing I can foresee with that is that a lot of the coins are expensive, so how accurate could it really be? (especially for the early ones) So, what about an early milled non gold book first, and then perhaps a gold all milled? Sylvester, get writing!

My No.8 Newsletter is scheduled to go out in 20 minutes. It contains 180 New coins in list form (no pictures this time round because my time has been taken up by the book). It also includes a discount on Collectors' Coins GB 2005. And here it is: http://www.predecimal.com/newsletter/number8.htm

But the difference is, collectors usually have full time jobs and lots of other commitments. Proper coin dealers do the same kinds of things daily and they gain a big experience on the kinds of things people want, and also how to price and grade their coins. They usually keep a good general stock too. Anyone can be a 'dealer' on ebay, but it's likely to be a very ameteurish hobby affair unless you have an independant regarded point of sale such as a shop or a website. And to be a proper dealer, some kind of dvertising is good too and you need punters and contacts. It would be hard to be a coin dealer just using ebay to buy and sell.

Yes, that's probably the case.

And when the time comes, you better be careful where you put your Henry. Like it!

Mine's Henry (and I put 'Chris Henry Perkins' as the author of CCGB2005 in the front cover) I'm the 3rd generation to have a 'Henry' somewhere.

The Australian that lives near me always refers to the Head side as the back. Isn't that the most illogical conclusion to come to, even if you know nothing about coins. (in my mind it is) He and I were talking on the phone about a commemorative 1934 Melbourne Florin that I wanted to sell him...And he said 'You have to grade those by the front, because the Crown and head are always sharp as UNC'. It took me a while to work out exactly what he was talking about. Mac, why did you call the head side, the back?