Chris Perkins

GF = Good Fine, in other words a little better than fine. Take no notice of me saying that Fine being the first truly collectable condition, that's just the case with many modern British coins. In fact for anything post 1930 some would say that EF or even UNC is the first truly collectable condition! GEF = A Good Extremely Fine, so a little better than EF. It does not mean between Good and Extremely Fine, becasue that's very wide! I do mention about the preceeding G, N and A grades here: http://www.predecimal.com/coingrading.htm

You send them to me for appraisal and offer like a lot of previously happy people! Although if they are detector finds they are unlikely to be worth big money.

From my point of view scanning/photographing coins is a drag. Scanning with a good scanner at 300dpi/100% size is ok because you can scan a whole 'A4' of coins, them turn them all over and scan the other side. Then of course, you have to create new images with the correct obverse and reverse. Lately, i'm looking for ways to save time and be more streamlined, and I often wish I didn't have to make images of so many coins. But, I always like to have as many pictures as possible because it really helps sell the coins quicker. On the point of do pictures do coins justice...Often they don't, in fact often they look awful and if that's the case and the coin is valuable enough to warrant the time then I'll use my Nikon digital camera instead. Pictures can also make the coins look better on some occasions, so a good description and a returns policy are compulsary.

Peter, That's a better picture, less space around it is generally good! Those 9 people are rotters aren't they...Although, it could have been the same person 9 times! I'm afraid in that condition the threepence will have little or no collectable value. It's just a rather charming small piece of old sterling silver with that damage. Collectors only want the better examples, and 1887 Threepences are pretty easy to come by even in high grades. If it did get that shape during production perhaps someone will want it, but I can't really tell from the picture. The rim could have just been squashed a little.

None of the pictures work on the link.

Where are you located? You can post the picture within this thread, there's no need to start another one. The information was mostly from refering to the 'Standard Catalog of World Coins 1801-1900' published in the USA by Krause. I am British and make frequent UK trips, but I actually live in Germany, not all that far from Leipzig actually.

It's a Two Thirds of a Thaler (hence the 2/3) coin featuring a quite unflattering portrait of George IV of Great Britain and of course Hannover. It was minted in Clausthal, Germany and is in fact .993 fine silver (99.3%). it should weight 13.08g. I'd like to see a picture of it, if it's as nice as you say it could be worth £150 or more, but don't get excited, the coin industry is a very fussy one and a good quality picture is very important so I can judge it on its merits. You'll need to register to post picture.

I sold a nice one once for £15.00, the silver approx 2cm type. You're right though, in worn sub EF conditions they can be picked up for not much more than silver value.

I don't know really, I'd be pleased to purchase it for myself for say £40.00 but no one ever sells their error coins. People have contacted me about these kind of things before and I always offer good money, many times face value, but no one ever wants to sell them. Sell ME your error coins!!!

It's a blank that's missed being struck completely. They have the edge lettering put on them first and then they are struck. I have a 50p blank than is just a shaped blank with a raised rim.

That's always been my point of view too. But as it's such a specialist field, who can really judge that their prices are too high? They couldn't be disproved that £4.95 is not fair for 8x EII pennies etc etc. It's tough, but perhaps it's part of learning to be a coin collector. Buy a few Coincraft things, then learn where you can get geniunely rare coins for less!

Ha, look at this: http://www.curriemotors.com/ That's the US version, but same slogan they've used for 20+ years!

Yes, and I seem to remember that 'Currie Motors' A London car dealers used to advertise on Capital Radio in the 80's. Their slogan was 'Currie Motors...Nice People, to do business with'. Shame no one else lived near London or is old enough to remember that too. I don't think they're still going. Maybe they are, or maybe Lobel owns them too!

BU doesn't have to mean no bag marks or imperfections as far as I'm concerned. Everything else is pretty much what one expects in the Phoenix. I used to get sent them in the mid 90's, but I think they stopped sending them after I didn't ever want to buy anything.

Hello, I'm Chris

Eddie, Can you show me a picture of yours? Either here, or over email? cp@predecimal.com Bullion worth depends what fineness gold it is, should be somewhere between £200-£300. Just because it doesn't look sharp, may mean it's just a badly worn real one. Either way, I'd like to purchase it.

No it doesn't, becasue the fakes are always made of real gold, and a really very good one would be about right with the weight. I had an 1887 Fake £5 the other month, in the end I sold it as bullion. I once heard that the fakes have the wrong amount of rim millings, but I'm not sure what it's supposed to be! The quality of the strike is the most important thing. All remaining detail should be sharp without a slightly rough appearance.

A German Woman won gold in the womens Judo. Scary that.

I have seen late Victorian - early Elizabeth II Maundy money in official looking boxes, but it probably exists in official boxes around those dates.

They are the bane of the coin collecting scene! By the way HPJ, that Low tide is too expensive, you should hang on, you could probably even wait 3 years and pick one up cheaper.

Maybe Dr Nicolson had little respect for the Soho coins struck with the original dies when they were purchased and scrubbed up in the Victorian period. Not the modern 'fantasy' pieces that have been created with new dies.

You say that, and there's certainly nothing wrong with mine. It's interesting though, everyone I talk to in the trade says it's not that good, and they say that they pulled Lobel up on it too.

And he's a nice enough chap too. I saw him at the last London Coin fair and bought my Peck off him.

It was only about a tenner, and I think I got it on Amazon. I do use mine a little, mainly with Roman.

There is a Whitman book: 'Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins'. I've got it, and it's ok, but I find the language used hard to read 'easily'. I think most of the text was originally written in the 60's (although I could be wrong), and it's very very formal.