Chris Perkins

Avatar instructions by Bob: http://www.predecimal.com/forum/index.php?...ct=ST&f=30&t=41

People come and go, I think he'll be back. Actually, I must send a mass email via the forum software just to remind people we're here, and impress them with the forum statistics. I think that should help bring people back that may have forgetten they registered.

Well you never know, perhaps the odd American/Australian, I have no idea what the time differences are.

Oh yes, Geoff knows everything ;-) Although perhaps even Geoff may have a problem with a banknote...I don't think he's into those.

I think it sounds contemporary (c 1850 - 70) and it sounds like it features Queen Victoria and all her children. I would think it's unlikely to be modern because of the 'Empress of India' title. I know that her children married into all of those Royal European families and as the fact that is no longer very significant today, again leads me to believe that it is contemporary. Perhaps Geoff is familiar with it?

Perhaps it was given out in the 60's to mark 100 years since Nova Scotia became part of Canada. I'm pretty sure I could put a rough date on it from the style and quality if I could see a picture.

My web/db hosts have informed me that the SQL server will be down for an upgrade, 2am - 5am on March 31st. This will affect just the forum. The rest of the website will behave normally. As most of us are on GMT or European time, and are unlikely to be online between those times, hopefully it will go un-noticed.

Well isn't that interesting, a British note with some kind of Arabic (unless i'm very much mistaken) counter stamping. I have never seen one, and have no idea exactly where it was used. I have little to do with notes, so that isn't suprising.

I wish my hair was still that thick! It's just as long, if not longer than Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, but unfortunatley it's receeding and I'm having trouble holding my dignity. Luckily when I do my monthly radio programme the webcam in the studio is mounted behind me!

Always assume that it's common enough for no-one to care! Even if it's very rare, perhaps one of only 100 made, you still need a healthy demand for it to be worth anything more than curiosity value. I'm sure there would be a small demand in Canada, particularly Nova Scotia, but I can't imagine it to be the kind of item that collectors cannot live without. And of course the condition will play the most important part. In mint condition with full lustre i'm sure it will be highly collectable. But then, I could be wrong, because I am in no way involved with the Canadian scene.

Then perhaps it is a medal, commomorating the entrance of Nova Scotia as a proper part of Canada. I think that is probably very likely. So perhaps it is some kind of medal, and not a coin at all!

I can't find anything that matches your description in the Canadian sections of Krause World coins or Krause North America. Perhaps it is some kind of merchants token, or even a forgery attempt. I don't have a great deal of experience with Canadian coins.

Probably because it's a funny URL with ?'s and php extentions.

Daniel, Make a scan of it and send it to Richard Varnham through www.coinsforsale.co.uk. I sometimes think that what he doesn't know about hammered coins, simply isn't worth knowing! Be nice to him, he'll help you quicker if you want to sell it!

It all depends on how much someone would pay for it. I suppose I'd probably price it at a Fiver, but you never know it could go crazy on the open ebay market. I'd be please to give it a go for you with my ebay id if you want.

Yeah, the coins rubbish, but how much for the picture?! (I don't know if the coin really is rubbish, that was a joke!)

Hmm, that is bad. Just like the 1821 Half Crown I had a while back. You'll probably find the pin parts have been put on with silver, so you have very little chance of getting them off without leaving horrible stains or even worse behind. If it's solder or lead, they'll come off maybe even with a soldering iron, but you'll still end up with stains left behind.

I think you should re photograph/scan it, either the forum software has a problem or the image is corrupt.

What amazing pictures! I couldn't even recognise any of that as a Cartwheel coin! Condition is king, so, value is probably low. Perhaps it's a fake Cartwheel coin, generally the real ones stay circular.

I have a later dated 'gold' Spanish forgery that is copper plated with a gold wash, and I know that Spain was another country plagued with forgery. If it's gold coloured, i'd say it's either gold, or gold coin forgery!

I think perhaps there is still a general stigma attached to coin collecting/dealing. People think it's boring and well, perhaps even a bit nerdy. I'm lucky enough to have a girlfriend that really seems to like helping me sort through coins and she even puts them on eBay using her id in German for me. People that are not interested in coins are always very nice and creepy to us when they find a coin they want to know about!

Please do, I know it's hard to scan something that isn't flat though.

Very dodgy ground, I had a GVF 1821 Half Crown once with 2 huge brooch marks on the back. If they are lead, you may be able to melt them off, but anything you do will affect the coin adversely. (Heating it up will probably speed up oxidisation and turn it unnaturally dark). The value with that kind of thing depends exactly what it looks like, and basically how much the potential owners want it.

A Chinese chap once contacted me, keen to show me the results of ultrasonic cleaning. He worked in the jewellery trade and showed me some interesting before and after pictures of a Chinese coin (that I can't find now!). It certainly looked more pleasing than if it had been polished/whizzed/cleaned, but it still look kind of artificial. Saying that though, I don't really know how high grade natural toned Chinese coins are supposed to look. He suggested I could send him some coins for him to clean. I believe he was genuine, but he said that the post where he was was very insecure, so nothing became of it.

It absolutely is Coin collecting! Pretty much anything made of metal that could be spent somewhere at some stage, is a coin. The Sheffield tokens you are refering to are know as either just 19th Century regional tokens or 'Condor tokens'. They were issued by factories, merchants, rich people etc to be used locally as small change, and when you'd saved enough you could usually exchange them at a certain place (often stated on them) for regal 'proper' money. Small change was very short at that time and the issuers got free advertising out of it, as well as making a profit on the ones that never found their way back! They didn't actually contain metal to the value of one penny/halfpenny/farthing. After the so called Great recoinage in 1816 they were phased out and made illegal not long after. In fact they were never actually legal, they just were not illegal!