Chris Perkins

They are hard to come by, but the 1927 Proof sets are probably easier to get, containing the 3d. You'd have to really want one to pay that much! Mind you that one before Christmas did go a little crazy didn't it!

With the acorn reverse it has to be a proof, Spink 2003 says £40 in FDC (I have packed the 2004 at the moment). I wouldn't go over £20, if you can be assured it is UNC in every way and not dipped etc. By the way thanks for youe email (I assume it's you). I'll have to get back to you when I return from, the UK next week.

Gary, British coins before 1920 were .925 fine (92.5% pure) and that standard is known as 'Sterling'. Between 1920 - 1946 the coins were .500 fine. Then we had to pay you for your services rendered during WWII and the silver content was reduced to 0 in 1947! I believe most American (1964 and earlier) coins are .900 fine (90% pure).

Perhaps they give priority to people sending them cash! I'm afaid I've given up now, but thankyou for the first positive liberty street post.

Well I'm none the wiser.

The only time the currency was intrisic in relation to the metal value in the UK was 1797 for the Cartwheel coins, it has been a token coinage ever since. They are all promisory, and exchanged readily and hopefully nothing will go wrong here, but isn't it amazing when you see things going on in other places (particularly South America) where all of a sudden the bits of metal you had yesterday are worth a fraction of their value today. In a way the economy is propped up by worthless tokens. Imagine if everybody suddenly wanted to have all their money phsically, and to exchange it for gold or silver! The country would be destitute. I digress.

You're going to have trouble, and it sounds like you have the same problem as Sylvester. Start by selling me your doubles and you can't got wrong!

Well i'd give you bullion for it of course, how much is Mandy Moore, she certainly looks Extremely Fine, but is she uncirculated?

That's why you should only buy from reputable (specialist) sellers that offer a returns policy.

Yes, for a small coin, it's out of a lot of peoples reach. Work hard at school, get a good job and ask me in 7 years, maybe I'll still have it for you

Olli, Well yes, that is the default, and perhaps it's a little americanised, and grammatically incorrect (sometimes). If I ever have time to work out how to change it....And remember, then I will, just for you. You nitpicking pipsquek!

Paul: You're quite right, as a buyer of coins to sell on, I always think twice about buying scratched, flawed, unevenly toned etc coins, and like you won't touch polished coins, if I can avoid it, not even with your barge pole. A good example is the 1762 Half Guinea I bought from Forum member Dan. A nice VF but with a scratch on the obv (see it here: http://www.predecimal.com/forsale/other.htm). Now I would price it at least £800 normally and would expect a speedy sale. But due to the scratch I've put it up for £600, which is a very fair price, but I'm not sure it will go that quickly. William: Well, to justify the price I paid for it I really need at least £120.00 for it. That may not be possible right now, so I may lock it away until they get even rarer!

Yes, that's the one I got from ebay, from an Irishman selling on German ebay! You're right about rarities though, as they are sold so infrequently, the catalogues just reflect either a rough guess or an old sale that grabbed them by the troat. Lots of sales of this kind of thing get missed I'm sure. eBay is no doubt an important place to buy coins, but I still wish it didn't exist, for obvious reasons. Anyway, I've never seen another RRITANNIAR, and I'm on the look out for the BRITTANIAB 1858 now. In fact the young head Threepences are an interesting area, I have an 1856 threepence with an unusually small 1st 'A' in BRITANNIA, so who knows, perhaps there are other errors yet to be spoted in the series.

Exactly right! In Spink it's 'Extremely Rare' with no prices, and in ESC it's R3 (Extremely Rare). In this years coin yearbook it says £100 in VF, but it said £100 in VF back in 2000 too.

Notice anything unusual?

Well that's just it isn't it. I do get 30,000+ uniques a month, but that's nothing like ebay. Although you have to start somewhere, and perhaps a coin auction site that guaranteed accurate descriptions and no crap would prove popular.

Have a close look at this one

Well yes, it could imply that. But it is common ebay speak for 'a bargain' to imply the coin is a nice find...As if it was lost of missing from your life until you looked at that listing. You know, I'm thinking more and more about implementing a coin auction site, but perhaps at first just for my coins

Clueless, I mean why bother to state a grade, when you obviously have no idea how to grade coins.

Yes, and I hate the fact they chose the name 'Westminster' purely becasue it sounds official, as if they are based in Westminster and rub shoulders with important people. It gives them more credibility with novice collectors. Really they are in Watford and they sell items that are in plentiful supply (so mostly new items) at inflated prices! Anyway, this area is about ME!

I've looked at it too, thanks Geoff, and of course thanks Colin. I suppose the modern equivalent is the error 1983 2p....But of course the 1952 Half Crown is even far rarer than those!

Ebay has it's problems, but the sheer numbers of visitors make it worthwhile. That site you mentioned above didn't go anywhere for me.

Thankyou William, My views on the Westminster collection people are about equal to those on Coin craft.

Heart warming Geoff, I wonder if he'll ever sell it. I don't suppose he needs to. Do you know how he ended up with it?

No problem Oli, you keep me on my toes!