Chris Perkins

Rich, it looks like you ordered your Standard Guide to Grading British Coins over predecimal.com, is that correct? I tried to track one down, but wasn't successful! I'm going to have to refund you I'm afraid. The eBook version is available, if that helps at all? (as epub or mobi via Amazon)

All excellent information to help me iron out the buggers for next time!

Bugger.

I had a unique lead pattern 1982 20p which was sent to the designer with RM letter dated Nov 1981. Based on that and the price it sold for, I don't think there is a chance of unique decimals raising much more than £1000 - £2000. The main reason is because the demand isn't there and nor are the collectors with the money, compared to the older material. The coins don't have any kind of almost mythical status like 1933 pennies and American rarities etc either, and possibly never will. Maybe in a couple of generations that will be different, and there are always people that seem to be able to afford and gladly pay well over the odds! With the gold 50 pees though, err, they are unique, but there are 29 of the bloody things! 29 unique 50 pees, each with a design as quickly bodged together as the next. The RM do produce very limited numbers of platinum crowns with mintage of sometimes just 150 pieces. They seem to 'sell' (assuming anyone actually buys them) for about £6400 each! Who on earth buys them? Seriously, where are the people that buy them? Anyone here ever bought one? Anyone know anyone that knows someone that has bought one? Perhaps they go to museums or into collections of super-rich people. Which is odd, because normally super-rich people are quite clever and would probably invest in platinum by buying it much closer to the bullion value. It would interest me how many of the 150 they actually sell, as the mintages the RM quote are usually maximum mintages. The expensive ones like that are made on demand. From experience, I find that the people that collect modern coins don't actually have any idea about coins and they don't usually have much money either. They have a subscription with the RM, they get them in the post and put them in drawer after looking at them once. Then they die and the coins get inherited by someone who contacts me, and I tell them that they are just worth the bullion value (which is often more than the pre 2000s coins cost because, luckily gold/silver has gone up quite a bit in that time), despite the fact that the original clueless purchaser paid 3x the then bullion value for them!

Looks a bit spammy to me. Are you real national-coin-depository?

Bugger!

Speak for yourself Dave. I'm a sophisticated coin re-ownership agent. Should be ok now. Is it?

Well that's just utter *&££&!%( isn't it! Have replaced the main infected file and my super hosting chap is looking into it.

There were other infected files on the server! The whole website has now been restored to the last good backup. The database was unchanged so that should mean that the posts/orders etc should have all remained intact. It should look fine now on every browser. As far as I can see, the hack was just malware - adverts, search engine promotion etc. Nothing harmful.

Could it be that due to the Russian incident that the cache of buttons, images etc has gone wrong? Is there a way you can do a proper hard re-fresh of the site so that it builds up the forum related things from scratch? I'm at a loss without a apple device. The file that was compromised is still in original proper state.

How is the forum now on apple devices? I found a file that had been manipulated to include a load of *&^£ and it looks like that was causing it. I'll ask my hosts tomorrow how on earth changing that file was possible.

There are various reports of Safari re-directing to Russian sites, but nothing current or in the last few weeks. Big coincidence that it's happening to a few people. Is there another way to look at websites that doesn't involve Safari of the IBP app? I assume that when apple device users access any website, it must first go through apple servers to access the others? If the apple servers somehow have the wrong dns information for predecimal.com, then it may well resolve to the wrong site. Another way to the same place is: http://www.british-coins.com/forum/ (sometimes that will re-direct to predecimal.com/forum/ , which probably doesn't help. Does it happen to all pages on predecimal.com and not just on the forum. e.g. if you try http://www.predecimal.com/selling_coins.php

Yes, someone else reported this earlier. I don't have any Apple devices either to check with. It sounds like it's a Safari problem though. Can apple users google the issue to see if it's happening with other sites....other forums for example. If it isn't, then I suppose it's possible that there has been some code inserted somewhere on predecimal.com that re-directs to the Russian, just for apple users. I'll look into it.

Exbrit is now 'fixed' with a manual email containing the epub file.

I know someone who knows the niece of Roger Waters. Those are the circles I move in.

I once had a girlfriend who's dad was in the same class as one of Deep Purple. You can't trump that!

I'll be releasing a new book soon called "Collector's Wives" (and girlfriends). I need help again with pictures. All grades and ages accepted - raw with natural toning is best.

Good good. Dad posted them from London and he's not the quickest. Del: I haven't even looked at what images I have myself (as most tend to be scans and I prefer photos). I've got a 1770s farthing, both types of 1787 6d and of course the late GIII guinea based denominations are already in so I don't need those.

Maybe the RCM contracts the Chinese to make the originals (to save money) and that's how they are able to release their own versions so quickly! Modern issues are 90% awful. Nearly every aspect is ghastly, from the desperately chosen themes to the design and production, to the marketing, to the poor innocents that buy them. There you are, I've said it now. In Check Your Change I publish a book all about something I have grown to hate. I'm seriously thinking of starting a Boycott Modern Issues campaign, promoting true coin collecting!

It's bad all-round! It's no secret that the new issues they produce are in the main, not even a bit collectable (shock-horror if you've just realised that), at least not in the sense that they have some potential to hold their value over the long term or in the sense that they are well executed pieces of numismatic art. Profit profit profit, that's all it's about. It's not about the coins and the (too) many things they commemorate, it's not about encouraging young potential collectors to get into coins (and often they progress to proper coins) it's simply about making as many different coins as possible and selling them for as much as possible. Every year they find an anniversary of something or other to commemorate for the first time! In the last few years there were always complaints about the prices and complaints about the RM's rather frugal wholesale discount terms, but at least people had a choice as to where they bought the products. Not any more. You buy from the RM and only the RM and you pay whatever they ask or you don't buy anything. I'd strongly recommend the second option.

Careful the wind doesn't change.

Just an update: Printed books ordered direct from me should go out Monday. Amazon are still showing it as 'out of stock' because they are there in limbo waiting with the 400 other pallets to be checked in! They do have stock, they just don't know it yet. On Amazon another seller has stock and is offering them a bit cheaper (currently).

I've currently got one on German ebay. http://www.ebay.de/itm/201007696242?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649 It doesn't have to be EUR250.00 and I can send fully insured to GB.

I'd take all of those, but may not use them all (they could all come in handy at some point). The Victorian images I was referring to were the drawings in England's Striking History (hammered coins), which were taken from old Victorian books with expired copyright.

Show me where Peter and I'll join in if it's other forums and such like. Thanks for the images Colin. Re hammered: there is of course England's Striking History, which is really a general intro to the coins and the history around them, but if anyone wants to help replace the Victorian drawings used in the book, with real pics of actual coins then I'm all ears. We could even add some prices. I'm still waiting for Sylvester to contact me. Years ago he started a price guide book on early milled and I'd like to get that finished, too.