Chris Perkins

Technically it's a uniface lead 20p struck on very thick blank with no collar and with writen RM verification! Probably unique. I didn't get it for face value! I think I'll just hang onto it for the moment. I can picture and feature it in the next Check Your Change, although, like you say Del it is not really a coin as such but is certainly a pattern of sorts - part of the design process and an interesting insight into early 1980s coin production.

This one has to be worth a new topic. I'm back from England recently after doing a coin fair and buying some stuff. The highlight of the things purchased is this thick 1982 20p trial in lead. It comes with 2 latex impressions and a letter dated 1981 from the Royal Mint to William Gardner who was the designer of the 20p (and numerous other British/Commonwealth coins). Mr Gardner sadly passed away a few years ago and this was purchased from his son.

Or there's my book (Collectors' Coins GB) shown on amzon via the links below or the pictures above on the main forum page. It covers from 1797 onwards and is great value. Personally my instict says that you'd be lucky to raise £70-£100 for them (50p per coin average would be incredibly lucky). And, on rotographic.com near the bottom of the home page you can download the 2005 version of my book for free as a PDF....outdated, but better than nothing.

An obvious electrotype. I suspect if you look around the rim it will have the appearance of being 2 coins stuck together....because it is.

I visited a public toilet in France once and that seemed pretty third world. But even if the risk is with the purchaser, it doesn't stop them ripping the money out of your hands through paypal! I use common sense based on a mental value/place/buyer feedback/history with buyer equation, as to whether I send recorded or take a chance.

It's a fairly common problem with those (I mention it in my book Check Your Change). There are also other £1 and £2 that have problems with R's and certain other letters. I get contacted fairly often by people that have 1 or more of the PEMEMBEP coins. Unless it's in perfect condition it probably has no value over the face value. Either keep it as an interesting thing, or spend it.

I'll leave it on the item. In a few days it'll all be over and forgotten.

Always assume that all the coins are just worth a few pence each, because that is usually the case! Of all the coins that I get offered the majority cost more to post then they are worth. Any that break the £1 value barrier will be mini miracles. I wish I had £1 for every time someone has told me that the coins look to be in much better than average condition (particularly with the brass threepences) only to find that they are they usual average circulated £2-3, or 2p each in the case of pennies and all the normal dates of everything else (apart from pre 1947 silver of course). azda, I think it's wrong to ever mention 'quite a few pounds' in reply to a newbie, because it only gets them excited and in reality the H/KN coins in average condition are usually worth sub £1. I'm a cynic after years of doing this - but that's how it is.

I feel bad now, re-reading it! In my experience though if people are a bit 'off' over email etc, for example when customers ask where an order is and you can tell they're about to call the police and between the lines they call you a criminal, because you've 'got their money' and they've waited 3 days! I find simply being bitingly direct but not vulgar or rude (at least not openly) and above all honest, generally results in an apology and some groveling. Quite satisfying really. It's amazing how many upset customers I've turned into pussycats.

This bloke just got on my *&*s! How terribly inaccurate of me to put the word 'conder' in the title. He starts his correction by quoting me (see description and questions): http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180616704913 Is it just me taking it personally, or was that a bit anal?

Many thanks.

Not at all. You're welcome to promote the RCC and it's secret parking ceremonies, here.

I suspect everyone in the Western World is also the descendant of at least one Irishman!

Can you add me to your numismatic links page, Mr Reading Coin club? Perhaps a direct link to the forum and one to the main site?

Hang on. Del, you've got Hoolighan ancestors? Actually this inspired me to look at my genealogy records and investigate something.

Andy, sorry. It was me that zapped your account! I was trying to get rid of a flurry of spammers and I seem to have wiped out a real person by mistake. But you got back in, so that's good.

And you're complaining?! I can count my bullets on 2 fingers.

They must have inherited their unusual surnames owing to a strong trait of an ancestor! It's in the genes.

I can understand that. You don't want 12 year old friends when you're already 14 I think that unless you go barmy adding all the 3rd party apps (many of which can be malicious) then you're generally alright. Every couple of months someone in a 3rd world country wants to be friends, but that's improved too. I now have eleven 'likes', including me! It may be one of those things that goes viral and tomorrow I'll have 30,000 likes!

So that I don't look too much like a 30 something dinosaur I've created a facebadger page for predecimal.com There's nothing there yet and to be honest I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with it or if it will be a permanent thing. To encourage me, please 'like' it! Facebook There are also 'like' links from the home page and from the left hand pane of every (non forum) page. It will at least be a more 'live' extension of the email newsletters and may be inspiration for me to do and try new things. Push the boundaries of coin websites!

Yes, had that since the upgrade to the latest version. I have no idea how they get past it. I can only assume there is some poor Indian chap sitting in an internat cafe entering CAPTCHA's all day long. Or, innocent internet users are presented with fake CAPTCHA's (via trojan/viruses etc that look like they are part of websites) that are actually linked to web registrations for forums etc, without them knowing it. Then the spam bots do the rest. No idea! Perhaps someone has developed software that can read them.

Oh my giddy aunt. Those were accounts that were created before I added the question. It seems they can now get around the CAPTCHA wierd text character input, but they really shouldn't be able to get around the question. I thought about banning certain email accounts, but there are also genuine people that use the free email accounts (gmail is the spammers favourite).

Sorry, didn't notice that. Should all be gone now? Every day about 25 spam accounts fail to get in (i.e. become members). It's a constant battle. I have a feeling that the spam bots are targeting websites more than peoples email these days.

Where? I thought I'd zapped everything. Point me at it.

By way of a further attempt to prevent spam bots registering and posting, I have now added an additional feature to the registration process. All new members are presented with the question: 'What sex is your biological father?' No computer is currently clever enough to read/understand that and correctly respond. And, should a clever one be invented in the future, we all know computers can't lie and don't have fathers, so that should stop them in their tracks either way! In fact, to go one further: I hope the concept of artificial intelligence deliberating on whether or not it has a biological father may cause a meltdown and stop spamming forever - and that would probably qualify me for a Nobel Peace prize.