Chris Perkins

Yes, you're right I have stupidly mentioned the value at the time of writing and have not mentioned the weight. I'll do that in the next one.

Who will be publishing it and what's it about? I'l PM you about the numbering!

Aidan Work, I see you just registered and posted a couple of times under the name 'BC Numismatics'. I don't care what you're called, you're a narrow minded rascist extremist bigot and you bring nothing but shame and cringe-worthy embarrassment to me and other members regardless if they happen to be members of the British commonwealth or not. No 2nd chances, you were banned before and you're still not welcome here.

He could have been hung like a donkey for all I know! With all those dastedly spikes and the ability to roll up into a ball it was impossible for even the vet to tell us what he was.

I think that's basically what I was saying! And if Igor was male then perhaps he has small sons and daughters in the garden now, even though they may have already out-lived him.

I don't quite know if he was really recovered, his leg hung around without doing much and he couldn't navigate. I'm not entirely sure if he was fit for the wild. However I think it was morally more correct that he had a friend/partner and that even if only for a short time, he was able to be with his own kin instead of fenced off.

I've been asked by a forum member about how little Igor is getting on, so here's an update: We had him in a pen in the garden with an upturned box and some foliage as shelter (until he was ok to go it alone). We used straw as bedding but changed that after he kept walking in circles and getting it twisted around his legs. In fact one evening he was in a right tangle and had cut off the circulation to one of his legs and it was very swollen. After that the leg never really worked properly again! He was always active at night and always ate all his cat food and cat biscuits, which was encouraging. He still had big problems navigating but was able to move about quite quickly when he wanted to. One evening we went out to feed him and were amazed to see him with his nose poking through the chicken wire, very eager to escape his enclosure. The reason for this sudden lust for freedom scampered under a bush on the 'free' side of the fence! It was another hedgehog (about the same size), but a less tame one. We retreated and the other hedgehog came to the fence again and they rubbed noses some more. We left some food and the free hedgehog scampered off again. This time Igor really really wanted to join his new friend and was hyperactively trying to get under the wire, over the wire, through the wire, anything to limp off into the dusk with his own kind. At one stage he got himself stuck between the wire and a tree which was used as a fence post (having spikes that grow in one direction make it difficult to reverse in tight spaces). So, I got some pliers, cut the wire and let him free. He caught up with his friend under some wood and in torch light we could see them together, sort of sniffing each others arses and walking around in circles together with plenty of mutual nose rubbing. He looked happy, in fact he looked like a she in comparison to the other one who had a much more masculine face. I went back to remove any sharp bits of wire and Igor ventured out from under the planks of wood and allowed me to stroke his/her nose for the last time before returning to his/her cautious friend. We watched them for a little while but then they went further under the wood and we never saw them again.

I've got about 160 fake coins in my collection, ranging from hammered Scottish fakes right through the early milled period, lots of George III and some fake gold/silver Victorian and later (including fakes made of good gold) right up to about half a dozen modern fake £1 coins. And I've got some Irish, Spanish and 1 German 19th century fakes. Have you seen this, I worte this ages ago: http://www.predecimal.com/british_coin_forgeries.php Unfortunately none of them are for sale! I've heard about £2 fakes but never seen one. I've also come across the large 50p types as forgeries but none of the modern smaller ones.

The road sweeper vehicles here are RHD. And of course the roadsweeper vehicles in England are LHD.

I think you'd probably pay more than it's worth on the shipping! I have 3 RHD cars in LHD Germany. There's really no difference, if your confident enough to drive big cars, it doesn't matter where the steering wheel is.

I thought I ought to mention this here, in case it's of use to anyone (if so, I'll remove it from eBay). It's a tidy metallic blue Volvo 440i that I found in Berlin. The car is standard UK spec RHD and now re-registered on an M-reg. It will be sold with a full MOT. Details on eBay here: <a href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=180226324187" target="_blank">http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180226324187&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008</a>

They've been busy haven't they! I was perhaps a bit naive back then (and let down by Western Union assurances). Since then I can usually smell a rat and have often googled names and addresses/emails of potential fraudsters (usually buyers) and found them to be listed on similar name and shame websites. For high value transactions from new customers I also often ask over email for them to confirm their identity by sending a scan of a passport or similar and calling me. Usually when a buyer calls you it's easy to tell if he's a real collector, and I've yet to have a fraudster call or willingly send ID! As for sellers, I always say that I need to see the item before I send any money. Not only for my own peace of mind but simply because it's only 100% accurate to value a coin when you have it in the flesh. I can usually persuade people to send me things (to the London address is easier as some people go all funny at the thought of sending something to a potential 'Johnny Foreigner' in Germany, which I think is just as safe as sending within the UK)! The website presence and style seems to re-assure people. And for any potential coin sellers reading this, if the items are high value I can often visit you.

That's scrap brass and I find I can't even give away circulated brass 3d's! Are you thinking of bidding? If so I hope you're not from Nigeria. The seller obviously has a problem sending worthless junk to Nigeria!

I've moved this to the unlisted variety section, to remind me to put mention it in the next book.

This just caught my eye: ebay item: 120236101580 It's a 1937 coin which is apparently nearly 100 years old! Starts at £7.99 and postage is £8.00.

Interesting, I expect it's worth more than face value, but somehow it's not spectacular enough to be my kind of error. Recent £2 coins seem to be quite prone to errors.

Or an oven at a low heat? Might be a bit extreme. I always find that a bloody sharp whack on a hard but slightly padded surface does the trick.

On the Saint George side on the ground below the horses front right hoof is sometimes a mint letter. If no letter is there then they were minted in London (which is usually the most common mint). If you do have a letter there are a few different ones: C = Canadian Royal Mint M = Melbourne P = Pretoria S = Sydney SA = South Africa (but won't apply to your dates) I = Inida (but also won't apply to your dates)

You'd get the most for them individually but it may end up taking more time and trouble than they're worth. That's what coin re-housing agents like me are for! I'm in London from the 29th for about a week, then it's back to Germany until April/May.

Post a picture of the £2 coin if you can. I've been known to pay up to £60 for really lairy £2 errors. Thanks for buying the Roman book. It's not as advanced as some, but is a great inexpensive intro.

Hello Carl, The Forumancient coins website it good for identification, so is Wildwinds. Like Red Riley recommended, if you want something easier on the eye that you can curl up on the sofa with, my 2 inexpensive Roman books (£5.95 each and you could probably start with base metal as the majority of uncleaned coins are usually not silver) are also excellent for identification and a little background info.

I'll vouch for you, but only if you sell what you don't want to me!

I'd take all that you've listed so far and pay a fair price (based on the silver/condition). I can't remember the last time I had to send something back to a private vendor (that's why I always get some details first to judge the potential). It's very easy and painless and you can of course send them insured, but there's really no pressure! I've arranged a couple of good buy-ins recently, mainly from private vendors, but also from a few of the regular forum members here. In a couple of weeks I'm going to view what sounds like over £2000 worth of pre 1947 silver coins and someone else with 7 sovereigns. Both those are more local and should keep me busy for a while!

That's not a bad amount of silver, it would certainly be worthwhile selling them. Some of them may be good enough for me to sell individually and for those I'd offer a bit more (dependant on my selling price, which depends exactly how good they are). The 1826 coin is either a shilling or a sixpence, depending on the size! The non silver coins may also have a value too, but usually the bulk of the worth is in the silver coins. Would you be willing to send them insured to a London address? So far there isn't enough value to warrant a visit.

The sizes in mm are usually much more useful than the descriptions, as they are often very similar for different coins. The first is a half crown if it's 32mm and the latter is a crown if it's about 39mm and thicker.