Chris Perkins

That'll never make MS65 with that massive deep scar on Her Maj!

Or, even better, the 2005 edition of my Collectors' Coins GB is in the public domain, at the bottom part of this page: http://www.rotographic.com/ Is a link with the name Collectors' Coins Great Britain 2005. That is the book as a PDF file. The 2008 edition is now available as a printed book, but it isn't free!

I've probably got over 40, but like you say, they're usually a bit battered. Most of them came in rolls and regardless of what way around the coins were, they always seem to rub each other! I'll have a look for a really special one.

Before 1860 they were copper (quite high purity I believe but obviously not 100% pure). After 1860 they were made of bronze. 1860 to 1923 they were 95% copper, 4% tin and 1% zinc with slight variations. From 1923 to 1942 the composition was fixed at 95.5% copper, 3% tin and 1.5% zinc. 1942 to 1945 they were 97% copper, 0.5% tin and 2.5% zinc. In 1945 they reverted to the pre 1942 composition and in 1959 they switched to the 1942 to 1945 composition, which was used right into decimalisation. (Source: The Bronze Coinage of Great Britain, Michael J Freeman)

Even under those circumstances I wouldn't link to them. I'd only link to them if they stop behaving like 'Westminster Collection' and start behaving like the Royal Mint again.

The lights light up when you push the Corvette logo and the affect is 'breath-taking'. Those Americans always have to go one better don't they! We normally take a little while to catch and I can't wait for the Triumph TR7 £2 coin with tiny pop up headlamps that pop out when you rub the Queens nose! Hang on, this year is the 33rd Anniversary of the Introduction of the TR7, I think I'll suggest it as a 2008 design.

The Royal Mint, one of the worlds most established minter of coins seems to need links from private coin dealers such as www.predecimal.com. I assume this is so that that they might be able to sell more of those wonderful modern commemorative items that they produce for Sunday paper 'collectors' and not to mention those lovely re-packaged and overpriced older items that they sometimes source. The disclaimer on the email states that the message is for the addressee only, so at the risk of getting into trouble by copying and pasting it, I will summarise the contents of said email: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We feel the content of our website may appeal to the visitors of your website. We would be willing to provide you with information that may be of further interest to your visitors (I assume that probably means info about new issues, or quite possibly even adverts for the RM disguised as info). We have provided a copy of the code to place on your website to provide a link to us. Please contact XXXXXX if you need any further information, bla bla (no mention if them providing a reciprocal link in return). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So I asked if a reciprocal link would be provided in return, which is generally the rule for cross linking websites in order to improve search engine ranking, otherwise it's like asking someone to give you something for nothing: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear XXXXXX, Would the link be returned from the RM in my direction? Chris Perkins www.predecimal.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To which the reply was along the lines of: Unfortunately the Royal Mint cannot offer reciprocal links at the moment. Right. To which I replied: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear XXXXXX, In that case, I won't bother if you don't mind. Nothing personal, but it's only fair that websites linking to each other to improve search engine rankings both play their part. I must say though that it does look a little 'Mickey Mouse' that the RM, one of the worlds oldest minter of coins and a relatively well respected institution is punting around sniffing out private websites or coin dealers (with good search engine rankings) just to try and get them to link to them, without offering a return link! In recent years it has become quite clear that the Royal Mint need to create coins for 'collectors' as well as doing their original job of making coins to spend. I appreciate you are a business but you have the very important 'Royal' in your title, so was the Queen asked about this new marketing strategy?? Chris Perkins www.predecimal.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What just happened there!!?? Did the ROYAL MINT just ask me to link to them in order to improve their exposure online?? For me this raises a few questions: Is it right that the nation's Royal Mint should need to ask private businesses to link to them? Does that not lower them to the level of a schoolboy's blog? Can you imagine any other official or semi official body doing the same? Is the RM not funded by the taxpayer?

I saw a Scandinavian auction site once where the system extended the length of the Auction automatically by something like 30 seconds whenever anyone placed a bid in the last 10 seconds, or something like that, I can remember the exact times involved. That put a stop to all sniping. I'm in 2 minds about sniping. As a seller it's great to see the price of an item shoot up in the last seconds. As a buyer it is of course frustrating to loose something by the next increment in the last seconds.

That's a George III halfpenny. 1806 is a pretty common date in average condition.

Are you in America then? It might be quicker to pack them up and send them to me. Other members here will vouch for my trustworthiness, and if you have no interest in them it could eat into your time sorting them out, and you may find at the end of it that they have little worth. Anything I buy is either bought for 60% of how I price it, or in the case of coins not of good enough standard to be sold to collectors I always pay face value or scrap value (which can mount up with silver coins) whichever is higher. Actually I received a parcel just now containing scrap silver coins, should be about £250 worth I think.

She looks an utter dog in that! I'm sure I remember her being pretty in real life. The Queen looks odd too. What a load of complete rubbish. A crappy coin issued for 80 families on a tiny island near South Africa. Just in case anyone doesn't already know: This coin is not legal tender anywhere, it's just a novelty item. Don't buy it!

Thanks very much.

Yes it would be good if you could post them to me: Firma Chris Perkins Hauptstrasse 33 Burkhardtsdorf 09235 GERMANY (send them via Airsure, insured up to say £200 just in case) If you like I can reply in here with my offer, and I'll send payment (once agreed) as either BACS or a cheque.

Impossible to say as each would have to be judged individually. Even if all are 'Uncirculated' there are still other factors that affect the values. They could each be worth from £5 to £30 each or even a bit more. If they are all high grade though they would be perfect for me to buy and put on this website. I always look at each coin individually and make an offer based on how I price then for sale.

You'll have to arrange an appointment with the BM, convincing them first that you're a genuine numismatist before they'll show you round and let you see specific things. It's not too difficult though.

That's interesting. I didn't know Krause did such a thing. They seem to be following Rotographic's lead in offering their books as ebooks, with the major difference that the Krause series would be too large to offer as a download so it has to be offered on DVD. It looks like a fair enough price especially with the weak dollar. As long as you can live with the odd omission and error here and there.

Which, I may add is an island with 80 families and no more than 7 different surnames. I had someone contact me with a Queens birthday crown and he wondered why he couldn't sell it. It was silver but had been gold plated and had rubies stuck to it! He thought it was British but the giveaway was the 'TDC FIVE POUNDS' in the legend. AVIOD ALL LONDON MINT ITEMS, they just sell non collectable worthless junk. They are not in any way connected to the Royal mint, much as they like to pretend they are.

Yes, £70 is pretty fair, I wouldn't offer much more unless everything was as new with attractive tone matched coins and a perfect box. My dad was born in 1950 too. Actually what an excellent idea for his next birthday! I'll match the £70 and pay your postage!

Interesting poll ginger, but does it really have much of a point? Is this not something for the ebay laughs thread where we often point out unrealistic and pointless ebay listings?

Low issue numbers are relative. You have to ask yourself if 100 people really could not live without a 1993 Cayman Islands gold proof 250 dollar coin for example? There may be some people that wouldn't mind such a coin, but the chances are you'd have a hard job finding 100 people willing to give you more than gold value (plus say 5%) for it. And without that demand, the value stays low. Perhaps in 50 years it'll be different, but then in 50 years gold should theoretically be a bit higher too. The UK coin would probably be of higher value if there were only 100 of them, but they made 2500 so again, are there 2500 people that really really want that particular coin? Enough to pay even £50 or £100 over gold value I mean. Regarding sovereigns I may well be interested. You'll see I've listed some gold coins here: http://www.predecimal.com/coins-sale-gold-items-c-51_88.html So I could do with some more, preferrably Geo V or earlier and higher grades if you have any that fit that description. I also work with a pretty well known UK gold coin dealer. Perhaps you could PM me with details.

Why don't we ask Aidan what term he would use! Long term members will remember Eliza, I beleive she worked in a library in a US university so had access to interesting info....I scared off and she never came back. All I did was ask if she was a lesbian when I found out after sending something to her that she lived with another female. She obviously was but hadn't come to terms with it. Anyway, all are welcome regardless of sexuality, race etc. There are even some pretty old codgers on here, the kind that only B & Q will employ these days

There are collections, and there are collections! People confuse 'accumulations' with 'collections'. I have a few mins so I'll try to explain what I see as the difference. EXAMPLE 1: A collection of British silver could be all the coins issued by the 'Westminster Collection' since 1997 (I generally remind people at this point that the so called Westminster Collection are nowhere near Westminster and that the 'London Mint Office' much as they try to make you think otherwise, are nothing to do with the Royal Mint). Such a 'collection' will just include new coins, all shiny, all in capsules or special packaging. Such an accumulation requires no talent, no searching, you just send your hard earned cash away and in return you get something that in your lifetime your unlikely to be able to sell for what you paid for it! Example 1, is what I would call an accumulation and is usually put together by people trying to speculate. EXAMPLE 2: A collection could be 25kg of coins taken out of circulation in the 60s. All worn and worth scrap value. The scrap value may be significant but it doesn't really make it of much interest to a coin collector. Again, no skill involved. Lots of people heard about 'H' date pennies so they kept stacks of them before decimal pennies came along. Often there are collectable coins in such accumulations, but mostly it takes more time sorting them that the collectable ones are worth. Example 2 is also an accumulation and I bet that such accumulators were also speculative (i.e. the accumulators thought that the coins may be worth something one day). EXAMPLE 3: A 'proper collection' i.e a carefully selected range of coins chosen because of something significant about them, be it date, condition, type or just something that took the collectors eye. Such a collection is usually sorted into some kind of order and can be worth just a few pounds or hundreds of thousands of pounds, but such a collection is so much more than the 2 types of accumulations mentioned above. The collector's personality and determination are measured by the collection and the financial worth is always a secondary concern. The collection is of highest importance and great pleasure is gained in the quest to add to the collection. Unfortunately, 99% of the people that offer me coins to buy fall into EXAMPLES 1 and 2! That reminds me....has anyone got any coins to sell me? You know what I like best, Geo III up to Geo VI in better than average conditions (i.e. the collectable grades). Anyone with doubles? I'm so low after good sales in the past month or so.

I like the term British Foreign best! Hello silver, nice to have a girl here. In the past I've scared some girl members away (at least 1, probably 2!), hopefully I'll not do so in your case.

If they were mine I'd take gold value for them, with gold being so high at the moment. A couple of the less obscure ones (e.g the UK one and the NZ one) may be easier to sell for a bit more than bullion, but in my opinion it's not worth the bother and the wait. You'd have no trouble finding someone to give you bullion value for them in an hour or less.

I don't think there are enough serious collectors of each denomination to warrant that. Many members here also collect more than one denomination and I like to think they enjoy butting in on most subjects!