Edward

Ok, so I've been keeping my nose in my Spink too much! You know I have both the 1820-date and the Geo III.

I started collecting with my father when I was four or five, so about 45 years ago. I have all his coins now, except for the ones my mother kept, and I got her started collecting British after my father died last year. She's a real Anglophile with a growing collection of sixpences. She's getting a William III for Mother's Day (coming up on Sunday) which will pre-date her Anne.

I really like early milled myself, there is something about the combination of handwork and the early technology that really appeals to me. You can see that a coin was made, and it's more robust than hammered. But I have got an interest in all British, and you can understand a certain attraction for me to all the Edwards.

Out of all the US coins, my son Michael likes dimes especially. He just likes the size. I can't remember what all he has in his collection pre-Merc, but dimes always attract his eye.

Oli, I had no idea about the variations on the 1953 1/4d. You are a wizard. Is there some Farthing Bible you can refer me to?

Can I change my vote? I put in "other reason" thinking about history, art, etc, but it's really all for the fun of it. I'm Tom's obsessive nerd brother--I also tick off my types. I agree with Chris, let's not even think about the tax implications. I don't want to have to find out what a capital losses form is all about.

My apologies Sylvester.

Yes, I started out over 40 years ago collecting American, but have concentrated more recently on British as so much history is on display in these coins, they are much easier to obtain in higher grades, and the engraving is much more interesting for me. There are also more types in British than in American, even over the same length of time, which makes a type set more interesting for me than an American type set. My children all also collect American, though it is only my oldest who really concentrates on them.

Everything has its price. The question is, how much money would you need to have in the bank to feel able to part with a sufficient some to pry those suckers loose?

Tom, is that the other side of the Chas shilling I saw on here before? Without knowing what the other side of the coin is like of course it's hard to tell; but judging from the reverse legend alone I would say it's a weak strike and GVF or a little better. From the legend alone I would say aEF, but I suspect that we have already seen the obverse, and the strike is not centered. How do you grade it? Like Chris has said, hammered is like another language, and a point system won't translate into that, witness the example of the Stephen penny we had from Oli (I think). Even for early milled, a point system would have to be adapted to individual types, though I think it could work there. If you have the American ANA grading guide you will see where it works well; but American is all modern milled. In grading American the points (how are they assigned, anyway?) are a short-hand means to differentiate among the major grades, as Americans don't work with as many letters as British do. Particularly troubling for me is the assignment of British coins into the 11 grades of "Mint State" (MS-60 to MS-70) as these distinctions are valid only for collectors familiar with the fine divisions involved between the grades. At the end of the day though it's all still a matter of judgement, an art rather than a science, and a guide to the collector more important in helping him decide whether he will acquire a certain coin at a particular price. He knows whether he wants a coin by looking at it; but is he going eventually to be able to persuade someone else to buy it from him at the price he paid for it? If he doesn't care, he will buy the coin just because he likes it. I have paid substantially more than book value for one or two coins because they were just so unbelievably beautiful.

Oli is right, these are definitely Swedish. They are from the coinage of 1874-1905, and are denominations of öre, hundredths of a krona. The "crowned boxed 2" is the royal monogram of Oscar II, reigned 1872-1907.

As far as I know, these Statehood Quarters are colorized privately. They're very pretty in a kitschy sort of way, and thank goodness none of my children is drawn to them! There must be some kind of enamelling process involved, but I am pretty ignorant of the mechanics of these things.

I think any grading system can be good if it is used honestly and consistently. The advantage as far as I can see in American grading is that standard guides with verbal descriptions and illustrative photographs have been very thoroughly worked through, and if you follow those descriptions strictly you will grade American coins well. Such a guide is also easier to compile for American because of the limited number of types. The difficulty with American grading is that there are just too many people around who grade on the Wish System, and a coin labelled MS-60 may really be AVF. I have to learn again and again not to take a stated grade as anything except a caution.

I should add that my children have very different tastes in coins than I do. My son Michael, 14, is putting together (1) a very good type set of US coins and (2) mintmark types. He bought a 1996 US mint set because it has a seldom W mintmark dime (for West Point). Christopher, 13, collects Dutch (his mother is Dutch), coins with holes (yes, that is an articulated specialty) and has started getting serious about currency, which is as foreign to me as cheesemaking. Katherine, 11, has "Katherine's Coin Zoo", for reasons you can surmise, and particularly favors proof silver. I guess proof silver is the diamond of the coin world. And of course I help them all with their collecting, though not everything; so if I were a millionaire they'd no doubt see a bump up in their collections.

Oli, you would have to buy that double eagle from me. Apart from that, I would put together a really excellent type set of British coins. I had offered to me a very very lovely Henry VIII angel a couple weeks ago, somewhere around GVF, and this just the latest example of what I've had to pass up. Life is tough.

PM, I collect mainly British, though any world coin with character will catch my eye. I have been really concentrating on British for a little while now, putting together types. I will even add the occasional US coin in good enough grade.

I recently had a later Vic YH unc farthing in my hands, with full lustre, and it looked made yesterday. It's hard to believe that a coin can retain that much of its original appearance after such a long time.

I had actually no idea of the use of color and holograms. What coins are examples of that?

Are you referring to my reply to Marigold Dubois? Maybe you put your finger on the reason that, for all intents and purposes, I stopped collecting US. Apart from the numismatic resurrection of the dead, which I find a questionable practice, the portraiture work on the US coins is becoming more and more stylized, and I see Britain following suit; so perhaps it's just as well that we pre-decimalites don't have to include the latest coinage in our collections.

I find the Swiss most like the Americans in their coinage. Because they have lacked a monarchy from the word Go, their types have changed very slowly over the years, so JMD's 1884 looks pretty much like the 2004 10 rappen. The US used Liberty in place of Helvetica for almost two centuries until they developed the lamentable practice of putting dead white men on their coins, and then they let their engraving go.

Forum grading of a chosen coin is a great idea. More than just polling, I would like to hear why people think it's the grade it is, describing the features they are looking at and the amount of wear that distinguishes the grade they would assign.

Oli, you're missing a chance at a great buy!

I do wonder if there is some way to advertise a coin info service on eBay. Unfortunately there are too many sellers actively attempting to scam buyers, even in the hallowed halls of numismatica. By the way, in case the penny with the 180-degree reverse rotation doesn't interest you, I have a rare cartwheel penny with Britannia facing left instead of right.

I wonder if TomGoodheart knows if anybody but Wyon and Pole knew what Wyon was doing with their initials until the dies had been made.... The Quest for the Stephen UNC is really at the heart of the difficulty grading hammered. About the time Tom posted the pic of that Chas shilling I was offered an example of that very coin, including the messy mintmark but couldn't bring myself to put that amount of capital into a coin that could have been EF based on the Stephen quality or aVF based on Spink's pics. Does anyone know of any written descriptions of grading for individual hammered pieces? As Sylvester points out, with hammered it has to be a matter of knowing the general quality of coinages or of an individual type. So this is where you hid the grading threads... in public. Very clever of you all.

With respect, I am not sure of VF on this coin. Vic's hairbands are not showing up as well defined, which I take as one of the signs of VF in her young heads. Maybe it's just the pic. I also think a grading topic would be excellent in the non-members area. Getting people informed about what a good coin is really all about and demanding quality from dealers will also give Chris some company in the rarified air of honest grading.