ThePrepper

hey stuntman....thankyou for that mate, much appreciated....i've heard of vickysilver i believe.... regards! prep

hi....no 1776....interested why youve asked though as theres no 1776 in the coin yearbook....? one of the pictured above is 1722. two at 1775....the 5's look different on each....?.....and in the 1773 it looks like the 3 is overstamped or stamped over?....i can only scan at 600dpi sorry... the william iii reverse is not brilliant i'm afraid....but what a great nose he has!!! lol doubleflorins....looks like the bottom-left one has been treated in some way to me....dipped? polished? and top right suffering from pvc similar to the 1902 crown....yucky! regards! p

lol copper....apparently thats all its worth....i would post it to you but its not worth postage fee....i've got a drain right here next to my workshop, its going down there with the other worthless thousands of shite feckers that i didnt buy.... got tons to sort out but heres a few (i've more nicer examples already in my own collection)....i've tweaked contrast a bit because everythings so dull due to pvc tackiness overall...and the tweaking has also shown off the resulting tinges due to pvc....i'm hating it but after chatting to pwa who further strengthened and added to what i already knew about copper/bronze (i collected penny/hp before getting this inherited lot) i'm going to leave them all alone for now and just get on with the silver which like yourself is not my strongest area....need to learn learn learn....these are hardly mint but nice and clear enough on the whole....and the victoria to date get better and better as is usual... ok....now going to play with groats and florins then on with cleaning the crowns... be well! p

and just wanted to say thanks to pwa for the phone chats....much appreciated dude....top bloke!!! p

hi....ta jaggy and copper for your words....taken on board and hopefully i can now continue as a degenerate newbie coin collector rather than very experienced en-raged ex-head-doorman. just got back home to find several parcels containing coin capsules, acetone, flips etc waiting for me with my neighbour so i can now spend the afternoon making the florins and more, new homes....and then i'm going to clean a couple of the less valuable crowns with similar pvc gunkage with acetone and cotton bud keeping particular look out for surface scratching/scuffing (granted i dont have a microscope yet) before proceeding onto the 1902. have also laid out some of the 1700's half pennies and farthings ready for scanning.... regards! p

hi...thanks mrbad....so would you yourself clean for instance the 1902 crown with acetone and cotton bud? and peter....you either didnt bother reading my post or if you did youve disregarded every important point in it. in either case your reply is.....aaaargh.....bite ya lip prep. out of respect to chris, pwa, mr. cat full o'sixpences and wildcamper and the guys who've taken the time to reply so far i'll bite me lip.... but do me a favour mate....dont 'contribute' on here again please. thankyou! p

hi....yup pwa i getcha....are these tests of yours on here?....link if so please? and thanks for your contribution ian! regards p

hey man....thanks for being straight forward and honest....this is an option i had thought about and intended to look into....i may be in touch thanks again! e-z! p

Hi....as i mentioned recently i've just been given a fairly huge collection to add to my own....this new lot come from my sister-in-law and were part of her inheritance from her late uncle iggy....a keen outdoorsman, detectorist and carpenter by trade who's also presented his work personally in an audience with the pope and yes i've seen the photographs....blew me away. polish catholic, one of his sisters is a nun and from everything i've heard the guy was a pretty superb fellow indeed and i feel very lucky and honoured to be entrusted with these beautiful coins....i've seen a lot of his cracking marquetry work and am now the proud owner of a collection that no doubt took him many years to put together.... its a very interesting collection dating back to the 1700's and whilst he doesnt appear to be a 'numismatist' in the search of perfect coins he was definitely a coin collector and there are nearly complete date runs of every type of silver british predecimal especially from victoria onwards and not a few copper/bronze....a lot are circulated, many indeed worn significantly but there is a huge number in very nice conditions indeed..... since recently starting to collect again (i did somewhat over 20 years ago...u.s.. and morgan dollars) i've been getting into my british pennies which are clean and solid and in high grades....so no problem there.....but now this new lot are stressing me out.... I UNDERSTAND.....NEVER CLEAN YOUR COINS.....NEVER CLEAN YOUR COINS. so....i cleaned some coins (and i have my reasons...coming in a minute)....i've been experimenting and learning for myself....i'm not stupid...i've done research and been careful and not risked anything silly....for example.... i took a nice condition but filthy silver u.s. half dollar that i had in duplicate....i soaked it in acetone (yes ''pure'' 99.9 percent)....i then rubbed it gently but thorougly with a johnsons cotton bud....its now beautiful with tone intact and dirt gone.....i've then taken the three different loupes i have and examined it under a halogen light....my eyesight is good....and i know a scratch when i see one. there are no scratches. so why does everyone say there will be?....on proofs maybe....on anything else....maybe i'm blind. people also say acetone will dissolve surface grime like pva 'greenage' and the coin will just require rinsing....it does not. the acetone-affected pva greenage will still be on the surface of the coin in a film. it then comes off easily when rubbed.and why rinse the coin anyway? acetone evaporates.....quickly....and totally...unless they mean rub with (grease and sweat oozing) fingers under water but then hey, that wont remove the gunge from the detailed areas.... i've also soaked coins with 'paint' or similar on...which is attached firmly prior to soaking. the acetone does not dissolve it....rather weakens its attachment so it will then come off when rubbed. and why do most posts i've rubbed say soak for a minute or two?.....acetone does not affect metal....you could leave it in there for years....unless its all about that 0.1 percent of impurity of course lol....but then tap water and even of course distilled water are not pure....theres no such thing as pure....and you could even rub under water with cotton lint free gloves rather than fingers i know....but they are not pure or 'lint free' either....as i said...theres no such thing as pure. i also find it hard to believe that sealing up these coins with pva and years of grime and impurity on them is a better thing for them than washing with acetone and a gentle rub. i've also read acetone affects copper colouring.....it doesnt.....i've cleaned hundreds of pennies out of the many thousand i've got here and they are the same as before they had their bath. and at the risk of being inflammatory....no intention...i just talk pretty straight and say how i see it....i've bought quite a few non-unc non-perfect non-slabbed-since-the-day-they-were-made pennies from dudes who are on this forum....dudes who say never clean your coins....and considering these coins are non-unc non-perfect non-slabbed-since-the-day-they-were-made its quite surprising that they have no dirt on them......ok they havnt been polished or put on a grinder but theyve certainly been washed....and therefore rubbed. and i dont like the usage of 'clean' and 'cleaned' and 'cleaning' and its complexities, dubiousness and translation. i think washed (acetone/water/gentle rub) and polished (duraglit/angle grinder/exposure to a c4 blast) do the job appropriately. and whats this about 'dabbing' with papertowel....i've got beautiful valuable coins here so covered in pva that if you were to soften the pva with acetone and then try to 'dab' it off....well....it makes me laugh. and i'm sure i'm not the only person who's had pva affected coins that need more than a dab....maybe i should learn more manners and ask the coin politely to shed its green skin without the need for a johnsons ear bud? lol....ok....i'm getting raw. so....rather than everyone repeating what everyone else says in a politically correct manner for fear of being shot down by other hypocrites could someone please step up and say look dude....DO THIS! because everywhere i go i see conflicting 'advise' and opinions and evidence of cow pats.....lolol! many of uncle iggys coins were in degrading pva sheets or wallets. the rest were in a lovely cabinet he'd made for them....just like the ones you see for sale with slide-out trays and compartments etc.....however his wasnt lined with felt and may well not have been made out of completely coin safe woods..... also.....he had milled out/counter sunk correct size holes in the trays for the coins....i'm guessing with what are known as 'spade bits' because each milled out ring has a hole in the middle which goes completely through the tray (i cant explain better or provide pics as the cabinet is still at my sisters) which i guess proved handy as that then meant you could poke something through the back of the tray to 'pop' the coin out....something i had to do with a wood kebab/marshmallow stick. these coins that were still in their countersunk holes were obviously open to the elements completely on one side but also through the smaller hole on the back....meaning many of them have a darker circle on one side....see pics provided. i have of course tried cleaning one to see ifit was indeed dirt or tone and it seems to be dirt....comes off fine.....weird because i would said something like that lived in a smokers home but iggy wasnt a smoker....anyway.... as for pva damage....some more affected than others....for instance see the 1902 crown....ok-ish one side....yellowy stain the other....that is not tone....do i acetone it? others were in sheets that had literally congealed and had to be cut out and are actually 'tacky'. others its not so evident unless the coin is tilted to reveal a greenish tint and often a more visibly green edge. many other pva sheets were still ok luckily. and hundreds were in a deep pile at the bottom of the cabinet which had been dislodged from their positions when moved/transported from home to home over the years....thank god verdigris had not set into that lot because every one wouldve been totally ruined. in fact only one coin had bad verdi and that was a 1797 penny that i'm now soaking in olive oil for 6 months with an oil change and a light rub every coupla weeks....i've already got several so no biggy on the outcome. and there are loads of interesting oddities in the collection too....please see the pic of the george halfpenny....its totally smooth one side and completely even.....gotta admit i find it hard to believe someone achieved that at home....its thinner that it should be but i just do not see that someone did that at home though granted the obverse (his ear/hair) is worn....i know loads of knifemakers etc that own industry standard machines, as do i myself, but that nowadays is a do-er....for a few grand you can buy that kit....but back then??????......i've also got a mistrike 2p decimal thats pressed both sides but again is half thickness of norm....and loads of mistrike/test??? 1971 2p's and pennies....see pic. and some lovely foreign coins of which i had no idea of value until i further researched upon returning home from last weekends visit up north....again see pic...hundreds more to go through yet. so...feel free to toatally rip my head off and point out what a degenerate i am....and i'd really appreciate your advice and opinions about all the above and grades too if possible please....i'll try to scan some in each day and add them to my thread so please keep an eye on it and return with any input....i really dont want to mess this up.....uncle iggys collection added to my mums/her fathers collection and my collection too....even my grandmother has been sending me modern proof coins this last few years to put away for my two sons.....i've got a really lovely heirloom to build upon here to one day hand down further and would hate to know i'd f***** it all up. regards and rave on! Prep ps....i'm just going to scan them in whatever containers the coins are already in...capsule whatever....and my scanner only does 600dpi...hope its ok!

hows the bar coming along dude???

OK OK OK!!!!! all taken on board!!!! you nutters! and something happened last week thats helped me see your opinions a tad clearer..... not only have i been buying nicer and nicer coins for myself in the short time i've been collecting but at the weekend i was given a substantial collection....majority victoria till now but with plenty of earlier too going back to 1700's.... virtually complete runs of crowns, half crowns, godless and gothic florins, double florins, sixpence, shilling, threepence, farthing, penny, halfpenny, groats, half/third/quarter farthings etc etc and yes theres a 1905 half crown and 1902 crown (both gorgeous) and gems like italian 5 lire 1812 for example in cracking condition...still getting my head round it....for last few days all i've done is sort thousands of coins....my necks killing me and my eyes arent working properly anymore lol!! a lot of it had been stored in old plastic sleeves which had started to decay and stick together but everything seems ok and luckily verdigris has hardly made an appearance anywhere....my workshop currently looks like a miniature coin museum and i've not even looked at doing any leatherwork and i'm behind on my commissions and the biggest show of my year is looming and to be honest i couldnt care less!! i'm in heaven haha!! and yeah....i got a metal detector too and am now a member of the lp club and fully licensed up with the fid and the ncmd.... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

well i better hang onto my ebay receipts and my rp coins business card then....one day my descendants will be extremely wealthy and clued up too about the important facts about my coins....shame i'm not a wealthy rupert because theyd then be worth even more.... give me the guy that made the coin over the silver spoon up his jacksie victorian who owned it at some point.... i'm off to bcuk and metaldetectingforum to talk about cow pats.... booyakasha!

ok...thats mildly interesting.....and thanks for your time!!! but thats not the 'history' of the coin. anyone want to know my story about how i bought a coin from argentum on ebay?.....or about the one i got from rp coins? i can even provide the receipts!!! no...didnt think so. p

lol.....i'm clearly on the wrong forum.....

interesting...interesting.....but i wonder how many of that majority found by workers were treated with the regard they are today and ended up in collections as compared to ones found now?.....i mean....coin collecting in any serious capacity is a fairly new thing no?......and i wonder how quickly that majority will turn to a minority as time, appreciation and metal detecting continue..... i'm interested in your line '' Personally I always like to know a bit about the background to my coins and if they belonged to earlier collectors then that makes them more interesting to me ''......its in the same vein as robs earlier comment.....but i note he used ''i am reasonably certain'' and ''we think''....... seems all a bit shakey to me, maybe you could educate me please as i'm a newbie.....surely any coin can have paperwork stuck with it and its price grossly and incorrectly inflated?..... i'm an 'it is what it is' guy.....not an 'it is what it might be'.....i'm all for imagination, mystery, speculation and questions but not one for any amount of potential bull****....though as i said, maybe my ignorance makes me blinkered.... regards!! and btw.....i remember reading your 'happy as a cat full of sixpences' for the first time, made me chuckle!!! still does! p ps.....may i ask how much PC's Rawlins Oxford crown is worth with its 'we think' and 'reasonably certain' attached and how much without?

hi...i've got a question for you experts.... i would imagine many of you have hammered/ancient coins in your collection.....how many of them would you say, percentage-wise, were discovered by metal dectectorists or similar and how many of them were simply found laying in draws/chests/house clearances or similar? regards, prep

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! i just had a terrible dream!!!! i was in an air conditioned shop surrounded by thousands of shiney coins and almost blinded by them and through squinty eyes i could see my old school history teacher approaching me, leering and slobbering in glee with handfulls of certificates of authenticity fanned out in his hands like a las vegas croupier.....as his loupe fell out he said in an almost orgasmic whisper.....''sell me your soul and all these ms-70's are yourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs'' anyway....back to sleep.....hopefully the next one will be about cow pats....night all!

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yawn

ok....i know i'm crazy but i'd much rather climb mount everest myself than watch someone else do it on tv from the safety of my front room.... anyway it has now become evident to me that i'll always be a coin collector and never a numismatist....

erm....like.....who held it?.....where has it been?.....how did it get here? are there more? where am i? none of which really apply to an unc in a plastic wallet. and 'finding' it at a fair implies its not exactly lost.... or am i crazy?

my mission in life is to get you in a pair of wellies and together we will find gold!!!!!!....my mancunian raver the force is strong in you....i have hope in my heart for you still.... you'll also be pleased to hear that my book collection is growing....i now have coin yearbook...grading brit coins....bronze coinage and spink 2016....whens 2017 come out? if its next week i'll be very annoyed. p

LOLOLOLOLOLOL.....i'm not interested in finding ''coins worth telling about'' as such.....i'm an outdoorsman and love my history.....and my favourite films when a boy were indiana jones......so maybe youre missing the point. and apart from items like his papal bullah and a whole ton of hammereds etc etc i guess hes found nothing no.....and neither have all the members of his club with their folders full of ancient coins of every description....and guess what....if all the people out there who found hoards, jewellery, settlements, burials etc didnt follow in those kind of footsteps i reckon most museums would be half empty. and the fact is that his enthusiasm and sense of humour seem to be enough to inspire more people than just me.... shame on you sir.....if you get more satisfaction from finding a lovely coin thats only lovely because its had no personal history and sat in a draw for a 100 years and then paying your hard earned over for it in a nice safe shop away from mosquitos and cow turds then fine..... i'll trample around in the mud and poop and when i pull out my first hammered or roman in horrible condition i'll be full of joy and the birds will be tweeting around me and i'll have either the sun or snow on my neck.....AND I'LL FEEL ALIVE!!! ALIVE I TELL YE!!!! AND ENTHUSED WITH THE HISTORY IN MY HANDS AND UNDER MY FEET! boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom! prep

yo....ok....i've really caught the bug.....turns out a guy i know through a close friend is a dectector on youtube and after messaging him i ended up spending most of the last week watching videos mainly by youtuber addictedtobleeps who's a superstar as well as many others like man with the hat and deep digger dan.... will be registering with fid and ncmd very soon and am looking at getting a cscope 6mx and following in bleeps footsteps....have also joined a forum.... just need to sell my remaining vital organs and then somehow get permissions and also join a club.... look out!!!! p

hi...just now watched this go through....very nice.....so, who bought it? i'm jealous! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1849-QUEEN-VICTORIA-COPPER-039-YOUNG-HEAD-039-PENNY-EXTREMELY-RARE-SUPERB-EXAMPLE-/232292579379?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=N3P5YIdkHgJzXlPheg%252BUetwIdpU%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc prep