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newheart

Unidentified Variety
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Posts posted by newheart


  1.  

    10 minutes ago, Rob said:

    Looks like it. Many things on eBay have been similarly treated. It is one good reason to avoid the place if you don't know what you are doing. Many sellers purvey 'unc', 'high grade', 'superb' coins. Many buyers receive less than those loftily described pieces of metal. Both seller and buyer are initially happy, but the latter frequently suffers a bit of a downer once they become a bit more worldly-wise. You need to visit coin fairs and see things in hand to get an appreciation for condition and impairments.

    Ah but Rob, researching a coin, trying to estimate the coins value and then bidding on it is half the fun! To me, buying coins that have been professionally assessed and priced is not so much of a hobby (though perhaps one I would pursue if I had deeper pockets!). Plus the dealers have added their ~50% commission plus VAT. But point taken - eBay is a big risk and disappointments abound. Yes I want to visit some coin fairs when I can :-)

    • Like 1

  2. For any fellow newbie reading this, the Numis albums are very good. The only downside to them that I can see is that it can be quite hard to remove a coin once inserted into the pocket (I need to buy some sort of soft tipped tweezers), and the double later of plastic over the coin does obscure the coin a bit. The eBay seller referred to earlier in this thread has been excellent.


  3. 13 hours ago, Rob said:

    Double the money will get you a mint one.

    Yes but a mint one of what? I must admit it is the prettiest coin I have, and I would love another in mint condition, but I would have no idea how to tell if it would be worth more than bullion. Are these all over 100 years old or are some much more recent? I have been looking online but it is pretty baffling! One web site seemed to imply these are still being minted? I think I have a 'modern copy' but how modern is modern? Not expecting you to answer any of these questions Rob, just thinking out loud :-).


  4. 13 hours ago, Leo said:

    Well for ten quid you haven't done bad as that's pretty much bullion price! As long as it's silver of course.

    As for the coin, it's been cleaned. That strips down a lot of its numismatic value, but regardless of that, all the time you are going to spend finding out when and how and where was it minted, and learning about it, is priceless.

    BTW I know practically nothing about these coins. I may get one myself

    If it is silver! Is there an easy way to tell? The coin is 40mm and weighs 30g.


  5. 3 hours ago, Rob said:

    Take two coins of similar age and worn appearance - say a 2p from 1971. Use one as the control and rub the other with a pan cleaner or similar. Recheck surfaces. It will be obvious. The lines are many and parallel. Circulation will give plenty of surface marks, but they tend to be only one or two for any one abrasive event and the orientation of the coin will be different on each occasion.

    Something like this (from a current eBay listing)?

     

    temp-scratch.jpg


  6. Got this from a someone who was 'selling off their grandfathers coin collection'. Only paid a tenner. I know most are modern repros, but the discolouration between the lettering made me wonder if this might be older than the past decade. The photos do not show the patina very well. It is a shiny silver colour but there is signs of wear, especially to the reverse. Not magnetic. Found a great site about these but there is a lot of photos to work my way through.. http://www.theresia.name/en/index.html

    I can hear the groans already, but I read everyone should have at least one of these in their collection! 

    token-burg-obv-1-1600.jpg?t=1507063117&_token-burg-rev-1-1600.jpg?t=1507063053&_
    token-burg-rev-2-1600.jpg?t=1507063329&_

     


  7. Got this coin on our favourite marketplace(!) and I am having trouble as a newbie trying to grade it. I took a bit of a gamble on this because the seller photos were terrible.

    The book I have (the standard guide to grading British coins) only covers coins from 1797. Is there a similar book covering the earlier period?

    Here is the coin, as a complete newbie I would optimistically rate it VF/VF (obv/rev) but it does have abrasions on the reverse and to a lesser extent on the obverse. As a newbie, I cannot tell if it has been cleaned. Cost me the price of a decent meal so be honest.... (strewth the 1/2 mb image allowance is low!)

    1784-fourpence-obv-1-antishake-1600.jpg?1784-fourpence-rev-1withantishake-1600.j

    TIA, Pete


  8. On 30/09/2017 at 7:40 PM, declan03 said:

    Just check out this sellers attempts at cleaning coins. He has taken a brillo pad to most of them. Not a pretty sight. ?

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1916-Lovely-British-Silver-Coin-One-Florin-GeorgeV/282663757622?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

    For the benefit of a newbie, how can you tell? I mean, you can see surface abrasions, but how can you tell this is due to cleaning and not due to circulation?


  9. I was bidding on this little beauty on eBay, but could not find anything like it online. Could it have been a proof/test coin? Seller told me it was about 20mm diameter. The final bids went way over my bid. Even though I did not win, I would love to know what it is!

    Full credit for the photos go to the eBay seller.

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-Queen-Victoria-1845-Beautiful-Token-/232501192157?item=232501192157&autorefresh=true&ViewItem=&nma=true&si=WuDieSOGqeng7G0DBI2qnJ23jN0%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

     

    vic-coin.jpg

    vic-coin2.jpg


  10. Bought this for a couple of quid out of pure curiosity. I think it is copper, it is quite thin (1mm or less), date looks like 1554. Diameter about 27mm. Obverse side has a king(?) and reverse has a hedgehog (or similar animal) against a landscape with vegetation and possible clouds. Only legible writing says PARTE TIMENDA" on reverse. Can read "REX" on obverse. I have taken the best pictures that I can. Can anyone help me identify this? Thanks in advance, Pete

    1554-hedgehog-obv.jpg

    1554-hedgehog-rev.jpg


  11. Newbie question - when buying a silver coin such as the double florin, should the colour be bright or blackened? I understand silver blackens with age, so does that mean bright old silver coins have been cleaned/carefully stored/preserved in some way? Persoanally I like the blackened coin, it looks older and more 'antique'. Images borrowed from eBay, all credit to the photographers, I hope they will not mind. Thanks in advance, Pete
     

    double-florins-compared.jpg

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