blakeyboy

Well done! It's all a bit of a minefield. I still think ( passionately) that the fun in coin collecting is the surprise at the bottom of the 'tin of crap' rather than simply buying from sites or auctions. You will get more fun, more profit, and better stories out of your efforts if you go trawling. Sometimes the stories are the best bit......

I’m just watching 'Suella Braverman’s House Party' on catchup… That's a nightmare of my own invention for which I can only apologise…

I like to think about it like this: At the two ends of a coin's desirability, you have 'Mint State' ( made this morning) 'and where the hell has this been' ( on the beach for 100 years ). Both these types would be expected to have an even patina or finish. In fact, not having an even finish would be unusual. Now what if the coin had a few year's wear, so that the patina was different on the high spots, and this coin was then lost- fell down the back of a drawer, put in a box in the loft for years, etc etc.....yes, there is a chance that a new patina would develop that could cover up the differences in patination between the high and low spots. Perhaps, but these types of places for a coin to go are relatively benign - not really patina-forming. There are places that a coin could sit for years and change its overall appearance, like when fallen under floorboards onto damp ground beneath, or at the back of a drawer like as above, BUT - why would both sides look the same? One side has been open to the 'elements' rather more than the other..... When you see one coin like the one above, you have to take notice. This doesn't mean it's been played with. However, when you suddenly see several pop up from the same type of sellers, with no older pictures of the coins available to compare with, you have to start to wonder......the same is true of the multicoloured horrors that have strangely appeared for sale in the US amongst the less well- known dealers.....:-)

Is it the same as the hypo used at the mint?

With the reduction in birthrates, there is now one born every 96 seconds... Never underestimate how stupid people can be, and how led-by-the-nose. Last month my old mate asked me why he saw so many stupid people about. I pointed out that, all things being even, ignoring things like the 'brain 'drain' to the cities, the IQ distribution curve is centred on 100, and for every person he knew whose IQ is 120, he will meet one whose IQ is 80. So, for the ten or so of us in this thread, there are ten people, also into coins, who are finding the RM coins appealing.....

The iceberg was struck, then the pennies were struck. As simple as.

...it actually looks like that first sighting of Admiral Graf Spee in the 'Battle of the River Plate'....

...you've been reading the Royal Mint 'New for 2023' page...

Yeah- not fake crap, the real stuff!!!

Sorry - been busy - yes- his comment about not going any clubs....and yes, there was only one Groucho...

I remember getting a Microsoft advent calendar. In the instructions it told me to never open windows 8 and 10...

I do side with Groucho on this sometimes....a lot of it it stems from not feeling welcome at any club when young. An erroneous view, sure, but easy to have when the world is big and disconcerting.....

...that's also the reason I don't buy Velcro...

Good point. Unfortunately, the peddlers of overpriced slabbed tat still manage to attract buyers....

The parallels between this topic and the world of old electronic gear and 'ham' radio are amazing. If you put two pictures side by side, one showing the crowd at a coin fair, and the other showing the crowd at a radio rally, I bet they would basically be identical - a very high average age....

We're back to Reggie Perrin and the Grot shop, but it's true- a major major driving force!

Touché

Yep- silly old buffer was a bit derailed- he didn't have a loco motive- he wanted us to believe him, but he lacked a suitable platform. I haven't expressed myself well - maybe I need a coach. Sorry for blowing off steam- hope you didn't lose track of what I was trying to say. Don't shunt me out of the way- I like to feel people are siding with me.... I can only apologise....

Robbie Knievel a.k.a. Sidney james...

I looked up the location for the wonderful 'Oh Mr.Porter' ( 1936 ) and the platform edge is still in the ground.... Incidentally, I was on the last British Rail train on the Severn Valley line in 1962....

Fantastic, Mike. I love technology, but not all. Mind you, I would prefer to go to and from my workshop on the Titfield Thunderbolt...

I think that not studying die wear and faults on bronze strikings carried out by Heaton before 1860 is a mistake. The die variations and reasons behind them may well be more easily explained if earlier foreign bronze coinage was studied to the extent that bronze UK pennies and halfpennies 1860-63 have been.....

I wonder what a French 5 and 10 centime collector of the 1850's would make of this conversation? Did they show these problems, and if not, why not? Same metal, same size, same company.....

...ah...maybe she'd just had a makeover and manicure.......