TomGoodheart

Just to let you know that, for neatness, I've deleted your duplicate thread Chris or Tom. .

Ah, just saw this. OK, on the plus side, as I've mentioned before it's a difficult privy mark to find on nicer coins. Trouble is, despite the crispness of the strike, it's not a very nice coin ... I'd have guessed it would have sold in the £60 range myself. But then this is eBay we're talking about, so pretty much all sense and predictability goes out the window! Someone obviously rated it ... rather too much IMHO. But then I suspect I've shown off coins I've bought that you've all been polite enough not to go WTF at! Hammered coinage, .. well, it's perhaps an acquired taste. And what appeals to one may well not appeal to anyone else! Either that or there's more to this shilling than meets the eye... .

Spink Live??? Hahahahaha! I still can't get archive results when I log in. Their website just doesn't work for me. So if I wanted a coin I certainly wouldn't risk it! As for Slaney ... nothing I can afford want .... .

Ah, sadly she had to close the account in France. So she just has a bundle of cash! Oh, well .. she's off to Germany soon so will no doubt find a use for some of it! The rest I guess we'll see what rates we can get and decide whether to hold on to it or deposit it in her UK account. .

Anyone know a good way to turn cash € into ££ and get it into a UK bank account without losing too much on the exchange? Daughter finally received her French housing benefit, but her bank there doesn't do international transfers so she had to accept cash .... .

My understanding is that the photos remain the property of the photographer unless (as is likely in this case) they are an employee or the auction house buys the rights as part of their contact. The rights to the photographs would only pass to the buyer of a coin to use commercially if Spink agreed to this .. which I'm not sure they would be inclined to do. That said, I believe photos may normally be used for personal or educational use. But that doesn't seem to be the case here. .

My thought too!Well, in a bit of a threadjack, my view is it's worth remembering there are no fixed prices for coins. Yes, due to popularity and availability Spink does influence what people demand or are prepared to pay, but in the end it's down to buyer and seller on the day. For some coins such as a 1727 shilling it's possible to establish, for a given condition, a narrow price range below which one would have to be very fortunate to find an example and above which it would be foolish. But with hammered coinage it's much more difficult to be precise. On a given day a buyer might be prepared to pay a lot more, or a lot less, for a particular coin, whatever the 'book' value. The Americans (primarily) have tried to pin things down somewhat by use of third party grading and 'Red Books' etc, but that only works with modern machine made coinage .. and even then there will always be disagreement! The 'best' solution is a good knowledge of your chosen coinage and the market. However that's not easy. I collect one denomination from a narrow range of years but I have over 1500 records of Charles I shillings and their price alone. And that doesn't include the examples I decided were too worn or horrible to bother about. And yet prices at auction can often surprise me, either seeming far too much or conversely cheap for a given coin. To me the usefulness of Spink is to find out more about coins that I don't know well. The when I've pinned down type and variety I can use auction records and dealer listings to get a better idea about prices. Even then, what one coin sells for today is no guarantee what it will sell for tomorrow. There are fashions in coin collecting as with anything else and what is popular today, tomorrow .. who knows! .

I'm guessing it appears in List 2 or 3 (1992/93) neither of which I have sadly. The numbering is consistent with the then lists. By list 5 he used larger numbers and had switched to tickets with a blue imprint of a dolphin on them. I don't know if any other members might have those lists. Rob's most likely but as we know he's a bit busy at present! While up-to-date price guides might be helpful, old sales catalogues and auction listings are often just as valuble (if not more, when trying to establish provenance!) .

I should have added that the 'Henry penny' is of the short cross type which was issued from 1180-1247 and so could be from the reigns of Kings Henry II, Richard, John or Henry III. Which one is determined by differences in lettering and portraiture ...

The larger is an Edward London groat and smaller, Henry London penny ... which Edward or Henry, I shall leave to my esteemed fellow members to decide I'm afraid! .

There you go Peter. Authentication and provenance in one! (10/10 on the homework Rob!) .

Are you being derogatory? I don't see anyone called Mr Sole and can only assume that as Peter gave you an honest opinion of your coin you're calling him R.Sole, if not i'd be happy to hear your explaination of the Sole comment. Peter does have that name in his avatar ... I don't think pescaotk1 was being anything other than polite Dave! .

*bump* (I was hoping Clive or Rob might add something. They look fine to me, but they're not really from a period I have much knowledge about...) .

6g is an 'ideal' weight for shillings. In real life they can be undamaged and still vary from as little as 5.75 to 6.25 die to the blanks being hand made. It's a bit worn and has that graffiti, but providing you don't polish it or anything it's a decent enough example of a 460something year old coin! .

Hi Peter! Hopefully some of the experts in earlier hammered will chip in soon. In the meantime, glad you made it! .

I think that's just a standard stock ticket rather than an attempt at making it look slabbed. Doesn't look too bad providing you go by the coin not the label... .

Well, I did have a copy of Spink to help.

Cheers Clive! (Didn't I do well ... for a beginner, at least!)

Aethelred II penny. Spink 1152, helmet type? Mint and moneyer... not sure. Looks like.. +ÆÐELPINE M_O then ... CROL? Cricklade? At least, that's the best I can do. Hopefully someone knowledgeable will chip in soon! .

The irony is that, as I scrolled down the listing, the first ad I saw was for a similar Eddy shilling from Buckscoins at less than half the price and a good grade (or two) higher ... .

LOL It is a challenge! And I'm not talking about actually finding coins to buy! We all have to set some limits ... or our budget, circumstances or simple availability of storage space(!) will likely limit us. Buy one coin and you have effectively decided not to buy another one due to grade, eye appeal of cost .. But in a way it's what makes it fun. Every collection is individual this way because each is our personal chice. Yes, I suspect we all see coins and think .. that looks nice! I have a small collection of (mostly French) coins featuring the head of 'Marianne'. I occasionally look at hammered pennies .. even coin dealers' advertising tokens more recently. I'm guessing my shillings forgive me for the occasional transgression though as I rarely actually buy anything else!! Bottom line? Buying the best you can find/afford will stand you in good stead. And if you're having fun ... why worry?!

The Unite is 2.5K. As to failure, no I don't think so! We all collect differently. I stick to one denomination from one mint and part of one reign. Rob collects different denominations, metals, designers ... It's whether you enjoy your collection and collecting that matters I think. Personally I have an overall budget but not one per individual coin. I've spent as little as £18 on a shilling, though most cost between £60 and £250. And it has to be a pretty decent coin to go to the top end! Most I've spent? Just under two grand. But there are only 6 known examples and mine isn't the worst and I wanted it! I think budgets need to be flexible as some coins just do cost a lot more. But for me at least, there's little point underspending on a coin I have doubts about. If I'm not quite sure at the beginning, you can almost guarantee I will tire of it in time. But I'm still learning what I like and what, for me, makes a coin a good one. Learning takes time and you just have to buy a few coins on the way. If eventually you decide to specialise and get rid of a few, if you've bought good coins with appeal they will sell ok. But really there's nothing wrong with 'liking everything'. It's probably not the way most people collect, but if you enjoy the coins you own, it's not really a failure IMHO. .

Tricky. As Azda said, a Stuart crown is probably likeliest. However, they aren't large coins as you can see here: And as with any coins, as the grade (and 'eye appeal') improves the price goes up ... personally I'd worry that in time you'd regret buying a small worn coin, rather than paying a bit more for a nicer piece. Hence my suggestion of trimming the budget for the more recent reigns (though still buying top condition) and shifting some of it towards what will be your more expensive purchases. Alternatively, better grades can be bought if the coin has some other weakness, such as clipping: Both coins are around the £550+ mark .. .

The cheapest Ed.VIII is probably the halfpenny reverse uniface. It's currently in a 65(?) slab and last sold for around £3000-3500. You might find another pattern uniface for less than 10K, but after that you are talking £20K and up. I started with my budget at £200 per coin. I already paid two or three times that in some cases. I didnt know all EVIII are fantasy pieces. In this case i might leave a gap.I never liked him anyway. Not all are fantasies. There are a few rare official patterns, as Rob says. But yes, a gap might be preferable. As to rare Geo VI and EIIR .. yes, you could. Or .. you could save the pennies on some more recent coins and go for something like this at the other end? OK, I admit it. Just showing my preference for hammered coinage! But it is quite nice IMHO! LOL

Edward is tricky because, as I expect you know, no UK coins were officially struck in his name. And those issued abroad bear no portrait. I do like the Percy Metcalfe 'Patina' pattern coins myself, but they are of course fantasy issues. For George VI and Liz I'd personally go for proofs. George a proof halfcrown (I think 1950 was the first proof issued in cupronickel, so more interesting for that) and Elizabeth, how about a brass 3d? A bit different both in shape and metal? Neither should be very expensive so you can hold out for decent examples? Of course, that's just my suggestion. Go with what you like! .