TomGoodheart

Don't know about pdf. You've seen the archive listing I presume? http://www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/catalogue-archive/lot.php?department=Coins&lot_id=54025 And Alistair Mackay has a paper catalogue for Oct 2003 with prices: http://www.coinmac.com/Numismatic_Books-utf8.html Maybe call him to check it's the right one first. Personally I prefer my library to be actual catalogues rather than virtual!

Baldwins aren't cheap. But also they appear still (as used to be the case with all the major dealers AFAIK) happy to hold onto coins for years. The Brussels hoard was held for, what, a century before parts were put up for sale? Eventually I guess the market will catch up with their prices. Possibly sooner than later, given that finer examples seem to be going for way over list, or even what might have been expected a year or two ago.

If you're lucky your coin will be a type only collected by a certain number of individuals, come with some sort of information, such as a previous collector's ticket or an idea of when it was bought by the previous owner. That way you can narrow it down a bit. Or if it is a particularly rare type then the number of examples will be small and occasions when one was sold hopefully noted. Recent sales can be searched via the internet as Accumulator says. Add CoinArchives.com, mcsearch's sister site acsearch and of course auction houses own archive of catalogues to those mentioned, though few web resources will go back much more than 15 years. If you're lucky a member here might recognise a coin if you post a photo. Otherwise, a good supply of auction and dealer catalogues, plenty of coffee and patience might be your only option. Hammered are easier than milled coins if you have catalogues that are illustrated due to each being unique. Unfortunately the further back you go, the less coins tended to be illustrated and even ones we would now consider to be really nice examples, or to be quite rare, were often not shown in catalogues or were sold with others as part of a mixed lot with minimal description.

Hmm.. apparently the Russians have different ideas. Protesters declare Donetsk 'republic'

Thanks guys.

310917105657 Looks a bit odd, but like you, it's not a familiar enough series for me to say if it's any more than just a weak strike.

Anyone go? Any good? Well attended? And how were the prices? Or ... was there a decent café? Any opinions, views or info welcome!

I've not seen that before. Interesting coin Patrick. What was the purpose of the A may I ask?

This is sad. Someone paid £150 for it and Westminster couldn't even get the years of issue correct on the COA? 221406996553 For shame.

Quite. Many of the rarities in my collection have been obtained privately when better grade examples have become available. The collector has had an opportunity to upgrade and I have obtained a coin I did not previously have, in many cases with provenance which, though not of particular benefit is something which I enjoy about a coin. Win, win, all for the minor inconvenience of always trying to have some ready funds, well .. ready! Perhaps I should change my tagline back to "Rare Charles I shillings wanted cheap!"?

The fact that you can clearly see the mark WRL (Westair Replicas Limited) on the reverse means that it's original and worth well in excess of £0.50!! Well done to your friend on this amazing find! Usually people have to visit a souvenir shop to obtain such rarities. Joke. It's a modern 'white metal' copy. Sorry.

1963 or 66 (highest mintages) sovereign? 1960s Maundy set? 1960 polished die (made for sale in New York) crown? (You can just tell modern coins aren't my area, can't you!?)

This coin looks a bit similar. But close inspection shows many small scratches. The 'lustre' here is down to 'whizzing' - polishing in other words:

??? Lustre is a quality of an unworn coin, not something that a coin gains or that can be added by a process. Crudely put, it's a sort of satin sheen: Be interesting to see your photos.

Many businesses (including my employers) have stuck with the tried and tested XP. Our computer at work has a Win7 sticker but that was removed and XP loaded ( ) 8 really seems to have been designed for mobile device use. Unfortunately that doesn't fit what most businesses use. I think Microsoft need to decide whether they can afford to run a business and a mobile package, whether 8 needs tweaking so it will work better on conventional keyboard/ desk based setups, or whether one OS will have to go ...

So I just got charged £16 for an item where no duty was payable and vat should have been under £2.50. I don't mind paying if that's the law, but to have to fork out six times as much as I owe is a bit annoying. Anyone know how long the Border Agency is currently taking to make a decision on BOR286 cases? It's coming up to two weeks and I've not even had an acknowledgement they've received my paperwork yet ...

LOL First (and really only) language I learned was FORTRAN IV when at university. I never saw the hardware - that was in another building - and everything was input using punched cards. Seriously tedious just getting the thing to draw a simple shape, so it's amazing to think that people did actual work on the thing! My second job we had an upgrade and they showed us all this box a bit smaller than a suitcase and told us it held 5GB. I was blown away by that. FIVE GIGS! Of course nowadays the next door neighbour's cat has more processing power in the chip on his collar than was needed to run the spaceshuttle. Trouble is, everything just eats the stuff. We'd be able to do so much more if only we could find a way to write programmes for a machine that has, let's say, only 128kB .. oh, wait ...

I had this problem when my Vista based laptop gave up the ghost Debbie. I opted for 7, partly because 8 seemed so geared to touch screens and I wanted another laptop. I also prefer the 'traditional' desktop and easy access to things like the control panel. I'm happy with it. I use Internet Explorer 11 and really, apart from the lack of some on screen gadgets (I only managed to get a clock whereas before I had a few more) it works just the same. I have a Toshiba laptop and it takes a few seconds to come out of hibernate which is what I wanted as I tend to keep many Explorer windows open simultaneously and it's a pain to have to reopen them! I transferred all my bookmarks and most files from a memory stick, even set it up with the same desktop wallpaper within a few minutes. All very smooth. Of course, I freely admit I've never tried 8, so can't comment on that, just that I'm happy with 7!

Several French coins used to be struck in Aluminium Bronze. And the current "Nordic Gold" used for mid size Euro coins is a variant. Trouble is, lots of coins are made of the stuff. A list of coins the Mint makes for other countries and their specifications would have been useful. In the meantime: http://colnect.com/en/coins/countries/composition/30-Aluminium_Bronze if it helps at all.

I find it works only if I right click and open in a new tab. Maybe try that?

Welcome and congrats Oli. If I may make a suggestion, you could do worse than get Chris to send you Collectors Coins GB as part of your prize. Then when you do find a coin you can look it up and find out a bit more about it. I know it may not seem as much fun as a bag of coins, but long-term I'm sure you'll find it useful!

Well, you're not alone! We all probably start off picking up things we like. In my case some of what I liked was too expensive for my budget, so I narrowed it down! Until recently of course, when I got bored of waiting for coins I wanted to turn up and decided to start on a 'theme' based collection, rather than denomination, metal or period, just for fun. The bottom line is that a collection is a personal thing. If you like seeing all the same value coins, fine. If you like diversity, that's fine too. It doesn't really matter. The key things, buy better grade examples where you can and learn a bit about what you're collecting, hold true whatever it is that you collect. The first because if ever you do want or need to sell (or pass on to family) your coins, better grades tend to do .. well, better! Plus you see more of the design of the coin as it was intended by the designer! The second because it avoids overpaying for commoner or poor condition coins, gives you perspective on what is available so you can plan your purchases and helps you recognise the actually rare, as opposed to eBay rare! Of course you don't even have to stick to these. If you're happy with well circulated examples, that's fine too. Whatever works for you really. You're a coin collector. How you define it beyond that, well, that's up to you!

If you did ever want one, physically older branches in market towns might be your best bet. None of the branches that have been built in my town since the late 1970s seem to have been designed with space for such a facility, whereas in my Grandparent's day it was routine for the Manager to offer, not only to store documents for known customers, but small valuables as well as part of the service. I'm sure Coutts still do. If you bank with them! Other banks that have them, there is often a waiting list. An alternative is that in some cities there are independent companies that let people to store jewellery etc in facilities like that Rob described with secure dual key, 24 hour access. But I don't think they are yet common nationwide. Bit of a gap in the market, maybe? For many, particularly those starting out collecting, I suspect that keeping quiet about collecting, having decent home security (perhaps including an alarm system if you don't own the Hound of the Baskervilles like Peter does) and making sure you check what's covered on your home insurance policy, will do. I'm sure we discussed this topic before and my conclusion was that there's no fun in collecting if it then makes you nervous about security or you can't discuss your purchases with close friends. But everyone is different. IMHO. .

Well done Chris actually. I'd say that, judging by others I've frequented, it's not so common for a forum to be thriving after ten years! Once the original enthusiasm and earlier members move on these things seem to dwindle and fold. So there must be something abut predecimal that people find useful/ helpful / fun or whatever, for it to still be attracting members (and not just those that drop in twice and disappear) after all this time. So .. well done everyone! And in particular mein host, or should that be unser Gastgeber Chris!

Pft. Young whippersnapper! I'm not even middle-aged! For a Hobbit anyway.