TomGoodheart

Gah!! Once again, I have tried to use the Spink website. And once again I have come to the conclusion that it's totally unusable crap. They should have got some GCSE IT students to design it. It would work much better than it does I'm sure. Largely on the basis that it currently doesn't work at all ...

Interesting question! For myself, I've always followed the idea that first of all you have major changes in design such as swapping from bun head to Jubilee head on Viccy coins. Those are different types. Then there are coins that differ in small aspects of design, such as a ribbon being placed differently or a different style of Irish harp. These are differences in variety. Then there are the differing orientations when a trident or letter points to or between beads or teeth, those are micro-varieties. Then the missing letter or stop due to a clogged die that is confined to a handful of coins .. errors. However I believe those divisions need to be flexible, depending on the series we're talking about. With hammered coins, since each die is unique I personally don't consider one coin reading BRI;FR.ET.HIB to be a different variety from one that reads BR;FRA.ET.HI and wouldn't seek out a coin of differing legend if I already had a good example of the design. Similarly different harp or Scottish lion design, I think are minor changes depending on the punches available rather than a deliberate change. Though I know some collectors, such as Brooker or Osborne do/did like such things and seek them out. 'Errors' however, such as where 'AVSPICE' is mis-punched as 'AVSSPCE' I do find interesting. Mules too, though often these must be assumed to be unique or nearly so. As others have said, the irony is that a unique error (unless that particular coin has been owned by a significant collector in the past and so has provenance) is less interesting to me than one for which a handful of examples are known! That said, the Briot coins are so commonly found with the CHISTO (for CHRISTO) error they don't generally excite collectors much. And of course if those same differences were present on milled coins, which are made to much more specific specifications, they would be glaring errors worthy of note and probably very sought after!

Not terribly impressive if they can't even spell the King's name right, is it?

So we have million £ notes, but they want to withdraw the penny? Now where have I heard of that before? Withdrawing the penny?

I've blocked willoer and deleted the other posts. But I left this one up, just in case the anti-terrorism branch wanted to get in tough with him ...

Very smart. If you get to wear one of those fancy hats, send us a pic!

Not something I know anything about at all I'm afraid del. Is this the one that was on ebay? In which case if it is gold, it was a bargain!!

Happy Birthdays Guys!

It all went slow. Now it's loading again .. strange:

I wonder if the pitting isn't water damage? It has the look of a coin that's possibly been in the sea for a while in that the damage resembles that on wreck retrieved pieces of eight. As for prices, well, I imagine this is more representative than tens of thousands of dollars: mcsearch Heritage 1694/3 2 Guineas April 2011 Of course, the only way to find out is to put it to auction and see I'm afraid. Let us know how you get on though!

Don't you mean Luton Town Peter? My postmanperson. Who yet again popped a Sign For package through the door without getting a signature. Seriously, if I wasn't such an honest chap (and it'd cause a headache for the seller) I'd be tempted to say I never got it and demand compensation. Thankfully it was the correct address and it was untampered with, but I do worry one day it won't be ...

I've both put in high bids early on (in the possible hope it might put others off!) and manually at the last few seconds. I guess my fear is that a high early bid might suffer from people edging it up to see how far they can go. If I'm at home the last second snipe is my preference but sometimes it's best to bid and leave it to avoid temptation. I remember once bidding on a coin and within an hour my bid had been pushed to £77. So I bit my nails for a week until in the last few seconds I whacked in a bid of £340 to win the coin at .. £77!

Mm .. my Wifey hasn't forgiven me for choosing to spend £300 on coins rather than a ticket for the opening of the Paralympics with the rest of the family. That I got to see it on TV and still have the coins, whereas they just have a few photos doesn't impress her. Oh, well .. obviously put my foot in it .. again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21145103 So it appears that not only do we have £1,000,000 (and £100,000,000) bank notes, but they are insurance against the Scots going broke! (I always though those 'Poond Noughts' looked dodgy .... ) Something you're not telling us Dave?

LOL That's the internet equivalent to Foyles, where you used to queue to take your book to a sales counter who would give you a slip of paper that you then took to queue at the cashiers who would ask you for the money and then you'd have to return to the sales desk with your stamped (paid) slip of paper to be given the book you wanted in the first place. Ah, I miss those days. Not.

I'm sure I read somewhere that museums varnished their coins to protect them. Whether that's still the case, I don't know. But remember, a museum display used to be designed to make the coin look nice and then protect it. I'm not sure if they were bothered if the coin toned over time, nor that the finest little details folk here might be interested in were retained ... I've seen some coins that have traces of having been written on in ink, scratched with numbers (whether by a museum I'm not sure, but surely not by a numismatist?) and of course, many museum specimens were dumped into a dusty drawer where they probably still languish today, so they aren't all preserved as we might wish. In other words, the long term preservation aims in a museum might be rather different from those of coin collectors, making whatever they do less useful to us. Anyone ever worked in that area that could enlighten us? Clive?

It's a tricky area. Spink (AFAIK) base their prices on sales data. Which means that for commoner coins they are fairly accurate at the time the volumeis complied (which can be months before actual publication, of course). But for rarities that only come up once ina few years prices can be way out of what someone is prepared to pay. I imagine that dealers' prices are more .. up to date .. but grading (however much people try) isn't an exact science, coins can be rarer (or commoner!) than recognised and someone in the know will be prepared to pay considerably more (or less). And we can all be swayed by 'the market' but if you watch any of those TV antiques programmes you'll know that one day something can struggle to get over the auction reserve, other days the price can rocket because two buyers both want it. And that's another aspect. A coin can be as rare as hen's teeth, but if there are only two people who want it and one of those has an example it could go for a bargain price. Some types of coins are just much more popular than scarcity should make them (wreath crowns, civil war coinage, that sort of thing) and will always do well. Really there's no absolute price. It's down to what YOU think a coin is worth on the day. But knowing your stuff certainly helps. That's why people buy old auction catalogues, not really for the prices (though that helps, more up-to-date info is available on line) more to compare the coin they have seen with one from one of the calssic collections of the past. Well, that's what I do anyway! And if I can buy a nicer coin than Joe Numismatist's or whoever, or better, one he didn't have well, I might be prepared to pay a bit more for it .. Oh, and once again, one of my favourite numismatic quotes from the into to the Coincraft catalogue where Richard Lobel quotes an early mentor of his who said "when you go to value a coin it is what you have not seen rather than what you have seen that matters" and this is particularly true of grading. Some very common coins are almost impossible to find in decent condition and guides like Spink may not reflect that. The key of course, is knowing which!

Indeed. And totally subjective IMHO, since it might not detract when you're hoping to sell it (though in that case, it has to be questioned, why mention it at all?) but a buyer might (and likely will) feel very differently! I dislike "VF details" (etc..) So what? The D of DG may be as crisp as a proof, but if the rest of the coin is washer grade then what's the point in saying "[..] details" Unless the whole coin is close to the grade in question (in which case "near [whatever grade], some areas better" would be more honest), it seems a rather meaningless thing to say...

No, I don't think anyone was put off by the reversal at all, it would have been from the general appearance of the coin that an assessment was made. I don't have an image to hand, but if you type George V half sovereign into google images, you'll see for yourself how one should really look! Yes, the King's mustache and shape of his head immediately look completely wrong for a genuine coin I'm afraid. Exactly what it is (toy / token / souvenir ..) and what metal it's made from (unless it's hallmarked I suspect base metal) is going to be difficult to tell from the current photos, but an official issue (let alone rare) coin, ... it's not, in my opinion.

I have had the Mascle for a number of years now and am very pleased with it. My only (retrospective) preference would be to have had the option of an additional simple drawer-like tray, in which to put the coin tickets (either too large or square) and dealers' envelopes that came with the coins, but that don't fit into the usual round recesses with the coins. Cabinets also come up in auctions fairly regularly, but the advantage of a tailor made one is that you can specify the size of hole you want for your coins rather than just make do with what's supplied (usually a range from small to large).

Slow, difficult to navigate and poor search function (particularly as the interesting archive of auctions appears not to have been (yet?) made available. At least, that's what I've found.

What was happening in York today? York Coin and Stamp Fair. snow or no snow, thats a very short working day I wish.

It's OK, I start and finish at 2.30, so I'm home already. I work in a small care home ... so working from home would .. probably not go down well with Wifey! Most of the walk is through parkland so it was actually quite pleasant. Snow is fun. It's slush (and when the river floods and blocks my route) I don't like so much!

Snow here (Buckinghamshire) but as I have just a pleasant hour's stroll to and from work each day it hasn't affected me!

Thanks Colin, good to hear that. A year and a half, isn't it? Bad business, but could have been worse ...