TomGoodheart

Same here really. Of course, my collecting aims have changed with time. When I first started out I was keen to pick up all the rarities both to fill gaps and those that nobody else seemed to know about. But with time I've come to realise that that mysterious 'eye appeal' that's often mentioned here is key for me. I just don't any longer get the pleasure from this sort of thing: Rare? Yes, I only know of two other examples. But satisfying to have such a coin in my collection? Not so much! So I too am now on a journey to track down the better examples of what, to most people, are just 'ordinary' coins, since poor examples can be found without any difficulty at all. Now in some cases the coin I want belongs to someone else. I guess I'll just have to wait until I find something they want more or they decide to sell! In others I'm still looking for an example that 'does it' for me. Is that a satisfying way to collect? Not entirely! But for me I can live with it far better than in the early days when I was all in a rush to fill any gap at any cost. Discernment and patience are still things I'm learning. But the fact that I am learning them makes my collecting focus different these days and I just have to accept that gaps (temporary or permanent) in the collection is one price I have to pay for feeling happier when I look at my treasures!

I make it H M The cross bar of the H has been artistically made up of two strokes. The reverse says the same, but the right hand part of the lettering was either not completed or has worn.

Ah, one of the Humbrol restrikes then?

I'm on a tight budget so nine times out of ten, I try to sell on straight away as I'll need the cash for further purchases.

Sorry to threadjack, but ... is this just an regular coin that someone has messed about with .. or .? Just curious.

I'm fairly sure I'd heard that if you made an offer on ebay and it was turned down you couldn't then go back and make another (higher) one? So maybe people didn't want to put themselves out of the running by offering too little? I know the few times I've listed with an offer option I've not received any ... which is disappointing really! Having said that, one of the coins I bought recently I got on an offer. However the seller had also listed the coin on his website, so as soon as I saw he'd lowered the eBay listing price I contacted him through there. It was only £20 difference, which would have been absorbed by ebay fees, but I felt I was getting a better deal and we were both happy. I still check ebay regularly as good deals can be had, even now. But to be honest, I'd much rather buy at a set price from a dealer I know and trust these days ... I heard ebay are trying to head towards more fixed price BIN listings (perhaps they feel the competition from sites like Amazon) but how long it will take for people to accept the idea over 'auction' style, I'm not sure. A couple of people I know have complained they've had no success recently selling on ebay. Maybe a sign of the times - everyone wants an (unrealistic) bargain! Or maybe what we're trying to sell is too specialised? *shrug*

Yeah. Never mind buying coins to slab and sell in the US ... we should be building a time machine, going back and buying up everything at 1960's prices!

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!

Ditto.

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!