TomGoodheart

Personally, I don't particularly go for 'perfection', but eye appeal. This may not be as good as they get, but I'd rather a couple of coins like this than one amazing one. In the end, it all comes down to what appeals to you!

Something like this might look nice. Of course, you'd need to buy a cabinet to put it in. Plastic flips just wouldn't do it justice I don't think ...

You know, old though I am, it still surprises me that people will pay more for a lesser coin because it looks like a soap bubble. MS67 Ultra cameo PF69 Americans, eh? Gotta love em ...

OK. I just quoted from this article comparing Numis Network with ISN. (He liked ISN better).

Oh, s'OK, I got it. "ISNCoins has a start up cost of $149 (including your first coin), and an autoship of $96.95 per month to receive 1 MS69 American Silver Eagle. ISNCoins ships you a MS69 Silver Coin worth about $40-45. Your first year expenses would come out to $1215, or an average of $101 per month. International Silver Network uses a simple uni-level that pays 8 levels down, and infinitely wide. For all personally sponsored collector reps, you earn $12 residually. For any collector rep that is within your 8 levels, you receive $4 per coin shipped. If you sponsored two collector reps and the rest of your income came from $4 overrides, it would only take 21 collector reps TOTAL underneath you to reach $96 per month. Now, if you personally sponsored each of your downline, it would only take 8 TOTAL COLLECTOR REPS to reach your $96. That means you are paying absolutely nothing to be in ISN, and you are receiving a FREE MS69 American Eagle Silver coin." Seems complicated to me. But what do I know?

I'm sorry if it's come across like that Will. I think it's that we're coin collectors first and several of us perhaps view the investment side with some scepticism/cynicism. We are mostly grumpy old men after all! You're happy with your choice and are making money, great! But I'm still curious; Care to say how much that would cost me?

THAT is as good as you will get. Maybe I'm an old duffer but some coins are awful. Do you just need an example ? I just leave alone.I took an early BSE mint Ed 1 penny described as VF but was a pile of tat.It was VF for issue.S1377. I don't like it,never will.Then Clive sends me an Aethelred 11 and I must have looked at it every day. Indeed. Stephens are extraordinarily difficult to find with a half decent portrait. Most can only just be made out for what they are, so that as Peter says, is good. I suspect you'd find it difficult to improve on it for twice the money.

Very nice! I hoped it might be engraved. Another member here has an interest in engraved coins and might be able to give an opinion. In the meantime I've copied your links to make it easier for others to view.

It's difficult to tell without seeing it I'm afraid. Any chance you can post a photo? It might be a coin that has been altered, or possibly it's actually not a coin but a medallion. You can post photos of up to 150kb size directly into replies from your computer, or if you have a photo hosting account like flikr or photobucket, you can post the link.

Which reminds me of the other point I was going to make which is that, for me, such a venture would have been impossible because what I started collecting bears little resemblance to what I now collect. I had a very nice Northumberland which I sold for £550 many years ago and had I kept it would (along with the first bust 1663, the Elizabethan shillings etc..) have proved a very decent investment. But my interests changed before prices and I just about broke even. So while I agree that buying a 'star' coin will pay off long term, do bear in mind that none of us know what our interests (or budget!) will do over the next few years. Plus there is always the risk that a really special coin will make others in our collections look ... less. I know I regularly review my coins. Some days I feel pleased. Others .. I just want to upgrade all of them and wonder what possessed me to buy such tat. Particularly when I add a new coin that I am newly pleased with .. it somehow takes the (metaphorical) shine off the others! That's the trouble with women coins. Can't live with them, can't live without them!

You don't say what your budget is Chris, but generally coins with some provenance will retain their appeal. Of course, that's not the end of it, since even the best known collectors may well have owned some poor coins and a dog with, say, a Lockett ticket is still a dog ... but for the most part, well known collectors tried to get the best they could find and even though better may have come to light since, that's still a benchmark. My only other advice would be, avoid micro varieties/ rarities. While some fetch very good prices, the fact is they are of interest to a smaller market; ie the specialist collectors. Disappointing though it is to me, unusually good condition common coins will almost always beat a lesser graded one, even if that coin is rare. And not rare as in a few hundred either, I'm talking about coins for which there are only three or four known specimens. Yes, there are exceptions, but 9 cats out of 10, grade wins. With hammered as you mentioned 17th century shillings, remember eye appeal. Round full flan, central even strike are the things to look for. This for example, while a common enough coin, its condition is uncommon and hence it wasn't cheap. Which is not to say it's perfect, but as an example of that type, it's as good as you'll find. And it will keep its value over a lesser coin any day. Oh, and remember, you can always check with people here before handing over your money and we will give you our opinion. Just remember, you're the one that has to live with the coin. Pick one that calls to you.

Yes. You'd need to get it sent from the US. http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=59eSXE3XptFwzQGFRpOfDw4JaeU_6334251819_1:797:1758&bq=author%3Dlloyd%2520l%2520entenmann%26title%3Dlove%2520tokens%2520as%2520engraved%2520coins Though it'd be a used copy with some signs of wear if I'm reading it correctly.

If it's the one I think, you can get it for around £130, but you could still get an awful lot of engraved coins for that!

Hammered Unknow Coin Wonder why there are no bids? It certainly has been hammered. More hammered that a Glaswegian on a Friday night, I'd say.

True. Definitely a case of needing to know your stuff and trusting the seller.

I think it's 9a (but no star on breast) Chris. Though I'm happy to be corrected when Peter has a chance to check.

Well now, we may be being unfair to Will. Maybe he's the innocent party here. But when I hear “Silver Is The BIGGEST Opportunity I've Ever Seen†I think 'scam'. In which case, it's most fortunate that you found us, since we are coin collectors first, not in it for 'business' and we're not just brand new ones, either. And I think we can all confidently say that this sounds like a brilliant way to throw away money. OK, you might be at the top and have your silver paid for by later joiners to the scheme - I'm guessing that's how it works. But if silver doesn't increase in value ... So, if you're as young and naive as you sound Will, my advice is get out now. And if not, well, I'm pretty sure there will be no buyers here for this scheme. I'll leave this thread up so Google can link to the debate.

He's probably Realised he's chosen the wrong forum to peddle his bullion on Well, if he's buying ounce bullion coins for ebay prices then he'd better hope prices rise as he thinks. A £47 loss per 'coin' is going to be difficult to cover ...

Will seems to keep popping in but not answering any questions.

He last posted on EnglishHammered-L on Tuesday. So no obviouss problems but as Rob says, they may be away. Did you use the galata address?

Rare maybe. But I can't see any way that toning is going to cover up that mess. Sad.

Hi Will and welcome. Just for interest I looked up the 2012 NGC MS69 Early Release Australia $1 Koala. It appears that on ebay I can get an MS70 for around £60. Just out of interest (and since the link you posted doesn't actually have any prices), how much will an ounce silver coin set me back? A ball-park figure will do.

I've discussed this with contacts at various times. The consensus is that where there is only one known die (and we're talking about Charles I shillings here) you'll generally find there to be around half a dozen examples known, and certainly less than 20. Now if you think about the number of coins that can be made in a few days, you can see that's a very poor survival rate. Though when you consider there have been two major recoinages (1696 and 1816) in addition to the loss due to wear, physical loss or clipping/illegal melting, it's perhaps surprising that any hammered coins have survived at all! While siege coins were probably made in quantity, it wasn't in isolation. Coin would already be circulating so it wasn't as if an entire year's worth of new coinage was needed. Consequently it's likely that compared to the number of officialy issued coins struck at the Tower mint from regular dies, the number of obsidional pieces would have been small to start with. Newark was a mainstay of the royalist cause for three years and under siege twice. Scarborough by contrast was under siege for 'only' 5 months and Scarborough coin was struck, not by value as at Newark (where plate was cut to the relevant denomination) but by weight, pieces being weighed and then stamped with the value of their silver content. Hence there are a number of very odd, and consequently scarce, amounts like this one (two shillings and tenpence). As for the £58K, well, I have a few coins for which only a handful of examples are known. I suspect Rob has some that are scarcer, perhaps unique. If price was just down to rarity we'd be very happy! But of course it's actually down to how many people want a coin and how much they are prepared to pay .. and sentiment plays a large part of that. If a Montague or Lockett paid a lot for a particular coin type in the last century and few or no further examples have turned up it will command much more than a coin that was only recognised as a new type in 1995 and which last sold on the open market for a few hundred quid. And talking of few examples, I have a very rare Charles I shilling, a Sharp E1/3. Only three examples known. OK, it's only in poor condition, so I'm not going to ask £58K, that would be ridiculous! £5,000 will be quite enough.

I guess if you were crazy enough to want a full run of denominations of Scarborough coins and were missing a two shilling and tenpence piece ... Siege coins have always sold at a premium relative to their scarcity and the market is ... let's say buoyant, at the moment. It only takes two deep pocketed bidders to send prices soaring. Whether on another day or in a couple of years time this coin will make that sort of price, who knows. But I know I've been prepared to pay as much as I can afford (which wasn't much!) for a coin on the basis that I would be hard pressed to see another. And I don't know about this coin but the odd value coins are presumably uncommon and rarely available. In the end, if they buyer is happy and would have been prepared to pay more you could even say it was cheap! When did it sell by the way?

Probably. It certainly allows you to override when it wants to block content. Looks like you get an approved sender choice too: Thing about hotmail is that, as far as I know, you can set up an account and then merge your current mail as Chris says above. So you could try it out and see what you think?