TomGoodheart

I have emailed him twice. The first time telling him it was a pewter replica. The 2nd time asking him why he hadn't added this to the listing. Reported to ebay who do diddly. I reported it this morning too! He's a 'top' seller with a lot of feedback, bet they ignore it! What really annoyed me about this one was the blatant 'what is it'? You mean he couldn't actually read ELIZABETH on the edge of the coin and, putting two and two together (ie the date), realise it probably isn't Elizabeth II? And another! 170906386505 please do add link please! Link is here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170906386505?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_nkw%3D170906386505%26_rdc%3D1 Also reported by me. I cannot believe the earlier one went for £84 and this one is at £30+!!!! WTF are people who clearly know nothing doing bidding on replicas? There should be the equivalent of a driving test or you need to have your IQ checked before joining ebay. Seriously, I don't know whether I feel more annoyed at the sellers ripping people off or that these numpties deserve to get their fingers burned for being taken in. OK, because I'm nice it's obviously the former, but people need to learn before they spend. If I had a couple of ebay accounts to burn I'd relist using the seller's photos and a blistering description showing these things aren't worth more than the couple of ££ they cost at most museums and stately homes.

I suspect all of us here started picking coins out of change and keeping the more interesting or nicer ones. I had a variety, including pre-decimal coins I got from my Dad. Later I was looking in the library and found a book on shillings, which were used before the 1970s and which I remembered fondly from my childhood. An ice lolly cost a shilling and for two you could get a paperback book. I decided to collect shillings, just like the ones in the book I'd read. Of course, I soon found out that some of the ones I wanted were really expensive and I decided to just collect one sort of shilling. That way I hoped to be able to afford more coins for my money! But you don't have to spend much (or anything!) Get different design Euro coins from holiday or friends and family that have travelled abroad. 50ps (especially with the ones for the olympics) come in dozens of different designs. Or charity or junk shops often have a box or bowl of old (pre-decimal) money, most coins going for under 50p. In the end, you have to find something you like. We all collect different things in different ways. It's your choice!

My local library has coin books under Art / Antiques, so it may vary a bit. But staff can direct you. As for mules, they have probably been around for as long as coins have! Here's one of mine. The mint designed a new obverse (front) die, possibly for smaller diameter coins than previously. New reverse dies of a smaller style were presumably made at the same time, but a few coins were struck using the older, larger, reverse. As you can see, the lettering ('legend') around the reverse shield don't all fit on the coin! Not terribly exciting perhaps, but quite rare! Oh, and if you're thinking 'what a scrappy coin!' it's because earlier coins were made by hand, rather than machine and so varied much more in quality. ... plus it's been around for over 350 years.

BwaHahahahaha!

Very interesting! I can quite see that the shape of a flan could be a clue as to which were made at a similar time or by the same workers. I agree that we all develop techniques for mundane tasks and variation in how we do them can show up in the product. I think for short run coins like these it may also be an indicator that similar shape coins were struck around the same time. I think the technique might be more difficult to apply with smaller denominations however. My understanding (and do correct me if anyone knows differently) is that shillings (and probably half crowns and sixpences, smaller and larger coins proving more tricky) were crudely shaped and then the planchets were stacked a bit like modern coin rolls. The stack (roll) of coins was then clamped at the ends to hold it together and the resulting 'sausage' hammered along its length to round it into a cylinder shape. I can imagine therefore that planchets made together might all have a similar shape. The problem with, say shillings, is that I also imagine that the planchets, once rounded, were then thrown into a bucket and the coiners would just pick out some when they were ready to hammer the next coin. Thus a batch might not be used by only one coiner, or separate planchets will have been struck with different dies or a planchet from one batch might be overlooked and not stuck until some time later. There is also of course the problem of clipping and sample size. But a while back I mentioned the Shuttlewood privy mark ® shilling as having a 'squarish flan'. Well, my ® shilling has a squarish flan (!), as do these few others from a random sample: And although it's a bit of a leap, I find it tempting to think that they might have been made within a few days of each other, by the same team of workers, from a batch of planchets made at the same time.

Not really my area, but my guess is silver unit of Cunobelin, griffin/winged horse reverse. Possibly Spink 310 VA 2049 Some links here: http://www.detectingscotland.com/index.php?topic=4738.0 http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/438175 http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/299155

Hi Nicky and welcome! As you can see, sometimes threads here drift away from the original topic, but we're a friendly lot (mostly!) A few more 50p designs here; http://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-specifications/fifty-pence-coin. I suggest trying to find them in change. None are rare though a few might take a while to find.

fraid I didn't see anyting of interest on the site you linked to Joe. Did you have something about coins you wanted to discuss?

Talk like Yoda not always wise, make you sound. From not around here he is, my guess. Or has found v.cool app for phone to Jedispeak. (If so, I want!)

That'll be Swiss Francs Debbie. 50 is £33 or so. Good spot!!

In a word - yes. Must be your phone or whatever. On my monitor I can see quite clearly the eyebrow, eye complete with pupil, nose and nostril, and lips, all well defined. And that's from a small picture. So this shilling would be GEF then? My view, pretty much. Like a few earlier milled, the striking is a bit weak. The hair and Garter star show this. But as to wear, well, apart from possibly a little at 12 o'clock on the rim, there is none. Therefore GEF.

Yes. I never got to meet him, although he was kind enough to send me a copy of his paper. I'm sure he'll be missed by many.

I think the best idea Garry would be to take another photo of your coin, as sharp and large (as in megapixels) as you can. Upload it onto a photohosting site such as photobucket or flickr as links to those don't have the size restrictions that apply to photos uploaded from your computer/phone. You can post the link to the url, or coding it [ img].. [/ img] directly as an image (the site resizes photos to a convenient size itself) within a post. Use macro if you have it so you don't have too much background. Don't manipulate the image at all (though use artificial light if needed to show the details). That way members here can fiddle around with the original image to their heart's content and give you a better idea as to what they think. As an aside, can I ask how you weighed the coin and whether you used another of known weight for comparison? It would be daft if the coin was ok and only underweight because of a quirk of the scales. Of course, you may have done this already, in which case I apologise! As to the blackening, I'm no expert but coins can darken naturally depending on the conditions they were stored in. Maybe it wasn't a mint process that caused this coin to darken? Either way I'm sure members will be pleased to help you figure it out.

I think you could have picked a lot worse places to start so, welcome, and I hope you've found it interesting! We may not always agree here, but you can be sure of some lively discussion and quite a bit of (hopefully useful) information. I'm sure when you come to sell the shilling there will be plenty of interest.

A back-handed compliment is a compliment diguised as an insult!!! Us trying to insult people on the forum??? Absolutely not!!! It was recommended to us that we post the information and the pictures on this forum. We are not "posters" and did not even know the forum existed until a few days prior to our posting here. I think Stuart was saying it's kinda flattering to be asked for our views, when you already knew what Spink thought!

I'd say VF like this one from the same dies: http://www.coinarchives.com/w/lotviewer.php?LotID=1214730&AucID=1115&Lot=1020&Val=0674a17307776275d02d4da710d96641 Maybe VF+ .. I find it hard to tell from a photo, sorry!

Indeed. Either the grading is waaaay off, or you need to show us a proper sharp photo I'm afraid. From what you've said I'd expect it to look more like this: Does it?

To be honest, it sounds as if NGC's views are irrelevant. Certainly here in the UK I imagine few are going to be interested in the slab grade, they will make up their own minds. The same is likely true for CGS's opinion, grade wise at least. Slabbed coins are still a small part of the market here and I believe for most collectors make little difference, .. unless you want to unslab ... What would be of interest, to me at least, would be the letter from Spink advising you that the coin is 50/49! Their expertise is far more trustworthy than NGCs when it comes to British coins IMHO. Any major auction house here will have US representation and can advise you of the best way to market such a coin and where to sell it (although with the internet any sale is potentially international). Personally I'd prefer such a coin unslabbed. The photos you posted of the date earlier show the problems of trying to see fine detail through a sheet of plastic, but I know Americans are keener on the things than we are, so that's up to you I guess. I'd not bother with re-slabbing or chasing a different date label. I'd just pick a UK auction house, give them a copy of Spink's letter and go for it to be honest.

GREAT BRITAIN. Prince Albert, 1819-1861. London. Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations. Tin medal, 1851, by W. J. Taylor. (Allen 340; BHM 2459; E 1463; Taylor 165aa) I don't get the impression they are at all rare I'm afraid. I've seen a couple advertised for £50-£70 but they haven't sold at those prices, so more like ... maybe £10-£30 unless anyone here knows better?

Apart from being - thankfully - a football-free zone, what on earth are the sports featured at 1 o'clock and 2 o'clock? That'll be giant hula hoop eating and mile-high parachuting, surely? Unless the first is extreme ironing?

Not exactly an ebay listing, since it was in one of those banner adverts at the side. On the face of it, it looks like a coin, but it's not terribly well done and it's a ridiculous price. Do you think we should warn people about these things? It might avoid a lot of disappointment a few years from now ...

Back in 't' old days' ie 10 years ago before ebay got this daft idea about 'security' bidders could be identified from a listing. If there was something dodgy about a seller you could send a message to the bidders, or tell at a glance if the same member kept bidding on someone's items and never winning. I met two collectors who taught me (almost!) all I know through ebay and it worked well as a community. Then someone started a scam messaging underbidders and offering them the item, which of course the messager didn't have and instead of using paypal and banning those responsible ebay made it impossible for anyone to identify bidders and hence to report the bad guys. It was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. The problem with ebay is that they are scared of lawsuits from big manufacturers so any hint of fake Gucci or Levis and they will act. But coins .. they have no expertise and as most of the time nothing happens, they do nowt. If buyers started to sue ebay for assisting fraudulent activities, things might change, but .. And as for warnings, I guess one way would be to copy the technique of an Ameican medal expert. He has a listing on ebay for one of the medals most commonly sold as a copy for a high price as a buy it now. When you read it it isn't a sale listing but a guide to spotting fakes and a warning. Whether his reputation means ebay allows him to do this or it doesn't care but it must be one of the only listings left on ebay.com that says 'fake' in the title!

This one might be interesting. It's Samuel Johnson's touchpiece that he received from Charles II. Though as it's in the British Museum it might be difficult to obtain! I'd also like John Dee's crystal ball, though it's not a coin. Of course, for me the logical thing would be to have the 1933 double eagle and sell it to fund coins I really want!

XF-45?? Really? XF-45 as in choice EF? As in only the slightest of wear to the high points? I think not. Anyone disagree? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Great-Britain-1672-Charles-II-Half-Crown-V-QVARTO-ESC-471-Third-Bust-NGC-XF-45-/221113635480?pt=US_World_Coins&hash=item337b665298

The database I checked doesn't have photos of the coin, just description. Not sure how or if it's possible to see a picture I'm afraid Dave, so it's not much help. http://www.pcgs.com/Cert/16244004/