TomGoodheart

Hi and welcome Mongo. Always nice to see someone new and, more importantly, enthusiastic! I can't offer much advice on nice and shiny, or much on unc, as what I collect rarely comes like that! But I have picked out a few decent decimal coins from change, so it's still possible to get 1980s and 1990s occasionally in BU. I wouldn't spend money on them however. As to what you have bought, that looks like a good start. In time you'll get a feel for grade and prices. It still surprises me how (realitively) little some brilliant Victorian base metal coins can cost, though generally the further back in time you go the more you will need to pay for the better quality pieces. People talk about rare coins and certainly there are quite a few members here who own some very rare ones, but generally grade wins out over rarity. So whatever you collect, try to get as good an example as you can afford. And if you're ever unsure, just ask here. We all love giving our opinion!!

Any offers then? Trouble is, at 1.15 x 0.9 m (45" x 35", though being a tryptych it folds to half that) it doesn't exactly fit into an envelope, so postage will be a bit. The snake buckle belongs on the left with the rest of the found objects.

LOL That's where it was until I realised I could get some money for it!!

Ah. I can only claim to be someone who sounds as if he knows what he's talking about!

No bids yet, so it could still be yours Scott! Richard I hope you have change for a 1967 6d I have some nice shiny 1967 pennies. Would they do? Alternatively, now I know Churchill crowns are still valid tender ....

No bids yet, so it could still be yours Scott!

But before that they were made of brass and used on military uniforms around the world.

Well, you could try that Peter. I'm not sure you'd get many bites, but it sort of works as a hook on its own!

I like Alan Moore's quote: 'The one place gods inarguably exist is in the human mind'.

Nice little coin. Michele Steno is it? Apparently these circulated illegally as halfpennies! Cool bit of history Debbie! http://finds.org.uk/medievalcoins/denominations/denomination/id/170

These things seem to go for about £25 on ebay. More in the US where they are sold as 'Confederate/ Civil War' items. It's an old military / service snake style buckle, which would have been used to fasten a belt. I understand they were popular from the early 18th century up to the 1950s. I don't know much about it other than that. I found it, I think a year ago in Northumbria. Perhaps it's Roman It's uncleaned other than a wash under a tap, but some of the brass shows through the patina. As it was at the side of a track it might have been driven over at some point.. The photos show both cm and inch scales and it's quite nicely detailed. I plan on sticking it on ebay as I want the money to spend on coins more than I want to keep it, though if I had the choice ... Anyone interested?

Couple of years back I used to frequent the Religion & Spirituality board on Yahoo Answers. Now that was a bear pit! You'd get the atheists vs the believers, the Christians (aka protestants) vs the Catholics, the pagans vs the fluffy bunnies and everyone was regularly told they were going to hell, whether they believed in it of not! I did learn an awful lot though, so it wasn't all bad. Plus it was kinda fun, in a carcrash sort of way.

All the luckier! (I had to buy mine.)

Mmm ... not really. Yes, you can get a coin that has enough detail that you can identify it. Like this. But it won't be terribly pleasing for that money. I think it would be worth spending more like £30-£40 to get a better coin if you want silver. A jetton or copper farthing could be had for less, if you just want something hammered.

Just out of interest, what coin are you wearing Stuart? I've recently been wearing this: Mercury (though eveyone knows it's a she and She is Liberty) dimes are supposed to be lucky, Mecury being the god of chance. Leap year dates (which this one is, 1944, the last leap year of issue) are especially so, it's said. I also have one of those Johnson Matthey replica touchpieces. Though at the moment I'm actually wearing a brass snake buckle on a cord as a sort of amulet.

Hammered coins are definitely an area where it helps to do a good search before making a decision. Rob spends quite a proportion of his time looking at old auction catalogues and I spend far more than I should on the internet, but in effect what we are doing is similar. We are both aiming to get a feel for what sort of state you find a coin in and what sort of price that commands, so that when an exceptionally better example comes up we recognise it and have an idea what we might be prepared to pay. And to avoid spending money on 'best evar example none to me' and regretting it! Bottom line is, some coins are almost never found other than bashed, clipped, bent or badly made, whereas others you can pick up a nice example quite easily. And if you can recognise a coin as being unusual when everyone else thinks 'oh, I've seen plenty of those', well, you're at an advantage.

I'm not selling, just want to know bit more information about it... By the way, how much this coin can cost? A sixpence in that condition with the hand mint mark .. £30 or so. Pierced .. £20 on a good day. But a unique curiosity? Hard to tell really. If you were fortunate to find the right buyer it could go for quite a bit more than what I've suggested, maybe several times. But finding a buyer will be tricky. How much did it cost you?

My guess (without examining it) is that someone has seen fit to make a double headed coin. Whether a mint worker for their own or someone else's use, or someone has managed to get hold of a couple of coin dies, we'll never know. My guess is the former, since it would be difficult and risky, but probably easier than getting hold of undamaged dies if you had no connection with the Tower mint.

Very odd. However, I believe the pile (the bit that was fixed to the bench) bore the obverse design for the coin and the trussel (the bit that was hit with the hammer) the reverse. The 'obverse' and 'reverse' legends on your coin are different so it appears someone has decided to use two different piles (obverse dies) to make this coin. Less of an error coin and more of a deliberate mistake!

It didn't arrive Debbie and I'm pretty sure my settings were all as expected when I checked how to alter them in response to Stuart, so I guess it's a problem with the board rather than individual settings. I've emailed Chris P to see if he has any ideas. Thanks for letting me know guys!

Have you checked your settings to make sure you're still set up to receive them (and that your in box is not full)? Edit my profile > Profile > Settings > Notification Options > Settings

Ah, that's more my thing. Since I barely have enough money for coins let alone classic cars (Dinky or otherwise) I collect rubbish ephemera and oddities. Bottle caps (of bottles I have emptied myself usually!), fossils, beach pebbles, shells, bits of bone, religious medallions and talismans, four leaved clover and stuff people have thrown away or that catch my eye and imagination. Sometimes I make them into .. assembages. Other times, they just sit in a box.

It's odd, because they surely have the time to organise it all better. It's as if there are half a dozen compilers one of whom things a coin should be listed under "Shilling, Charles I" another "Charles I, shilling" and another "A coin". I agree it's a mess and no order, or more importantly consistency. However there is a search function online. But generally, it could be better and I don't know why it is the way it is.

And even more change for coins left over!

LOL If I had that sort of money I couldn't bring myself to spend it on just one coin!