TomGoodheart

Even I, with my like for hammered coins, enjoy early hammered. There's a lot of character in those early shillings of Charles and James and even the Georges, that I find lacking after the end of the 1700s. I'm sort of sorry I got rid of mine. Apart from the fact that the money I got for them bought more coins for my collection.

No apologies needed. Rants are as welcome as any other threads here! And it's a shame you had bad experiences from the shops you visited. I'm sure the sellers here would have treated you much better! As for collecting, I suspect few here have £1000 to spend on a coin and it'd have to be pretty exceptional for those that do! And you're definitely not the only bargain bin lover either! But knowledge of your own is a good thing to have. That way not only can you pick things you like, but you can maybe choose coins that are more difficult to find or are in better than average condition. And I like toning on my coins. More than I like shiny cleaned ones anyway, but we all have to accept what we can afford at times.

I've sent a message care of what I think is his ebay account. I'll let you all know if I hear back.

I got that too. I get the impression that Andy Bruce hasn't had so much to do with the site recently as most of the coins listed seemed to be Rendell Ingrams'. I wonder if the hosting subscription was ending and lapsed? I just checked my pms and see I messaged Andy 6 months ago and didn't get a reply ... Shame. I got a handful of really nice coins from him.

1933 4 Fils coin of Faisal I Link (Only got it because David knew the country)

Sod's Law being what it is (or the Gods of Irony needing a laugh) by 8.30 when I took Wifey to work it had unlocked itself! So I sprayed the bits I could see with WD40 and took it to the dealer. It was a faulty latch. A replacement has been ordered and wil be fitted next week. The waranty covers it all so I can still buy that coin when (and if) it ever appears! And even better, I not only had a chance to drive my car (a rare occurrence these days as Wifey needs it to get to work) but I get to drive it again next week too! Did I mention I like my car? Specially that bit that goes broom at the front when you step on the pedal thing ...

LOL I'm hoping the warranty will cover the costs so I can still afford coins (I'm thinking of a new line!) but the time it might take is a nuisance .. And since this seems to be a problem with several of the VAG stable cars you'd have thought they'd have Vorsprung'd their bloody Technic by now and got it sorted, wouldn't you?

My car has developed a fault in that the read driver's side door remains deadlocked even when the others are open. I've tried the door handle at the same time as the remote, thumping the door near the lock mechanism at the same time .. etc. And I now have a bruised wrist and .. a locked door. I suspect the deadlock is just stuck as it makes the same 'unlocking' noise as the other doors. I went on the forum for such things (it's a VW GTI Skoda Octavia TSI) and it seems in the previous model this was a fairly common problem but following the facelift a few years back ..less so. But nobody really seemed to have much advice beyond the mechanically minded that just took the door apart. I am so not up for that! So I'm going to have to rely on the dealer (who say they have never heard of such a problem) to sort it and hope the warranty covers the cost. Apart from the nuisance value in that Wifey uses that door to fling her coat in the back when she drives, there's the safety issue of a door that won't work. Apart from that, I like my car so I'm just having a grumble really. But anyone that wants to cross fingeres that the dealer can fix it tomorrow (taking apart a deadlocked door is a pain of a job I understand ..) please do!

I suspect that ebay would wonder how the buyer found out that the item had been reported; given that such things are confidential. And if the buyer complained that they had only subsequently found out, without knowing the ebay had been told the coin was dodgy, ebay would probably just tell them to claim their money back from the seller. ebay after all, always have the recourse of saying that they are not experts on coins (or any other item), merely provide a platform for sellers and buyers. Probably they would argue that they didn't misrepresent the item, the seller did. And therefore any complaints the buyer has should firstly be presented to the seller (who from experience will probably just refund the buyer immediately to avoid problems and negative reporting). Afterwards ebay might choose to take action, but as usual, are unlikely to agree to tell anyone what form that action will take. Rob might choose to chip in at this point as he has a little experience in this area ..

I think the problem is ebay don't understand the difference between replicas, counterfeits and contemporary copies and have lumped everything in together. I'm not sure who this Professional Numismatists Guild is either and whether they understand that a counterfeit coin produced 200 years ago is of historical interest and a very different thing to one made yesterday to fool collectors into parting with their cash. Similarly things like the Dutch restrikes of the Cromwell crown or museum electrotypes of rare coins. Sounds like they have used a very big hammer to crack a nut that would have been better tackled by ebay taking more notice when experienced numismatists report dodgy items. Plus the major headache of very well made (Chinese?) copies is unlikely to go away because such things are almost never listed as copies or replicas. So the likely outcome is that those like seuk who collect contemporary counterfeits will find it harder to source historically interesting coins, while people will continue to be ripped off by the unscrupulous selling tat. As for "As part of its collaboration with PNG, eBay officials anticipate establishing a program to better educate collectors about the PNG and its trusted member-dealers, and to ensure the coin experience on eBay meets industry standards." I read that as As part of its collaboration with PNG, eBay officials anticipate making lots of money from plugging PNG member-dealers, and will ensure the coin experience on eBay meets industry standards ... set by members of PNG. Bravo PNG! A commercial coup indeed!

See, I can quite understand that Iraq wants back the contents of the National Museum, Greece would like its marbles and tribes in Papua New Guinea want the remains of their people that were stuck in a display case somewhere. These are clearly culturally significant objects. I can also see that countries can benefit if what artefacts are dug up in their soil stay around long enough to be catalogued, some research done and then financially if they as a nation rather than ..*coughentrepreneurealcough* .. individuals sell them on. But as part of my normal research I regularly check both the PAS records and UKDFD for coins that interest me. And, quite frankly, there are very few there that are more than what I might call 'hobby' coins; ie those that undoubtedly give the finder a thrill to have discovered a bit of history, but that in collecting and numismatic terms are almost worthless. (Any detectorist who wants to disabuse me and show me the treasures Spink regularly buy from them, please do ..!) And while I accept neither database is likely to be comprehensive, it seems to me that the sheer number of bent washers are going to be more of an administrative headache for any local museum than welcome additions to their collection. At best a hoard will sit in a display case. At worst, a handful of metal objects will be stuck in a box in the basement for "future cataloguing". Maybe if for six months every single detectorist submitted their finds to the authorities for recording, pestered them for attribution details and asked regularly where their 'treasure' is to be displayed so they can bring Great Auntie Mabel to see the culturally significant items they have discovered for their nation, we might see some sense. In fact if every detector asked for a PAS officer to visit to inspect their find site (followed no doubt by emails from irate farmers wishing to plough and builders wanting to carry on building) it might be admitted that the vast majority of stuff dropped in fields or even shoved up a chimney, is of little or no archaeological interest. And there .. I wonder, might be the nub of it. Politicians see cases of gold bracelets in previously unknown artistic styles, or a sovereign of King Arthur and perhaps assume that the earth is teeming with such things. Of course they will want such treasures protected and rightly so. Perhaps what they don't see is the buckets of tat that come up from the average archaeological dig that has to be painstakingly photographed, numbered, identified, recorded and stored. Who is going to do the work of recording and where are they going to put it all? And then when stamps and letters and pieces of clothing and souvenirs become 'culturally significant' where will it end? Will I be prevented from buying a five year old toaster from someone in Wales until someone has decided whether it should instead be put into a museum of industry as an exemplar of design? Will the police come-a-calling to repatriate my Alessi juicer because a museum in Milan needs one? Sorry. Too much coffee and having a joke, but ...

Many of you will be aware of the current concerns in the US (and I believe Germany) about coins imported from Europe which are, or may be, covered by the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CCPIA). Namely that the collecting of ancient coins of historical interest will be severely affected by legislation designed to protect 'cultural property' by restricting the import of such items and allowing for the seizure and return to country of origin of the same. There's been a fair amount of stuff posted on a number of coin collecting and dealers sites about this. But in my internet wanderings I came across the blogs of someone called Paul Barford, an archaeologist. Now, Paul is not really one to pull his punches and appears to have little respect for those he calls 'coineys' ( .. um, I guess, us) and 'history plunderers' (detectorists) and needless to say his views are rather the opposite of what the collectors and dealers post. I found his views ... interesting. Now, I have to say that, as a collector I find myself in a bit of a dilemma. I think that even if only a small part of what he says about UK detectorists is true, it's enough to worry me that historical information may be being lost, other less 'interesting' artefacts such as pottery shards or bone fragments are being disturbed or distroyed, and items are probably 'going missing' rather than being declared to the PAS. On the other hand, it would be a very rare collector who would refuse to buy a coin off ebay if the seller couldn't explain exactly where it came from. Looking at my own collection, the information given to me about the few declared detector finds is mostly very limited. Only one (who was the finder) gave me a location and map of where the coin was dug. And of course, we know that historically, such information hasn't been a priority. Few Victorian collectors kept information about their coins, unless it was provenance regarding previous owners, and the situation isn't much better today. Most of my coins can only really be traced back 20 years or so at most. Less really, since I don't have the budget to buy coins from major collections. Some only have the name of the person I bought from and, even where that's a known dealer, many seem unable or reluctant to pass on any pertinent details. So I guess, I 'get' the gist of Paul Barford's concerns. But I'm not quite sure what I personally can or would do about this. And I also worry slightly (since my coins all originated in England and so aren't so threatened by the aspects of CCPIA that concern ancient coin collectors) that I'd find it difficult to provide much provenance for my coins if required. Just some thoughts really. And I wondered what others here think?

At a guess ebay and paypal fees will be about £12. (10% final price for ebay + 3% of transaction for paypal) Win, win. For them ... But then a much larger market than gumtree or other sites so you have that convenience .. ebay is fine, providing you are ok with the fees, it's quick and none too complicated.

I know! I had to go to work and everything! Still .. the family did feel sorry for me so pretty much the whole weekend was a sort of celebration. Of course, at my age that's warm slippers and an extra dose of sanatogen .. but still fun!

Why thank you! Young whippersnapper! And I doubt Colin will be up yet. Too early at his age!

Rob here has a good stock of numismatic literature both for his own use and through his shop (RPCoins). Maybe pm him and see if he has a copy of the article? I've always found him most helpful. Alternatively I see there's a copy on UK ebay but it's a lot to buy the whole year for one article .. Numismatic Chronicle 1974

Sometimes you just have to accept what's available. This is pretty close to as it is. It's perhaps a little more colourful than in the hand, where it's velvety black. But it's also round, crisp and has the scarcer of the two reverses. Plus to my eye, it's quite attractive, though I can understand it's not to everyone's taste.

Yeah, I get this. In the end, I collect coins I like. The fact that they are 'cheaper' is a bonus and the fact that they won't sell for as much is something I can just leave to fret about until the day comes when I need to part with them. Even if I had the funds, perfect/proof/fine work pieces are only of interest to me as a reference when grading. I simply can't see the point of buying things that I won't enjoy owning. And I happen to like the quirkiness of hammered coins that show that they were hand made and have been around for a couple of centuries. If people only bought things 'of value' few would collect minor varieties, die numbers, pub tokens, bottle tops, whatever, the world would be less interesting and as Rob says, the cost would be crazy!

All sounds a bit extreme to me! And wouldn't you be worrying every time you open the box or whatever to look at your coins that those few seconds might start the 'rot' again? Easier to dip them in a removable coating if you're that worried if you ask me ... .. of course, I'd still recommend getting used to the natural changes coins go through with the passage of time, meself!

So I thought, if the Mayor of New Yorkcan do it , why not me? I learned to programme in FORTRAN IV so thought it might be fun. Plus I'd really like to understand what all the fuss is about webpages and apps, because I don't get it. So I signed up. First off it told me my browser (IE8) isn't supported and I'd need Firefox, Opera or Chrome. Wth? So I tried Wifey's computer which has ff. Middle of lesson 3 and it crashed. Then when I tried to give feedback it defaulted to Windows Mail which told me I'd need to set up an account and when when I'd typed everything in gave me a message saying that Microsoft no longer supports Windows Mail. I am seriously unimpressed. Hopefully the Mayor will have better luck or I reckon codecademy is toast.

Yes, Chris NameMaster is. Rest of us, Padawan only. Force is not strong enough in these ones.

Did you change your Personal photo, or your Avatar Peck? They are different and I'm not sure but I think it's the photo that appears next to posts. But I have both mine as the same pic, so could be wrong!

Yeah, but I expect the P&P will be prohibitive ...

Andy Howitt seems to keep a few of these, so might be worth looking at his site every now and then. He has an ebay shop too.

Might be free to list but you will still get clobbered 10% of the final sale price. And may have to pay for photos, depending on preference. Plus if you use paypal they charge upwards of 3%. You can avoid PayPal by having buyers collect, or accepting cheques. But if the latter, leave time for it to clear and definitely be in your bank before sending the item. And check postage costs for bulky or heavy items and make surte you pass on a reasonable cost to the buyer. Ebay have categories for most things. Search for a couple of similar items and see where those are listed and copy that is simplest. You can choose to sell for 3,5,7 or 10 days. Same cost so consider what day and time of day your listing will end to ensure (ideally) people will be at home so they can push up the final cost of your item by last second sniping! You can pay a bit more to have the auction start (and so end) at a particular time (£0.06!). Just pennies .. but they add up! My last listing sold for £80 + £6 postage. Money in bank after fees and postage .. £65 However part of that was a reserve price fee (£2.39) which I didn't have to have. The rest of deductions; final fee (£8), supersize picture (which didn't work!) £0.60, and of course Special Delivery post (£5.45) Only £1 was the listing fee!!