TomGoodheart

LOL I've done this too! Enlarged dealer's pics, peered at them. Inverted the colours to see if the detail looks any better. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. To be honest, I think this dealer's pic is quite heavily pixelated. The way the colours in the fields look just isn't natural. Maybe it was enlarged beforehand? I seem to remember that if I converted a bitmap to a jpeg it does that. Either way it's just impossible to be certain I'm afraid. I imagine the coin is on it's way to you Dave? So we'll look forward to some good photos in a few days, yes?

Here here! To Danny - Look at it this way... if you went out and got a lower-wage job (say £15k pa), its a guaranteed income. Should you wish to deal in coins, to make a similar take-home you would need sales of £150,000 and thats working on a fairly lofty 10% margin! Also consider that you have had to outlay £140,000 in the first place! I have considered this myself in the past but worked out that I would require around £10k liquid capital to sink into 'stock' before it would be worth even trying! Given a mortgage, wife etc, this is unlikely in the near future - though given that I am less than 10 years older than you, I hope that may change! However ... I'm sure everyone here can see coins that had they bought years ago would have been cheaper and perhaps better than those they now own. So collecting at an early age might well pay in the long run. Just remember the best quality common coins are often worth more than knackered rare ones. And learn to specialise or else you'll just have a mish mash of stuff. A series of related coins is both more interesting from a study point of view and will sell better if necessary.

I agree with the others. Basically what's on offer is a 5oz lump of silver that has been gold plated. The fact that it's been made to look like a pretty coin or has gold on it is largely irrelevant to any coin collector. It's worth the melt value of the silver. Of course, there are collectors for such commemorative items, just as there are for plates with kittens or Wade whimseys. But the future value of such items are down to the whims of fashion I'm afraid and an 'investment' is not how I would think of them. As for the Eagles and Maples they are well and good. They are bullion coins (like Britannias) and will always sell as such. But silver price is at a high at the moment, so whether that's a good stategy is unclear. In the long term precious metal has been as good as any other investment providing you buy and sell at the right times! And ..er, .. just an idea .. if you like coins then they (regular currency issues in good condition) can prove an interesting hobby and (long term) can increase in value too?

I think it's a jetton in the chatel Tournois style like the one in this link: WAG link Mediaeval French

If 'he' doesn't return to post again I'll delete the thread in a bit. I can't delete members (you'll all be glad to know!) so that'd be down to Chris. But since the IP is in Tseung Kwan, Hong Kong it does look rather botlike!

Sorry, but no. This site is for people to discuss coins and not to promote businesses with no connection to the hobby. If you wish to join in the coin chat, welcome. If not then I'm afraid this isn't the site for you. In the meantime, I've deleted your duplicate thread in the Members area since it's not coin related.

Oh, yeah. One thing not to do is .. if you happen to have 200 of those very rare Charles Darwin £2 coins (or similar multiple items) .. please don't list them individually!! Save some money and combine them in a multiple listing. Then people can see you have 199 left or whatever and can use the same listing to bid for theirs.

I'm fairly sure that in the UK the distance selling regulations mean that you can't refuse returns anyway. Admitedly, the right to return the item is limited to if it doesn't match the description given by the seller (or it wasn't theirs to sell) but it's still there. Online auction rights

Hmm ... I think scans plus photos are useful. Those photos when someone holds a coin pick up the detail, but a scan can show surface problems. As for listing times, well, when I buy obviously I want the listing to end when everyone else is at work and I'm not!! When I sell I tend to aim for the weekend from 7pm on because I'm generally expecting to sell to UK buyers and assume most people are around weekend evenings. As for buying and selling I've ticked 'Other' too as I've bought and sold to other collectors I know and px'd my coins for one I want from a dealer.

LOL And all in a good cause too!

Welcome!

thank you, nice coin is it an expensive coin? The one I use as a profile pic? I paid £70 for it which I suppose is about average for a Charles I shilling. It's a good strike but bits have been snipped off the edges as often happens ...

Hi Geritt. Interesting site of yours. And welcome to Predecimal.

I think the problem with US grading companies was highlighted by an ebay listing (which I have since lost!) for a salbbed coin that said the company had only graded five coins at this grade and seven higher. Which means exactly what it says. Not that there are only seven coins of a higher grade, simply that's all they have seen. Slabbed coins just don't (currently) have the appeal in Europe that they do in the US and so far fewer are graded. Now far be it from me to advocate slabbing but if I had to choose I'd pick a company with some experience of the coins I'm interested in. As for a 700 point scale, that seems daft to me! Unless people are seriously going to quibble over an odd point or two, why bother? The + and *s suggest that the whole thing is no more precise than our N(early) or A(bout/ almost) system that works quite well IMHO. Oh, and that 50c with 'eye appeal' that Huss posted? A particularly ugly piece of kitsch to my eyes I'm afraid. Which perhaps highlights the subjectivity of the 'appeal' of such things as coins and the foolishness of taking it all too seriously and trying to talk in absolutes. Grading isn't that precise unless you use a machine to assess exactly how much wear a coin has sustained (and that assumes you have a 100% perfect example to benchmark and we know how difficult it is to find those!) And even if you could say 'this coin has sustained 10.76% wear compared to a perfect specimen' it means very little since the wear could be from the rim, across the whole coin or from the centre of the bust making it either unnoticable or irrelevant or disasterous in terms of eye appeal. So returning to the original question, I'd say slabbing is only worth it for coins that might tarnish or that you want authenticated and that will sell for a decent multiple of the cost of slabbing. Because I doubt (m)any Europeans will pay more just because a coin is slabbed.

If it's bronze then it's a perfectly normal patination that happens with age as the surface of the coin oxidises. You commonly find it on ancient coins such as Roman where it's considered attractive. It's just convention that more modern coins aren't expected to have any green on them. Here's a very nice coin with a slight greenish tone from Mike Vosper's site: and another: I guess olive oil or whatever will remove it. But post a pic first. People might consider it attractive, if unconventional.

Here you go - I finally found mine. The obverse an early period Hibero-Norse 'St Peter' penny dating from 919-925 muled with an obverse from one of Aethelstan 'King of all Britain' (924-939).

Your coin is most likely a modern souvenir struck at the Jorvik centre in York. During the excavations two coin dies were found which were then used to strike pewter blanks into coins. The dies were from different series and so the coin is muled from two obverses See here: Jorvik shop I think originally kids could do the striking but health and safety meant that when I visited someone did the hammering for you. I've mislaid mine or I'd post a pic, but I'm 90% sue that's what it is. Sorry.

Unique? The coin .. perhaps. The foil? No. Not comparing it with the images Badger kindly posted previously anyway. The folds in the edge of the foil are different. Who knows how many foil imprints there might be out there .. could be dozens. A novelty item at best IMHO.

Interesting thread. I find the rarity of coins and the reason for their rarity interesting. I can't help but think of the 1988 (shield reverse) £1 coin. Not produce in huge numbers, no. But I seriously doubt I've ever seen even ten of the little blighters. And very few of those in decent nick - in fact one - and that's the one I picked out of change and kept with my year run from circulation. Have they been taken out of circulation because, like me, people saw a new design and decided to keep one? Did they circulate somewhere else like the North East and just not often travel down to the midlands (unlikely)? Are there bags of the things sat in a bank somewhere? Who knows. I just know that, were I to judge by the number I've seen, they would appear rarer than I know they actually are. But as for the penny, when I looked at Dad's little collection (again from change) there were plenty of (admittedly low quality) H and KN pennies. Why? They are fairly easy to spot I reckon. And people had heard of them. For all I know in the handful of coins of his I have left there might be a rarity. But I haven't the experience, skill (or interest) to check! And so I just wonder if the MEs are scarce because they were tricky to spot unless you have the two coins side by side (plus the late issuing thing) and so just wore down in circulation and have now either been scrapped or the few, when noticed, were popped into collections?

Nice pics btw. I'd take a trip to IKEA for a light but presumably I'd need a decent camera too?

SHHHHHHH!!! Don't let them hear you say that! The Mint seems so desparate to make money issuing tat they might just go for that one. With of course 365 different obverse designs for the 1€ coins each year. As for coin mags .. I don't actually ever remember buying one. I used to subscribe to Spink's Circular but essentially for the coins for sale and nice pics of coins (for sale!). The articles by and large were not of interest to me. However, I am aware that compared to most here I have a very narrow collecting interest indeed. Despite that, I was interested to realise that I got just as much of a thrill in finding a counterfeit 50p piece the other day as I do in tracking down a particularly nice hammered shilling, so I guess a general interest in coins is still there. I too read old books occasionally and find them fun. But somehow a 20 or 30 year old mag of any description is interesting because of the snapshot on prices, life and interests of a different era. I've been wondering how to translate that all into a magazine of today and .. most importantly whether I'd buy such a thing. And I'm not sure I would. Now, as I say, I'm likely not typical. But looking around here at the range of coin collecting interests, I find it difficult to think of a magazine that could keep up the diversity, academic depth and entertainment value to keep us all interested month after month.

As I say, if he's said 'terribly sorry but I made a huge c*ockup as you'll no doubt have realised so I've refunded your money straight away and while I'd rather you didn't I'll quite understand if you leave neg feedback for me but I'm afraid I can't afford to take a £500 loss' I'd be inclined to feel sympathetic and take it no further. And maybe he feels that's what he's said. But it comes across a little short of a fullsome apology and I think I'd feel a wee bit miffed even so. And expect my money back without having to ask for it.

I would definitely contact ebay. They offer phone support now. I'd politely explain that you bought the item and paid for it and just leave it for them to say something in response. If he'd been more effusive with the apology then I'd be more generous. But if someone just relists then that's rude. I'd pursue him just for the hell of it! (Aren't I nasty!?!) And of course, let us know how you get on!!

And a 'Hi Conor and welcome' from me too. Modern coins aren't particularly my thing but I'll be interested to see the pics too. (Well, they're coins aren't they!)

Mmm ... looks like a listing mistake to me too. Any correspondence from the seller yet? As for the sick squid, it's fine if a coin is sent by Special Delivery since that just covers postage and a 'jiffy' envelope. For coins not worth insuring I'd always offer a Recorded alternative. And if I buy something I really don't want lost and SD isn't offered I've never had anyone refuse to use it if I covered the additional cost. This is a coin I suspect you'll want insured!