declanwmagee

That book has been on my "buy at any cost" list for years!

Just found this thread The guy contacted me direct, months ago, he did have a story (I can't remember what it was, the story didn't sound entirely kosher but the coins looked great). He was keen to get rid quick, all in one go, but wasn't happy with the price I offered him, got quite shirty in the end so I didn't pursue it further - it wasn't worth the grief. Seems he gave up trying to offload them all in one and went down the eBay route. I'm glad most of them seem to have ended up in the right hands! Declan (the other one )

That's correct, Matteo. Peck: 1692 (Obv 6, Rev F) Freeman: 70 (Obv 7, Rev G)Gouby: C (Obv K, Rev g)

I'm sure you're right Nick, but it leaves me feeling a little better. Otherwise I end up just muttering under my breath when I see one

Well, how about that. And all this time I've only been reporting the unstated ones, rather than the unmarked ones. Excellent I'm a serial reporter already, and now I'm going to be much more prolific!

I know! I was so hung up on border beads I didn't even notice it was the small head. What a twit. I suddenly felt £30 richer, but someone's not going to be happy - they obviously thought the same as me...

Serves me right for making some varieties more well known. I only put a speculative £30 bid in, because I wasn't 100% sure, but it seems that someone else spotted an unattributed Gouby X. Cleaned, but all the same an absolute steal to whoever else spotted it. Anyone here the guilty party? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1911-british-penny-/192168252771?hash=item2cbe1ed563:g:f4kAAOSwE0JY~0o7

ooh, careful Sleepy - contemporary counterfeits do exist...

Spot on Paul, it's 35.0 mm !

I've got 35.0g recorded - I suspect I got that out of the Coincraft catalogue some years ago, I seem to remember going through it once and getting all the weights and diameters...

I love that graphic of yours, Terry. Fine work!

Sounds interesting, Adele - do you have any pictures?

I left in mid-September. I wonder if they've got through another auctioneer since then, or just failed to fill the vacancy. I do keep half an eye on their auctions just in case there's anything there I fancy, but nothing has changed much by the looks of things. A couple of fairly low key sellers with a few lots a week, some headline coins that never come anywhere near the reserve, some safe gold. Generally 15-25 lots a week. I found it a very odd place to work - they were far more interested in number of lots processed per hour than any semblance of genuine expert assessment, let alone building long lasting relationships with sellers, which is what they really needed. They never quite got the idea that if you're running a coin auction, it's the sellers who are putting the show on, not the auction house. Treat your stallholders well, because without them, you're just a half empty village hall on a wet Sunday afternoon I always got the feeling that they thought they knew best, and that the sellers were a bit of a nuisance. To be fair though, I've been self-employed since 2004, so I'd probably be a bit of a handful for any employer! Better off being a Lone Ranger now...

ha ha - I did that job for them for a few months last year

I think I'll give it a miss, never really been keen on proofs...

Which website, Georgie?

ooh, count me in for a copy of the scan too, please Sounds right up my street...

Yes Rob, quite agree, got to show the slab label if you're selling a slabbed coin.

1967....shouldn't take too long

It was this one, Matt...much scarcer Obverse 2, Davies 812 always amazes me how quickly coins get to and from Portugal. It's really only a day more than domestic. Glad you got it, Sleepy, and glad you like it

Thanks for the support Paul! I am having a bit of an auction session over the next couple of weeks to kick the coin business back into action, starting this Sunday night - there'll be a fairly wide range of material - some standard stuff that I use for visibility, but some little beauties too....might be something there for someone http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/declanwmagee/m.html?_sop=1&rt=nc&LH_Auction=1

It's the Rio Zezere, halfway between Pampilhosa da Serra and Pedrogao Grande. It's dammed as a reservoir so the water level is different every day. Never quite the same view from one day to the next... I see you're Bristol-based, Leo - that's where we just emigrated from

Hi Peter - we have set up a solar panel charging a leisure battery, and are running an inverter off that, so we can charge laptops and phones, and run a portable wi-fi hotspot, so that side of things is pretty set up. One of the villagers has lent us a little farm building that has mains electric too, which we can use as long as we pay for what we consume and give her a little something for it - peppercorn really.. I like to spend the heat of the day (well over 35 C in the shade today!) up here, get a bit of peace and do some officey work. The place is surrounded by vines and fig trees so I am constantly munching nice things off the hedgerows! Here's the view from the office...

Hi Leo, and thanks for your question. I answered a similar question from another member so I hope you won't mind a copy and paste - there seems to be something awry with my Predecimal account that means I can only post with my phone and not my laptop - so typing is a bit laborious! Any admins fancy having a look at that for me? Some lock file or something maybe? Unbiased: I wouldn't bother with them really - they do not have the bidder base to be able to provide the high hammer prices that they claim, with the possible exception of bulk junk lots - the Europeans seem to love those. Also bullion seems to do OK - Chinese Pandas, that sort of thing. Serious numismatics is a little beyond them at this stage, and they certainly don't have the expertise to be able to assess serious numismatic items. The UK market is so different from the Continental market, and they don't really get it. They have no intention of sorting out their images, and will haggle over reserves with a seller till you are sick of dealing with them. They take 12.5% from sellers and 9% from buyers, and those sellers that I dealt with found that too expensive. Buyers will factor the 9% into their bids, so that cost is effectively passed on to the seller anyway. They won't deal in Sterling, and pay you in dribs and drabs, which attracts conversion charges for each transaction. One of the things I was trying to set up for UK based sellers was an aggregated monthly payment, so that they'd only get hit for conversion once a month, but they weren't interested. Their poor treatment of their sellers has meant that most of the regulars that they had a year ago, say, have got fed up and moved on, so there really are only a couple of UK based sellers left who still use them. hope that helps! Declan

Once you have been self employed, Mike, it's intensely frustrating to be in an environment where no-one has the courage to actually do anything! It served its purpose though - the extra few grand got us here - I am now sitting on a terrace on my fruit farm, sipping red wine from a 5 litre plastic bottle that one of the ridiculously friendly villagers gave us from his own vineyard, under a nearly full moon, living the kind of life most people fantasise about. The coin business has suffered from neglect during the Catawiki months, and I shall thoroughly enjoy giving it the attention it deserves once more. It is the future, and Catawiki never was, really...tudo bem, it's all good