Madness

My first computer had beads. And after buying it I had enough change from sixpence to see a cinema show.

We have many double-headed varieties in Australia. They are called "Tasmanians".

The Manville & Gaspar article? If so, thanks for bringing it up, but I read it a couple of weeks ago. Amazing piece of work and written in a very engaging style. Now if only I could find a Pingo Proof going for $100 on eBay...

Michael is a scholar and a gentleman. He got back to me about the coins very quickly providing an image of the without-stop shilling, a revision of the grade and a reduction of the price. As there was a slight scuff on the obverse, it was downgraded to EF/EF+ and priced at 265 GBP. Spink lists this variant at 300 GBP in EF. Decided to buy the shilling and have worked out a payment plan with Michael. I believe that it uses exactly the same die combination of the specimen @Rob used to illustrate an "uncirculated" example. The condition isn't quite as good, though. On an unrelated note, many of the examples of the 1787 shilling I've seen have a small raised dot in the centre of the obverse. Is this an artifact of the manufacture process? If so, what does it indicate about how these coins were made?

Thanks @Peckris 2. Just what I wanted to hear!

The catalogue I'm creating will almost certainly not be as good as the index linked by @Peckris 2. However, it makes content searchable by title, subject and author as well as providing a direct link to the relevant article.

Just discovered this song about a coin dealer. Have never heard of the performers before, but it's a great piece deserving of circulation!

I've found three coins on the website of "Michael Coins Ltd" that I'm interested in: 1787 Shilling with hearts EF?/EF 75 GBP 1787 Shilling - No dots over head EF+/-pAS 285 GBP 1787 Sixpence with hearts EF(+)/EF+ 105 GBP The prices seem to be fair based upon what I've seen. Unfortunately, the images aren't the clearest. I've sent Michael an email requesting higher resolution photographs. Has anyone bought from him before? Is his grading generally reliable? Thanks as always

It's a waste of time, isn't it?

Read the post above your first post re die-marriages and proof/circulation dies. I obviously don't know what I'm talking about 😄

I must have been dreaming. I can't find the reference. Looking at a few examples today I've noticed a difference in the shape of GIII's forehead, some curving slightly inwards at the top and others being relatively straight at the same place.

I remember having read recently that Taylor got hold of dies for both proof and circulation examples and that his marriages of the dies were all over the place. Then again, I only have a few weeks experience and you have a lifetime! I can't even remember where I read this! Will try and track it down. Could have been the words of some rando in a non-descript forum.

I've started this project by opening my own virtual "library". It doesn't have any content, serving only to catalogue freely-available online resources that are related to numismatics. I'm beginning by entering all articles includes in the British Numismatic Journal, but intended on cataloguing other material down the track. Here's the Link: Madness' Online Numismatic References Please feel free to go in and have a look around. Try clicking some items in the scrolling "New Arrivals" bar. I've added URL's for each entry, but for some reason they're not visible to anyone but me. I've circumvented this issue by putting the URL in the Call Number field. Just copy this link into a browser to get to the on-line copy of the BNJ full article. Please let me know of any problems you encounter. So far there are only a few items, but more will be added soon.

Think I've found a good source that might be able to answer my questions in the form of Peck: English Copper, Tin and Bronze Coins in the British Museum, 1558-1963. Could someone please confirm that this work will be useful and that the 1970 edition is acceptable? Have found a copy in Australia on eBay.

My next acquisition target is a 1797 penny of EF grade or higher. I want a genuine 1797 coin, not a late Soho striking or a Taylor restrike. How do I tell the difference between the original and a later strike/restrike? Finally, I came across this image of an example graded as FDC. Is this precisely the same design as used in the genuine 1797 strikings? Thanks! Source

That would be helpful, thanks @Peckris 2. I'd like to make articles easy to find and to search by subject rather than browsing through are list. I've found a few examples of free Library Management Systems that are cloud based that I'll mess around with. Overkill, no doubt, but superior to an Excel spreadsheet. Might need permission, though, from BNJ publishers.

My guestimate: Extremely Fine This has been graded by an auction house as "Very Fine". Am I missing something? There is very little wear, and that restricted to high points. It doesn't appear to have been cleaned. Are the small marks on the coin the items that bring the grade down? I've seen TPG services list the same coin with a similar amount of wear as "UNC". It even seems to be a nice strike with no obvious die defects of any significance. What am I doing wrong?

Ha! This variant is obviously far rarer than I thought and worth more to collectors. I found the same specimen in a previous auction here, evidenced by the same wear, die defects and haymarking. It sold for 2200 GBP in September 2017. I wonder what it will go for twelve months later. I'll be kind and leave this one for someone else! 🤣

As someone newly interested in Numismatics I would find it helpful to have an index of all articles included in the British Numismatic Journal over the years. The intention would be to make it easier to find topics that I have an interest in. I intend to include the following information: Author Title Issue/Volume Hyperlink directing user to the relevant (freely available) online article Up to three subject fields Searchable I couldn't find one, so decided to start building it myself. Could you please help me in the following ways? Please let me know if such an index already exists. I don't want to reinvent the wheel! Do you have any suggestions for content or arrangement? Would it be useful to your personally if I made this index available online? Would I need to get permission from the British Numismatic Society? I've started creating it using Excel as I'm very familiar with it. I'm sure there are other applications out there that will make it more user-friendly if others were interested in using it. As there are many people here more tech-savvy than me, perhaps you could suggest some software. A cloud based catalogue or database perhaps. Thanks for your assistance!

Opeth are a prog metal group with death metal influences. This is kind of a detour album for them. Whole album is great, but I don't enjoy most of their other material. Death growls just don't do it for me.

@Peckris 2 What about something like this? I've not posted yet beyond some of the "safer" genres I enjoy.