Peckris 2

The answer is "yes" and "no". If you have the time and patience, trawl through and look; if not, steer clear. It didn't happen often to me - I found a bulk lot with an EF 1865 penny in, but from the bidding it was obvious others had also seen it. I got it, but it wasn't a bargain in the end.

Yes, but there is at least one very good reason for that. It's not based on your nearest transmitter so before I registered I would have to sit through London local TV news (iPlayer didn't know where I was). Since I registered I now get the SW local news automatically after the national news. If you check "Keep me signed in" you rarely if ever have to sign in again after the first time.

I don't understand that - I was taken straight to iPlayer.

It caused huge confusion with the "Paul is dead" myth - did he disappear on 11th of September or 9th November?

Thanks for the link Blakey - an enjoyable documentary

It appears to be an antoninianus (a silver washed coin which was a debased version of the denarius, and used in the later Roman Empire; worth less than a denarius). Emperor is almost certainly Carinus (reigned 283-285 AD) and the obverse legend therefore reads M AUR CARINVS NOB C AUG. The reverse is harder to determine but may be PIETAS AVG C (not sure...). I've no reason to think it's not real.

AUnc, or GEF at the very least. Beautiful coin. (There is the usual reverse weakness probably caused by the boldness of the portrait).

Agreed. Nothing wrong with that. My gripe is with the term AUnc being used (even with a lowish number that reflects the true grade) when a coin has had enough wear that it cannot be used in the same sentence as "Uncirculated" (except perhaps with "not"!) Photobucket... so no, it's exactly the same size!

Just as bad is the insistence some have of referring to a team in the singular, as in "England is struggling here, and is lucky to be going in at half time only one goal down". And the increasing disappearance of the word "of" after "couple", compensated for by its unnecessary appearance after "outside". Not to mention the growing habit of referring to a date as (e.g.) "February 3". Still, let's be thankful that we still use the logical DD/MM/YY format. God forbid we should ever descend to the utterly illogical MM/DD/YY.

Trouble is, the slabbing terms (grades) are American. I have no quibble with their numerical scale - which allows for much more precision than 5 alphabetic grades - but I do get irritated by the use of AUnc to apply to preservation that's even below a UK EF.

A UNC??? Sorry guys, but basic grading here... there is too much wear even for EF, though NEF would be fair perhaps. I stand by my GVF though possibly it's a bit better. None of which should detract from its being a very attractive coin which I'd love to pieces if it was in my own collection. But it doesn't even approach Uncirculated.

That makes them as rare as the 1951 penny, which as we all know has proved an extraordinary investment since the 1960s...

You don't seem to have read my previous post at all Rob. I quoted plenty of facts and figures there.

The worst thing is the blatant polishing - the rather unnatural blue lighting only makes this more obvious!

I'm old enough to remember the first news of Bloody Sunday coming in; even though I was only a student (in Birmingham) at the time, it caused me real fear and depression as this was 'on our own doorstep' unlike the Arab / Israeli wars. Then two years later came the Birmingham Pub Bombings and it seemed - sorry to be emotional about this - as if 'darkness had settled over the land'. The point I'm making is that the Good Friday Agreement is the best thing to have happened on our two islands in decades. We should never - EVER - risk going back to a situation where the "Troubles" might flare up again, and if the backstop is the best, or even only, method to prevent this, then Brexit is a tiny and insignificant price to pay.

Cooper didn't pass - that would have got Parliament to reject No Deal (i.e. legally binding). What passed was the non-binding Spelman/Dromy equivalent, which May will probably ignore with her usual obstinacy. Brady passed, which has already been rejected by the EU - which we knew in advance. All tonight's votes - with one exception - were party political, i.e. party before nation. As for Britain acting independently, name me one law we've not been able to pass because of the EU? Name one aspect of YOUR life that's been negatively affected by the EU? As for 'no say', we'd have plenty of say if we remained, as we have had for 40+ years. As for them 'cherry picking access to our markets', that's what British business wants! It's a win- win.

I'm not that keen on the Moore patterns - I don't think they are anywhere near the quality of the late 18th Century copper patterns.

Hopefully some of you watched the programme about Europe (1st of 3 parts) last night? It made some things very clear : the EU is not the monolith many people think - it's 28 separate states, who often don't agree Tusk, rather than the monster some portray him as, was very helpful to the UK - when Cameron faced opposition from East European states to his emergency brake (denying migrants access to benefits), Tusk stepped in and helped persuade them to support Cameron the UK had been granted opt outs not available to other members (Shengen, membership of the Eurozone, rebate) Next week it will be on the Greek crisis. That should be interesting!

Not as barmy or insulting as the egregious John Humphrys suggesting that Eire should leave the EU and join the UK. As for putting in a hard border, it's not been decided yet whose responsibility that would be. And the backstop was the UK's idea as part of the negotiations.

But, does Santa exist?

There's also damage to the adjacent N which looks as though it's been sheared bottom right, nearest to the Y. Not possible to see if it's pre- or post-production though.

I think you are describing the beginnings of a new divide in the UK - not on the traditional left (Labour) versus right (Tory) lines, but along newer lines which Brexit may not be actually causing, but certainly highlighting. On one side you have the 'chattering classes', the internationalists, the younger, the liberals, the Greens, and many Scots - (quite a mix), while on the other you have traditionalists, nostalgics, working poor who feel ignored by Westminster, Tory 'Shires', the more elderly - (also quite a mix). It's very similar I feel, to the divide between Trump supporters and Trump haters in the US. I'm not sure the divide would be the same if was a different situation, i.e. non-Brexit, but the old divides are definitely beginning to be replaced with new ones.