Sylvester

That's closely guarded mint secret, basically to protect the designer from assasination. Honestly i don't know, but i've often wondered.

Archaeologist hey? Funny you should mention that, i'm off to see about enrolling for a masters degree in Archaeology tomorrow. Dunno whether to do an MA or an MSc in it though. I'd find the MA course easier, but the MSc is what gets you the jobs. (Usually Laboratory based jobs). Sounds good to me.

I look at all of my £1 coins Chris. For duds and for 1988s, i look on the edges of every one and i'm sure i would have spotted it by now! Unless he's got a one off?

The Royal mint does buy back on type of set (gold i believe) because one of the coins in it is an error. Wrong reverse or something so they'll take them back and issue the correct one for you. So maybe this is the one and same? (Perhaps they don't have any correct sets left? And now they're just buying?)

It's a PAXS penny (which is the 8th coinage issued of William I). On the obverse is crown type 1. Looking in North it appears the moneyer may be Æstan of Winchester. But don't quote me on that. I'm pretty sure it's Winchester but i'm no expert on this by any means.

Sounds like the dealer's got a right dud to me. Gold plated more likely than not. A coin that has been plated is worth less than one that has not been, as plating done outside the mint if considered damage.

Of course the unspoken rule is that it's always easier to read the moneyer and mint when you know what it's supposed to say! If you don't know then you can stand there looking at it for hours. Even a long time dealer i know who's been handling stuff like this since the 1960s says he was scrutinising one all weekend once and he couldn't make it out. Then a few days later he had another go, he took one look at it and he saw it as plain as day... and that's when he kicked himself!

It's either; WINC or LINC I'd say. PINC/WINC being Winchester and LINC being Lincoln. However during this period i thought Lincoln was more often than not referred to as NICOLE. (Doesn't mean it's not Lincoln though, as spellings varied) The moneyer i can't quite make out looks like HESTIIN ON PINC/WINC, or HESTIIN ON LINC. (Winchester is the one i'm inclined to go for at this instance) I'm at work at the moment, but when i get home i'll look up the moneyers in my North catalogue. It would help me if you told me what class the coin was though.

Wow, we've got some really bright people on here! I seriously didn't see A's all that much, never had an A* just not that bright. My key to success was not my intelligence but merely my ability to just memorise stuff. Practical problem solving like maths i was doomed, stuff like history it was plain sailing, remember the fact, remember the date... sorted. Although i have got two grade A's, one at GCSE and one at AS level. A in GCSE Woodwork and an A in AS English Language, but only because i was quite good at writing stories.

Some 1992s are the old 'wire edge' variety too i believe. Many, many things changed in 1992. The 20p effigy, the bronze coins were changed to copper plated steel, the new 10p coins, of which they do exhibit the same 'wire' and 'flat' milling variants for 1992. The coins are the same size and weight the only difference is the edges are camphered and make the edges look thinner. Why did they change them? Well personally i prefer the flat edge varieties and i presume vending machines prefer them too.

Unless it's very worn and the 0 is actually a 6 or an 8 or more likely a 9.

No rush... i've got back onto the guy at the mint and i've asked him if there's anything on the copper coins (it'll probably take a while). Plus if i remember correctly Eliza only supplied the coin mintages from 1662-1699, which means 1700-1757 missing (1757 is when the ratios break down due to the coinage system breaking down). However i do believe Eliza left the title of the book that she pulled those from, so if i can find a copy of that book on Amazon or somewhere then we'll be doing very well! I've recently been gathering some photos together off of Andy Bruce's site for the Crown section but i'm unsure if they are all upto the job. Due to computer problems of late they are located on a disc and not on my hard drive so i'll have to dig them out. The indices and the mintages and the photos will keep me busier than i really need to be. The problem is what to do about the actual coin prices? JMD has done many of the copper ones for me and will be sending me those when he's done. But as it stands there's no way i can find the time to research the prices for the rest. A little help here would be much appreciated. I've still got the intros and stuff to do.

Right you might remember Eliza left a list of mintage figures for Early Milled coins on here before she left and you locked them away in a secret area. Well i need them. Those figures are the lock. All we needed were the denomination mintage ratios. Well you might remember i emailed the royal mint 9 months ago to see if they had them. Well i've just got an email out of the blue, i have the mintage ratio figures so i now have the key! (Unfortunately i've now lost the lock!) You do realise what this means don't you? This will be the first Early Milled coin catalogue to include mintage figures for the silver coins (as far as i am aware).

I think they've got a point to prove. "You steal something off of us and we will get it back (it may take us 60 years but the person who bought it off of the person who bought it off of the person who stole them will pay and wish they'd never been born". Pinching coins is as bad as damaging a US flag, which is a cardinal offence in itself.

You wouldn't believe it Chris the lengths they've gone to to get many of them. Apart from these ten specimens, about two or three others that were in the Smithsonian museum and one legal to own specimen all others that had been smuggled out and found were melted in the 1950/60s i think. One particular specimen (and this is the only 1933 Double Eagle that is legal to sell and own) ended up in the King of Egypt's collection. When the king was overthrown and his palace raided the US authorities demanded that the 1933 double eagle be turned over to the US government for destruction. The coin disappeared and the US played hell about it. They spent the next thirty odd years tracking it down, tapping phones and what not to try and source where it had gone. It turned up mysteriously in the custody of a British dealer who was trying to sell it on the quiet to a US collector, when the dealer went to the US with it the secret services did a raid aprehended him and the coin. The coin was sent to the WTC for safe keeping and the dealer was incarcerated for holding stolen goods. A massive court case ensured and a settlement was reached, the dealer was released and the coin was agreed to be auctioned. The coin however, had still not been released officially by the US mint and therefore was still considered property of the mint, so to get around this the mint had to officially release it. So the auction set the world record for most expensive coin ever at several million $s, and then the buyer after paying the excess auction fees had then to pay the US mint $20 on top. That $20 of course was so that he was exchanging it with the Mint which meant the coin had now been officially released. As such it's the only legal one to own. The buyer then apparently as part of the auction sale conditions had made the government/mint promise not to release any more 1933 double eagles ever. Which basically means for now they cannot release the ones they have found to auction. So they are stuck with them. Of course governments can overturn settlement rulings but the whole saga got rather messy and rather complicated and totally over the top. The 'unique' 1933 (to own at any rate) left the WTC in August 2001 and went to the buyer who has been kept anonoymous. If it had stayed there another month then knowing the total obsession the US authorities have had with this coin can you imagine how they would have dealt with the final stages of the ground zero clean up? Knowing that a coin they'd spent the last 50 odd years tracking was probably under there maybe still intact... Most governments would of course have the sense to value human life above such things as coins but looking at how far they went to get it it'd be hard to imagine them not cordoning it off and going through it with a toothpick for the next year. And for what? To throw it into a furnace as soon as they'd reclaimed it. It's sheer bloody madness.

We could do with more dentists. I've gone private... not of my own choosing (i would prefer NHS) but there ain't one for miles. So i'll be visiting the dentist once a year and hopefully less. It might be cheaper to do what my grandad did to escape going, have them all pulled and never go again.

Think of all the British coins that escaped. 1937 Edward VIII Threepences being notable examples. Thinking of the Madge Kitchener variety. They shouldn't have got out as they were for test purposes but they did. The government and the mint know they are out there but they don't give a toss about it. What's the point spend and wasting all that money on investigations into where a coin is when you can solve a murder case or two with those funds, wages etc. Plus the government really has more important things to do. It's quite scary that the US government has seemingly put more effort into finding ten missing gold coins than they have in finding other missing people with beards.

Congratulations... A*s too... that's a grade i never saw. A-level maths? You're either terribly brave or you just don't know what you're letting yourself in for... (Speaking as someone who knew alot of students that got A's in maths and then went on to do A-levels...)

Yes Edward II's death was particularly uncomfortable to say the very least.

Anyone agree on 11A?

I never said she was a hero. She's not. She was an able politician. Heros are something rarer.

I think they are redesigning the 20p. The wording is appalling. I re-read it after i stated they weren't redesigning the 20p on another forum. I was told to read it again more closely. They don't actually state they're not doing the 20p.

She was one of the few politicians i actually admired. If David Blunkett hadn't annoyed me so much over so many issued i'd probably admire him too. As it is i don't like him one bit. I think it's good that these people can overcome obstacles that set them at a disadvatage. I can't help but feel sorry for Mo as she'd battled with a brain tumour and had all but won, unfortunately the treatment had done serious damage. There are many people in this country that say they can't do this, or they can't do that. The get some slight backache or some slight leg pain (usually from being overweight) and they milk it for all it's worth, they sit on the dole and they do naff all whilst claiming disability allowance. And they are the first person to complain when they don't get their benifits on time and how bad everything is. These people disgust me. It's as if life owes them a living. Whilst people like Mo Mowlem battle life dangering illnesses and show that they can get high up the tree of power and work on one of the hardest and most dangerous jobs going; Secretary for Northern Ireland. One wrong move and it'll all blow up in your face, one bad judgement could lead to violence breaking out and more murders and deaths resulting from a few words out of place. It's a heck of a responsibility and it's one most ordinary politicians would find challenging, but battling with a serious illness as well as doing that kind of job, that takes something else and that gets my respect.

Una and the Lion, now there's a nice design for the new 50p coin. St. George on the 10p. Cruciform shields on the 5p. (as the quarter guinea). Standing Britannia on the 2p, and a sitting Britannia on the 1p. As for the 20p... who knows?

An American once wanted a coin describing, it had a crowned trellis with curly vines growing up the sides. Amusing me though.