Sylvester

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.

I've been looking for a slow worm for years but i've never seen one. I've resigned myself to the fact i'm not likely to see one up here.

I'd just give you £1.10 and you can owe me the ten pence. Or i'd give you ninety five pence and owe you five.

I'll get back to you on this.

You've totally lost me... run that one past me again in more simple terms... I see numbers and + signs and my brain shuts down. Maths was not my strong point. (Actually it was the subject i struggled with the most)

Alot of people don't like snakes, i don't mind them. Dogs on the other hand... well they terrify me. I'd rather be sat in a pit full of snakes any day.

Cool! (I like snakes) Talking of snakes my father has two cornsnakes, the two cornsnakes seemingly have also been in the woods. The female laid a number of eggs, two of them hatched yesterday. So that's two baby snakes wwe've got now! (And they are so small and cute). Last year only one baby snake hatched out, about 40 eggs and one hatched. This year we've had about 30 eggs and two have hatched. There's one more egg remaining (all the others had turned funny and collapsed in on themselves early on so we threw those), this remaining egg doesn't look very promising. I think it's going to be thrown out shortly.

I give you 37p for a pack of sweets marked up at 36p, i want my penny change. I say get rid of the 5p first! Then drop the 1p. Keep the 2p and do everything in 2's.

I'm seeing US State Quarters. This could be bad. I dunno Chris the £2 coin design was submitted by a member of the public and it looks good to me. To be honest i think we're ready for change, i won't shed too many tears over the redesigning of the 1p, 2p and 5p coins. The 10p and the 50p i always kinda liked. The lion looks regal, and Britannia, well it's Britannia. I think change could be good, but this line blew it for me; Clip art maps, or tons of coins looking like the 2005 sovereign with the new arty St. George... i shudder. Going with a building theme of something would not be my preferred approach, but i can't help thinking that the Houses of Parliament might look good. Or Westminster Abbey. But i'm seeing the London eye, the Millennium Dome and all that kibd of bland modern rubbish. Actually i think the Millennium Dome would make a good one with the words "MISTAKE" curving around the bottom, with 'BIGGEST' across the top.

Oh is it that way around? I always thought they put the edge onto the blanks first and then struck them. (This is how Charles II crowns were done).

Request; Keep your eyes peeled for any fakes that have the following; Wrong reverse for the date AND the wrong edge inscription for the reverse design. So basically if you get a dud 1994 £1 coin with an Irish cross on the reverse and the edge inscription PLEIDOL WYF I'M GWLAD. Then i want to buy it (for £1, or maybe £2 if i'm feeling generous!) I really think no decimal collection should be without one and i want the most spectacular messed up fake i can get my hands on! It couldn't be much wronger unless it was copper plated.