Sylvester

Well they're all legal tender anyhow. Farthings ain't. Plus i like the thought that i might inspire a new collector somewhere along the line.

My internet speed is running like a snail as it is... coinpeople would finish it off. I'm having real difficulty accessing my Hotmail account too. 13 attempts thus far, it just keeps freezing, haven't been able to get on properly for months.

wuhaha...

There's an idea... i've been trying to ditch some farthings for a long while!

Slabbed coins, yeuk... Coins need holding, loving...

I'm on leave at the moment so i don't know.

Any one familiar with the prophecies of St. Malachy? From the sounds of it all of them have been pretty accurate thus far... Well today has seemingly just fulfilled one. This pope is going to last 4 or 5 years.

Oh an one other thing, Ratzinger was also in the Hitler youth back in his youthful years. Personally i think they've pick a wrong 'un here. He's hardline, anti-discussion, anti-everything, and wanted to turn a blind eye to paedophile priests. Or so they've just been discussing on ITV news. My parents once watched a programme saying that the successor to JPII would be the very last Pope, sounds already like alot of liberal Catholics are not too pleased about this. Could be fairly disasterous.

That's probably just top side of the average age for a Pope. John Paul II was one of the youngest ones he was about 58 when elected. They usually in their late 60s/early 70s. John Paul I didn't last long, about 33 days.

Yep i expected as much, they had Ratzinger up as one of the favourites. I really was expecting John Paul III, thank gods it's a Benedict... nice change. Sounds weird though.

Big of a bugger when new evidence comes to light later suggesting they were not all they were cracked up to be. A good number of Popes have been totally unsuitable for the job (one even prayed to the devil if i remember rightly)

We think much the same.

Okay chaps pull to pieces my splendid theory! Spent half an hour working on that one... wuhaha Hey Jimmy long time no see to! Yeah people do have a knack of following me around, i think i provide interesting entertainment for many, you just know i'm gonna put my foot in my mouth sooner or later. They're just taking bets on when!

Aye but Jimmy think on if the top of picture two is level with the top of picture one then there might be indents on the farthing side too, but that bit's cut off from the pictures.

Oh boy; this ones gotta be the most progressive... St. Dionysius (260-268) Named after a Greek/Roman god! I like it!!

And how! Well perhaps he could hedge his bets and be a little more cautiously liberal; Sandy.

Just looked it up, the English pope was Adrian IV, elected in 1154, and he didn't want the job. Knowing how hip and trendy you just know it's going to be Cyril I

I thought of Fred... Might as well go the whole hog and have Sylvester, there's hasn't been one in a long, long time. Sylvester V has a ring to it. Or perhaps Urban IX. There was an English Pope many years ago (i mean many!), i forget what name he chose.

Just wondering what name the new Pope (when he's elected will take). Please no more John's or Innocents... there's been too many as it is! How about a Matthew, a Mark or a Luke? Although Bob would be good... sorry couldn't resist it!

Not half!

Don't confuse the visitors! ...or me

$14 being about £6-£8 give or take on exchange rates.

Yes they're forgeries, well actually they're not but allow me to explain; Guineas were last struck in 1813 before being replaced by the sovereign in 1817. For some reason the Victorians had an obsession with the 'Spade' type guineas (spade because of the shape of the shield, like a pack of cards), thus when it came to having gambling chips they soon put the design to good use and they struck tons and tons of brass imitation guineas (very crude in design, often the wrong size, of dates that were never struck, or dates that are wrong for the design). Which i believe is what you have there, gambling tokens, or imitation curiosities. Kinda like if you go to one of those gift shops in a city such as York, where you can buy replicas of medieval coinage. The Victorians probably sold them in 'memory of the good old days' which is the very inscription that quite a few surviving examples show on their reverse.

Looks like a contemporary forgery to me. Only genuine coins minted in the whiole period 1816-1820 were gold and silver coins. The only base metal used for coins at this time was copper, and the period 1808-1820 was devoid of any copper.

I dunno Olls i can live with coins upto 1919/20, after that well then it goes down hill. I think by rubbish he meant Churchill Crowns and stuff of that quality. I was glad they'd split the 1662-1815 and 1816-1971 stuff off sooner cos that saved wading through alot of rubbish too. Just wish they'd trim off the 18th century stuff too!