Sylvester

Wow! good Question, erm where to start? (do i have 10?) 1) Stephen penny (right up here at the top) 2) Phillip and Mary Groat 3) James II Half guinea (no one else likes it, but i do!) 4) Edward III Quarter Noble (not the nicest specimen, but it's my first [and only] hammered gold coin so i like it for that reason) 5) Henry III Penny (pretty cheap bog standard specimen but i've grown to like it!) 6) 1864 Gothic florin, say no more! *drool* 7) Charles II tin farthing, i'm smitten with that one! 8) George III 1807 penny in fair condition, it's the last of my first ever coins, and it's got some eye appeal. 9) 1879 Morgan dollar, in UNC, gorgeous bright white! 10) Edward I penny, with a slight light rainbow tone on the reverse! (just got it today for £27!)

please note the... was the important part of my comment on his grading standards!

Well that one went over your head

Wow this guy is a tough grader! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...3913146448&rd=1 I would have said that was at least Fine!

I'd advise that there is nothing wrong with occasionally going out of your usual scope every once in a while (or with me very often!), the beauty of buying a coin that doesn't fit into your collection (in you case pennies), is that it's nice to have a bit of variance once in a while, but it also means that if you ever have to sell any for any reason, you can sell off the oddities and keep the main collection intact! (hopefully) So i'm collecting three areas; 1) Early Milled Sixpences (this is the main collection) 2) The Monarch collect (one of each, and sometimes a few example of each, bought basically on eye appeal often regardless of denomination) i've got two Edward I ones and soon two John ones, the least fave of each will be retained for a rainy day and then traded off. 3) James II half guineas. The latter two collections are not the main one and thus can be sold off at any time if i need the readies at any time. Clever eh? (it does work! you don't make a profit unless you are lucky or very patient [i'm neither] but it preserves some wealth, that if it had been in money form you would have spent on something else unrefundable anyhow) , plus any loss you do incur can usually be balanced out by the enjoyment of owning the coin.

Jmd why does your signature worry me? Not more competition! I know many people have told you, that you should really specialise but it seeming appears that you just get drawn in by other coins. Perhaps, because you are newer to the hobby you are not ready to specialise yet, i think you should play the coin field and buy what you like regardless of what denomination it is. It will not only help you to get a broad (if not shallow) knowledge of British numismatics (why shallow? well you could write what i know about copper coins on a side of A6 paper in size 20 arial font!) But not only will buying coins of all shapes and sizes (as your budget allows) be benifitial to your knowledge, but it will also help you in the future to decide what denominations interest you, and what denominations don't! One bit of advice though, don't buy substandard damaged/cleaned coins, try and buy them in the highest grade you can comfortable afford, or buy the ones with good eye appeal. Thus when you do decide to specialise down the line (if you do!), you might hopeully be able to sell off the coins you have accumulated that no longer fit in with your new goal. And selling off the coins you buy now will help kickstart your special future collection. Trust me, been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and sold it to Chris! Many collectors might learn by reading the book, but i must admit i've learned alot through fieldwork too (i.e buying and selling coins), i've been stung, shot, burnt and whatever else can go wrong in the metaphorical sense, but they are all learning experiences, and on quite a few occasions i've even made a bargin/profit. This when taken into account with the enjoyment i've gotten out of numismatics i must admit it's all be worth it!

i've been getting crisp fivers with him on for about two three weeks now.

I think Chris went to school quite some time after the sixties!

Well it's a thought to bear in mind, i just figured that crowns would be more popular than quarter farthings, and you know what first impressions can do to a book.

Woohoo! My fave Queen, i've finally got a coin of my fave Queen! http://www.coinpeople.com/forums/viewtopic...p?p=35294#35294 (i'm very happy now)

I think i'd dump all the pattern coinage and i'd definately dump all the Edward VIII stuff.

Can't you swap it around and start with the crowns first and work down to the fractional stuff, instead of having the copper first, just never looked right to me.

wow your School has prefects? I didn't think they had those anymore, i don't think our school ever had them. Come to think of it we didn't get a uniform till i was in the fourth year.

That's what I mean - if you look. Not many of us get these dealer lists through the post. dealer lists, i get three (in theory although one guy hasn't sent one for a while but i know where his website is), that and i also buy from a few other sites, as well as a coin shop, plus i can look in other coin catalogues, before i even bother with ebay. I prefer dealer lists, they let me browse whenever i want, even when i can't get on the internet, i tend to buy more from list sending dealers. But you can't beat a coin shop, there's nothing quite like seeing the coin in hand as you hand the money over, but this is usually how i end up spending more than i ought! So i should be able to look at about 8 different sources. And i suppose i really should do sixpences, i mean although these modern ones are completely out of my area of expertise, (especially the young head Victorian ones), but i'm sure i'll give it a go. But i can't do florins and sixpences, so someone else will have to do florins, and doubles. Because sixpences are such a long series. What date zone do you want me to concentrate on first? 1787-1837, Victorian YH, 1887-1901, 1902-1919, 1920-1936, 1937-1970?

is it just me Chris or i'm i seeing the writing on the wall already? and what does this writing say? it say tanners.

Well i should imagine that there will be no end of volunteers for the copper/bronze, many many copper and bronze fans out here. I dunno if Geoff had volunteered but i know he likes halfcrowns. I'm might considered researching some stuff on florins and i might volunteer to take the 4/- ones as well. I think that will be enough for me, so question is who's doing the crowns, halfcrowns, shillings, sixpences, groats and threepences?

if a gold one does arise i'm happy to take on shield reverse sovereigns and guineas and half guineas, so far as it is possible to get a good range of the guinea gold, cos much of it is never seen! (i.e anything pre George III!)

Anyone signed up for the double florins then?

do we have a gold section in this catalogue (i really can't remember, i'm not up on coin catalogues, or is this the one that just does copper and silver?), i'm willing to look up prices for the shield reverse sovereigns!

you walked into that one. Chris will bite your head off for it...

so we got 24 virgins coming down from Scotland Through war they perfected? (something else i can't translate, but i guess it involves nothing?) something father and son. That's without a dictionary, but have i just fell into the trap of mixining up similarly spelt latin words that mean totally different things?

the only think i could ever figure out, (and i'm sure this is wrong), was 'A Domiono factum istud, et est mirable in occulis nostris' - Elizabeth I in 1558 (apparently) Although i'd doubt she really said that.

something, of something with verb? many something something. I really haven't got a clue, but give 2 hours with my dictionary i might figure it out.

yes but i've come across many books that i could have used in my history essays, unfortunately i don't read latin, if i had then it might have helped me considerably when all the english ones had been taken out of the library before i had got to them, the latin ones never leave! And then again it's always useful in the coin world. Oh and Geoff, clear something up for me on the numbers, how do you pronounce viginti? (g'in (as in the g with a guh sound), or as in the drink?) And would 23 be viginti tres?

i'd much rather have learned Latin it would have been far more use to me than French has been so far.