Sylvester

Some people carry them for luck, some like to have a conversation piece... some probably just like to impress the ladies, 'hey ma'am have you seen my William III five guinea piece!' I just like being able to carry around a piece of history with me. It worked out rather nice that, cos as it turned out we were talking about Charles II in history and i just thought, well at least one thing in this room is contemporary to all this, if only coins could talk hey... it'd be great in the exam! That an i always like to carry around a bit of silver, i have a Morgan Dollar just for the purpose. (it kinda makes up for all this modern fiat money... [that's money without intrinsic value] )

Do any of you walk around with a special coin in your pocket? (or do you have a whole retinue of coins stacked up for pocket piece duties and you rotate?) Currently i'm carrying around two coins... a Poor+ Charles II Half guinea, and a 1697 William III halfcrown with counterstamping. Both are now getting that shiny rubbed look from mingling with all the other coins... (well i keep them in the pocket where i put the shiny ones that i haul out of circulation, and the machin stuff), they now look cleaned on the highest points, lets see how far it goes. Might sell the half guinea one day at Bullion Value, if there's anything left.

I've had the pleasure of holding a Gothic Crown (but i wouldn't call that extremely rare). Otherwise nope not really.

The first three really annoy me.

every post you've done today is a bit off hand, no?

what's up with you today Oli? Had a bad day?

perhaps he wants to remain a man of mystery...

i wonder what condition the zinc plated steel ones are in?

today is a good day... i've pulled another dot to dot 1992 10p from circ, in better condition that all the others. Got another Machin penny. Arranging to buy a decent King John penny, (it has subtle rainbow toning) but a strong legend and decent portrait are the main reason why to buy it. And i'm needing the cash!

i've got about 2/- lying around, in decimal halfpennies.

Right i've figured out how to fit hammered into the collection. So i've got the sixpence date set. Well i'm going for a type set, which will involve hammered coins. Having realised that i have a coin for every single monarch since Charles II, and quite a few other monarchs knocking about prior to the 17th century. I've decided to have a go at getting at least one coin from every monarch from Egbert through to Elizabeth II (Although it'll probably be William V by the time i'm finished). Although Egbert will cause problems, i can probably do it from his successor Æthelwulf through to now. Only monarchs missing will be Egbert, Æthelbald (who didn't have any coins), Edward the Martyr (although a cut halfpenny would solve that one), Empress Matilda, Edward V and Oliver Cromwell (although a contemporary pattern/copy would suffice). For Edward VIII i have a modern pattern. (not a Maklouf one either).

A list would be great!

Chris do Germans collect coins of the Third Reich? (are they even allowed to? I've noticed some ebay auctions that say that these coins cannot be shipped to France, Austria or Germany). Anyhow i've always been interested in the Second World War, and i fancy putting together a set or three. I wonder how much it would cost for a full set of 2 Reichsmark coins in average grades, of all mints? Or those zinc pfennigs!

Are you getting annoyed Oli?

you're onto something there Oli. The reason we don't get toning like that is because we store them more sensibly!

Correct again Oli, it's got nice eye appeal (not often i say that about a cleaned coin). Get it in a proper protective coin envelope and that would make a nice pocket piece.

i like Liberty nickels (see post above) And this one is a bust something or other, dollar? half?

I like blue toning (i hate Magenta as a rule, but gothic crowns can look alright with it). I kinda like this blue...

i like this kinda toning...

What are the bets on that they are Artificially Toned? (cooked in an oven or something or left wrapped in tissue paper, not wrapped in tissue paper whilst in the oven though.) Americans pay more for toned coins as a rule. I on the other hand either like em white or shades of grey. I can't be doing with all this colour, looks fake.

you guys really like those? They scream AT to me.

Well they use those grades on slabbed coins, but dealers over their refer to those grades anyhow for unslabbed pieces. Although i'd be hard pushed to actually be able to assign any of those grades to a coin if i had to grade it. I suppose i would grade it with the British system and then convert into the US system.

i think you'll find toned coins are very very popular in the US, but they are usualy rainbow toned or pastel toned... Kinda like this... http://home.earthlink.net/~jrsnake/ (i'd dip all of those).

if you really want to get into complexities... They grade on a 70 point number scale 1=poor, 70 = perfect. (our grades in brackets) MS70 = Perfect (IMPOSSIBLE) MS68-69 = Near perfect (Gem UNC) MS65-67 = Above average (BU) MS63-64 = Average (UNC) MS61-62 = Below average (AUNC-UNC) MS60 = Lowest grade required to be UNC, (AUNC) AU58 = Near UNC (AUNC) AU55 = average AU (GEF) AU53 = Below average AU (EF-GEF) AU50 = Lowest to be AU (EF) XF45 = Decent XF (GVF-EF) XF40 = Lowest to be XF (VF) VF35 = Above average VF (AVF) VF30 = Average VF (GF) VF25 = Below Average VF (F) VF20 = Minimum to be VF (AF) F15 = Above average F (VG) F12 = Below average F (AVG) VG10 = Top VG (G) VG8 = Average VG (AG) G6 = Top G (GFair) G4 = Bottom G (Fair) AG3 = Almost good (AFair) Fair-2 = fair (Poor) Poor-1 = poor (Blank disc) Understand now?

No chaps you is getting confused. The US use these grades MS - Mint State (unc) the lower MS grades are equal to our AUNC-GEF. AU - What we'd call AUNC, it's equal to EF-GEF XF - Extremely fine (but they use X as in X-tremely, you see?) Equal to our VF-AEF VF - Very fine, equal to our F-VF F - Fine, equal to our VG G - Equal to our Fair. FAIR - We'd call it poor.