Rob

I've never had an issue with winning bids as some have come in low, some at max and some lost or not met the reserve - i.e. what you would expect. It's the combination of picture quality and the inability to view in hand that's the killer for me.

Does anyone receive them any more? I've not been sent one since last September and as a consequence haven't bid on anything either. Since they stopped having the sales at Bracknell with the ability to view the lots in hand, I have tended to work on the principle of if in doubt, leave it out. The pictures never have enough fine detail visible and tend to flatter the item, meaning viewing is even more important, but there is none. The breakdown of the online catalogue into sections rather than having it viewable from lot 1 though to the end also does my head in, as does the habit of listing by denomination in alphabetical order instead of chronologically, which is what most auction houses do. Am I the only one who thinks this way?

The 1806 wasn't there in 2013, so didn't have it on the list. I do know the 1797 gilt penny lot 1434 is wrong. Should be P1124 instead of P1127. That was a balls up all round as I listed it in 2013 as gilt and got the Peck type (KP18) right, but then wrote down the copper reference (P1126) on the ticket. Someone must have picked up on it not referring to a gilt piece and 'corrected' it to a P1127. Has to happen occasionally as none of us are infallible. I did not call the 1860 TB/BB mule a halfpenny on the ticket!

You just missed one in Zurich last week. Lot 1372.

You'll be disappointed.

It was a bit mad at times. If you wanted to bid on anything you had to hit the button immediately. An awful lot sailed into the distance. I was underbidder on the Morton halfgroat, having made a mental not not to spend more than 2K on it. A mistake. I did get the Chester declaration halfcrown and the third on the must buy list was the 5 Farthings. Now I really regret giving him dibs on it in Stack's in 2006. I would have paid 3-4, but 7.5 hammer was a bit rich. It cost him a grand or so. As for what will be coming up, there will be more Nicholson including a few of the Annes. He outbid me on an awful lot in that sale. The silver Anne in St. James's was bought for him by Ras, who I was sitting next to. I was underbidder, followed by a profuse apology. Geoff asked me to catalogue the collection in 2013 and see what needed upgrading - not a lot! I will be interested in a few, but it's going to be kid in a sweet shop time - again.

The good news is that the remainder are unlikely to produce the same sort of results. Ok, Reddite crowns and triple unites aren't cheap and there's plenty of other desirable material especially Chas.1, but there's also a good number of tokens, Gunmoney and other oddball material. I could see another sale of British and then a third to sweep up all the sundries.

Won one, underbidder on three, blown out of the water on about 20 and didn't get out the starting blocks on a couple. The Roman sold for just under £2m and the British for just over £4.5m hammer prices. WOW. And there's somewhere close to 600 pieces to come. Edited to say sorry, should have been CHF not £s. Reduce the totals by 10% or so to give pounds.

WOW, so far.

Thanks. I think that's the same dies as Nicholson

Thanks. This muddies the waters even further as it looks like there could possibly be 2 GVLIEMVS dies. The alignment around S and the stop plus TER looks different, unless it is optics.

No, that reads GVLIELMVS. I'm looking for a GVLIEMVS obverse die paired with a stop after BRITANNIA reverse die where the date is visible. A die match for the reverse die alone would be good too, but still preferably paired with the error legend obverse.

I've got a William III first issue GVLIEMVS halfpenny which is a healthy 10.93g, but struck on a dumpy flan meaning the date isn't visible. Peck 642 has no reverse stop and is the only variety listed, but this one clearly does have a stop by the edge. Does anyone have an example with a reverse stop that shows the date. Odds are that given the rarity of the type, it would be a die match. It's probably 1696, but I'd like to be certain. Ta.

Is it the plain edge obverse uniface? If so, I would be interested.

For the past 25 years or more, nonsense descriptions have been the norm. So how would you differentiate AI from the usual garbage? Indeed, you could argue that up to now the descriptions have predominantly been made by people with artificial intelligence and that eBay is only now catching up. Literacy or accuracy have never been a strong point of eBay listings.

Proof and pattern florins have gone through the roof in the last 5 or 6 years. I only want 3 'Godless' pieces to show the 3 obverses and 3 reverses and I have two, but when the third one on the list appeared in a sale last year, it made nearly 15K, or 10 times what I paid for the other two in 2010. At this level I'm a yesterday's man.

As I said, it's a chocolate teapot. It's apparently kosher, but then so is the meat in the local Jewish shop. I'll add the coin as nobody is likely to get it. A Weyl uniface pattern penny, which, if they would use any other reference would have told them is a Freeman 881. Interesting halfpenny.

We've had guess the grade in the past and frequently bemoaned the TPG mistakes. Now let's highlight the absurdity of what they consider acceptable references. They only use Peck and ESC as references, and not Freeman, Gouby, Davies etc. leaving the attribution of a coin in the lap of the gods. There are many things on this planet that it isn't. More useful would be to use a reference to say what it is. Anyone like to guess the coin in question based on this label?

I was looking too today. Some strong prices for some indifferent material at times and really difficult to buy for stock. The shilling is only 1250 book in fine, and that one's struggling to get there. On the plus side, mine must make me a millionaire, Rodney

Viewed head on they look like a normal gold proof

The Barton Metal pieces are plain edge.

Plenty more to come. There are approx. 170 Roman and 850 British in total.

1860 toothed border/beaded border penny. Lot 1462. Freeman 9. NGC have slabbed it as a halfpenny in their wisdom.

As is the description of the 1860 TB/BB mule on the slab. NGC have identified it as a halfpenny on the label, thus creating a variety that didn't exist previously and at same time producing a population report for said fantasy piece. Still, at least it fills the gap between penny and farthing. Another box to tick.