Rob

A nice result for the seller there then What's the cost of a 1st Class stamp nowadays? Sellers are caught between a rock and a hard place. ebay encourage sellers to include postage, but if you start anything at more than 99p a listing is ignored. Ebay also encourage you to start at 99p to get more bidders. Couple that with the need in many cases to get something signed for, the cost of eBay's fees, Paypoo fees etc and the contradictions just don't add up. I would offer free P&P if Royal Mail drop their charges and ditto for eBay. The reality is that a signed for jiffy bag is £1.83 minimum. Put things in an envelope and it will sometimes go as a letter (under 5mm thick). Add in the cost of a jiffy bag and if VAT registered, the VAT on your costs and it is clear that the cost of posting is often greater than the item. In this case the seller was deluded in believing that free P&P would make the item more desirable, or that there was a competitive market for the pieces offered. In other instances the buyers are being unrealistic in expecting sellers to provide shipping at a loss. The whole operation only works if everyone benefits.

What happened to the Edward I thread? Go to a coin fair for the day and it disappears. I was rather perturbed about the use of York Coins (currently run by Antony Wilson) and STH's spelling. Has it been kicked into touch?

The National Trust is a robbing bunch of b*****ds. In the eighties I wanted to take out family life membership, but they said I had to pay to get in and could only pay for life membership once we had finished. So not happy with something of the order of a grand in cash, they still wanted the extra tenner. I paid the £10 entrance fee because it was a long way to go for a wasted journey, but refused on principle to pay over and above what was effectively a voluntary contribution. Since then I have only visited NT properties once or twice, and that was only because I had someone visiting who wanted to go there. I would have thought they would be grateful for a sum that large, but no, it wasn't enough. Someone needs to tell them that a little goodwill can go a long way. It also makes you wonder what would have happened if I had said I didn't want to go in, just buy life membership - would it have been permitted or not?. Those were the days when Mr or Mrs Jobsworth dictated everything (and probably still do). Good job they don't have a monopoly of places to visit.

Yes, it's each to their own. Personally I would sooner have a coin than a flashy car, but for others a car is more desirable. Some people spend thousands on a holiday. The market in used holidays is quite stagnant at present - at least a collection is something you can resell.

It's a copy of a William I penny. See the little 3 lobed mark to the left of the portrait. Value - pence. It isn't silver.

I'd still like a 1816 three shillings to complete the set!! A few have gone through auctions in the last 10 years, though none of these appeared to be unc despite the catalogues saying they were. Any genuine unc is likely to be worth the money spent. NGC pop reports suggest they have slabbed 1 at 64 and 2 at 65, though what grade they are or whether still slabbed is anyone's guess. Hope springs eternal.

The ultimate unpopular denomination/series? The BoE tokens? I've always seen these as unattractive to collectors for the same reason that the Channel Islands coins are ignored. The design is very simple and replicated throughout the series leading to an aestheically bland collection.

Proofs and patterns. OK, it isn't a denomination but I think you will struggle to find many people collecting them, yet it isn't as if they are unaffordable for the most part as many can be purchased for a few hundred up to a few thousand which is similar to sovereigns. The penny boys throw a lot more cash than this at their coins.

That's probably because gothic florins are virtually impossible to get in mint state. Bag marks and a low rim don't help.

Shillings or hammeredI'd say halfcrowns, crowns, sovereigns, shillings. In that order.I concur

Looks like an all round thumbs up

Halfpennies are a damned sight harder to get in high grade than pennies. Lots of nearly there pieces, but never quite good enough. I wanted the 15*+O* F343A in London Coins last weekend, until I saw it. EF at best and a carbon spot. Keep looking.

Not a bad example. I'd have it.

Why are people asking what grade it is? If they don't know what they are looking at, it's a recipe for disaster. That's why WRL etc replicas sell for thousands. Do you have a link to it?

I have some across both hammered and milled. I've offloaded about 40% in the last 5 years and am now down to less than 400.

OK, so long as all existing coins don't have to be re-punched retrospectively!! Could be worse. Could be Deep Fried Mars Bar over Rampant Lion - I'll add it to my list.

I haven't seen the full article, so can't comment other than to say that this is likely to be the northern cities yet again complaining that all the English investment takes place down south, which happens because foreign companies want to be in the London area. Scotland has made an effort to secure inward investment since Holyrood opened for business and presumably this sentence reflects these concerns. Any regional development bodies are usually a waste of time, so it depends on what the above statement refers to. Scotland is definitely better served in this respect than the north of England. For all the Scots' worry about Westminster, the north of England isn't even on the map for people in government, and the further north you go the more remote you are from Westminster, whose radar ceases to function north of the Watford Gap. How about the north going on its own too and forming a country broadly based on the ancient Mercia?. The M62 corridor and north accounts for about 20% of GDP.

Overmarks are common throughout this reign. The larger gold pieces can have up to 4 overmarks on the same die. This overmark is quite logical and would have been done to extend the life of the existing dies following the previous pyx trial. The bell mark is less common than others for gold, but not rare. The coin looks a bit mushy and no better than fine and possibly polished(?), but it's a bit bright to be be certain.

Anyone with existing citizenship of the UK will presumably retain it. You can't just remove citizenship without due cause, such as being a terrorist etc, so grandfather rights would apply here. However, anyone trading in their passport for a Scottish one should not expect the same rights, though I suspect the same policy as that applies to Irish citizens would be the realistic position. Whether Scottish only passport holders would be allowed to serve with the UK's armed forces though is another matter.

Given the future of the Union is going to be decided by less than 10% of the population and it is a possibility that the Scots will vote for independence, I am surprised by the lack of discussion around how the UK will be restructed in the aftermath of the vote. In the event of a Yes vote, if the parties in Westminster don't pursue policies solely in the interests of the remaining parts of the UK, this would represent an abrogation of responsibility and the people of this country will likely hand the reins of power to a party that does have our interests at heart, for which read UKIP. It is inconceivable (to me) that the government departments should have HMRC's and other departmental functions outsourced to a foreign workforce, given their importance to the country. HMRC Cumbernauld should be repatriated to areas of the country where there are more than enough unemployed English, Irish or Welsh residents. If the Scots want to go it alone, then they should do it without expecting the UK government to subsidise their economy by continuing the status quo when it comes to public services. A messy yes we are independent, no we are not, is in nobody's interest. Scotland doesn't want Trident. OK, build a new base near Barrow to facilitate repairs. Reopen a shipyard on the Tyne or Wear to replace Rosyth, Both are feasible if you use Devonport as a stopgap measure. Milliband's claim that we would have guards on the border is not fantasy. A Scotland outside the UK and by extension outside the EU should be treated just like any other foreign country in the same position, with full customs procedures put into place. Scotland can't just walk into the EU because the new member states have to fulfil certain conditions to be eligible for membership. An exception to the rules would not go down well. A reduced UK would want to renogotiate it's relationship with the EU when it comes to contributions, as nobody could reasonably argue that this doesn't represent a material change in circumstances. That would probably mean the loss of the rebate, and that in turn would further bolster the prospects of UKIP. We live in very interesting times.

They have already done so. My 1839/41 proof halfpenny (labelled as a straight 39) is still the only one that has appeared to date (though others must be likely). It was only graded 63 so not worth having. It also had an inverted die axis (not noted). The inverted die axis example in London Coins yesterday which was a straight 39 made 700, 300 or more than the upright axis example. A William I PAXS penny of Derby bought for less than a third of market value for a coin of that mint because it was only slabbed VF50. Furthermore, the fact that there were only 3 examples of this reading in the Beaworth hoard out of a total of 6500 coins and that this hoard accounts for probably 95% of all examples of the type means it is a good proxy for absolute rarity. Shedloads of hammereds are rejected by the TPGs because they have peck marks, scratches etc. Helpfully, they always give details description and the reason for rejection rather than attributing the coin on the label. Fill yer boots. I sold a proof G3 halfpenny to a collector on the PCGS forum because he wanted one for his registry set. It came back MS62 despite previously being a proof 64 and Peck devoting a full page to the description. Bad day at the office for someone and a wasted submission fee for the collector. On the plus side, if he hasn't submitted it again for rectification then there is a nice proof halfpenny available sometime with a sub-$200 ballpark price tag.

Currency, proofs, and a few odds and sods. Despite it being modern with many things worth only a quid or two at most, it was actually a nice collection. Where he had tried to get the edges in both orientation, the second was usually taken from circulation and maybe only gVF or EF, so he kept those to spend. Notwithstanding that, it was still an exercise in dedication with a few additional pieces left over from upgrades. A bagmark was unacceptable unless he hadn't found better. Hats off..

The thing is though, decimals are increasingly collected and they have been about for more than 40 years - a lifetime for half the population. I picked up a collection of them yesterday on the way back from London Coins, virtually complete and nearly all mint state. The market for them is actually stronger than you might imagine, with serious collectors (capable of grading) participating rather than just the bloke who picks things out of change from time to time. If you include varieties such as the orientation of the edge (ok, random I know) and those in Dave's book, then you are looking at something approaching £1000 of face value (excluding the gold) and a market value considerably higher when the prices of a few rarities are included. The beauty for many people is that it is affordable and can be done on a casual basis without having to engage in frenzied bidding.

The latter unquestionably happens in the US for British coins. You only have to think back a few years when someone paid $600 for a 1901 penny simply on the basis of 'finest known' - Spink price at the time was either £15 or £30 in UNC. Other silly prices included $400 for a WW1 shilling as I recall.

Ebay had an offer last week with 100 extra free listings to be made over a 5 day period if you accepted something. This is likely to be the reason given their normal free listing quantity is now 20 per month.