Rob

This finished at around the £250 mark!

You know Dave I did see that one but didn't really look closely and realise they were birds. Thank you for pointing it out! If it was some sort of stamping machine Stuart then that might mean that there are other coins out there with the same stamping, must watch out. I've seen those machines around which stamp, flatten and stretch coins but I've always thought them too expensive to let my boys have a go - maybe I should as they might be the collectables of the future What, one of these? Spoilsport.

Well, it's possible. The problem is agreeing where to stop. If you look at modern coins then differences between one (micro-)variety and another can be down to whether a tooth in the border aligns with a feature or not, or the spacing between the bust and border down to parts of a millimetre. With hammered coins striking quirks, die wear or damage can make two coins struck from the same die look subtly different. Do we count those as varieties, agree that we'll stop at a particular die pairing (Morrieson tried this), or just aim for a general description such as Osborne's (or Sharp or Spink or North ....) I guess it comes down to what sort of collector you are and whether several broadly similar, but subtly different coins is your aim or you are happy to stop at collecting by type or ... Personally, while a portrait/reverse combination I don't have would be a draw, I'm not worried about finding examples of each different privy mark, legend variation etc. The is the crux of all detailed references. Morrieson essentially defined varieties by marks, stops, legends and general detail, but then noted several dies conforming to type where the position of the legend varied. These of course would have been recorded by Freeman, Davies, Groom etc as individual varieties. With the double striking inherent in hammered coins, you have to be very careful in attributing any die to a particular variety. If you have a reverse die reading CHRITO for example, it only takes a small rotation between strikes to produce the same result from a die with the full reading. This is easily confused. This is a good example. The description reads that it is a different die to Brooker 1145 which is Allen obverse C, probably struck at Worcester in Jan-Feb 1644/5. The obverse of this C25 is double struck giving a reading HI I RX. The key indicator is that the A of CAROLVS is almost superimposed on the R. Compare with this image of a C18 which is cleanly struck and you might think they were different dies, but they aren't. You obviously need a number of matching reference points to establish whether dies are the same or not. Up to 30 degrees rotation is not uncommon, but more is possible. I have a shilling with a full 90 degree rotation. There is an Exeter C11 crown ex-Cumberland Clark with a 5 legged horse, and no, it isn't what you are thinking!. You also get remedial work carried out on dies leading to what is effectively another variety but of the same die e.g. the Chester halfcrown with CHST below the horse. There are examples reading HIR for HIB such as the Spink plate coin, but this was subsequently recut along with other parts of the legend to read HIB whilst still retaining the underlying R. Micro varieties are easily distinguished on milled coinage, but with hammered you have to be a lot more circumspect.

Do you know who bought it? I was too late.

All books are worth acquiring because you frequently find a snippet of information that isn't written elsewhere. The bulk of most books on a subject will be common to nearly all, but the minutiae in each text often reveals a clearer picture when considered in aggregate.

That far on, amazing! We definitely need the Freeman's tower shillings of C1, maybe even the Groom's version (if that didn't create too many gaps in Richard's collection)? [emoticon with tongue sticking out!] I'm not sure you do. I think there are over 1000 individual dies identified to date, and that's just for shillings. T in C was a huge issue. In fact, everything from Crown onwards with the exception of sceptre was quite prolific.

I think the first complete bust punch was the E3 (easily differentiated from E2 as it has 9 jewels on the crown band)

Thanks chaps. Good try, but it still goes to AVG search when I hit the + tab on the 3rd bar down. Opening Firefox now defaults again to the Google search page, but the second and subsequent ones don't. i.e. I'm back to where I was this morning, but still haven't got rid of the AVG search. What does 'restore default new tab' at the bottom of the AVG page mean and do? Last time I clicked on something on the AVG page it started this thread. We have a technology crisis overload in the house at the moment. Last Thursday the wife decided to wash some curtains in the bath and out fell my mobile. Silly sod that I am decided to drag myself into the 20th century and bought a new phone. Wish I had stuck with something simpler that just makes and receives phone calls!!

I've just screwed up my settings. Using Mozilla Firefox, I used to have Google as my default search page which was logical as I obviously want the ability to search the web. Hitting the + tab brought up a second search page but this time it was AVG search. Trying to get all pages to default to Google, I hit the 'set this page as default' and now every search page comes up as AVG which is not what I intended. Can't see how to set Google as the default on either the first or subsequent pages without searching for Google and taking extra steps. At least if I can get back to the original setting it would be useful as I need Google to search. Preferably I would like to be able to search all open windows using Google. Clues anyone? Thanks.

Osborne's article is in the 1984 BNJ p.164-209, just before Besly's York mint article. A very useful volume.

Glasgow has firmly established trading links with Dundee then, Dave?

It's a bit early for computer controlled equipment which you could easily envisage with a corrupted program telling the machinery to perform unwanted actions. That suggests an internal mechanical fault if the error is faithfully reproduced numerous times, but looking at the images posted it appears that the rotational value varies, so a worn mechanism somewhere in all probability.

Here's the coin. Another listing filled with drivel.

I do like the coin, that's why I bought it. It's just the perennial problem of having two coins of slightly differing grades, but preferring the look of the lower graded coin. I flipped a couple of 1902 pennies back and forth for about a fortnight, having exactly the same dilemma! Also, if the leaf didn't reach the bottom of the die, I guess it would be convex...all speculation of course! "Heads I'll buy you GEF, tails I'll buy you AUNC" [a fortnight later..] "Heads I'll buy you GF, tails I'll buy you AVF" and not so far from the truth! I owned them both and couldn't for the life of me decide which one to keep and which one to sell. Fortunately it's not an issue that often! If in doubt, keep both. Eventually you will decide that you can't live with one or the other, or both.

Could mean anything

At least he knows how to grade. Apart from £14 from change offered for exchange, the only other British thing listed recently was in that euphemistic eBay standard -'nice' grade, i.e. somewhere between legible crap and illegible crap. It would help if he was arguing from a position of strength.

Sorry Rob I can't help with this one, the issue was resolved, or resolved itself, following a few others identifying similar issues! Maybe my inbox was full? I've deleted a few old threads, so that would eliminate a full box problem.

Is said glitch the reason why I can't turn on PMs at all. I've tried disabling and re-enabling them to no avail. I notice that the three boxes for notification of personal messages are greyed out, can't be ticked and are obviously disabled. Don't know if this is normal though.

Don't understand this. The last time someone initiated a PM for me was at the end of May/beginning of June. Don't know what's happened since, but if anyone knows how to reinstate the ability to PM me, please feel free to speak out.

The sixpence reverses of the period are usually pretty well struck. It just seems odd that the oak leaves are generally concave, but this one appears convex. Could that happen with a slight weakness of strike? Could be a piece fell off the die looking at the surface of the leaf. Don't forget the concave/low relief bits on the coin are the high points on the die.

It is a die crack and the first I've seen on this issue, but won't add any value.

If you buy from the US you will find a lot of coins are slabbed - certainly the high grade ones. It depends on whether you want to keep them in plastic or in a mahogany cabinet for example. Traditionalists prefer a coin cabinet, but most people will not touch raw coins in the US for fear of being sold a dud. Consequently I suggest you don't buy any coins until you have acquired a few books and done a bit of background research. A general price guide will give you an idea of what is available and a ballpark figure for the various options. A trip to a coin fair to see the coins in the flesh is a must. Ebay is to be avoided until you know what you are doing as it is full of overpriced, overgraded and sometimes less than genuine crap. If you know anyone else who collects, have a long chat with them. Similarly at coin fairs, chat to the dealers. Don't feel compelled to take the cheapest of what are ostensibly identical coins. Most coins are priced low for a reason. Lustre is something you recognise when you see it. It is not a flat colour, even if the copper/bronze has bright surfaces. Lustre can be false. There are a few dealers on this forum. Mongo asked the same question last week, so see that thread for a list. Try searching the forum for the various points you want answers to, as all have been discussed several times in the past. Slabs vs cabinets is a perennial topic.

Ah, one of my favourite patterns in Peck I assume this one is from your collection, Rob? Yes, it's ex-Boulton. You can't get better provenance than that! About 5 years ago in the Circular, there were a couple pages of mint state Soho patterns. All were ex-Boulton. The only halfpenny that was sold was one where I had the ex-Selig piece. So I took all the halfpennies bar one with spots and then wandered around grinning like a Cheshire Cat for a few days. Funnily enough, I only found out because I had phoned to find out where my copy of the Circular was because I hadn't received one. Sometimes you get lucky and to have passed up the opportunity would have been reprehensible. Quite chuffed.

Ah, one of my favourite patterns in Peck I assume this one is from your collection, Rob? Yes, it's ex-Boulton.

There used to be a link below the picture for sending messages, but it seems to have disappeared - maybe the site was upgraded. Don't ask me how to get it back as I haven't a clue. There is a send an email link below. Try that.