Rob

Picture wanted of a Worcester halfcrown, Allen dies L-57. Anyone? Any image is acceptable. Thanks.

Don't think that is a recognised Olympic event.

Hand your notice in tomorrow and you are half way there. I'm pretty certain that the YHA require less than 6 months notice. The sooner the better because you will have to devote all your time and more to make a living selling way overpriced bullion silver. As I said before, I wish you well in your investment.

I think it started as a case of disbelief that an odd lump of metal with a couple of stamp marks could sell for £58K. Then the topic drifted as is the way of things.

I've got Peck and Freeman on the shelf! It's the Spink pricing, rather than the ID that intrigued me as, presumeably, these prices have come from actual auction sales of type? I'm always up for viewing die and punch information at a deeper level, so will certainly try and dig out the 51 Will PM later, thanks again! Ouija board, I'd heard? Not quite. A rule of thumb is see what prices have been and knock off 10-20% because in the past couple of years in the saleroom, many prices have been inflated above what you can buy from dealers' lists or less well publicised sales. Too many people chasing too little stock and the internet has made the saleroom a global marketplace. Many sales have had coins realising prices that if you bought in the room and marked them up in the trays, people would just laugh at you and walk away, so I think there has been more than a little buying at any price to spend money that may or may not be in the bank tomorrow.

lol ~ reminds me of the e mail I received "from the desk of Prince somebody or other of Nigeria", promising me $3 million for a £500 registration fee. He quoted a London address which, when I google earthed it, turned out to be a disused petrol station in Hendon Well from one 34 year old to another of similar age, I presume you will be taking advantage of this magnificent offer (for a small fee of course ) In the meatime, take a peek at their promo video on you tube ~ When everyone has signed up, who are you supposed to sell to?

logically there ought to be 1915 recessed ears without the chipped tooth, yet to find one though! I suppose it's always possible that the RM used the chipped tooth as a positive ID to test how the 'recessed ears' fared in circulation? In that case they would all be of the chipped variety. You could always ask the Mint museum if they have a matrix or die to check this out.

Take Mrs. Peter's advice and buy yourself one. Most varieties are reasonably affordable in gVF or EF.

I've got Peck and Freeman on the shelf! It's the Spink pricing, rather than the ID that intrigued me as, presumeably, these prices have come from actual auction sales of type? I'm always up for viewing die and punch information at a deeper level, so will certainly try and dig out the 51 Will PM later, thanks again! Generally speaking the prices will reflect past sales, but if there isn't a major sale for a while you can get a mismatch between history and reality. Some prices have plummeted in Spink following the realisation that things aren't as rare as previously assumed. If there is no major farthing sale in a London auction, then prices are either going to drift upwards in a percentage increase across the board, or not get revised at all. If there were a couple sales realising below Spink book, the price would probably be revised down, assuming they reviewed it at all. People that know a specific field won't bother with prices anyway. Rarities are instantly recognised for what they are and appropriate bids made. Thanks, Rob! I always assumed they collated figures from a broad auction circuit, rather than just from the specialised sales! The triple quoted figures for unbarred A's in Fine did surprise me, especially when, for other types and varieties, and I use Elizabeth as an example, there appear to be no significant price differences, even for quite obvious variations (busts being an easy one)! It seems to make little difference with an Elizabeth Sixpence whether Liz has a ribbon in her hair, a bowler hat instead of a crown, or even smoking a pipe etc., etc! I just find it odd to see the 17/18C farthings so specifically valued! Not everything is revalued every year. The September sales are a good indicator of what is going to be revised as the next year's edition is only a couple months away from release. Last September was the Brady groats, so groats as a whole were revalued. For the last few years the prices had crept up annually by £25 or £50 in VF, however, a sale with such a comprehensive selection of a single denomination enabled a wholesale revision of prices with the ability to vary them relative to each other as it became obvious what was in demand amongst specific groups. When coins sell for below estimate, either there is something wrong, or it is common and not worth chasing. If one coin goes ballistic, either two people refused to give up, but also it is likely to mean that the coin in question was an unusually good example or rare variety. What you also have to bear in mind is that when a number of varieties are grouped under a single heading, the price is for the commonest variety. Hidden within a nominal price of £50 might be a £1K variety, but unless it is widely collected would not necessarily warrant its own reference.

I've got Peck and Freeman on the shelf! It's the Spink pricing, rather than the ID that intrigued me as, presumeably, these prices have come from actual auction sales of type? I'm always up for viewing die and punch information at a deeper level, so will certainly try and dig out the 51 Will PM later, thanks again! Generally speaking the prices will reflect past sales, but if there isn't a major sale for a while you can get a mismatch between history and reality. Some prices have plummeted in Spink following the realisation that things aren't as rare as previously assumed. If there is no major farthing sale in a London auction, then prices are either going to drift upwards in a percentage increase across the board, or not get revised at all. If there were a couple sales realising below Spink book, the price would probably be revised down, assuming they reviewed it at all. People that know a specific field won't bother with prices anyway. Rarities are instantly recognised for what they are and appropriate bids made.

There's a bit of evidence to be retained. Nobody has properly sorted the 1804 dollar and associated patterns into originals and restrikes. With the obvious underlying features of an 1801 8 reales, this is clearly an original Soho piece. For anybody interested enough to study them, there is a worthwhile project to be undertaken here. looks like its gonna get sore for someones wallet. 1,131 quid with a day and a bit to go It's about right given there are a couple of tiny marks in the field. Mint state I'd say it would be £1500-2000. Trouble is Rob, if there has'nt been one kicking around for a while it might go topside. Winning bidder so far had a quick stab at £66.99, so he knows its rare In St.James's 18 last September there were about 50 lots of BOE dollars etc with little duplication. Trouble is, half the people on eBay don't realise there is a parallel universe where you can also buy coins. The fields would suggest it may have been cleaned at some point or at least wiped. It's one of those things that needs to be top notch if spending that sort of money and for that you would want to see it in the hand.

Colin Goode (Aboutfarthings) has promised a definitive list of 1672-1724 Why wait? Sorted 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1699 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1713 1714 1715 1716 1717 1718 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724

There's a bit of evidence to be retained. Nobody has properly sorted the 1804 dollar and associated patterns into originals and restrikes. With the obvious underlying features of an 1801 8 reales, this is clearly an original Soho piece. For anybody interested enough to study them, there is a worthwhile project to be undertaken here. looks like its gonna get sore for someones wallet. 1,131 quid with a day and a bit to go It's about right given there are a couple of tiny marks in the field. Mint state I'd say it would be £1500-2000.

It isn't unusual considering what you effectively have is a double struck coin with the underlying 1801 8 reales detail showing through the second strike which is the dollar. If you had a strong strike on the 8 reales, the relatively mountainous detail would require more striking force to eliminate it. A worn coin might easily show no trace. All options are possible.

There's a bit of evidence to be retained. Nobody has properly sorted the 1804 dollar and associated patterns into originals and restrikes. With the obvious underlying features of an 1801 8 reales, this is clearly an original Soho piece. For anybody interested enough to study them, there is a worthwhile project to be undertaken here.

Thanks chaps. It looks like there is no hassle free solution.

Although it isn't too desirable to have hammered silver in varying shades of green, if the metal wasn't mixed well it can easily occur. Civil War coinage is more prone to it as is the debased coinage of Henry VIII and Edward VI. If they were trying to miantain a certain standard, sometimes it became necessary to throw a bit of copper into the pot.

Along with the CIVITAS EBRAICI S991 its the cheapest way into the Viking series - certainly the most affordable in that grade. We have to thank whoever deposited the Cuerdale hoard, otherwise they would be as expensive as the other coins of this period.

This is all marketing crap. If you really want to show the buying power of silver, why not use the 1980 $/£ adjusted figures? When the market peaked at $50.35 intra-day on 21st January 1980 up from its low of $4.50, then you can boast that it bought over 17 gallons of fuel. You might not want to tell the full story though, because it soon fell back to only buy 3 and a 1/2 gallons within a week or two. Or if you feel inclined, why not clarify the reasons why silver is going to increase in price by using examples such as this gleaned from wikipedia - quote "In April 2007, Commitments of Traders Report revealed that four or fewer traders held 90% of all short silver futures contracts totalling 245 million troy ounces, which is equivalent to 140 days of production. According to Ted Butler, one of these banks with large silver shorts, JPMorgan Chase, is also the custodian of the SLV silver ETF. Some silver analysis have pointed to a potential conflict of interest, as close scrutiny of Comex documents reveals that ETF shares may be used to "cover" Comex physical metal deliveries. This led analysts to speculate that some stores of silver have multiple claims upon them. On 25 September 2008 the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) relented and probed the silver market after persistent complaints of foul play.[22] In April 2010, Andrew Maguire, a former Goldman Sachs trader, went public with assertions of market manipulation by JPMorgan Chase and HSBC of the gold and silver markets, prompting a number of lawsuits.[23][24] In response to allegations of market manipulation from silver investors such as Max Keiser, Blythe Masters, Head of Global Commodities for JP Morgan, told CNBC in April 2012 "often when customers have metal stored in their facility, they hedge it through JP Morgan on a forward basis who in turn hedges itself in the commodity markets. If you see only the hedges and our activity in the futures market, but you aren’t aware of the underlying client position that we’re hedging then it would suggest inaccurately that we are running a large directional position."[25]" So you see, the market is invariably controlled by a few players who may change over time, but all have the same ultimate intention which is to get suckers to jump on board and buy their already overpriced metal in order to make a profit. Ultimately it will be the 'me too' want to get rich quick type of person who will end up the poorer. I think you are on the way there. If I have misread the situation and in fact you are operating a Ponzi scheme, I apologise for my stupidity in being unable to identify the type of scam involved.

What's rare about 1 out of 25000 Darwin presentation packs? I don't know how many WWF packs there were, but one thing is for certain - they're not rare. The same appies to the state quarters.

Thomas Carey was granted a commission to strike coins in the four counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire in a document dated 22/5/1644. These are the coins currently assigned to the W, SA, Chester, 'CH' and Hereford(?) mints.

The best reference is probably Nelson's, 'Obsidional Money of the Great Rebellion 1642-1649', published in about 1905, but reprinted in 1976. The ISBN for this is 0 903681 06 4. No they aren't unique.

Could be writing at their house in France. They can disappear for a few weeks at a time to work undisturbed.

I'll second what Richard is saying. I'm currently working on the Carey commission output and trying to assign different issues to specific places and times. For most of the coinage the picture is reasonably straightforward, but when you have some documentary evidence (now lost!) that says 'Rude the Coyner struck coins from 277 ounces of plate at Hereford in Oct/Nov 1644', how are you supposed to assign that to a specific issue? First of all, 277 ounces of plate would only make between 500 & 600 halfcrowns, which was the main denomination of provincial coins struck. A survival rate of well under 1% immediately tells you that there may be one or two examples extant or possibly none, but more would be very fortunate for the researcher. Some have a better survival rate - e.g. the provincial unites were probably presentation pieces and so kept by the recipient implying a much better percentage remaining intact, but the majority of dies used across the period are only known from a handful of coins to three figures in isolated cases. As for the value of unique pieces, it is as always determined by supply and demand. There will frequently be a premium of sorts to be paid for a rare/unique type within a series whether common or scarce, but nothing like the premium attached to a universally almost unobtainable series. My Shrewsbury D23 halfcrown has a known population of 1. The reverse die, which is the rare bit, is only known from another coin where the die is paired with a shilling obverse, but that is in a museum. The premium for this coin is about a third over that of a commoner, but still fairly rare D22 in the same grade. The price however is only 5% or so of some indisputably commoner Scarborough pieces. i.e it is the mint rarity that drives the market. At the stratospheric levels of Scarborough coinage, there will always be a handful of people willing to pay a premium to get their hands on an example and then it's a case of who blinks first. The question of soldiers' pay is an interesting one. The daily rate for a horse and man was 2/6d, for a foot soldier and gun 8d to 1/- ish. It varied throughout the period. Most Royalist forces were mounted, so halfcrowns are the commonest denomination. The local population was levied and the contribution distributed amongst the troops. Coin would be used first and any plate collected made into coin as required. Consequently there are no fixed ratios of denominations corresponding to the rates of pay.

:lol: I know, I know - we think of a size then double it Poppycock, ask any good fisherman, he'd tell you categorically that you are wrong there! I've told you a million times not to exaggerate.