Rob

Not seen an 1826, only an 1825 for which the R7 rating in ESC is silly on this score as I've seen more than half a dozen of the 1 or 2 known. Could be an error, but bearing in mind that the last digit was may have been entered at a later stage, it is possible that unfinished 182 dies with a Roman I were produced.

I thought you were going to talk about the rights and wrongs of the seizure and arrest at the NY auction on the 3rd of this month.

an olive oil bath should get it back to how it used to look Nah, I quite like the new verdigris look I thought it had been At'd and slabbed as a VF50BL(ue).

there are special 2p toilet seats that help you get over that!!! I think the correct malady is AstroBelloignoramia.

It possibly looks like an inclusion in the flan, say a trapped air bubble, though could equally be a lump missing on the die. It just looks a bit smoothed for a random flake of metal

Jedi knight not you are. Bloody good job. You're weird.

sorry thught this forum was about coin's sould have gone to the stock market Isn't the inherent value/investment, and the swings and roundabouts of the prices, part of the whole experience of collecting? If you use a price guide to make a decision about how much to pay for a coin that you add to your collection, no matter how humble a purchase, then you too, even if unknowingly, are part of what makes the investment side of collecting coins what it is. Correct. All purchases are based on some sort of price appraisal whether it is market knowledge based or just taken out of a price guide. Some you will pay too much for and some you will underpay relative to your expected outlay. Some you will pay over the odds because you need a specific item to fill a hole and it is unlikely another will come along anytine soon. There are many reasons for buying coins and selling them on to fund other purchases is just one of them. If you collect any field and a coin within your criteria that sells for £50 is on eBay at a fiver, you will buy it because it is underpriced even if you have one. You may well recycle it on ebay starting at a tenner having first checked if it is better than the existing coin in the collection, but the reason for the initial purchase was that it represented unquestionable value for money. It makes the initial outlay go further and you are happy because you have enhanced the collection or can do so in the future.

It still is. However, how many people on this forum don't sell on their surplus coins or buy an obvious bargain with a view to selling it on to fund another coin? Very few I suspect.

It's worth paying money for if you can sell it for more than you paid.

Rather disturbingly it doesn't come in the original box which got wet. The claim of its unused condition is suspect. You beat me to it.

Do the two posts above have any relevant content? If so, please translate -thanks.

In that case it could be later because 3 presumably refers to 3d which is quite a large amount for a trade token which were predominantly 1d, 1/2d and 1/4d and the H HARPER has a more modern look about it. The only reference I can find to HH is a Hearts of Oak Friendly Society (est.1842) medal to Herbert Harper dated c.1890 for services to the Society. If one and the same this would place it in the second half of the 19th century, though how much cross-over there would be between Friendly Societies and metal bashers I'm not sure. Even if a common name is pertinent, there is also a possible tradition of naming sons after past generations too which doesn't help. Davis doesn't list Harper in any of the three indices and the laurel wreath is a common design, so nothing to be gleaned there. First port of call has to be the census records and local maps of Stourbridge High St with the various establishments noted.

This pub is listed in 1830 on this site as being run by Hannah Blew, and is listed in an 1891 census as being on the High Street here. I suggest you search for old Stourbidge notices which may hopefully tie the name on the token to a specific period. It's probably late 18th-early 19th century, but would need pursuing. The Gothic style of lettering would place it much later than 18th Century - more like the mid-19th possibly, when the Gothic revival was at its height? I'm thinking more in line with tokens to replace non-existent currency for payment. There wasn't a shortage of currency in the mid-19th century. I would have thought that token issuing almost ceased after say 1820 having been outlawed (again) in the previous decade. The key to it will be finding out when E Jones was landlord. Census returns after 1851 will probably eliminate the last 160 years.

This pub is listed in 1830 on this site as being run by Hannah Blew, and is listed in an 1891 census as being on the High Street here. I suggest you search for old Stourbidge notices which may hopefully tie the name on the token to a specific period. It's probably late 18th-early 19th century, but would need pursuing.

I'm afraid year IS important! They only occur in 1797 flavour (along with their heavier sibling the twopence) I will keep my eye out ("Ouch" I hear Prof Cousins say) for one, but you'd be best having a look on eBay as these aren't really a forgery risk. If you find something there, post the link to it here and we can tell if it's worth bidding on. Don't worry, there's plenty about. The Isle of Man cartwheel penny is dated 1798 and they appear not infrequently. If it has the 3 Legs of Man on the reverse this is not what you want, though a decent example is much scarcer than a British penny.

C over another C rotated about 120 degrees. I had a better one on the site for about 3 years @ £45 without any takers until a year ago. Either no interest or no viewers - take your pick.

Now it's on a third list. One watch, one snipe and one melt. It's horrible.

I'm sorry for being so ignorant Rob, but what's a R6 again? Rayner's rarity rating (ESC). R6 = 3 or 4 known, but take the rarities quoted with a pinch of salt.

Not aware of any, and it is unlikely to exist because each piece is individual, special only to the parties concerned. On the plus side, you might find that the engraving has been done on a really rare coin. I've seen a couple of R6 coins so engraved, which might give a decent financial gain when you decide to sell.

That is correct - just 5%. I have never attended an auction, but have put in quite a few absentee bids and have won a fair number of lots. They obviously manage to keep their costs down by being largely a family run firm and by not spending much time photographing lots. In my opinion, their grading of lots is consistent, if perhaps just a tad optimistic - but offer a decent alternative to the larger London auction houses. Therein lies the problem for all those of us not resident in the south-east. You dare not bid blind. Unc maybe unc, but there again, maybe not.

Pot luck. They can appear anywhere. Unless of historical interest with named affinities to someone important they will be cheaper than an unengraved coin, so obviously, if a coin had a dedication say e.g from Lord Nelson to Lady Hamilton then clearly it would become very desirable given their place in English history. Joe Smith to Jane Smith would not be important and given the intimacy of love tokens are often seen with first names only which makes attribution problematic to say the least. They can be quite ornate, but are usually found on bigger flans than shillings. Early milled crowns are a favourite, though halfcrowns are also big enough to fit on a decent amount of detail.

Don't know of one, that's why I'm asking. In that case, forgive me! I thought you had one up your sleeve that you could dazzle us with! It does seem strange that a design that they had apparently consigned to the recycling bin appeared on the final item... One thing that has just occurred to me, has anyone seen/got a not-so-wavey one in a pres-pack? Possibly they saw the design on these and decided to do a quick redesign for the circulation issue? Though its a lot of effort for only a million pieces... Also, why is the cycling one only got an issue of less than half that of the rest?! (see here) It could be a case similar to the set of progressive stages of 1818 crown by Pistrucci (cf. Lingford lots 473-495). The only thing is though that most of these were struck in lead using an unhardened die until the design was complete. It looks as if the swimmer's head on the line-free coin is in slightly higher relief, which would make sense if the model was cut deeper to remove the lines. It obviously would not have been done on the die today, rather on the large cast, though why they then went on to produce a working die from this stage is beyond me unless they made trials for the various stages as outlined above.

With all the rich foods over Xmas a piece of plain toast and a boiled egg followed by nice cuppa seems order of the day We finished off the cheese board,pickles and chilli & wine was through down our necks so many times. Seems reminiscent of a meal we cooked whilst at university. Curry for two and the end of term, so everything went in it including the best part of an ounce of curry powder and an ounce of chili powder. End result, colitis and a trip to the hospital at 2 in the morning passing blood and the body retaining nothing. Still, could have been worse - according to the record in the hospital log, the guy before me had "p***s caught in zip".

I agree with Tom. It's relative to the supply and demand for the coin, there seem to be many early milled coins graded VF or GVF (even by reputable dealers and graders) that in the condition they are in wouldn't sell for anything at all if they were post 1950. But thankfully there is some consistency across the centuries, so that inevitably you won't ever find any EF or above hammered coins or UNC or better coins prior to 1797 ... I have the sinking feeling however that I might be contradicted by some of the experts, of which I am certainly not one! You do get unc milled prior to 1797, though the vagaries of hammered coinage pretty much excludes these as a block from saying whether there is wear on a coin or not. Small things might justifiably get say a practically as struck good EF, but it is difficult to say the same with conviction for a large module hammered coin that is almost inevitably double struck and unevenly struck.

Not sure what you're looking at? the 2 and 6? I'd say good honest wear in the 1st picture Worn die/worn coin. It isn't 6/2 if that is what you were hoping. How about this one? There is definitely something poking out from the bottom left corner of the six. Looks a possibility. There is usually a small protrusion bottom left and a smaller one bottom right. Your coin also appears to tick the box with what appears to be an ascending diagonal line across the loop of the 6.