Rob

A workshop job has to be favourite. Take 2 worn coins and make a die pair, or do the machining and drop in trick. I also wonder if, alternatively, it is related to the 1861 etc halfcrowns. A third option would be using an obverse die for the 1902 proof sets if they needed a replacement, as with the 1839 halfpenny obverse die.

The more pertinent point is that they could use independent policemen who willingly report for free if they so decided, but there's no PR advantage in that. We 'invest' over £6m is their attempt at showing they are doing something. Ignoring people who are more actively involved in identifying shill bidding only p's off a handful of the public, the remainder presumably taking their action at face value. For ebay to take down the reported shills would probably cost them a few million in lost fees when taken across all the sites. They ain't gonna do that.

No dealer is privy to the past, present or future internal operation of the Royal Mint, who remain the sole source of any info that may be relied on. Whether it's accurate or not is moot, but is the only first hand account available.

Maybe she means Robert Armistice? Judging by the literacy level of the listing, anything written could mean, well, anything. Maybe marleybob has located and procured some of Diane Abbot's missing zeros to add to the price?

The 1933 should be a recognisable known copy because the obverse legend is the same thick, clumsy font as the date. If it was a changed date, the obverse used would be irrelevant.

Given the relative amount of money per head sent north from London to Scotland under the Barnett formula, studiously avoiding the north of England on the way, the best way to achieve Scottish independence would be a nationwide referendum.

Small three. Tall 3 below

Is that an offer or a have done?

I'd love the opportunity to stick that in an electron microscope.

If a 6 is involved, it is more likely to be as a result of an attempted repair to a blocked character, as from the 1816 coinage until around the time of the mint refurbishment in the early 1880s, the last two digits only were added by hand, 18 only being on the master. This point is mentioned with reference to shillings in ESC 5th ed. p.135, footnote 1. Examples of unfinished dies are known elsewhere, e.g. the 18 copper penny in Baldwin's sale 44, lot 417.

I get plenty of people buying cheap or lower grade items, from washers to things that are practically as struck, so you shouldn't let that put you off. Aim for as early as possible though for the reasons outlined before. I would guess there would be 25-30 dealers with appropriate stock based on what you wrote. Whatever, nothing ventured, nothing gained. FWIW, I'm on table 43, on the left hand end of the island facing as you go in.

It is easy to find as the Motor-Cycle Museum is accessed off the roundabout at the motorway junction. Be there on time as dealers drift away after 2 o'clock because most of the buyers have finished looking. If you had a shopping list, it might be possible to find some things in advance and take them along. Doors open at 9:30, but with 40-50 tables, there won't be enough time to thoroughly examine what is on offer on every table.

Independently verified

Thankfully, description says 'may not ship to UK'.

I wonder if he'll do a like for like swap plus a quid? I'll offer a bag of sh*t.

That's all wrong. It looks like someone has tried to make a copy respectable.

Firstly, the fact that an argument was recorded by a supposedly uninterested third party immediately leads one to question the motive. Neither I nor anyone I know is in the habit of taping next door's conversations/discussions/arguments. Maybe the chattering classes, or 'Angry of Islington' are concerned about what goes on in private, but the majority surely aren't. Secondly, given the political leanings of most newspapers, the reasons for publishing are always circumspect and invariably require the neutral observer to question anything at face value. The content is designed to attract a certain viewpoint and the letters or material offered for inclusion will be similarly aligned. The Grauniad isn't alone in this matter as the right wing section of the press is similarly supplied with news not worthy of the name. Social media, newspapers or your circle of friends are all biased towards the human preference for living in an echo chamber.

They could have been held back and subsequently melted. So anyone with mint reports for subsequent years? I don't have any evidence, but would suggest that with the silver price up tenfold in the prior year or two, every man and his dog was sifting 5p and 10p bags from the banks for silver. As far as the mint and banks were concerned there was every reason to expect demand would be reasonably stable, so the collapse of the silver price was a real spanner in the works. The demand would have melted away virtually overnight, and the unanticipated return of large numbers of shillings and florins would probably not have been foreseen by the mint which was essentially striking in anticipation, but was crucially one stage removed from the banking front line. It would have been compounded by an apparently strong demand for the two denominations as the silver price rose leading to an effective glut dated 1980 and to a lesser extent, 1979.

I wonder if the cessation of striking the currency 10p had anything to do with the continued use of the old florins? 1981 was just after the silver bubble, and although the silver price was still above face value, the collapse of prices in 1981 must have freed up a quantity of Cu-Ni pieces initially retained in the belief they were silver, not to mention bags of deposited florins previously obtained from the bank to sort through for silver. You still get predecimal Cu-Ni saved in the belief it is silver today, so not a lot has changed as far as the man in the street is concerned. The same pattern exists for the 5p, with the next currency issue being in 1987. The 50p by contrast was issued approx every other year

The guy is selling for a charity, so a quick message might be all that is required to get it removed.

The letter profile is too similar for it to be a repunched/repaired die. If double struck I would expect to see the same on the border teeth, or anywhere else for that matter. The lighting is a bit misleading, so do the teeth show the same displacement? If not, then it suggests it was on the die as made.

I think coins were collected fairly soon after the concept of a coinage was introduced. The evidence is certainly there for numismatic hoarding by the Roman period, because the Bolsena hoard, sold as part of the Sarti sale in 1906, contained practically as struck sestertii covering a period of 200 years or so. There is no way that high grade sestertii would survive in circulation for so long, leaving a numismatic collection as the only sensible alternative. The artistry employed in engraving coins would be as recognisable as that seen on jewellery or other artefacts, so there is no obvious reason for not collecting them.

Pretty poor show there. Where are the missing possessive apostrophe's (sic)

Given my list is 1975 and no. 44 and yours are 57 & 58, the latter should be early 80s at the latest, o/w list 1 would have been by appointment to Queen Victoria.

No