VickySilver

Clean with pure acetone by a simple immersion or by dabbing (NOT RUBBING) with cotton buds. Even a wash with mild dish detergent and then a liberal wash with a tamp down courtesy of a high nap white cotton towel is a good move for stabilizing the surface.

Nice price!!!

The specs according to law for a sovereign are to be within 0.051 gm, or roughly 0.26 gm for a L5. Do they have XRF machines nearby. I have seen one at a show but can't seem to find one hereabouts & they would be reasonable accurate on a non-plated piece.

As in Forrest Gump (the movie): "Run, Forrest, Run". That surely sounds to be a faker. To my recollection, the Lebanese fakes of '60s and '70s were of good gold however....

Wow ! A 2014 Gold Five Ounce Britannia (I think a 500 Pound Face Value coin) went for 37,000+ US Dollars last night at BowersMerena Galleries Auction last night at the NYINC. Many of the Brit coins went for large amounts as well. The small six coin gold set of same year went for 10k or so by recollection. This 2014 Britannia seems to have achieved a life of its own and even the lesser silver brethren do pretty well on the secondary market.

Without being able to be specific, it just seems that St. James have slipped also - compare their last catalogue or two to the original five or so auctions....They have become a bit of a dumping ground on some things and will see for example slabbed coins from America that have been on offer there and not sold.

I have to disagree. NGC backs themselves up and says their opinion correct but then no rationale is given. On an unrelated coin issue I have absolutely blown them out of the water on doing this (backing up their own original erroneous opinion, although still ongoing as they have requested the coins in question back a THIRD time now). IMO that is not a genuine looking coin from the pictures, though admit to not having seen it in hand. BTW, otherwise I am generally alright with them - NGC.

Very nice find there! I am sure you exhausted the area looking for more! Well, a common date as far as Jub half sovs go, but still think you have gold value & maybe retail 100 quid or so....

In basketball, that would be a technical foul!

I don't have Bull or earlier ESC with me at work now, but there are some rare varieties in the 1879 shillings, but generally for coins of higher preservation that then show the differences more prominently as well as being more attractive to the collector.

Yes, I would imagine if you look at the www.londoncoins.co.uk that you might find some decent photos archived there. Dave, of course, is spot on.

Not seen any of them - I agree a beautiful coin, both obverse and reverse. I hope you have a nice matte specimen!

These are very similar to pieforts, which is what they appear to be. And very "proofy" as well. In other words, sim to size of the 1 oz Britannias in size but twice the thickness.

Hard to tell from pics but generally LOOKS alright , if a bit scruffy ugly. That is a bit of weight difference but I might be ok if btwn 28.0 and 28.5 gms. The rims and devices as well as lettering appear close though I am viewing on iPhone.

Absolutely. I have seen cases where I had not an ax to grind and was shocked at how "good" the outcomes were! Buy this is not always the case, as I had at one time pointed out an example: Cheshire 1854 6d UNDERGRADED in my opinion at "63". Virtually all the marks were clash...

Hard one to explain - I think that by the ear might be a planchet "adjustment" if you follow it along its course. Those behind the ear on back of neck may also be some planchet issue. But I agree, even if they do a decent job in all, they sometimes seem to miss it either direction high or low (as you will recall with the Off Metal Strike pennies you put up for me).

I think he was referring to another specimen. I am OK to an extent with the halfpenny's softer strike through trident hand but am not OK with going gEF or better because of appearance of metal both at that hand and also the shoulder, arm, helm and thigh, and especially the King's hair that to me demonstrates slight wear taking it to EF, even with residual lustre.

Paulus, nice matte 3d there. For some reason, I never got one & also have a sneaking suspicion that they are just a bit harder to come by than might be recognised.

I seem to recall emailing them in. Spotty "dumping ground"quality, I have gotten some very nice pieces there over the years...

Ha ha! I collect both! I have in hand both the silver and gold 2017 griffin Queen's Beasts from JMBullion.

Which is precisely what got me to look as I had bought the 2016 bullion at 44 USD incl. postage and the 2017 griffin bullion at 38.90 incl postage. These are beautiful prooflike coins with excellent strike and no issues at about 40% the price of the new RM bits....Worthwhile at the lower price I think.

And I have NO excuse as my mom is a retired English Professor! Funny that back in the day at Nicosia Middle School in Cyprus I somehow did not get my knuckles rapped for such an error & been with me ever since. Well, made up for it as I got them attended to for other misdeeds.

Dave, nice to know I have company on the 3ds. I got four Vicks (surprise!) myself.

Gaccchhhhh! Have you a spare 8k in change laying around, and want a rare coin with 100 or so mintage? The Royal Mint Have The Proof Bullion Queen's Beasts for you - a Five Ounce Gold Chunk is only 8k! Or Hockey Puck 10 Oz. Silvers at only 1/10 that price. Also, just in case you missed the bullion Lion 2016 issue of the same design, they can now be had with the 2017 date as well as a "newer" bullion with griffin which will also be dated 2017 & surely proof versions of that to follow with only another EIGHT Beasts to go! Perhaps someone better at math than I can calculate how much a full set of all ten in both metals will run the "collector"?

And not to be boring but was wondering what the 1839 currency half crown went for??