VickySilver

I sometimes think "verd" is a strong term as occasionally it is only a light veneer of oxidation which even soap and water, or the infamous acetone may be able to remove. Maybe its being picky, but IMO verd has oxidized into the underlying metal which has suffered irredeemable loss.

Neil, congratulations on the appointment & am sure all here wish you the best with this new endeavour. Now a bit more of a corporate world I should imagine, as per the suit and tie comments above. Well, given that Baldwins have moved, the basement fantasy a bit gone but perhaps some coins are still stuck in the back of drawers somewhere??That basement was always one of my biggest fantasies & pleaded on several occasions to even walk down the stairs into it.

Looks not unreasonable (like that assessment?). A bit like a couple I have; can't remember, but there is a name for the effect seen where details start to, well, mush out and toward the defect. The apparent radius of smaller clips should tend to be INCREASED slightly as per the clip at 4 o'clock as the center is deflected slightly more outward than the apices at either end - if that makes sense. I vote that its the real deal with only nominal value. If pressed, I'd say maybe 10 quid or so if the crud and fingermarks cleaned up with a bit of acetone (i'm not a buyer!).

Well, that might be a tad optimistic. I got the last off metal strike from London coins that graded out at PCGS65 and was about 250 quid by recollection. Also bought an OMS 1981 penny OVERSTRUCK on a 1956 6d where the original date is legible under the overstrike for about 400....If truly copper-nickel I would guess about 100 or so might be the best to expect with a dealer offering half that. I'm not a dealer at all, and collect these avidly but like others want a top condition piece...

Really nice if early strike crowns with cameo contrast, the same going for the coins making up the 1950 set, especially the penny.

Hi Wendy! And welcome!! With regards to your questions: are you sure those are Maundy threepences (as silver 3ds were struck for circulation). With these as well as your other coins, condition or preservation is everything, not to mention date or variety. If you can post pictures (and I am awful at this), that would be most helpful. All the best, Eric

Wow, those are some pictures, all of them. But Dave, really nice '02 half crown and '45 crown that sustained the blowup to pie plate size!

Yes, unfortunately they have not always been the best of graders in the LCA auctions. Fingers crossed for me as I [hopefully not foolishly] bid on the 1904 half crown - which is one of the vulnerable coins to overgrading and photoplay. Well, readers should post what the actual coins they receive versus the original listing grade & possibly price - although we can look them up. An informal survey of sorts...

If I was better at posting, I'd put one of mine up...It still could be a circulated nickel off-metal strike, hard to tell. Weighing it is always a good start, but sometimes not too easy to get to a gram scale...Dealer inspection may be a possibility, but that assumes there is a dealer that would know the difference.A do-it-yourself method is to lightly scratch the middle of the edge of the coin to see if it breaks through potential plating, without bothering the obverse or reverse surfaces & with a circulated coin such as this would not tend to affect value. A couple years ago, I bought a plated penny that was slightly off-centre and very similar to the 1967 that Azda posted for me in the TPG section of this Board. Message: these can be tricky.

Perhaps you could email pictures to one of us? Might be VERY nice, especially if cameo. Actually the boxes fair poorly as well, and would give a bit of premium. I take some and SEPARATELY store them in a zip-lock "baggie".

Well, the 1965 was graded 64 and the 1967 at 62. I can't for the life of me see friction, dings, hits, wear, or other damages. They do not downgrade for off-metal strikes (OMS). I have a pet collection of these, some errors, and some patterns. If anybody ever had decent specimens, I'm always glad to give them a go (shameless spamming there!).

Those pennies are both copper nickle strikes, they are IMO graded very low but quite beautiful without wear or ticks. Give up a couple of grade guesses and I'll post tomorrow.

I didn't submit as the price of slabbing runs a bit crazy. I agree with what you're saying about the bad uns. Actually the others are at least as nice & included the brass 3d but not the more minor copper sadly. I once had the opportunity to get the 1941 set and wish I had, later getting only the two shillings.

Groat it is. At smaller size it looks more like a "5", and thought I'd found the rare 1853 currency. Alas alack, no.

Almost looks like an upside down 5 without the top stroke. Bonus points for the denomination - Rob you don't get to guess! LOL

Well, those are all good estimates. The coin came back Cameo64. That is IMO a bit severe as the bust is quite clean without any hits, rub or wear. I have seen similar at 65 or 66 and agree with our readers. At least this grade is in the ballpark and not way off like the 1920 specimen halfcrown we showed some weeks ago that may have been 5 or 6 points off.

Oh, keep a few guesses going on...This is actually pretty much how the coin looks in hand. I was so glad to have reunited this specimen with the rest of the set that I had gotten from Spink 10-15years before. I hate seeing these sets broken up and try to reassemble when I can.

Try household ammonia diluted by 50% with water and use cotton bud with post liberal rinse with water...

Yes, might have gotten the push for the date - although this is a threepence that is blown up to about 100X size! LOL! Really bad clashed dies on reverse as well. This along with the Dritanniar 1878 are my favourites of the lettering errors when in pristine (that one is a "64").

Bull has them listed as Maundy as well.....Really the strike is better than one would consider for a currency - although many currencies in the late 1860s were of better strike quality. Admittedly, Bull has many errors.... RRITANNIAR are very scarce to rare in higher grades, this from an old Spink list - from the halcyon days!

Quite. Not for the faint of heart, but I had a matte silver piece with a very unfortunate oxidation spot on the bust and was able to remove it with NO obvious stigma and preserving the otherwise lovely patina. I admit to being a bit scared. I am with Dave in that you simply will not see a 100 year old coin with blast white surfaces. Patina is removed by dipping but with enough (i.e. too much) dip one can begin to lose lustre as well.

Please see if you spot the significance of the above 1868 3d. I am not entirely sure it is not a lightly handled Maundy issue - and this comes from one who loves the series (guess readers might have guessed that).

Okay, some of the 20th C. patterns also! & a couple of the proofs like 1929, 1945....

Actually this is quite in my area - but alas, nothing to really trade. I am looking feverishly for an upgrade to the 1848 (/6) which mine is only GEF; possibly the 1850 if truly exceptional & some of the odd varietals of 1878 & 79 (okay, I said it, a variant of "hypervarietals"!).

They work a lot better with phone calls if you can manage (?).....I think all of us are probably small fish to them, and not really that they don't care but actually a small deal - they have always taken care of little bits fairly well. And your experiences with grading to me seem a microcosm of what is the general experience - some high, some low. Occasionally they are way off, but surprisingly IMO still reasonably satisfactory.