VickySilver

Well, no "Tokyo A Collection" is a rather fabulous one - perhaps one of the finest collection of milled crowns EVER assembled. I have a couple but that particular collector, now deceased had a legendary collection; the family still holds some of the finest bits. Believe Steve Hill knows a bit about this collection.

That 1841 is quite a nice specimen. Is that the piece coming up in Heritage. I bought an EF many years ago from DNW and then certainly upgraded to a PCGS 63 specimen that has PL surfaces but overall perhaps not quite as nice as this piece. 12k quid a bit much as I was thinking maybe 10k - will watch. I think it quite rare and the 1843 on sale there is also very nice and likely much cheaper...I am quite shocked at what decent common variety 1839 2/6s in proof fetch these days. The "King" of all is of course the legit 1839 currency bits, the PCGS64 as their lone graded specimen perhaps one of the nicest currency Vick silvers out there.... PS - Rarity at this level very high, and as they say "must surely be amongst the finest known". I would estimate nicest you'd see in a decade. This coin is scarce at lower levels of preservation up to VF and then goes ballistic in rarity and value after that as you've seemingly surmised...

But that leek is thrusting on up there - "who's de man?". Overall an attractive design certainly.

Obverse style especially gives this one away. Looks like a couple of bidders contesting. I might have been in it for 20 quid.......

Yikes, nada for me....GO early hammered crew!

Looks a bit like a fouree (sp?). Base metal core with silver plating....

I've learned quite a lot about these half sovs lately so may be able to help out a bit. PM with pictures if that is any easier..

Post Independent Costa Rica (1839-1857) whilst under the reale/escudo system saw shortages of coin and foreign coins considered of good weight and metal content were stamped. This included GB sixpences and shillings - I think the shilling was considered the equivalent of 2 reales, or a quarter of the "piece of eight"/dollar/peso. See Baldwin Sale NYINC 7 January, 2015: Lots 1074 & 1075 for examples of 6d and shilling

A bargain at only 1200! Run, Forrest, run!

There are some Brit coins with Costa Rica lion ?? counterstamps - I have an 1843 shilling with one somewhere...

I have an PCGS AU50 that I would sell for reasonable, unfortunately to only the Left side of the Atlantic. I'd have to dig for it and will give the PCGS cert number if interested.

Some of the lettering and the Britannia device itself looks suspect, and would assume Pobjoy, INA, or some such...

Interesting piece, the caveat as always is that it is best seen in hand. I have seen similar that apparently were cleaned & thereby stripped down to raw copper alloy, then retoned in an envelope with then "retoning" on the high points of devices and rim. I still, however, can not totally rule out original surfaces with differential toning. Lustre is a tricky thing and does not IMO always appear stereotypically.

They use those tridents down in Louisiana to hunt bullfrogs...Think they call them "gigs" or something to that effect. Rob, I take it then that you are not in particular a Royalist? LOL

Hi Nick. Yes, you are right about the Skipton sale. Interestingly, the focus seems so much on the high grade pieces that sometimes rarities in just slightly lesser grade can be had in such sales at good prices. I think I bragged previously about picking up an 1889 small head shilling in "only" MS66 for the same price as the lesser bits because there were some MS67 pieces of common dates that drew bidders' interest. Oops, let that cat out of the bag...

I don't think it so bad. Actually, her visage is MUCH NICER than as she appeared on the reverse of the E7 florin - have you ever looked at that Britannia's face under magnification, say on the matte proof? Yikes, that's a mug!

Ugggh, near nil there...

Well, that is true about what I collect personally but just saying edge orientation doesn't fall in that category. Started with 20th C. crowns (pre-decimal, of course!) and did well except for the E8 of course...

No, just experience over the last 20 years. It looks to my eyes that this coin has a bit of "bagging" as opposed to wear, which I would expect in modest amounts at the high points (esp. Obv). Actually, this coin would probably have been EF in the "Grand Olde Dayes" of Glendining, et al. Based on photo alone, I wouldn't be surprised to see this in an AU58 holder...

Yes, I like to check them out. Not a lot of success bidding with them but have gotten a couple of Vicks in the past from them that were nice coins & fairly graded at sensible (?) prices..

Wow, Garrett you are tough. I'm obviously not here to defend the seller, and have had a couple less than desirable transactions with him but IMO this coin in the GEF category as best as I can make out from my laptop image. Let me know if you have some Vicky shillings for sale with your standards! LOL

As much as I Love Vicky silver (can you tell?), I have avoided this coin like the plague because of price vs. rarity issues mainly. But the price looks decent - not outrageously cheap; CC has had a few somewhere in this range by recollection as well. It would be important to know - is the coin attractive? There are many coins in AU category that fall either way. Do you detect any hairlines, and how does it appear in GOOD light...I agree edges are very important as well.

Wow, as much as I love 20th C. predecimal crowns, I just can't seem to be passionate enough to collect by edge lettering up or down. How about the matte piece? I guess for naughtiness, you could go for PL, DMPL, Cameo and Deep cameo on the Unc. and proof pieces as well!

Oh, go ahead and post them with ID markings etc for a reference...

These have a bit of look of ex-Gerald Jackson to me (i.e. Spink NY sale of last year)....