Mat

Any chance of a scan of the receipt which would say who the buyer was? I will hazard a guess and say it was part of Montagu's milled coinage (from George I onwards) which was sold off by Spink in 1890. There is a nice catalogue of the sale which contained many patterns and proofs. A priced and named copy sold at DNW for about £500 hammer a few years ago. Tight a***d me only bid four, which I've regretted to this day. It won't be a proof set per se as in the usual mint output, just a trio of the three bronze denominations. Hi Rob I have asked for the receipt so hopefully it will come over, I don't know the guy too well though so I am not in a position to keep chasing. Several years ago I also read about an 1877 purple velvet lined box for the three mentioned denominations but I did not take too much note of it at the time. £500 is a big push for a catalogue, I am not sure many people would have even considered £400 although I see the huge benifit of this one.

My coin colleague bought a large UK collection from a country auction near Tampa a few weeks ago. When going through some of the paperwork in the lot he found a receipt dated 1890 for an 1877 proof set detailing a farthing, half penny and penny, cost of £8.10s There were no other details on the receipt apart from an illegible signature. Anyone else heard of such a proof set being issued? Unfortunately none of the actual coins were included in the lot. Mat

Hello Mathew I am based in Hanley, Stoke on Trent. I would be more than happy to give your collection of coins and banknotes an appraisal and if your items are suitable for my collection I would be pleased to make you an offer. Please feel free to contact me on mathew_chetwynd@hotmail.com or 07743512984. Kind regards Mathew Chetwynd

Good spot! This was typically the trend of the seller that had 2000+ feedback and sold the £2m worth of gold Kugers that didnt exist a few years ago.

Agreed, my 1852 farthing looks to have a simlar 5. I got a message back from the seller, you have got to laugh at the responses Dear icedchetty, Yes, I look at the catalogue and the drawing looks similar to the "5" of date regards, jun - tonting944 From: icedchetty To: tonting944 Subject: Other: icedchetty sent a message about Great Britain 1850 Queen Victoria One Shilling. Silver #230731085084 Sent Date: Jan-21-12 17:02:41 PST Dear tonting944, Hello, please can you confirm that the coin is genuine? I have never seen such a strange 5 in any 1850 shillings. Regards Mathew

This looks highly suspicious to me, has anyone else seen a 5 stuck like this on the 1850? None of mine have ever had a 5 like that and none of the images I can find have such a 5 either. The colons after REG and F are also flawed. 230731085084

The likelyhood of picking up a fake cartwheel is pretty slim, if you want a nice cheap one, you could pick one up from ebay in about fine for prices ranging from 99p to £5., if you want to stretch to £15-£20 you can easily find them on ebay in gVF.

Link does not work !. Ah, sorry here is the item number for one instead: 170724759421

Thanks for the tips so far. These coins are to be stored and not to be looked at until they are ready for eventual sale. So, the general consensus summarised: Keep them free of pollutants Stored separately so no contact - (Thanks was not sure on this one specifically in regards to lustre preservation) Dry atmosphere Use of silica gel Before I consider a switch to acid free paper pouches, can anyone offer an opinion in regards to lustre preservation in keeping the coins in: 1) Air tight atmosphere – detrimental or not? 2) The pouches I am currently using: http://www.ebay.co.u...=item43a3ecc159 Cheers Mat

I have been stockpiling many coins in UNC with near or full mint lustre which are present are worth about £2-£5 and not really worth the while selling them individually at present. The coins consist of things like 1935-6 pennies, GEV half pennies and farthings, GEVI silver and brass threepences, mint Edward VIII British Africa mint pennies etc... basically all mint UNC with lustre that are worth more than peanuts but not quite worth selling individually. The last two years I have been putting them all in 2x2 inch plastic grip seal pouches (the kind that screws come in when you buy flat packed furniture) and then putting them in ice-cream containers. Then putting the ice-cream containers in Royal Mail silver special delivery bags (as they are strong and FREE from the PO and air tight) I am not sure how this might affect the lustre as it’s not the horrid pvc plastic that we all know usually destroys the lustre. Would you think the lustre should be ok in their present storage conditions or should I remove all the plastic grip seal pouches and put the coins in a container loose so they have contact with each other to try and preserve the lustre better? Or any other advice? I have been buying the grip seal pouches for £2.99 for 1000. I do not want the expense of buying the acid free paper pouches are they are considerably more expensive unless someone tells me that’s really what I need for this solution. I intend to store these until the value goes up enough to make individual sales really worthwhile which could be 5-20 years?? Thanks in advance. Mat

Michael Coins has a very worn rare 1853 septimo gothic for sale but it has an inverted die axis which is unknown fot this strike as far as I know. Bit of a strange one.

Thank you! And thanks for the pointers John, it appears you still have the core comps fresh on the brain.... I will keep you updated. Cheers

Thanks for your input John, on that note I will put it back where I got it from for now until another day. On another note, how long ago was it since you left the force? I cannot remember how long ago it was we last spoke about that.... however I have still managed to stay in the recruitment process but things are taking forever with the finance cuts.... Mat 2 years 8 months and 17 days but I'm not counting If I was still in I would still have 11 years, 11 months and 10 days to do. According to my former colleagues the job is going from bad to worse, someones got to do it though! Hang in there Mat and I'm sure it'll all pan out in the end. I hope so! Got my A/C tomorrow with fitness test, if I pass then just final interview to go. I still think your crazy for leaving after everyone in my position is trying so hard to get in, but maybe if I get in I will tell a different story after 15 years! If I pass my A/C tomorrow, would you mind if I picked your brains on a few things in prep for final interview?

Thanks for your input John, on that note I will put it back where I got it from for now until another day. On another note, how long ago was it since you left the force? I cannot remember how long ago it was we last spoke about that.... however I have still managed to stay in the recruitment process but things are taking forever with the finance cuts.... Mat