Gary D

It sometimes is used as am indicator or authenticity, handy if you have a known genuine item and a suspect coin of the same type.... and a lot of patience! Easy to tell, just mesh them together and rotate, you will soon spot the difference, mind you you would need a concensus as to which is the genuine artical.

it's simple the penny is going down hill because the pound is going down hill,the pound is going down hill because the country is going down hill, in recent months you've had what was called called devaluation of the pound now known as Quantitative easing -printing mony mony with no value,the problem is not the penny but what gives the penny worth. Oh dear. This is all very serious. What happened to our light-hearted banter? Pffffft. In some countries the smaller denominations still exist but are no longer used. Make the 5p the smallest used denomination and if you need to give change for less than 5p give them a sweet or something. err hang on, can you still get a boiled sweet for less than 5p

I took my gold set into coincraft when visiting the BM on the off chance they might know something about them. They didn't.

That looks very much like an altered 1964. Scuffing on both sides of the last 1. Whoever paid that price must be cursing. 61 bids,4 bidders only and it would seem inexperienced muppets. I paid £25 for mine, thanks Chris, and it make that one look amateurish.

I was also looking at this one to replace my well-struck highly frosted cameo specimen, well I suspect it is. Graded PR67 by PCGS. I contacted the auction house prior to the auction and they assured me that it was a VIP. I'm not convinced.

12. 1935 crown, why

I agree - it's preferable to ugly toning, and it is possible to dip LIGHTLY without destroying all lustre. what silver dip do you use? The one I would have used if I'd ever had reason to use it hypothetically on one or two hypothetical coins that may have needed a slight bit of dipping if I'd been the sort to use it was simply called 'Silver Dip' and came from Tesco. [Oops, slight correction - my hypothetical dip is "Goddards"] I was routing around in the cupboard under the sink and at the back collecting dust I found a pot of something called 'Silver Clean' by Hagerty. It was next to something called Brasso which I hear is good for copper and bronze.....apparently.

Well I suppose it's closer to EF than UNC

Let's hope not for the buyer's sake! Would anyone care to post a pic of their 1905 HC, I would like to see a high grade one! (It wont be me, mine is gF) Here's mine, any good? If you're after a fake, that'll do nicely. If I was in the market for one of these (I'd love one, one day), I'd certainly do my research well in advance. But, if this is indeed a fake, I have to say that upon first impressions i wouldn't be able to spot it from the pictures alone, not without being pre-armed with any pre-purchase research, that is! Yes it is a fake, I wish someone would point out any clear indicators though as I can't tell the difference

I sold the fantasy crown for peanuts(I don't even know where it came from ) I have a gold set that I picked up as a curiosity. I wish I knew more about them as I've only ever seen one other set and have no idea of the gold content.

Blame it on insecurity. The minute you have natural toning which can take on any form there is an automatic assumption that it's hiding something, whereas a monotonous colour from dipping will show all the detail evenly. Bizarre really when you think about it - so many people who are happily taking a coin that has knowingly been dipped and therefore messed with a bit, in preference to a coin that may or may not have possibly been played with. I don't think it's that, I think it's more the simple fact that most collectors don't care that much, not surprising when you see that the majority of silver coins offered seem to have been cleaned in some way and dipping is certainly preferable to Duraglit. As we've said before some natural toning can be singularly unattractive hence why so many coins were dipped in the first place. Bronze/copper is a different matter entirely... I don't mind lightly dipped silver, got to be EF+ though, anything worn just doesn't look right.

I must admit the crowns are my favorite part of my collection.

Let's hope not for the buyer's sake! Would anyone care to post a pic of their 1905 HC, I would like to see a high grade one! (It wont be me, mine is gF) Here's mine, any good?

Kind of wandered off topic hasn't it I didn't realize it was possible to get your own head so far up your own arse.

Err yes that as well... I think that the sexual trend in the younger generation ( so I am told !) is for there not to be much or any hair around the bits!! Well, in porno films, that's certainly true (so I'm told ), but among the general population?? I have overheard in conversation amongst young'ns this being discussed so I guess it has reached a certain popularity. Better than a bolt through it I guess

Young ladies I hope

When you say "My link", do you mean that's your coin you're selling? No 'My Link' was the default name given when I posted the post. To me that crown looks cast....maybe I absolutely agree. I didn't like to say so before, as I thought it might be your listing. It definitely looks dodgy and very much like a casting. So back to this one then. I emailed the seller and she said you 2 are talking utter pish lol. Her name is Louise BTW, very nice young lady, apparenlty been doing ebay for 9 years and knows her sheeeeet When it came back around again I reported it to ebay.........still there then?

Peck So are you telling me you don't have a back,sack and crack Cream, pah, for pussies. Youth of today. Wax is where it's at.

I don't think there's a real answer. It depends on the coin and how many people really want the coin at the time. I just won two maundy set from the States. Both sets are George VI which seem particularly hot at the moment and were usually going for anything up to £220+ I picked up one set for £158, bargain, and the other set for £98 . Lower value coins can also have the shine taken off by the postage. I always included the postage in the value I put on the coin.

1958 is difficult to get in top grade, but why? According to the mintage figures, which are supposedly accurate for that era, there were more than 120 million minted. The young head Victoria series are also difficult to obtain in decent grades, ESC only lists 4 of the entire series as more common than scarce. 1860-70 (excepting 1864 & 1866) are probably the most difficult apart from the very rare years 1848, 1854 and 1879+DN. I've found 1960 in top grade hard to get.

I put a couple of bids on the 1905 shilling but let it go as I was really after the 1937 VIP crown. Got blown out of the water.....luckily by the looks of it.

Dave, I'm interested in any pennies which would add to my collection. I know you have a few good examples... I'm only interested in 20th century pennies, any rarities there? Anything you're particularly looking for Gary? 1933, 1954.... na. My current lookouts are the 1901 1 to space and the 1922 with dot on trident.

Dave, I'm interested in any pennies which would add to my collection. I know you have a few good examples... I'm only interested in 20th century pennies, any rarities there?

My 17 year old son is under pain of death should he mention to his scrote mates even a whisper about my coin collection.

We could always discuss cleaning, toning and tooling coins