Gary D

At £450 each I wonder if they sold numbers 50 thro 500

My link

I have now discovered that I have the article published in Coin Monthly February 1979 - "Survey of 20,000 Florins" by Ron Stafford. It runs to around 8 pages which I could scan and upload here one-by-one, if you're interested. All the 10p varieties known up to 1978 were included in his results, with illustrated examples of each type. Hopefully there are no copyright issues with doing this, as CM ceased to exist nearly 20 years ago? I'd quite like to know exactly what the copyright situation is for this publication. Somebody on here, a few months back, suggested that it would be useful if the entire series of CMs could be digitised as a resource. I have pretty much all of them right up to early 1992 and have a scanner plus the software and skills, plus time to do it, but it's a huge task and I ain't going to if I immediately fall foul of copyright. Does anybody know? My understanding is that copyright lasts at least 70 or 80 years, and presumably when CM went out of business it was sold to another publisher. If so then they and their descendent companies now own the copyright. However, if it just ceased trading then I don't know what the situation is. CM was published by the Numismatic Publishing Company - Googling it doesn't come up with anything. My thought is that Token Publishing (who publish Coin News) might be the best people to ask? I did scan and upload an article on varieties published in the Coin And Medals Annual 1970. That hasn't brought any comeback. I don't think people care that much in this particular field, but to upload the entire magazine contents over its run - that would be a different matter possibly. If someone tried it for financial gain I think notice would soon be taken.

I should be, assuming everything goes to plan. Did you make it Historic Coinage? Did you see the two Ed VI sixpences? They had been switched around in their sleeves, made me wonder whether this was done by an unscrupulous viewer (being as the viewing is so open, and trust-based). Great auction, very impressed, a very nice family spirit, couldn't have been a more pleasant team. I had a couple of absentee bids. Was the bidding particulaly strong?

Looks like it to me, nice catch Azda Looks like a damaged C to me. If you look at the O it thins top and bottom whereas the broken C only thins were the gap between the upper and lower jaws should be.

I'm sure that one sold on ebay sometime last year, or it was one very similar, the price has jumped considerably though, at least 200 quid if it's the same one What I've seen a couple of times and would like to get hold of a one is the Lords Prayer engraved on a silver 3d. There have been a couple go through ebay but I missed them. i think the last one went for over £30, just a bit too much for a curiosity.

You won't find them in your change cause they're Rare WOW. All still readily available on ebay though.

Byzantine - something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/11th-Century-Big-Follis-Medieval-Genuine-Ancient-BYZANTINE-Coin-/220925664516?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3370321d04 Does look remarkably similar. The owner dug the coin up about 30 years ago whilst digging a pond in their Cambridge back garden so was quiet deep.

I was handed this by a work colleague which had been dug up by her father some years ago. To me it doesn't look like a coin, any ideas.

Another quality item from mintstate17!!!!!!!!!!!! Not. Isn't that the very rare "Missing E in ONE variety?" It's actually a 1506 Brent Cross hammered penny. Very rare.

Perhaps it's due to the mint being largely staffed by eastern european works like most industry here in the UK now. My wife works as a QA in a local factory where it's one thing after the next going wrong all the time. A while back they layed off most of the english workers in favour of busing in tempory staff. Once was the bigest employer in the town, now hard to find someone speaking english there now.

Don't know of one, that's why I'm asking. One wonders whether some of the scarcer dies that appear for just one year and then disappear are in this category. eg pennies in 1897 and 1908 David If you are talking about the 1908 164A it's the observe design used on the half penny so could have been accidental.

That is not the proof set case it's just the look a like often found with the currency coin set plus the crown added. To be the true Royal Mint case it would have the crest inside the lid and text on the cover. These are sometimes described as proof sets to catch the unwary.

I started collecting in circa 1965 and as I was still at school and of limited funds I collected from change, a paper round wouldn't stretch to buying proper coins. What shaped my collection, I'm a date run collector and at the time a range of padded folders were available that ran from 1837 to 1967 with a card with holes for each denomination for each year. I stopped collecing at around the year 2000 with all the decimal year sets to that date. About 5-6 years ago I dug my collection out of the back of the wardrobe and got the bug again but as I had not really made any roadways into the Victorian era, just a bit of copper I desided to focus my collection into the range 1900-1967 and add the Maindy series, I have never been into gold so just collect farthing to crown. Currently I'm concentrating on the Maundy series and have less than 20 coins to go, I no longer need any full sets just oddment some of which are proving a bit elusive, on ocassion I have resorted to buying a full set to fill a gap and re-spin the odds onto ebay. I am also heavily into varieties to try and keep the collection alive plus a few upgrades where EF to UNC is not too big a jump. I suspect once the Maundys are complete I will slow down and possibly put the collection back into the wardrobe, figuratively speaking.

When I got my 1922 penny I was the only bidder and had to up my bid to get it at the reserve, bargain. This year a coin came up at Baldwins that I really liked. I was going to attend but bottled out and put in an absentee bid well above estimate, got beaten and saw the same coin at coinex for £800, not bad as it was bought for £320 plus juice. Still kicking myself for not going.

I will get the last 19 Maundy pieces that I need for my 20th Century predecimal run then stop buying coins, I must, I must, I must. I've spent close on £35k in the last 5-6 years

As it was originally mint toned, possibly nearly to black I think any toning now is the result of a good clean at sometime in the past.

I've a couple of these of different dates, definitly an acid bath job.

With luck you would be able to buy them all back again a couple of weeks later on ebay for a fraction of there value.....mmm there's a thought

I've shown this before but I think it definitly comes under the heading "Rare but Butchered".

We know what causes ghosting, a heavy observe design, but do we know what it is. I would suggest it's an effect in the crystal structure as there's no metal missing leaving a cavity. To me it would suggest it's an area in the coin where there has been a larger flow of material leaving the crystals in the coins structure very elongated giving a different surface appearance.

Can anyone explain what was going on here. I initially suspected shill bidding as the seller's feedback is 22, but after looking at the bidders I'm not so sure... WTF

A chance to study at Oxford, go for it. It's better to have tried than always wonder what may have been. I'm a Cambridge man myself, well I did my degree as a mature student and my study centre was in Cambridge Receiving my degree in a ceremony in Ely Cathedral was a highlight. Our son has just finished his GCSEs and came in the top 5 at his school, I think he was about 3rd with 4A* 3A and 3B. He is now taking his A-levels at a sixth form college in Cambridge and it would be nice if he could carry on to a degree there also but Cambridge like Oxford the competition is fierce and entry expectations are very high.

I've always found Michael to be pleasant and helpfull. Coincraft, only been in there once and wasn't impressed.

Well it has 2 bids which I assumed was from a couple of his mates, but one is from a big gun so perhaps it would stand a closer look.