Gary D

I wonder if I took my collection along to him he would perk it up a bit, could do with an extra grade here and there

I would have thought the poorer peep were using copper not silver. I've always considered the name "Maundy set" a misnomer. The 1d 2d 3d and 4d were coins of the realm that were just bundled up and given away by the monarch on Maundy Tuesday. They weren't sets of 4 coins, just the number of coins needed to make made up the appropiate sum for that years ceremony. It would be rare for any years coins to divide up nicely into sets of four, there would more often than not be spares. I believe the nice little boxes we see were sold seperatly for anyone who wanted to make them up into sets. I suspect that in the early years whilst the coins were legal currency most got spent anyway. Just my thoughts Gary

Am I reading this right. He's not selling the coins just a list of them Link

If the British Isles on the reverse is coloured in 22 caret gold it will be the proof in silver. I only have the Millenium dome version which has incuse edge lettering. Spink doesn't mention the whether the lettering is raised or incuse. Gary

It's not a gold proof is it? This is the bit I like best Clearly a well-circulated coin, the higher points of its design are noticeably and predictably worn/smoothed though much more on the front than on the “young headed†- or “bun-headed†- rear which consequently still features considerable fine detail. However both sides are clearly enhanced by a substantial, and distinctly appealing, lustre.

It's nice to see that someone is prepared to put so much time and effort into their merchandise Bling

But if we are right and it's been tooled, it is now a severely damaged coin with a much lower retail value David You could be right David, but look at how much "tooled" 1933 pennies fetch on the 'Bay! Retooled 1933 pennies are sold as just that, a retooled 1933 penny. A 1882 will have had the H removed to deceive.

I think you'll find it was bankers (in both senses). Aided and abetted by governments who didn't regulate them. I think you will find that the bubble will have burst with or without the bankers. The problems we are in at this moment is largely due to government over borrowing. The bankers just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, scapegoat anyone, very convenient. Gary

I love these sort of statistics and it just confirms what I thought that later gold really didn't circulate for long. When writing the 'Standard Guide...' I had real problems in tracking down any late-Victorian gold below VF. It is, I suppose, quite possible that this type of article raised a hue and cry about 'underweight gold' and the mint sharpened up its act. With the passing of the Gold Standard, I guess people didn't worry about whether the coins in their pocket were underweight or no... It was my understanding, correctly or not that Gold was generally only minted for bullion purposes and was regularly melted and reminted. It often saw very little true circulation as it was used mainly for payments between institutions and governments largely. Gary

My fake doesn't have it either. Here's my 1903 along side may fake 1905. Not a good picture of the 1905, it's not shiny in the hand.

Gary, i started a thread in free for all called USEFUL LINKS. The 1st site i uploaded is about fakes, i don't know if its the one you are reffering to, but take a look. Yes that's the one. I had tried to search the site on various occassions with no luck. Here is the info but it lacks any descrition.

I once found a website dealing with fakes and there was a discription of all the pointer to distinguish the fake 1905. I lost the link when my hard drive packed up and have since been unable to find the info. Just a note about my 1905 EF gap filler, it's starting to take on that grey toning. I guess it's to do with whatever is in the mix with the 90% silver.

I know I keep banging on about it but it's also got the broken R in George. This is Edward lol Luckily there is an R in Edward as well

I know I keep banging on about it but it's also got the broken R in George.

It's the colour that would worry me. I had a fake very similar to that in colour although in a lesser grade. Apparently they rub them down on a piece of leather to reduce the grade

It looks to me like a piece of metal moved when the back of the 3 was dug out by a blow. Can't be a error as there is metal missing, errors cause matel to be left behind like a dot. If you look carefully, what appears to have have happened is that a chunk has come out of the lower 3. It's a piece missing. The question is, did it happen at striking which would make it an interesting (but probably not valuable) misstrike, or has been gouged out since? hi i know what you are getting at with the chunk but would pinching out after striking account for the leg sticking out at the back of the lower 3 in the middle some friends of mine suggested that it may possibly be a backwards £ sign

Yes Tom i believe a lot more people are investing in coins instead of putting it into banks, thus pushing prices upwards, i wonder if it will all end in tears like the housing markets and banks collapsing. I have my eye on a little something, so fingers crossed and we'll see how it goes later, whatch this space (or at least coin aquisition of the week ) I've been concentrating on maundy recently and the prices have jumped alarmingly. A year or so ago you could pick up singles for £20, now I'm regularly being beat on ebay at £35.

That works fine until the day your snipe just beats another using the same strategy. Then you find yourself having to pay the "stupidly high price" You only pay the price you want to pay Peck I was commenting on a strategy that involves sniping a "stupidly high price" - it COULD happen that your S.H.P. outbids someone else's S.H.P. by only a few pounds, and then you HAVE to pay! I used to deal on ebay in antique silver (still have a bit), hence the argentum in my business name. Anyway, back to Pecks point, one day I was trawling the sold prices on Irish dessert spoons (had just bought some and wanted to know what they were fetching on ebay) when I found a sold single spoon for £1113.85 (made up the figure as it was 5 years ago ish, but it was certainly more than £1000). The spoon was from a recorded silversmith of no great importance, in average condition and had no armorial crest or provenance. The only conclusion I could draw was that 2 idiots with snipes had pushed the price to the incredulous level it reached (winning bid was within 5 seconds of auction end). The true value of that spoon at the time was about £50. Snipe high at your peril! It's times like that you need to check their returns policy. lol

And lets not forget, what it will eventually do to the toilet bowl I think this guy should be given an honorary free membership to this site for his services in the advancment of cleaning old pennies. I'm sure you could write it down and sell it on ebay. Gary

I've got a halfpenny that looks silvery, it was done by heating it. Gary

Goofbay.com has an ebay snipe prog for free Interesting. Who are these people and where's the catch ? Better to read all about it 400, it has a lot of forums etc dedicated to Ebay, hammersnipe is subscription based, whereas the goofbay one is free, you can snipe with 2 seconds left, just make sure your bid is high enough or else you won't win https://www.goofbay.com/free_ebay_sniper.html You get 3 free snipes a week on hammersnipe, althought they are only at 10-15 seconds

Goofbay.com has an ebay snipe prog for free Interesting. Who are these people and where's the catch ? I use Hammersnipe. www.hammertap.auctionstealer.com

Yes you need to keep an eye out for fakes and over-grading but showing a high grade coin then sending a dud is just plain fraud in my opinion. I also hate stock photos, it's just lazyness. I expect to receive what is in the picture because that is what I have used to appraise the condition and used as the basis to make the decision on what I'm willing to pay. Gary D

Here's my bright 1944 Rev c and Rev d along with both a bright and toned 1945. I also have a bright 1946.

As far as I'm aware Centsles is a dealer in the States that slabs his own. The grading tends to be overly optimistic but I'm not aware of any of his coin being of questionable origins. Gary D