1949threepence

Do Baldwin of St James's have an on line catalogue? When I looked yesterday, I couldn't find one.

Lovely - thanks for the info @Taikonaut I may well try some of that. As I will soon be branching out into the earlier Victorian and possibly George IV pennies. I'm soon going to need another cabinet anyway, as the recesses in my current one, aren't quite big enough to take them. Will be considering the best one to get.

Anybody received their won lots yet? They haven't even debited my card.

Well, to be honest, I just spray some Pledge wood polish on it every now and then, and buff with a duster. I never received any care instructions with mine.

Hi, I think the best thing you can do is to sort out all the coins, and firstly try and determine precisely what they are. Whether British or foreign, to start with, although some older British coins can be difficult to identify. Sort them into like types, and then into date order. Selling is a bit of a minefield if you're new to the game, but we can probably give you pointers as to worth and the best places to market them. I will just throw in a word of caution not to get your hopes up to high. That's not to say your Grandfather didn't collect some absolute corkers, but a lot of people come on here with coins that really aren't worth much at all, wondering whether they're worth selling. When you've sorted, if you'd like to photograph one or two different types and post on here, we can give you some meaningful advice as to the best way forward.

Very fair point.

It's a mule - beaded border reverse, toothed border obverse. A very striking example in excellent condition.

I found it quite easy by just enabling the audio button. Next time one is running, I should hopefully be listening. PM me and I'll walk you through what I do.

In that condition it could have easily run into 4 figures.

Oh, what a beaut. Did it really go for £11.50? That's the stuff that dreams are made of.

From time to time, I noticed on the Spink auction that a little message would pop up which said words to the effect of "Do not delay bidding, the auctioneer will not wait". So even if they are hovering over the bid button, that's still not justifying an abnormally prolonged delay in my opinion. 5 seconds tops.

What about the remaining 14 days?

On the basis that a line has to be drawn somewhere, I'm inclined to agree with you. On Friday, there were too many prolonged silences awaiting internet bids, not to mention the aforesaid hammer decision reversal. At the end of the day, if there is a delay in the internet bid reaching the auctioneer - for whatever reason - that is not his fault. He surely has to call it on the basis of what is in front of him at the fair warning moment. So, as you say, once the hammer goes down, that should be bid successful. It has to be, otherwise the credibility of the sale is compromised and the whole process becomes shambolic.

I think there was more than a couple of bidders, to be honest. At least three, with two on the internet bidding against each other, and possibly more than one in the room.

Bargain, well done.

Thanks, but dare I ask where the fourth one is?

Will do

Yes. There was a very obvious problem today with their internet feed, which I'm sure others will also have observed. I've definitely not noticed the same issue with dnw, whose room/web interface seems to run very smoothly. The time lag was at the auctioneer's end, as the internet bids were coming through immediately on my PC. That was confusing for the auctioneer, and in the case of lot 208, somewhat unfair on the room bidder. Paradoxically, of course, it would also have been unfair on the internet bidder, had the decision gone the other way. Bad combination of circumstances. As far as opening accounts with Spink, do you mean some kind of special account? The one I opened, just an ordinary customer account, needed nothing.

Yes, you're right Pete. It's clearly low tide, but it's still a keeper and better than the one I've got. I might well do a free raffle for members who are interested, on the other three, as long as the winner pays postage. I don't really need them.

Yeah, it's not bad, and my current 1897 isn't that marvellous. This is how they described it:- I'm impressed you can make out that kind of detail on the pic.

Although it's described as high tide, Pete. No wonder there were no other bidders lol To be honest I couldn't get a clear view on screen, as Spinks photography isn't very good. Ah well.

I listened to most of it, and successfully bid for two lots. First thing I noticed is that whilst I started off viewing, it was not possible to view and bid, so I ended up on audio only. Second thing I noticed, which may or may not be controversial, is that with Lot No 208, there was seemingly a successful room bid, and the hammer came down - thud - then an internet bid flashed up. Actually it had flashed up on my screen just milliseconds before the hammer came down. The auctioneer then reversed the hammer decision, and let the auction continue. This obviously annoyed the room bidder, who I distinctly heard say "hammered to me", but the auctioneer disagreed. Should they do that once the hammer has come down? I suppose you could argue that the internet bid was made prior to hammer, but the room bidder was unfairly misled into thinking he had won the lot. I thought the auctioneer seemed quite rattled at times with the internet bids, and understandably in a way, as several were coming through, and appearing separately on my screen. But obviously not appearing on his at the same time, and when they did, I think they all appeared simultaneously. There was a clear time lag on many of the lots, between them appearing on my screen (and obviously other internet users), and them subsequently being visible to the auctioneer. I didn't think this was very good. I won lot 257, which consisted of an 1897 high erm, low tide penny, 1897 halfpenny, 1897 farthing, and 1901 (darkened finish?) farthing, the first three in GEF with good lustre, for just £60 hammer !!! - reasonable value I thought. I also won lot 266, the 1905 shilling in VF and pretty much problem free, which finally completes my 1902 to 1936 shilling date run, last added to in 2009. It was the one missing piece. Got that for £380. Hope it's not a fake. Lot 2005, the 1826 penny in UNC, was estimated at £500 to £600, but went for £2,800 ! How did everybody else who bid, get on? Well, I hope

12:23 and auction still not started........ Was supposed to start at 12:00 - unless they mean 12:00 GMT, which would make it 13:00 BST?

One or two little snippets of interest there for today, and even if there weren't, I always enjoy listening in. This one also has a video feed, I note. Great stuff, something to look forward to later on.

Cheers mate. Got it by process of elimination. Just browsing the catalogue now