1949threepence

Who is this ALI you speak of?

lol - the only one I've seen for sale was that DNW specimen (now withdrawn)

As it's now illegal to sell them, I doubt anybody will find one. Those that do have one or more, will probably keep them for the time being. No idea how many were actually struck for the various trials.

Yes - even so, they will probably be scarce. I wouldn't mind betting that if most of the trial pieces out there are returned to the RM, it'll put a huge premium on those remaining. I'd quite like one myself, not for profit, but to own.

Funnily enough, I was just thinking the same, Pete. I know that trial coins from the past are bought and sold without a problem. It might be worth hanging onto any of these new £1 trial pieces, that are held privately, until the dust settles and the RM isn't bothered any more. Not sure when that will be.

Well that just typifies many business concerns. They will ignore the ordinary punter's query, regardless of its validity, probably without even a check. Only choosing to act immediately, on the diktat of a huge government office. As you say, the coin itself will probably be returned to the Royal MInt by DNW, with no recompense for the vendor.

The RM acted ultra quickly. Credit to them for that.

I think that's it now. After last night's presidential debate, Trump is finished. He has so mishandled his public relations, that huge swathes of the US electorate are now permanently alienated from him. No doubt he will say the election was "rigged", but there you go.

I guarantee that May will do almost anything to stay in the single market. Even if in modified form.

Has disappeared from "My Cabinet", where I'd deliberately saved it last night to see when it went. So yes, pulled.

Ready for release in March 2017.

Crikey I never expected to get a reply from the RM this quick, but here's my question:- and here's their answer:- So there you have it chaps. Dave's informant was spot on. Shouldn't be sold. ETA: Not sure why the time of the e mail is showing as 4.43pm, when it should be 9.43pm? Or maybe it's correct, and they replied almost immediately, as I doubt there'd be any staff on duty this late. I'd only just checked my e mails, so it was probably sitting there for hours, unread.

Yes - didn't there used to be a site called "hammersnipe", which auto bid on your behalf? May still exist. If I really want a coin, I leave nothing to chance, and will be there to manually snipe a few seconds before the end. An outrageously high bid at that point will not only win it, but take your winning bid amount to just the next level above the second high bid, and because you can see in the seconds before your bid, what everybody else is bidding, makes it more unlikely that another outrageously high bid will also be made in those final few seconds, independent of yours. Possible, but unlikely.

Just for good measure I've sent the Royal Mint an e mail, together with the link to the item in the DNW auction, asking a) if it's genuine and b ) if it's OK to be selling them. I say an e mail, but it was actually one of those irritating message facilities. Will post on here when I get a reply.

Interesting. Do you have anything from the Royal Mint confirming this?

Well I take back what I said originally, and give you this from the next DNW coin auction catalogue

Both him and Ted Cruz seem better than either of the present incumbents. You have to wonder how this situation came about.

Bill Clinton was President of the United States for 8 years from 1993 to 2001 - and in all that time, the only line I can recall him saying was "I did not have sexual relations with that woman......Miss Lewinsky"

I don't think so, David. I'm well aware that ISIS does recruit in this country via internet radicalisation. We've obviously already seen many go to Syria to serve alongside IS. But that does not negate the fact that there are terrorists embedded within migrants arriving in Europe - link. That's not blaming migrants per se. I've no doubt the vast majority are decent people who want to start a new life. But it is pointing out a risk of importing terrorism. Even Merkel has admitted that terrorists are among the migrants entering Europe - further link All the above is quite apart from the other non terrorist related factors I mentioned earlier. This one of the reasons why the majority in England voted out, and why we wouldn't want an open back door via Scotland if they voted for independence in a Sturgeon inspired second referendum, and stayed in the EU. But they'll have to be quick. Article 50 will be invoked early next year, and we'll be out by 2019.

No, that's precisely the point, we don't know who is and who is not a terrorist among the migrants. As far as the rest of your post, what has happened politically/militarily, is not down to me or any other ordinary bod who voted out. Indeed, I was fully behind the million or so who demonstrated in March 2003 against the Iraqi invasion. All we are concerned about now is our continued safety. I'm sure that the USA, and indeed Russia who are now bombing Aleppo and related cities in Syria, could take their fair share of migrants. They are, after all, much bigger than we are. The NHS is buckling - who's fault that is or whether it can be improved, I don't know. But the fact remains that right now it is buckling and we have to live with that.

We don't add to the problem by importing even more into our midst. Especially completely anonymous ones who can disappear into who knows what woodwork as soon as they arrive. But the terrorist situation apart, one of the prime reasons for voting out, was the issue of right of free movement for all EU citizens, which would mean that as soon as all those million new migrants in Germany get EU status, as many no doubt will in due course, any number of them are free to come here. As we already have a health service buckling at the seams and a housing/accommodation crisis of massive proportions, we really can't afford to take in too many more.

Which would be fine with an independent Scotland, as it would be Scotland's choice. The problem would then be the open border, along which migrants would be free to just walk or drive across unimpeded, possibly with attendant ISIS sleeper cells embedded in them. I'd rather we didn't see a Hungarian style barbed wire topped fence, stretching from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, not to mention constant shipping patrols either side, but it may have to come to that. Come to think about it, we've also got the open border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic to consider about as well.

Actually, FU might be closer to the truth as far as their thoughts on the UK are concerned

As far as gold, the stats are there as quoted. I agree with you about gas, and it does seem tragic that we ran down our reserves just to produce electricity, after all the old coal fired power stations were shut. Just as well that fracking has got the green light. I'm sure we will pull through and ultimately prosper, whatever short term problems may arise. The Bremain side is full of doom and gloomers. However, I hope Nicola Sturgeon does get her wish of a second independence referendum, so that if Scotland wishes to stay in the EU they can. I'm all for Scotland's independence, especially as they have 56 SNP's in parliament, for a fraction of the votes ukip got, for just one MP.

Thanks Richard, much appreciated.