1949threepence

Just a trash talking troll trying to elicit an angry response. Best ignored, John.

Happy belated birthday wishes

Yep, it's a very worn 1882H, with the H worn away.

I'd have said EF/GEF. For £8.50, you weren't ripped off by any means. Fair price for a nice coin.

Absolutely well done Spinks. It's very rare for anything numismatically related to appear in the national press.

We need photos! There you go.......

I started collecting one hot Friday in early August 1990, when I received a GEF 1951 florin in my change. Very slow at first, but that sparked my interest in coins. Difficult to identify a star coin though. Very difficult.

Just as a matter of interest, how long did it take for the 1973 sets to get so badly toned ? I mean, they can't have been like that when they were first bought. I'm given to understand this was 1976, as opposed to 1973.

Haha - the awful 1973 sets! The £100 price would be for an UNtoned set, of course. That really is a notorious year for the proof set - it may be due to something in the red dye used for the foam insert. The weird thing is that some sets have survived with no toning at all, and I'm hanging on to mine! Or with some still seemingly untarnished, could it be an issue with the cases used in 1973 ~ maybe non airtight ? That's a thought. Though quite why some exposure to air would cause such ugly toning is a mystery - many proofs live out of sealed cases and never get toned. Well, here's a theory, which may well be wide of the mark, but here goes. Suppose it was a combination of the red dye, and not properly sealed cases. Where the cases are properly sealed, there is no reaction. Like your set. Possible ?

Haha - the awful 1973 sets! The £100 price would be for an UNtoned set, of course. That really is a notorious year for the proof set - it may be due to something in the red dye used for the foam insert. The weird thing is that some sets have survived with no toning at all, and I'm hanging on to mine! Or with some still seemingly untarnished, could it be an issue with the cases used in 1973 ~ maybe non airtight ?

Secret dealers...........We KNOW your secrets Peter I've got a bath full of Baked beans and mushy peas to dive into later...Mrs Peter is on a leash. You're Roger Daltrey in disguise? WHO? Very clever

Coins are very subject to various marks and staining, and it's very difficult to know what they are. Although many are labelled as "carbon spots" My 1860 F6 beaded border penny, is otherwise UNC with probably 60/80 lustre, but disappointingly has a small stain on the reverse and a larger one on the obverse.

http://www.ebay.com/ Web address copied and pasted for you, Dave. As above.

No matter how it is dressed up, it is pyramid selling, it relies on additional layers of sellers beneath you for you to recoup your costs. The people at the top of the tree, and the odd good seller will make their fortune, and use the evidence to convince those further down to join. Inevitably it doesn't take that many layers before the numbers of people required to continue the pattern becomes mammoth. The last ones to hop on board have no chance of convincing others and the bubble bursts leaving them with products for which they have overpaid. The names may have changed but it is the same principles that have been used in previous schemes. That's what I was trying to say. I think "recoup your costs" could be replaced with "make real money" but otherwise you are spot on. It relies on you being emperor at the top of your own pyramid, raking in the commission from your 'subjects', while you yourself are in turn a vassal of someone higher up the tree than you, who is raking in even more. Like you said, a pyramid. A legal pyramid, but a pyramid all the same. You apparently get a $40 commission for each new member you can bring in. Which is presumably why Will was here touting for business. Well, he gets 10 out of 10 for trying! Full marks for effort, more ordinary marks for persuasion.

No matter how it is dressed up, it is pyramid selling, it relies on additional layers of sellers beneath you for you to recoup your costs. The people at the top of the tree, and the odd good seller will make their fortune, and use the evidence to convince those further down to join. Inevitably it doesn't take that many layers before the numbers of people required to continue the pattern becomes mammoth. The last ones to hop on board have no chance of convincing others and the bubble bursts leaving them with products for which they have overpaid. The names may have changed but it is the same principles that have been used in previous schemes. That's what I was trying to say. I think "recoup your costs" could be replaced with "make real money" but otherwise you are spot on. It relies on you being emperor at the top of your own pyramid, raking in the commission from your 'subjects', while you yourself are in turn a vassal of someone higher up the tree than you, who is raking in even more. Like you said, a pyramid. A legal pyramid, but a pyramid all the same. You apparently get a $40 commission for each new member you can bring in. Which is presumably why Will was here touting for business.

lol ~ reminds me of the e mail I received "from the desk of Prince somebody or other of Nigeria", promising me $3 million for a £500 registration fee. He quoted a London address which, when I google earthed it, turned out to be a disused petrol station in Hendon Well from one 34 year old to another of similar age, I presume you will be taking advantage of this magnificent offer (for a small fee of course ) In the meatime, take a peek at their promo video on you tube ~ FÜ%k, quick, where do i sign up. This guy has converted me with his modified video and his bullshit spiel.............. here is is again spouting armageddon Yeah, worryingly, the same guy spouting that cobblers, is seen again telling us how to buy silver coinage with ISN. More reasons not to join it.

lol ~ reminds me of the e mail I received "from the desk of Prince somebody or other of Nigeria", promising me $3 million for a £500 registration fee. He quoted a London address which, when I google earthed it, turned out to be a disused petrol station in Hendon Well from one 34 year old to another of similar age, I presume you will be taking advantage of this magnificent offer (for a small fee of course ) In the meatime, take a peek at their promo video on you tube ~

Succinct and seconded by me. My bullshitometer is bleeping very loudly right now.

It really is very difficult to say, Mongo. This is trying to predict the market, and it doesn't matter how well informed you think you are, some unexpected factor or development will always take you by surprise. If I had to advise, I'd say rare gold in high grade. Very very true, Tom. When you look at your collection in its entirety, you realise the coins which have fallen into your lap as a relative gift, and the ones you know, sadly, you have been totally ripped off on, but didn't see it at the time, because you were being carried along on a wave of enthusiasm. With regard to upgrading, we all do that up to a point. But some coins in the collection become super attractive to you, and they are therefore "golden" in the sense that they become immune from changing to a higher grade.

I think Rendel Ingram's coins tend to be overpriced. Whereas Colin Cooke (Neil Paisley) is much more reasonable.

Some people just can't get their heads round the collector's psyche

Unable to comment on the 1975 5p, but get a bunch of 1992 10p's (very easy to find), and put them side by side. Then observe the different thicknesses.

Don't worry, I'm not a mason! What I'm saying is this. Unfettered opinion and genuine freedom of speech is being slowly but surely sidelined from mainstream communication and everyday life. This results in it being forced 'underground' and nowadays appearing on the nether reaches of the internet. The government is clearly not happy with this situation and has demonstrated every intention of wanting to police all such communication (witness the recent moves forcing ISPs to make data available). That's one step closer to allowing governments to open our mail, in my opinion. Whilst I most certainly don't agree with many opinions expressed, I will fight for the right to express them (to paraphrase Voltaire). You have in effect agreed with me. Why should we all have to 'sidestep' monitoring in everyday life. The UK is already the most surveilled country in the industrialised west, by the government's own admission. Ah, I see what you're saying. You're talking about the SOPA stuff (is that right acronym?). What you forget is this : if everyone who is worried about such stuff, whether or not they have anything to hide, set up several online identities, each one centred around a hotmail address containing fictional personal details, then anyone who was serious about monitoring us citizens would soon be chasing their tails. In actuality, if enough man hours were expended, such fake identities could be traced via injunctions served on ISPs (provided that the courts were presented with the evidence to furnish an injunction). However, this expenditure on man hours would entail more staff working on it than the entire Civil Service employs. For myself, I am endlessly grateful that the more limited effort that Government agencies expend, is to track down the activities of terrorists. Mike is quite correct. It only takes a little nous to sidestep a perceived lack of anonymity, and anyway the Government is neither interested nor has the resources to spy on the likes of us. As for people 35 or under, many hurl all their personal details into Facebook, so the lack of privacy there is self-inflicted and I have no sympathy with anyone who falls foul of scammers, government spies, or anyone else, if they don't have even the basic idea of personal discretion. I agree that may be true today, BUT the data is being collected and from more sources than most of us imagine (CCTV everywhere, Facebook, Twitter, border control, credit card use, mobile phone automatic tracking and use, Oyster cards for travel etc. etc. The list is almost endless and expanding daily). Whilst it would be impossible to provide enough manpower to collate and use most of this information it is inevitable that such work will eventually be undertaken by artificially intelligent computers. That really isn't science fiction! How long before a camera clocks you driving at 33mph on your way to the airport for a holiday and the passport check won't let you through customs until you pay the fine which appears on their screen? Or your Facebook account mentions support for the Freedom Party and you go on line to vote in the 2020 election but are automatically denied access for having unacceptable views? Every action generates a reaction ~ if the state starts using social media to the active and obvious detriment of its citizens, that is the time the vast majority will desert it in droves and revert back to the traditional means of communication, for all but the most banal crap. Actually facebook is mostly this already, as John alluded to.

Oh, that's awful. What a waste.

Agreed, Tom. I use my hotmail account for serious e mails, as I know I can always rely it to do exactly what it says on the tin. I can also pick them up on my phone. All the crap goes to my outlook express. I use this for online orders/general enquiries and I don't care who gets the address. There's no spam filter on it either. Not sure what BT do, but I would certainly be irritated by any spam filter that was beyond my personal control. My ISP is Virgin Media.