1949threepence

I've only ever bought one coin from Lucido-8 ("a Lucido coin"), which in common with nearly all his offerings was just not quite EF - as you indicate above. He's been selling on e bay for as long as I can remember, and he's presumably built up a bit of a reputation and fan base in that time. So I'm not sure about him shilling. To be fair I'd say it was more probable than not, that he isn't. One observation I would make is that coins which go on at a high starting price, often attract no interest whatsoever - even when they're worth quite a bit more. I've got several like that, including an a/UNC 1895 2mm penny for just over £200. Waited till the last second to make my bid, but in the event, needn't have bothered.

I hope you'll let us know.

OK, thanks Richard. Never quite sure with multiple bidders. One of those things I'd need to see in action a couple of times, with facts and figures, in order to get a proper handle on it.

Cheers Jon.

So from a purely technical standpoint, if you got the 13 lots at exactly your bid amount, that would surely indicate 13 others bidding an identical sum to you, but after you made your bid. Is that the rule? If so, yes, it does sound somewhat implausible. The odds against such a long series of co-incidences all occurring at the same time, for the same event, totally by random chance, must be astronomic. Maybe a conundrum for someone well versed in probability theory. I bid £800 for my F169, and got it for £750. Only half expected to win it Bid £600 for my 1831 UNC penny, and got it for £360. Fully expected to win it. What were the bid/win differentials with your other five lots?

Tortoises burrow. Although a tortoise of that size would leave a very obvious clue of having done so. Don't think they're at all suited to this climate, unless a hot dry Summer. Often they don't make it through hibernation.

Did anybody win any lots over the weekend? In particular who got the 1922 reverse of 1927, F192A? Sadly a bridge too far for me financially, on this occasion. Nonetheless, I'm pleased to say that I won lot 2009, the 1831 no ww penny in about UNC with subdued lustre for £360, and lot 2036, the Freeman 169 1909 penny for £750. The Freeman 169 is interesting in that the vast majority of specimens are virtually identical in grade, at just sub fine. Although there are a couple of better specimens, which may have been better value than mine. However, I am gratified to the extent that when the same coin originally sold at LCA in March 2013, it went for £1600. Maybe at a time when it was thought to be of a more extreme rarity than now.

Where's Larry when you need him?

Yep, well done Terry. Beauty.

Agreed. That's got to be disheartening.

Excellent point about inflation - which largely appears to be the boom type "demand" inflation. If inflation rises and interest rates stay rock bottom, then I can see a huge migration of money out of building society savings accounts, as there will be considerable real terms depreciation of money assets held there. In turn this might well mean more difficult mortgages as building societies are very dependent on savings to finance mortgages (it's a very poor return even now). That will burst the property bubble and quite cause possibly house prices to stagnate for a time. Money is flowing out of London for the reasons you mention. If staff can home work, they might as well have a larger rural/suburban property and improve their quality of life. Not to mention that the capital is now a very nasty violent place to be, let alone live in. Who wants to expose themselves to all that on a daily basis - living in semi permanent personal danger from some nutter with a knife or gun?

Just as a corollary to the above, house prices have risen by 10.2% in the last year - SOURCE - ONS

I certainly agree with you in terms of university courses, many of which do not now meet the needs of most employers, and merely saddle the student with long term debt. Moreover, most organisations now have their own entrance tests as they can no longer rely on traditional academic qualifications as a guarantee of basic competence. Houses are a slightly different matter. I was extremely fortunate to inherit a house and some capital in my early 20's. But without that I'm pretty sure that on the income I was receiving at the time, it would have taken me a number of years to scrape together a deposit for a house, and then, of course, be looking at a hefty 25 year mortgage. House prices have risen at a rate well in excess of normal inflation, probably due to many fewer being built annually, combined with a rising population. Way too many people chasing way too few houses. Same with renting, too many renters chasing too few available rental properties. Both markets are red hot. I do appreciate what you say with regard to making sacrifices and I'm pretty sure a lot do. They have to, as only a very small number will ever benefit from the bank of Mum & Dad. A mate of mine has been in the construction industry since he was 16 (he's now 42, the same age as me). He started off as a builder's labourer, and gradually built up his skills (got some practical qualifications, but not sure what). He can now pretty much turn his hand to anything, including bricklaying, plastering, electrical work, plumbing, and could probably build his own house. He's quite well off and lives in a very nice property with his wife and daughter. But he tells me that he is in the minority, and would be even more so if he was 16 now. They just can't get new recruits as young people just want to go to university. They are currently haemorrhaging skilled workers to retirement, and they retire much earlier in that trade as it's often physically demanding work which takes its toll on backs, knees etc. So respectfully, I don't think that generation rent is as simple an issue as you assert. Far from it.

I had my first covid jab a few weeks ago (the Oxford AZ), and was slightly apprehensive about side effects, given what I'd heard from others, but in the event, apart from a sore arm, I never experienced any. That contrasts massively with some colleagues who experienced very severe side effects - intense headache, nausea and sickness with one. Intense headache, chills and terrible muscle pains/cramps with another. Others, like me, experienced no side effects, or very mild. We've some to the conclusion that those who've actually had covid, experience bad side effects from the vaccine. The daughter of one of the colleagues above caught covid last Autumn, and she'd driven in the car with her daughter just before she went down with symptoms. She herself then lost her sense of smell and taste, but tested negative with the PCR, and returned to work, still not feeling right, but OK after a few more days. The other colleague definitely had covid, and tested positive. Was off work for several weeks. Similarly others who actually caught covid at some stage, also suffered worse side effects from the vaccine. Anybody here suffered side effects from the jab?

I think whatever you find enjoyable adds to your life - and I certainly do find numismatics a thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating hobby.

Hmmm......it's certainly a thought.

Even though I've already got a Peter Nichols Mascle cabinet from 2010, and a Rob Davis cabinet bought in 2019, I'm now in the position where I need another cabinet to house more coins as I'm running out of space in the last Rob Davis cabinet. So I'm going to buy another Rob Davis cabinet. I am extremely pleased with the one he built for me in 2019. The trays are an absolute perfect fit, whereas one or two of the Nichols trays are a tad stiff. Also he's way cheaper than Nichols, and the finished product is arguably superior. The one I'm going to buy is here. A four small trays dropdown. The mahogany version is £165. Whatever wood forms the cabinet casing, his trays are exclusively mahogany for coin protection. The one I bought in 2019 has a cherry casing. If I'd known in 2010 how much my collection would grow in 11 years, I'd have invested in one very large cabinet back then. Now I'll have three separate ones, each housing different parts of the collection.

What sort of grade was the F25, Richard?

Where 'ere ye be, let the wind run free.....

Was very pleased to see from the poll that most voters don't like slabbing.......

Interesting video. I don't wear gloves when handling coins, and I very much take on hoard the points made about dexterity and cotton fibres. As long as you hold the coin by its edge, you shouldn't really go too far wrong. Although with that said, it's easy to occasionally somehow mishandle the coin and for it to drop into the palm of your hand. Also, I only handle mine in a "protected" environment. So if I did drop one, it would only fall onto the sofa/carpet, and so not sustain an edge knock. I think it's also important to have sufficient room in the trays to be able to pick the coins out easily. Otherwise it might be an idea to use a pencil to ease them out to an angle where it's easier to get hold of them safely. Might be advisable with thinner coins anyway. The thick pre 1860 copper pennies are a doddle to pick up safely when there is sufficient room to do so. One thing I've noted with uncirculated coins is that it's easy to see which ones have just turned up somewhere and which ones have been in a collection. The edges of those that have been in a collection are invariably dark and have long since lost their lustre. For example my virtually BU 1902 LT penny has a dark lustreless edge. By contrast the 1897 high tide I bought at the beginning of this year, is also almost BU, and so it its edge. That indicates to me that it probably hasn't been in a collection, or at least not for long. With specific regard to microfibres, one thing I've noticed is the tiny bits of debris which can land on a coin's surface, and only show up under powerful magnification. They can easily be brushed away by wafting with a soft cloth.

That's a very fair question, and one which wasn't addressed by Gouby in his 1860 to 1869 book. I presume the numbered coins were at the very top of a visible batch (however they were stored/packed), as an indicative for inspection. Then a separate note was indeed made in a pocketbook by an Inspector. As to why they were kept, there is actually no definitive answer. Presumably as some form of quantity/weight marker. Though whether that was overall, or connected with certain dies, is a mystery.

I don't know much about French coinage. Were they demonetised in France at about the same time as the copper penny? Or do you mean they were circulating in the UK. Not quite with you.

I never once saw an EF or UNC 1970 50p in change for all the time up to their demonetisation.

The 1970 must be quite difficult to locate in top grade.