1949threepence

As in, yes, to answer your question, I'm physically capable of passing the salt. If you actually want me to do so, you have to say the magic word.

Oooh get you

Looks genuine to me. Can't see anything about it which would arouse suspicion. The gunge on the obverse is typical of the sort of detritus you see on coins of that age.

Thing is though, Paddy, it's often very well educated people who are using the word in that way - Doctors, solicitors etc.

I've noticed over the last 4 or 5 years, that more and more people are prefacing replies to questions with the word "So", whereas traditionally, it's always been "Well". This was really brought home to me recently when we had a talk at work from someone, and in the Q & A afterwards she used "So" to preface every reply to a question - but conversely, when I listened to an online recording of a similar briefing from the same individual in 2013, she prefaced every reply with "well" or some other word. So it's clearly a deliberate change. Anybody got any theories as to where this has suddenly sprung up from, and why? Also, what do you use? I tend to use "well" as it's what I was brought up with. I do use "so", but as a starter to a topic, rather than a reply to a question, as in "So anyway, I did my shopping this morning, and then had a nice dinner". Maybe many haven't even noticed this, but as someone who is interested in the nuances of language, it's definitely caught my ear, since it started more widely in about 2015. I might start using "well so" as a reply to questions, as a sop to linguistic diversity - see if anybody comments on it !

Sounds as though you got lucky. Have you still got it?

Can't beat a bit of fresh mackerel.

Sub fine. Between fair and fine IMO.

100% agreed. Great book for beginners, intermediate and advanced. Always a useful reference.

The 45 degree angle of the 4 in the date looks a bit odd. Not in a straight line.

Indeed so. Cole added a chart of "expected" and "actual" numbers of a brass threepence sample collected. Although I'm not sure any 1946 or 1949 should be expected as they weren't ever issued for circulation here in the UK. Expected 1 = Scotland Expected 2 = Midlands Expected 3 = Southern England It would appear from previous surveys taken into account by Cole, that there was far less evidence of hoarding in Scotland.

Possible, but unlikely.

The RM definition of "valuables" . As far as old rare coins going by next day tracked delivery are concerned, the emboldened bits cover it.

Quite possibly. I imagine the period post D Day and beyond must have been quite a flat and depressing time as far as the modern market was concerned. All the prior enthusiasm was largely based on collecting from change in circulation, and that option was abruptly removed. With that said, there is another very interesting article from the October 1972 edition, on the subject of coin "wastage rates". This is something touched upon by Jerry @jelida earlier, and his opinion is vindicated by the research in this article. It starts on page 83, and is headed "A further analysis of coin surveys", by T.J.Cole B.A., B.Phil. Essentially, Cole concludes that there is a 2% per annum wastage rate on coins which have mintages exceeding 9 million, but this rises steeply for mintages below 9 million. So for example, if a coin had a mintage of say 20 million in 1945, by 1970, one would have expected the number of that cohort still extant, to be 12,069,286. I'm not sure I quite get the logic of why wastage rates due to pure loss (carelessness) should be any higher for mintages of below the arbitrary figure of 9 million. Cole seems to have established stats to support this contention, but I can't see why rates of loss should be any greater in absolute percentage terms if the mintage is lower.

Tried the Coin Monthly mags from that period. Have read them all up to the end of 1976, and found nothing on reclamation rates, save for what Court referred to in his first article.

Thought you might be going for that 1865 coroneted head penny, Blake. Did you?

and me, three or four times a week - usually oily fish like salmon, which is reputed to be good for you.

Absolutely.

Thanks Richard. I've been saving hard for this auction ever since it was first advertised, and still had to open a savings account. Been doing things round the house "on the cheap" recently, to economise, for that very reason. My F25. I definitely wanted this one, as F25's aren't that common anyway. Not many are sold, and only very rarely in grades above VF:-

Richard's must be penny acquisition of the year, but I'll just class my DNW wins as ordinary acquisitions of the week. The first is the F46, 1863 die No 3 under date. I've wanted a die No under date for a very long time. Didn't quite have enough dough for the die No 4 in the Waterbird collection. So when I saw this one, I just knew I had to have it. Well worth the cost:- (sorry, made a bit of a cock up uploading the images to start with)

Well done Richard. By a very long stretch the best F76 out there. Your photo is better than DNW's. The lighthouse looks a bit peculiar on theirs. The toning is superb, especially to the obverse. PS: you can get a new bathroom anytime, but an opportunity like this will NEVER arise again. Fact.

Other survivors will be a few very specialist niche shops, and also shops which have acquired a very strong local reputation. For example a butchers round here called Frank Parker. His meat is of the highest quality, all sourced locally and he has also branched off into really nice sausages, bacon and pork pies. In this "vegan" age, not everybody's cup of tea, but he is very popular locally and always has customers in his shop. I believe he also owns the premises, which helps.

Interestingly, in this town, the Saturday Market still thrives. The market traders do an enormous amount of selling. But the shops, as in the type of stores mentioned by Sword, not so.

It's the rise of internet shopping. I too feel for all those retail staff made redundant. But you can understand the mindset of customers - after all, why go to the inconvenience of shopping in town, when you can order exactly what you want in a few clicks, without having to leave your warm and cosy house? Soon the only things left in town and City Centres will be bars, cafes, estate agents, supermarkets (people will always shop direct for fresh food), stores for big ticket items like furniture/white goods/new kitchens/bathrooms/cars etc. Most retailers will reach a point where they will no longer break even, given diminishing footfall and sky high accommodation rental. Quite what will happen to all that building space I don't know. Still, it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, so maybe they can become a haven for the homeless. Bed for the night and a hot meal, maybe.

Looking forward to that Ian.