1949threepence

The download has a load of gobbledygook on it.

No doubt someone will recognise and claim them fairly soon.

Nobody's going to pay that. Some of these sellers are truly deluded.

It's a pity the reverse isn't as well preserved as the obverse. Judging by the hair detail, that penny was lost to the ground after not many years in circulation.

Well they may do so already, but even if not, don't forget that Swann is no longer around, so when they do need new cabinets, they''ll undoubtedly come from Rob Davis.

But they do tout themselves as a company which doesn't tolerate fakes/a genuine common coin, masquerading as a genuine rare coin. So to that extent they are, by definition, holding themselves responsible for the sale of imitations. So clearly, because of their obvious lack of subject knowledge, they can only ever be reactive to the complaints of others. - ergo: they can get it badly wrong. Not the least because if only one person complains, they won't have a clue whether that person is just attempting to convince the seller to alter the description. I agree that buyers should be careful and you only have to look at my motto to appreciate that. But that doesn't detract from e bay being a huge unwieldy concern which possibly takes the side of buyers too quickly and has no invested knowledge with coins, or anything else. So in that sense, what I said was absolutely correct.

I would venture that it's extremely unlikely you'll ever get a definitive answer to that question. We know he died in 2007, and had continued working until Parkinson's Disease prevented him from doing so. Given that Parkinson's can follow a long drawn out course, it's probable that he didn't just suddenly stop, but gradually wound down. The above is an extract from a tribute article about Swann in The Times, 21.7.07. Incidentally, you've probably cottoned on anyway by now, in view of subsequent posts, but in answer to your question of 3.8.18, I'd say the cabinet you posted was made by Rob Davis who does now make cabinets by appointment to the Royal Mint. I've got one myself, and given the superb quality of his work, it's absolutely no surprise to me that he's landed such a plum contract.

Did anybody ever get a 1992 single market 50p in their change. I know there was only a few years window of opportunity, but was just wondering. Needless to say, I never did.

682,103 is correct. Royal Mint mintage figures ETA: In fact I remember in the pre 1997 days, it was a slight turn up for the books if you got a 1985 50p in your change. I think I only ever got two in 12 years.

Richard, the constant use of initials/abbreviations really gets on my pip. It's not just the RM, but everywhere. I wouldn't mind so much if they used them, but the top one was asterixed (sp) to the words explaining what the abbreviations stood for. Recently I got an e mail at work that was full of them - I just returned to the sender listing all of them and saying "sorry, don't have a scooby doo what you are on about". Probably a bit offhand in all fairness, but I'd just lost patience.

You weren't that far off, Chris.

Did a live chat thing with the Royal Mint, using your question - this is a copy and paste of the transcript:-

Like all huge organisations they are high on meaningless, generic crap, and totally absent on technical knowledge and commonsense.

A clearer bigger pic would mean certainty.

But just very occasionally a fully struck up 1915, with good hair detail, that isn't a recessed ear, will show up:-

Seriously - yes, that's a very good point.

Here's the obverse:-

I would assume it's the seller's way of drawing attention to what he sees as discrepancies on the coin's surface. Slightly overstated though.

It is still possible to find good stuff on there. You just have to hunt further and for longer, which can involve a time and patience issue. Also, as Blake alludes to, even using the advanced search facility, diamonds can slip through the net because of an odd description.

Beautiful - lucky him.

New purchases Pete?

Personally, for what it's worth, I think a realistic alternative to e bay would be a well policed auction/buy it now site, run along similar lines - but for coins only. Run by experts for beginners, more experienced enthusiasts and other experts. If staff knowledgeable about coins were running the site, it would discourage the fakers/piss takers, as they'd be caught out immediately. Listings could be for higher end coins, with the tat excluded, ie: anything below a certain standard will not be allowed*. Although exactly how the mechanics of that would work, I'm not sure. Like e bay, there isn't any reason why it couldn't be international. * unless a rarity

Item now withdrawn - result. ETA: apologies for repeating, Sword. Saw your post after this one.

Blatant fake being passed as the real thing

I did wonder about those thin rims. But was there ever any evidence of excess wear on reverse A as compared to reverse B?