Peckris

£1 and £2 coins demand the coinage continues for a good while yet, even if other denominations fall away.

Don't see it - eventually maybe, but coins will disappear long before notes.

Could you believe the recent outcry over the mere suggestion that the bronze coins are now a waste of space? Just for the record, the 1p is worth less than the 1/2p when it was demonetised, and a LOT less than the farthing in 1960 when it went. I will mourn the name 'penny' but not the coins themselves.

More disturbing still is said Katie Price allowing these pictures of her 9-year-old daughter to be published:

Someone's 80th birthday!! 100 guests?

You'd be surprised. Dealers don't want lots with a few good pieces in and a pile of dross that will sit on their shelves forever. They might put in very low bids, but a keen collector could outbid, unless they too didn't know what to do with the dross. I got a few such lots when I was a list dealer - I'd cherry pick the good stuff for myself, recording a buying price of say 2/3 book; then I'd put a lot of the rest on my list, selling at under book but still making a notional 100% profit; after that, the dross worked out all but free and I didn't really care what happened to it. (This was late 90s, well before eBay).

That would have been unprecedented. Remember that the 1950, 1951, and 1953 proof sets were all CuNi. Yes, it would have been nice, but the RM couldn't anticipate the kind of nostalgia that's around now, nearly 50 years later. As Rob pointed out, that's a circulated example and has lost its proof coating and become just an ordinary 'impaired' proof. No, there are not different kinds of proof out there, it's just that they introduced frosting in the early 80s, and before then it's a bit hit and miss. Your Aussie set doesn't look any more frosted than your 1970 set, except for the bronze. You can see frosting on the relief of all those 1970 CuNi except the sixpence.

No, that was the second or third attempt, after awful yellowing even on virtually Unc specimens. Certainly by 1925 they were doing what you said, which is why worn 1925 halfcrowns have those ugly brown patches.

Copper forgery. Presumably contemporary.

Ribs, rump, loin, back, and neck?

They were spectacularly incompetent when changing to a 50% alloy in 1920.

What does the remaining 7.5% of sterling silver actually consist of?

I don't think the right hand picture is of a sandblasted die. Unlike the one on the left, the finish is very uneven, like an ordinary example that's simply not been cared for properly. You can see bits of the original lustre which couldn't possibly be present on a sandblasted example - you can compare with the even matt finish on the left.

Probably the first and last time I will see anyone get excited about a 1937 penny.

If it's pre-1920 it could be either. Post-mint damage to the 50% alloy coins will show some discolouration whereas that looks pure silver.

I should add one - just one! - track that's absolutely guaranteed to get anyone on the dancefloor: Earth Wind & Fire and the Emotions - Boogie Wonderland.

What date is it?

That IS very nice indeed. Especially as 1920s and 1921s are often pretty ropey.

How long before some of those appear on eBay as "genuine" listings!

That must have come too late for inclusion in his survey of varieties in the 1970 annual - I've posted a link to my scan of that on Page 2 here.

This is just a random selection of 8 favourite tracks (such a choice is in reality impossible): - Neneh Cherry & Yousuf N'Dour - 7 Seconds - Laurie Johnson - Theme to 'The Avengers' - Love - Alone Again Or - The Beach Boys - Surf's Up - The Who - Baba O'Riley - David Bowie - Life On Mars? - Ralph Vaughn-Williams - Fantasia on a theme by Tallis - Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Put A Spell On You (no Beatles as I simply found it impossible to isolate just one song)

Don't bother with the soap and water treatment - it doesn't work with bronze (water off a duck's back and all that). The olive oil MAY do something - either a little or moderately - so worth trying.

Interestingly, Wikipedia has the word 'the' in lower case, implying either that it wasn't used as part of the name, or that there is some doubt about it.