Peckris

I came a cropper on the African shilling.

Which reminds me of a cartoon I saw when that ad was running... Scene, a lonely road high in the forested Alps. Two cars have obviously just collided and lie - total flattened write-offs - on either side of the road. All you see is speech bubbles coming from each car : "Papa?" "Nicole?"

I mentioned CC, that i sent a coin back to him as i did'nt agree with the grade, he freely accepted the return and got my money back as did Chris Perkins i think mentioned the same. Personally, I expect dealers' grades to be accurate. After all, they will often have more grading experience than the majority of collectors. We are also often told that a dealer will only pay 50% of what a coin might be worth - therefore that is the dealer's profit margin. So when I see a dealer inflating the grade, I see that as an attempt to take an extra profit at the expense of the buyer. I too have complained about CC grading, but at least they are consistent and do accept returns. I think that's the important point here. The only sufferers - as from many dealers, auctions, and eBay - will be the inexperienced who don't realise that what they bought is over-graded.

Amend : BADLY dipped coins...

Six out of Seven. Wish it had been Seven of Nine though..

That's weird. I genuinely thought she was Jeremy Clarkson's daughter. Didn't she also try her hand as a pop singer??? What was her name again? If she were, that would be enough to put me off her immediately. I was sure I heard Clarkson's daughter had released a record! And each time I heard Kelly's name mentioned, that's who I thought they meant ! As I don't watch American Idol or any such show, and as TOTP is now deceased, I guess you could say I'm now an official dinosaur. Except not so much that I don't know that James Blunt is for grannies only, Dido is boring as hell, and I know from my own nightmares that Sealion Dion is someone to run shrieking from. I'd be equally rude about La Houston except she's no longer with us, poor shrieker. I don't like Green Day, I do like McFly, I think Keane and Coldplay and suchlike all sound the same... so I that's my street cred out the window. Except I also hate U2 so I just won it back again Sorry Peck but I haven't even heard of half of them, but I do like U2 and I mostly listen to Handel, Bach, Strauss, Mozart, Beethoven et al now. Street cred, shmeet cred, who cares Ah, we could compare notes on classical music too, but if you're going to run the 'orrible 19th Century past me, that's a non-starter too! I love Renaissance music like Byrd, Tallis, Palestrina, and Baroque up to Bach. Mozart I rate as a genius ahead of his time. But then I have to leap forward to Sibelius, Delius and Gershwin before my interest reawakens. Then along came Harrison Birtwistle and killed it forever Well, he did, until Tavener, Pärt and their like came to the rescue.

I'm still seeing it (for a few days now). Not just on forum icons, but also certain avatars, e.g. Paulus who has disappeared into a question mark. Most other people show up fine.

Even the sharpest get stung there occasionally. The most successful strikes on e bay fall into two camps, in my experience:- a) Nice coins with a high initial bid price, which nevertheless is still nowhere near their true value. Would be bidders are strangely put off by the high start price, and often by-pass it completely, leaving someone else to make the only punt at the original price, thus bagging a real bargain. b ) Really high end coins which would be better off in a proper auction. They will sell, for sure, but usually end up at between 55% to 75% of what they could potentially realise elsewhere. It's a real mistake for high quality expensive coins to be put on e bay. Gambling strikes which may or may not pay off, are on those with poor photography, where the coin cannot properly be seen. This often puts buyers off, leaving the speculator room for a potential killing, or to get their fingers burned. I'd agree with this analysis apart from the one factor you missed out - certain key dates that somehow seem to do far better on eBay than elsewhere, I'm thinking of things like 1903 and 1905 halfcrowns.

Surely "A shall say zees only wuuurnce"?

UNC - Undeclared Newly Cleaned aUNC - auction UNC (polished) EF - Extremely F***ed VF - Very F***ed F - merely F***ed AF - Awfully F***ed Fair - you send me money, I send you this piece of crap, fair enough? VG - Very Greedy (me, that is, not the coin) FDC - Flat Disc Counter Very Rare - an honest seller, don't look at me Proof - you read the description but you still paid up, therefore you're an idiot

a good vf apparently It looks like the 'broken 1 for I' variety. Still overpriced IMO!

i just hope that tyro isnt a kid spending his saved up pocket money. Me too. Let's hope that - like Patrick - he finds us first.

Yes, that's a shocker. As for his pathetic excuse - oh yes, so he bought them all at the same time from the same source? Yeah, right. I used to write to these people too Ski, but gave up when I realised I was wasting my 'virtual breath'. They know damn well what they're doing and also know they aren't going to sell to the likes of us who know something about the subject. They just want some unsuspecting tyro with more money than sense or experience.

Back to the original post - I feel the first link is arguably the best on offer; there's no hint of polishing or cleaning which is evident on the second, and as has been pointed out, the third has a massive scratch over the neck. However, I'm sure there are better out there if you're prepared to wait for the right coin. A good dealer is superior to eBay in that respect.

he took a real beating here a few days ago he took a real beating here a few days ago Oh, missed that. What was it all about ? That's a complete misrepresentation. There was a big criticism about some dealers' grading practices. Many of us also thought CC's grading left something to be desired (by no more than half a grade, to be fair), but that the service he provides has always been exemplary and his readiness to accept returns and give refunds cannot be faulted in any way. So to allege he "took a real beating" is halfway to a disgraceful remark.

Your interpretation looks correct to me - a recut using an inverted 1. But do bear in mind that recut numerals are very common in that series.

Thanks. The Cookie Pop up thing is just something I'm trialing to conform with the new EU laws!!! I think if you accept it then it wont keep showing on each page. A cookie pop-up on every page? I suddenly find I have something else to do than go THERE!

I'd say less than F - Britannia's body is worn almost flat. But I'd echo the welcome.

cant believe it......£28-55 somebody's gonna think theyve bought a gem...... Bad link there, ski

Not unless you believe that when you spin a coin 6 times and it comes down heads 5 times and tails once, that that is in any way remarkable. On the other hand, with a large sample, that would give a more reliable figure.

That's weird. I genuinely thought she was Jeremy Clarkson's daughter. Didn't she also try her hand as a pop singer??? What was her name again? If she were, that would be enough to put me off her immediately. I was sure I heard Clarkson's daughter had released a record! And each time I heard Kelly's name mentioned, that's who I thought they meant ! As I don't watch American Idol or any such show, and as TOTP is now deceased, I guess you could say I'm now an official dinosaur. Except not so much that I don't know that James Blunt is for grannies only, Dido is boring as hell, and I know from my own nightmares that Sealion Dion is someone to run shrieking from. I'd be equally rude about La Houston except she's no longer with us, poor shrieker. I don't like Green Day, I do like McFly, I think Keane and Coldplay and suchlike all sound the same... so I that's my street cred out the window. Except I also hate U2 so I just won it back again

I can't see this 'reputation star' thingy - where on earth is it??? I certainly don't see one next to Dave's name.

I think I'd place the Brillo as #1 villainy, with polishing a clear #2.

I would grade it as a firm Fine, though I wouldn't argue too much with GF. I can't comment on the price, but I would haggle a bit if you can.

I think they trace their "lineage" back to the Knights Templar, which was in the time of those awfully nice Crusader people.