Peckris

I just tried the link myself and got 'temporarily unavailable - please try again later' message - that may be because I just tested it outside this forum? (You only get a limited number of free downloads.) Hopefully you will fare better.

Here is the promised list of coin varieties as was published in the Coins & Medals Annual 1970, by David Sealy. It's in the form of a multi-page PDF like the recent CM pennies survey. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PA52TZCX I think it will live there for 30 days? Enjoy!

It's not dated 1973 by any chance? It looks like the worst fate that happened to that year's proofs (I had a set with the 5p and 10p just like that, and had to sell 'em off real cheap).

Come on Liz, blow yer hooter, I'll lend yer a tissue! Mind you, old Pistrucci lost his job for less than that

A nice coin but has been harshly buffed.It is a shame. No disrepect Az but I couldn't live with that. If it's certified genuine I could live with that amount of buffing, I've seen much worse.

I agree with Peter - the 1842 is lifted up to GVF by its reverse which is easily half a grade or more better than the obverse (which is only VF in my opinion). The 1844 is more difficult to grade from a picture. The hair above the ear looks quite seriously worn, but far more than it should, considering the rest of the overse is much better. But that hair detail is notoriously prone to die wear. The reverse looks superb, but you can see the edges of oak leaves wearing, which would make it EF maximum, or NEF if you're a purist. All in all, the 1844 COULD be EF (though a weakish EF) but seeing it in hand would be a better indicator

You sound like the sort of chap that, instead of going to PC World and buying a computer, goes to Radio Shack and buys a whole load of electronic bits which he strews around the room and proceeeds to 'breadboard' together with various odd lengths of wire and lots of crocodile clips. But I'm sure that's completely wrong! No, I'm the sort of chap that very belatedly upgraded to OS X Leopard and found that all my essential software continued to run quite happily, EXCEPT for Photoshop through which I had my scanner software linked. So I tried to buy Photoshop Elements and discovered that Adobe no longer sell Elements 6 which is the last version that runs on my ageing machine. Which all goes to show that Adobe have all the commercial instincts of a dead hedgehog.

If you do find the time, it would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately all of my old magazines and several books have been thrown out over the years following the usual succession of house moves. It's less finding the time, than it is logging out of the computer and logging in to an older version of the operating system on an external hard drive, which is the only way I can run Photoshop, which is the only way I can operate my scanner! But I will, I will :-)

This is why in my books on bronze and silver varieties, I gave tribute to a small group of people who carried out these reseaches in the early 1970s, describing them as 'heroic.' I can't imagine sifting through such huge numbers of coins in the way these guys did. An even greater feat was the counting of edge nicks on the milled silver in order to show that the Mint were using these as a kind of mint mark. The results were published in the Numismatic Journal in 1968 (I think) and described a wide range of what I would call micro-varieties of 20th century silver. They covered pretty much all dates through the century and all denominations and the results had to have been obtained using an eye glass on each coin!!! Quite likely the sheer scale of the task and complexity of the measurements needed is the reason why there are few known varieties of the later decimal coinage. It's just too big a job to undertake. Or maybe modern methods mean there are few types to find. I've never seen any study of bronze coinage much beyond the early 1980s i.e. when those involved in the CM studies stopped reporting their findings, or died of sheer exhaustion. The Coins and Medals 1970 Annual has a very good 12-page section on varieties, entitled "British Coin Varieties 1816 - 1968 (Bronze 1895 - 1967)" by David Sealy. He also includes known additions to Peck from 1816 - 1895. Interestingly, he includes the Gouby X 1911 penny (rated Rare), but not - clearly unknown in 1970 - the 1915 Obverse 1 farthing, nor the 1921 pre-1920 shilling obverse. Sometime I must scan it and upload it here, though like that penny survey, there's quite a lot of it!

It does look rather more colourful than it should, a bit like an oil puddle on a wet day. I presume this is down to the scanner as these things often are with some MS coins. And that's all BEFORE you factorise in die wear (which no-one in the UK does formally) so that even two BU coins might be different to each other - one being an early strike, say, the other being from a die beginning to show signs of definite wear.

This is silly. It is probably cheaper to buy up all the grotty 1887 sixpences than it is to make the casts and manufacture replicas. Bizarre. You wouldn't even need to buy up the grotty ones - it (and the shilling) must be the commonest silver coins before 1936!

Absolutely no idea how that works. But if it's a decent image editor it will have those functions somewhere.

From a visual inspection, the first example looks to be the 'keeper'. But it would have been better if you'd reduced the image size and put both side by side in the same image - it's quite hard to make a comparison when you keep having to go "NEXT" "PREV" "NEXT" "PREV" etc! I take good pix Peck, joining images i have'nt mastered yet unfortunately I'm not sure what image editor you use, but the Photoshop method is fairly universal I believe? Assuming your images are the same size, load the first one. 1. In whichever menu are Image Size & Canvas Size click Canvas Size.., increase the width x2 and click that you want it on the left hand side. 2. Load your second image, Select All and Copy 3. In the first image do Paste - you will now have both images, the second in a new layer 4. Position the second layer so it is to the right of the first 5. Flatten Image (Layers menu) 6. Save it as a new file Voilà !

Hear hear.

None at all. And that must be their target market, along with the authentication benefits For the seasoned collector/numismatist then it becomes a matter of choice/storage, and this the market that will be the hardest to break, but it seems to have captured a large portion of the market in the USA, so is it inevitable that it will slowly happen over here? I am not necessarily an advocate just condiering the facts All I can say is, I hope not

From a visual inspection, the first example looks to be the 'keeper'. But it would have been better if you'd reduced the image size and put both side by side in the same image - it's quite hard to make a comparison when you keep having to go "NEXT" "PREV" "NEXT" "PREV" etc!

The flaw here, is that newbie collectors with a fat wallet, will buy slabbed coins by that reasoning, but then will learn nothing about what it means to examine a coin 'in hand' and learn about grading for themselves. Stephen Lockett, who is behind the UK slabbing service, is a long-time dealer and reliable grader to my knowledge.

Thanks! Even at a stone-age download speed of 29 KB/sec (remember dial-up, folks?) it was there in no time. Good effort, will make fascinating reading.

Unfortunately Rob, i could only admire those 2. Quite a way out of my price range (for now at least) Ditto. With good funds I would buy up many of those delightful patterns and proofs (especially from the Soho Mint) that Peck lists. I think they are the most beautiful things, but sadly their rarity makes them very pricey. Nor me. But a beautifully toned, crisply struck 1919 2/6 (say) would still attract me, if it was distinctive enough.

LOL "I'm on to you scammer ... which is why my photograph is out of focus and shows a possible replica coin"

I mean honestly, what a load of twonk. Poetic licence with Wills (Rocker!)hair and kate looks a bit squinty eyed and puggish How do you turn a fox into a pig? Marry it or put it on a coin Unless it's Sam Fox, of course

750 quid,now to be honest, if i hadn't spent a bit on that 1905 Halfcrown (which will be here next week) then i might have been tempted, but considering i'm skint i'll just have to admire it for a while More to the point, WHERE is it going? Please don't say Germany... If i had the cash Peck then yes it would be coming to the fatherland, as it is, it's actually in the UK Hm. If you've decided against it, I don't suppose I could prevail on you for a DM with details?

A green PATINA isn't (or rather shouldn't, though a large proportion of ignoramus eBay buyers might need to be convinced) a problem, as it isn't verdigris. I'd say don't stick it in your 3 for £1 box, put some pictures up, who knows you might get an offer from one of us!

750 quid,now to be honest, if i hadn't spent a bit on that 1905 Halfcrown (which will be here next week) then i might have been tempted, but considering i'm skint i'll just have to admire it for a while More to the point, WHERE is it going? Please don't say Germany...

Frankly if you've got a DC with a good lens that can take macro pictures of coins, the MP is utterly irrelevant anyway (in fact, the higher it goes, the worse the image quality is a reasonable rule of thumb). That's not to decry your Sony, which will have a good sensor size, a far more reliable indicator of quality than MP. But I'm prepared to bet your compact takes good close-ups?