Peckris

KM#877 18,52g of .900 silver mintage of 110,000 pieces The Virgin Mary as Brünnhilde, and the baby Jesus as Richard Branson - well, that's a novelty...

I've picked up some of the books either as a later collector (CCGB '79, '99, 2000) or at auction (CYC 'blue' 1968? and CYVC - Victorian - 'green'). Those early editions were minimalist to say the least! The values for most Liz II issues were a matter of shillings, down to "-" (face value only). Hardly any varieties were listed.

No, I agree with you Richard. All I was saying is that IF there have to be TPG companies (for whatever reason), there should be a 'no slab' version. But as you say, better still that people learn to grade properly.

I haven't changed mine yet, but anyway it would seem like a case of "stable doors" "horse" "bolted" as the BBC report suggested that the hackers now have your address. Changing your password? If what they said is true, then a change of address seems to be the only solution.

The growth of slabs does not sit well with mahogany cabinet owners, and I for one will not contemplate the demise of them at the expense of some pathetic plastic tomb. I hope your prediction never comes about, but if it does, we need a grading service that does NOT involve slabbing. By the way - that 1912 halfcrown has been cleaned, but you wouldn't think so from the slab description. They ARE the same people.

That's an absolute classic! Everything about it is just so wrong...

Mine was the 1968 "Part 2" - I've still got it, complete with all my biro marks against what I'd got

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1906-PENNY-/221429592379?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=p8177%252BUyGd4szQ2vUVs4PO3S%252B7k%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc The seller says (quote-copied & pasted, spelling mistakes 'n all), "I would point out that this coin came from an old collection from Collin cook, and were sold as B.U.coins by him. I have sold the hole collection with no complaints and thy all looked the same". Holes do tend to all look the same, I must admit...

Yes, very sad. 'Check Your Change' was a fixture in the newsagents when I was a late 60s schoolboy. And he had the nous to change the name once decimalisation was done. Having said that, my 1979 edition of CCGB is very much a CYC-type pocket booklet, though with ever-more useful bits of information added with every issue. Even by 2000, it was still very much a booklet, though by then it had evolved into the A5? landscape format. It was cheaper than Coins & Market Values, and IMO far better though it didn't go back to early milled. I never met the man, but he must have had a deep passion for the hobby. "Another one bites the dust".

Or S for shite short

Yeah, like any of us would have bid on that washer even if it hadn't been cleaned

You might want to except Maxentius - there was a horde of virtually 'as struck' specimens found not so long ago. I have one.

My pictures are usually scans - you don't want scans I think?

I have the 1928 proof set, unfortunately I really am pretty hopeless at taking photographs of coins.

That's a nice, respectable, in-between grade penny. Worth a few pounds in that condition, but they increase exponentially in value as you go up towards the Grail of mint condition. But certainly worth more than the 'washers' you see so often, e.g. on eBay.

test Ooh, I like this new bigger limit!

I'm still, of course, resisting the temptation to say "Told you so". (Oops...) My initial thoughts were...........Coin 5 is EF, digs on the OBV, Leaf veins worn, REV left hand thistle has wear along with part of the crown, could be GVF at this rate (sorry) you know how harsh they are So you know what to do with your "i told you so" as i was also correct, i was being evasive as they were going to CGS It's got a CGS grade of EF. I've no more to add.

An interesting read. For a moment I confused her with Plautilla, another Mrs Emperor who had a very interesting story. I share your passion for sestertii but sadly getting a good collection of them is beyond my pocket as they only survived for the early Empire being replaced by the much more common AE denominations, whereas the common or garden denarius and its later sister the antoninianus, lasted right through.

For decades they've been massively out of touch, and I just don't take them seriously. Their predecessor's - Coins and Medals Annual - 1970 issue listed a BU 1932 penny at £50 (a fortnight's average wage), and a BU 1797 2d at £35. Even by the standards of the time, that's - as you so eloquently put it - shite.

Change of what - tabard? religion? wife?

It's currently standing at £103. If it stayed at that it would be fantastic VFM but sadly, as Paulus says, it will go a lot higher.

Yes, a fantastic resource. Unfortunately, when I typed in "UK" "Coin" 1700 to 1800, there was a nice good number of items returned, but on Page 1 (I didn't go further) there were only two coins with images, and both were 1754 farthings, one of which I think was a superb silver alloy proof. I tried one of the items without an image and although it took me to the item details I just got the message about "No image, it may be restricted access or copyright issue". That's going to be a real bummer if you can't get to see images.

I like the BM plans to publish an online catalogue of all the 80,000 coins in their vaults. Edward VIII is a good monarch to start with, but I rather hope they follow it up not with Liz II but perhaps George V or Edward VII or Victoria. Still, I expect it will take some time to accomplish. I wonder if it will be free access or will we have to subscribe to see it?

Fascinating - and not bad coins either, despite their irregularity (or perhaps because of it?)

That's something of a tautology! The shallow head variety always appears to be lightly struck - that's the nature of the beast and why it was modified to begin with.