Peckris

My grandfather consulted insurance actuaries before deciding whether to retire at 60 (he was a teacher). They told him "Retire at 60, you can expect a further 18 years. Retire at 65, it will be three." So he retired at 60, and died aged 78. Spookily accurate... (Mind you, that was decades ago - 70 is the new 60, and all that.)

No, silly - that was Torvill and Pearl I'm certain we've totally confused all our friends from over the pond by now! You mean.. Pearl & Dean isn't one of theirs? I believe it's entirely English and unknown across the water. Wow. You learn something new... (It always seemed so American somehow).

No, silly - that was Torvill and Pearl I'm certain we've totally confused all our friends from over the pond by now! You mean.. Pearl & Dean isn't one of theirs?

You sure someone hasn't chromed an ordinary 2p?

No, silly - that was Torvill and Pearl

I'm still kicking myself for not going after that set in the 18th Sept DWN auction. I'd spent 2k on a crown the day before which ended up going back and I had expected the set to go through the roof. Was I suprised when it went for £4200 hammer A 1953 Reverse A penny has been sold?

I had to Google "Torvill & Dean"... Outside America, ice skaters don't end up in prison, so I don't blame you for never hearing about Torvill & Dean. Well, and I was 5 at the time they were "famous". No, they weren't "famous". They were famous.

I had to Google "Torvill & Dean"... Outside America, ice skaters don't end up in prison, so I don't blame you for never hearing about Torvill & Dean.

By all accounts, the 1864 in BU is the hardest bun - more so than the 1869 even.

That's a misspelling surely?

Yeah, but don't forget : the youngster of today is huddled over a computer, smartphone, or tablet. So let's thank goodness for eBay once in a while, as it's the main (only) outlet for coins those kids will see.

That really DOES sound like Tony Blair! Does make you wonder what might have happened if he hadn't finally honoured his arrangement with Brown and handed over the reins when he did. Possibly the 2010 election would have been closer and a different Coalition, or the same one we got but tempered by Labour breathing down their tiny majority.

Virtually all the halfpennies don't (and the majority of late 18thC tokens were halfpennies), but they were of a fairly uniform size and weight. I.e., same as the regal issue of 1771-75.

Flash was rightly panned by Jobs (you only need to look at the version number of each upgrade - e.g. 10.1.4892 - to see how much Adobe tinkers with it, trying to plug the holes in it like a little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke). I was invited by Adobe to download their latest 'upgrade' a few weeks ago. My computer slowed right down. According to Activity Monitor, Flash was using all my CPU and 25% of my RAM, so I went into Time Machine and restored the previous version. Long story short, your iPad is better off without it, and if there is a lo-cost patch to get around it, so much the better.

He never actually said it, the quote comes from his novel 'Sybil (Or The Two Nations)'. At the time he was writing pot-boilers to pay off his mountain of debt. I suppose that where credit isdue, is that in his second administration, even if he didn't have much of a social conscience, he did allow others to exercise theirs. To see his genius, look to foreign affairs. It's funny - we think personality and "celebrity" are more important than substance and integrity these days, but it must have been true even back then. Disraeli has the reputation for being the dazzling statesman with a social conscience, while Gladstone is the dreary old fart who went around saving fallen women (excluding Victoria who apparently couldn't abide him: "He addresses us as if we were a public meeting." [sniff]).

Hmmm......I'd take one in either type of case. Not for sale!!

Yup - YO instead of YOU. That's pretty hip-hop

Unfortunately he would. I suppose I'm a bit of an expert on Disraeli as I give talks on him at Hughenden (or I would do if I hadn't lost my notes...). He was much more of a Tony Blair than a Clement Attlee or even a Margaret Thatcher. Most of the social legislation passed between 1874 and 1880 was the idea of various other members of his government. Attaining power was his forte, not what to do with it once he'd got it and his expansion of the electorate in 1868 much more about his desire to cut the ground from under the Liberals than any egalitarian principles he may have held. That Thatcher was a great admirer says more about her inability to understand people than any noble convictions he may have held.He was capable of making the right choice, like when he was able to use his undoubted talent for persuasion to avert wars (e.g. the Congress of Berlin) but if we endow him with too much of a social conscience, we are sadly mistaken. N.B. How do I post on here without repeating anything anybody has ever said on the subject? My attempts to prune it down to Pecks last comment has just left a load of empty boxes. Computers? Tsk. So his 'One Nation' shtick was either deluded or cynical?

The quality of the milling and beading (border teeth) are good enough to be of a proof. It's not definitive of course, but my verdict would be more in favour of it's being a proof than not.

You clearly have good memories of your dad. That means more than anything else. The coins are just an average accumulation - they may have meant something more to your dad, so keep the memories.

XF40 is approximately our VF, right?

That gets a grade of 67 (/70) ??? How ?????? Whoever affixed that label that says "CAC" is telling no lie...

It's the hardest bun penny in UNC, or so it's reckoned in some quarters. Wow, that beats my VF 1903 halfcrown for £26 from an American dealer!

Yes, that's the normal colour of a coin that's been buried a long time. Ignore the hype of eBay sellers - they will claim all kinds of weird and wonderful things as "rare", "unique", etc. The recut of dates was usually done on the final figure of the date, as the date punches for the dies were either 18-- (last two digits blank), or created for a decade, like 186-. When it came to the final digit on the dies, yes they would punch them in individually, which is why you see such a variety of spacings and angles of final digit. This is especially true for 1861 and 1862, which was a combination of 1) the early days of bronze coinage production and 2) very high mintages (which was also the case in 1863, then it tailed off dramatically). Bottom line - a recut 1 over 1 on a particular die for this particular date is not terribly exciting though it is interesting if you collect such things. A worn one for £26 obviously attracted one such collector, so if you put yours on eBay you might attract another, who knows? There's a lot of odd spacings on the 1864 as well, especially the crosslet. Many of the wider spaced 4's are barely visible. Wouldn't surprise me - except you don't usually see enough 1864s side by side to make that comparison.