davidrj

A very rude French 10 centime piece David

mislabelled slabbed 1897 penny BIN at £587.13!!!

I always try to use the same orientation when scanning my pennies - the light from my scanner is projected at an angle from the head. Different illumination can lead you down blind alleys when variety spotting

Suspect it won't go for much as it's not in Freeman, Gouby's book probably has not had a high enough circulation for the variety to be well known 20th century penny varieties don't ever seem to get listed as such on Ebay (except 1902 LT and 1926 ME) , how often are die varieties of 1905, 1908, 1913, 1915, 1916, 1921, 1937 listed let alone 1940 or 1944? 1903 - open 3, and 1911 Gouby X are both relatively unknown, so you just need to look carefully at sellers' photos, I'm still keeping a watch on 1908, 1909, 1913, & 1922! anyone got a 1967 "tidal wave" ? David

I paid a fiver for mine! Probably the worst example known.

What do folk make of this 1908 penny? "Rainbow toning" so i can see it getting bids from across the pond. Looks like a cleaned coin retoning to me

French coins can get quite interesting Usually a Mint Mark - normally a letter, but a little cow for Pau. Further complicated by additional dots adjacent to the mint letters, indicating the so called "Provisional mints" in the Constitutional period (1791-3) Coins prior to 1793 often have a raised dot (eg under the D of Ludovicus) to indicted the second simester (ie the second minting period of the year) Then there are what the French refer to as "les differants" a symbol for the National Chief Engraver, plus another for the local mintmaster Even more fun when you get to the Directoire (lan'5 - l'an8; 1796-1801) 5 centimes and decimes have not only overdates but overstrikes of the mint letters and/or the differents! David

And a gold for Ainsley in the sailing! There was me thinking sailing was some nice leisurely pursuit. It's not - it's all out war!

Get your own back - congratulate any Americans you meet on the number of medals being won by California Or mistake them for Canadians!

Ding! Dong Ding! A snip at £1,800

If you asked for a Lucky Dip and they sold you an Unlucky one, maybe you could test Camelot's return policy

lots of fakes of these, I have one somewhere, I'll dig a picture out later David

After looking at it closely and comparing it with others, it appears like the "N" in SKILLING is weird, when compared to the others on eBay and the design on the reverse of the stars (or flowers?) on either side of the 1 looks interesting. So perhaps it is a rare die variety? I really don't know, I don't know the first thing about Danish coins and so I don't even know if they really have a thriving collector market for minor die varieties, but if so, then perhaps the N and the stars/flowers are the clue. Looks like you may be right = 1771 varieties CD must reexamine the several i have, David If you have any from the Norwegian Kongsberg mint they may be of some value! - The 1771 skilling exist in hundreds of variations and is a popular area for specialist collectors. Even our Chinese friends have made a copy The above coin is (likely) minted in Copenhagen round 1783 and is a common main type. However the rosettes are double and it may be a rare die pair - I know the collector who bought it and he sometimes pay quite high prices for such coins. I have an unfinished die study on my homepage which I'm working on from time to time: http://www.steppeulv...1_skilling.html - unfortunately in Danish. Thanks Seuk, that's interesting, just goes to show there is always something new to learn

After looking at it closely and comparing it with others, it appears like the "N" in SKILLING is weird, when compared to the others on eBay and the design on the reverse of the stars (or flowers?) on either side of the 1 looks interesting. So perhaps it is a rare die variety? I really don't know, I don't know the first thing about Danish coins and so I don't even know if they really have a thriving collector market for minor die varieties, but if so, then perhaps the N and the stars/flowers are the clue. Looks like you may be right = 1771 varieties CD must reexamine the several i have, David

Am I missing something here? Or has the world gone mad - extremely common coin in crap condition? David

and a 2012 5p today - clad steel - odd colour and a very strong obverse strike David

Sometimes folk can be helpful! I recently wanted to get rid of a sideboard from my late mother-in-law's house so i put it on Ebay at £4.99 start - buyer collect - it was very heavy and far to big for our house A very helpful lady messaged me to say it was a trendy bit of 1960's Danish designer furniture. I relisted it with the description she sent me at a starting price of £199, and it went for £286 there are good guys out there David

Got a 2012 2p in change today, don't normally see new stuff till Xmas shopping season - or is this a new quantitative easing initiative? David

One Pound in 1929 had the purchasing power of about £40.50 today So a shilling was worth about £2 - ie twice the value of a dud pound coin today - simples

And me!

WTF??? gobbledygook and postage only £98

Happy Birthday

No vacancies for "international playboy" at the Labour Exchange when I left school, shame, I'm sure I could have been quite good at it

Fair price for what it is IMHO, long tradition of coins like this in France monnaie argente et dore often fetch a premium David

logically there ought to be 1915 recessed ears without the chipped tooth, yet to find one though!