azda

There was some wear to the convex shield, which brought the reverse at least, down to EF. Still a very nice coin, nonetheless, with considerable lustre. I'm not surprised it fetched £2560k. Take a look at this one for sale at the online coin website for £3950. Still some slight wear on the shield, much more expensive, and in my view, not as nice as the e bay offering. Here's the image for ease of reference ~ hopefully not too small It brought roughly £1000 more than it was worth because of dishonest selling. The coin was EF or nearly so and called A UNC by the seller. The last high grade example I sold was also bought from London Coins. It was graded by them as A UNC and downgraded by me to GEF with all of the flaws mentioned (so I lost money rather than making a £1000 profit by lying). I'm not surprised it brought £2560 either, I'm f***ing gobsmacked!!!! You are not the only one John, i wonder how long it is before someone actually realises and wakens up to his WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY OVERGRADING just to make some money. Strangely enough, i was watching the 1869 on my iphone whilst pretending to work really hard, and i could see the initals of the winning bidder at the time, unlike when you use the pc and go into ebay from there. Anyone else have an iphone and the watched auction to check if there's does the same, there's an ebay app for the iphone (free) so you might need to download it and then check from there

and REV

Ok, so the thread was hijacked by the economy, so back to coins and the original question about the Sov. Its now in hand, quite nice to apart from a dig on Viccies cheek and a few scratches behing her head, so anyone for a grade please.

But if we are right and it's been tooled, it is now a severely damaged coin with a much lower retail value David You could be right David, but look at how much "tooled" 1933 pennies fetch on the 'Bay! Retooled 1933 pennies are sold as just that, a retooled 1933 penny. A 1882 will have had the H removed to deceive. But the difference with the 1933 retooled and the 1882 is, that everyman and his dog will now know that there's only 7 of these in existance, but with an 1882 no one would think one of these would be tooled, so easier to decieve with the 1882 me thinks

I can't see anything at all

Wankers with leveraged positions trading money that doesn't exist in some kind of 'game' that no-one fully understands. That's about the size of it. Doesn't it piss you off intensely that a few bloated, up themselves, individuals have so much unmitigated power I just found a brilliant summation of the argument against the cuts! Here is the link (it says it all much more logically, fluently and coherently than I could ever hope to) : http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/campaigns/campaign-resources/there-is-an-alternative-the-case-against-cuts-in-public-spending.cfm Good summation, although I do take on board some of Rob's arguments as well. There are certain moves which might lead a cynical person to believe that the government is not being entirely truthful with us. For example, the news last night that a "universal pension" of up to £140 per week, irrespective of National Insurance contributions, being dangled as a carrot. Apparently this won't get going until after the next election, which, assuming the coalition doesn't fall apart before then, will be 2015. Note the operative phrase: after the next election. What a transparently blatant attempt to scoop the grey, female and baby boomer vote in one fell swoop. Or am I the only one to think this cynically ? Yes it came from Vince cable, but he's only acting as Cameron and Osborne's puppet. The money's there when they want it to be, Peck. Either that or they're lying. On the other hand of the arguement, there was a nobel prize winning economist that said the Governments cuts were to severe and actually took the country backwards and portrayed the debt as more than it actually was, i assume he was a neutral, which would in turn make his point quite valid? Basically what i think this Government is doing, is making to severe cuts, then just before an election, giving a little back in order to sweeten the elector in the next general election. WATCH THIS SPACE

But if we are right and it's been tooled, it is now a severely damaged coin with a much lower retail value David You could be right David, but look at how much "tooled" 1933 pennies fetch on the 'Bay! Thats because the 1933 is the holy grail Peckris

Only by you 400 lol

Being perfectly honest Chris, given his spelling and the fact he actually come down from an offer of 600 to 550 i wouldn't have even replied. Its a sad fact these days that people don't actually do some research first on coins then ask their questions, i have been guilty of this in my puberty days of collecting, but reading posts here and buying books has helped me greatly, so i'd like to fank all who have helped me with furthering my knowledge and not mocking me in the process

Overgraded as usual, he's probably bidding on it himself. He also has a 1919KN, am sure he's had this same one listed before

Someone must have thought it to be an 1882, it sold for 230 quid

Some very good points above, Dave. I wonder if the ability to afford high end coins comes from a combination of those who still have money and secure jobs/retired with a good income, and the speculative sound investment angle. Incidentally, there's a series of high quality buns on e bay being offered by someone, and the location is Germany. It's not you is it ? No its not me, but i was watching his last bunheads about 3 weeks ago, he sold some excellent stuff and i think he had an 1871 that went for 719 pounds, it also had a missing colon. Watching all those right now. Our cleaner friend that sold the 1903 last week has a high grade 1869 for sale at the mo, last time i looked it was at 770 pounds. This was the German guys 1860, look at the colon after FD http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230526540181&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp4712.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D230526540181%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

Wow, we should start an economics forum lol, although it amazes me that people can still afford high end coins now that the world economy went pear shaped. Anyone know when the Spink 2011 book is due out? Also is Chris writing a 2011 CCGB book? Just as a side note, i do love my country, that being SCOTLAND :-) but am seriously happy that i'm not living there right now, it may take 10-15 years to repair the UK as a whole, and as 1949 said, it's the little people that are getting the brunt of the crap, when will the bankers and MPs take a wage cut etc, when will they have their salaries frozen for 2-3 years? One word for the lot of them......Ars....es!!!

It's a farthing (P922), not a halfpenny. The weight is 8.85g which is marginally above the average recorded by Peck. This frequently causes confusion as the halfpenny weighs a whopping 17g or so. The coin is actually the one from the Oxford collection (217) which made £1000 when sold by Colin Cooke. The image on their site shows a much more honest image as there are quite a few marks which you can't see in the Swiss catalogue, so not so desirable and not for me. The estimate is too high given the problems. Good to know, i wasn't thinking of going for it,its a tad over my 50 quid budget

Its in a dealers auction Rob, i think the start price was 3000 swiss francs Catalogue is here http://issuu.com/core_tech_gmbh/docs/2174?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed and its lot 447 I blew the picture up a little 400, i already bought the George and Dragon 1871, paid 250 euros for it

On another note, i did spot this, never seen this before, not even mentioned in Spink 1788 Halfpenny, think it might be a proof or something

250 euros wasn't such a bad dream. What does your McDonald book quote the 1871S Shield Back at in AUNC?

Thanks 400, i've actually seen quite a few in hi grades, including an 1878M in Good EF (George & Dragon Rev) and an 1871 Sydney Shield back in AUNC. I assume the prices you've quoted there are from the 2002 McDonald book you're talking about. Is that just for Aussie coins? I've no idea what grade the Sov i bought is yet, the picture wasn't that great and i'm still waiting on it in hand, but here's the 1871 Sydney Shield back

I'm still waiting to see why the Sov itself has tripled in Value since last year, not entirely with the theory of the gold prices because that would mean ALL Sovs would have risen in such degree, but they have'nt all tripled in value, so still awaiting a relatively good answer about this one.

Quite agree. Ever since the introduction of credit cards in the 1970s, people have been deferring payment as there is no requirement to pay up front for the luxuries you covet but are unwilling to work or wait for. It's no coincidence that Germany doesn't have a credit problem and the populace are reluctant to embrace credit cards. As you say, if you can't pay cash, don't buy it - and they don't. As a rule they don't fritter away their hard earned savings on depreciating liabilities like the latest fashionable item that has to be bought because it is available, yet discarded tomorrow because it's old hat. They tend to buy quality and insist on it lasting for years or even decades. I'm glad my wife is German - or maybe I was born in the wrong country. Just to add to Robs Germany and Credit Card reply. Here in Munich at least, hardly any stores take CCs, even the big electrical stores etc don't, it has to be an EC card or nothing.

Decimal currency does nothing for me what so ever, hence the fact most of us tend to collect OLD coins lol. Does anyone here actually collect decimal? Apart from the 2 pound boys

400 pounds was spinks 2009 book price vicky in ef, 2010 for the same is 1100. I think in Europe u can buh a certain amount of Gold tax free

Hmmm not sure about that Bob, the gold hikes came this year, the Spink book was printed in 2009 for the 2010 edition, plus it weighs at around 7.9ish gram, so wouldn't merit near triple value from 2009 book, is it long or short tail? Gold prices jumped 100% from 2006 to 2008 ($450 to $900), and went up another 50% from 2008 to 2010 ($900 to $1350). That price rise wasn't all that was responsible, but it was a big part! See attached chart. Wouldn't that then make other Sovs and halfs sovs rise then also Bob, there would be huge increases in other sovs if this were the case. It will be interesting to see what the Spink 2011 gold sections are like this time around

Hmmm not sure about that Bob, the gold hikes came this year, the Spink book was printed in 2009 for the 2010 edition, plus it weighs at around 7.9ish gram, so wouldn't merit near triple value from 2009 book, is it long or short tail?

Bought an 1871 Sydney Sov and was looking through Spinks Prices on these. Last years price for EF 400 pounds, this years 1100, why such the huge increase. I know everyone says take spinks with a pinch of salt, but thats a massive increase in price, almost triple. Any reason as to why? Spink Number 3858A: Is this long or short tail?