Accumulator

As all the regulars will know, I have my penny collection displayed on-line. This is mainly for my benefit as it allows me to browse and check coins (in much magnified form) at will, wherever I am. It particularly helps with viewing coins that are stored off-site. When I created the website, I followed the layout of Freeman with all currency issues and their corresponding proofs displayed together and all patterns and other oddities in separate 'trays' at the end. However, I recently acquired the catalogue for Spink's sale of the Colin Adams collection in 2003 (from Rob) and noted a different layout, which I quite like. Here, all the patterns, trials, mis-strikes and other oddities are included chronologically with the currency and proof coins. I presume that this was how Colin viewed his collection? The effect is to provide more of an in-context history of the penny, through all its developments. Before possibly moving things around, I wondered how others tackle this in their own collections? Do you entirely separate patterns or do you go for a more cohesive approach?

Nicholas, Jaggy... Beautiful coins!

To quote Churchill, KBO Peter! If you're correct Garrett, It's amazing that farthing collectors notice a coin listed as a penny! It would never occur to me I should scan the farthings, just in case!

This is listed as a penny, but is actually a farthing. Any idea why it's attracting so much interest? I know the 1845 halfpenny is rare, but the farthings aren't. A case of mistaken identity, or am I missing something?

I think you can safely assume, even based on the responses here, that such crazy views will never gain traction.

Don't kid yourself. A group of two will have diverging views. A political party will have as many views as members, some of which you will agree with, some you won't. Although all will pay lip service to the general policies of the party, more than a few individuals will have views you find disagreeable at the least. It doesn't matter whether your views are left or right because at the extremes of both sides they are much, much closer to each other than the moderates of either persuasion. The difficulty for any smaller party is that the big 3 all have very extensive and well established mechanisms to filter out 'off message' opinions and actions, it doesn't mean they aren't there. Occasionally they appear and cause a major headache - take the Labour councilors in Liverpool in the 80s, for example. UKIP, having appeared from nowhere and, needing to appoint hundreds of unknown candidates at all levels (prospective Councilors, MEPs & MPs), are going to struggle and the fruitcakes will undoubtedly present themselves. The party should be judged more by their reaction to the nutters than by the fact that they exist. This man should be dumped immediately.

Just don't buy from Heritage, as Rob said and what i also think, they are just a marketing machine Scaring the life out of Investors and their money, everything too them is slab number orientated. Lets not forget, they send most of the RAW coins they receive to NGC and its in NGCs interest to put a nice number on the slab. Then of course we have the slab number buyers. These people are all in for a nasty shock sooner or later I can't agree with you Dave. I've been very careful (their fantastic photos help) and bought half a dozen coins through Heritage in the last year. I've been really pleased with every one of them. On one ocassion I made a mistake and actually bought the wrong coin (and also the one I really wanted). Although it was entirely my fault, they held onto the coin and placed it in the next sale for me, commission-free and I ended up with a small profit! A big business with slick marketing yes, but also great photos, lovely catalogues, top class IT and (in my limited experience) good customer service. Now tell me Spink are better?

Interesting theory! Mind you, I was already interested and looking feverishly through bank bags in the late 60s when I discovered a GVF 1909 halfpenny, an ABU 1938 halfpenny, and an EF 1935 halfpenny. I have always wondered how they got into circulation. Although they are not common, its still possible to find early (1971) 1p and 2p pieces in change in EF-UNC condition. I found several when I was looking at the portcullis designs of the 1p coins last year. Those coins would now be 42 years old, so turn the clock back to 1967 say, and that means there's a good chance of finding a EF-UNC penny or halfpenny going back to 1925. OK, 1909 is pushing it, but I can see why some nice condition coins could have been found. That's easy to explain : millions of early decimals were set aside in speculation that as the first year(s) they would someday be worth a premium; over time, as that hope has died, people would naturally offload their useless coppers into circulation. Oh I'd agree about 1971 coins. They were the commonest of the older EF-UNC coins I found, but there were still quite a number of slightly later dates, including the early 1980s. I guess some might come from coin jars being emptied out, but I still found it not so unusual to find top condition coins in change back in the £sd era. I have a door stop (a Remy Martin VSOP bottle ) filled with 1/2p's, collected in the early days of decimalisation. If they were still legal tender and the bottle broke they could easily have ended up back in circulation.

Yes, thank you! Had it for a while now. Yes very nice ! Can't see much wear there, is it aUNC or UNC ? (just out of interest as I am trying to improve my grading). cheers Garrett. It would be EF in my opinion. A small amount of wear to the fingers around the trident is the most obvious sign on this coin.

I think all collectors are investors to some extent, but not all investors are collectors. I have no particular plans to sell my collection) so, if it is an investment, I may never realise it. I fully admit, though, to gaining a certain satisfaction when any coin I purchase jumps in value. Those investors who aren't collectors could easily leave the market should economics change, at which point the buyers of some top end coins could be left to take a bath.

The S3866A is £350 in F, £750 in VF, £1100 in EF. No price given for UNCThat looks to be the same as the 2013 SPINKS price. Bentley collection in EF is extremely rare. I haven't looked to see if Marsh has it listed. Nice coin. I collect the series, all mints and varieties. Wish I had one of those. As I don't really collect sovereigns, I'd consider a trade for an interesting penny!

I think he was actually a Tory councillor who recently defected (not that this would be highlighted by our impartial press). Anyway, a complete idiot, whatever! I'm not a member of any party, but I do think that Farage has played an key part in starting a proper debate on some important issues. There's been a lot of 'me too' from the other parties since he did this. I'm not saying he's right, but I do believe that our national democracy is at least worth discussing before we hand it over to Herman Van Rompuy (he of the 'low grade bank clerk' description) and his ilk in Brussels!

Yes, thank you! Had it for a while now.

You're absolutely right, David. I must get my glasses checked!

I didn't even notice the 'EF' slipped into the title or read the description! Oh dear... His 50 years experience also didn't teach him that the coin's highlight isn't "the toothed beads" (whatever that contradiction might be) but the unmentioned high tide. Edit: Peckris, you beat me to it!

Here's a photo of mine. It's not easy to get a good pic!

It's a shame his "excellent collation" doesn't include to collation of decent information. It's certainly the 'high tide' variety (P of PENNY to gap, F-148), but it would be a disappointing example if you couldn't actually see the sea.

Cooperation between TPGs would not make a good business model. A given TGP wants a collector to collect their slabs only, not a competitors. Slab collectors often crack coins out and resubmit to keep all the slabs in their collection from the same TPG, and doesn't the fure fly if it comes back with a lower number. If NGC and PCGS operated different grading scales there would be fierce competition to set the industry standard, but that isn't the case. The world of numismatics now has an accepted grading scale and the horse has bolted for CGS. They've scaled back their operation and no longer grade a significant number of coins. Even the separate section in London Coins auction (the same business, effectively) has been dropped. I do think it's a shame because I believe we need a UK grading house. Despite the huge reservations of many (to an extent, myself included), the TPG market is here to stay. Heritage's newsletter, sent out yesterday, trumpets their biggest single week of numismatic sales $105 million. That is serious money - $105,000,000 in just one week! Virtually all of those coins were slabbed. Whether we like it or not, we can't ignore it. Here's a link to their newsletter.

Although arguably a better system, I think this is really holding CGS back in the ever more international marketplace. They are just not remotely big enough to compete against the vast number of coins (GB included) graded to Sheldon by the other TPGs. There's no doubt that CGS are the better grader of GB coins, but they're becoming the Sony Betamax in the growing TPG market. For that reason alone I probably wouldn't use them. At the very least they could offer a 70/100 point option to submitters.

The S3866A is £350 in F, £750 in VF, £1100 in EF. No price given for UNC

This made me laugh. I think Heritage need to have a word with their cataloguer! Clearly a mint error, but not the one he is trying to describe! Edit - In case it gets corrected, here is what's written: Elizabeth II 20 Pence ND Mint Error, Obverse bust of KM990, reverse struck off-center with a different die, similar to the KM975 Pound. UNC and intriguing. Actually I've just noticed the 'ND', so I suppose that much is correct. The 'off centre' bit isn't though, and he certainly hasn't made a big thing of the missing date!

I have a few sovereigns but not really a collection. My most interesting is S.3866A, which Spink until recently described as 'extremely rare'. I notice that the 2014 catalogue now gives prices for this coin which don't really support the 'extremely' description!

That's absolutely brilliant Rob! Clearly written by the same guy who penned the assembly instructions for a bookcase I recently bought.

Off-metal strikes are always popular with type collectors, but gold off-metal strikes (as opposed to gilt) appear to interest collectors who would otherwise ignore the issue. This seems especially true in the US where just about any gold coin commands a significant premium, apparently as a safe investment vehicle. Many gold coins are therefore, perhaps unfortunately, more the domain of investors than collectors.

Rupees from the IP address ... Ah…..