Accumulator

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…..

Hi and welcome to the forum. What area of collecting interests you?

But it's overgraded, unless GF means generally flat. I got excited for about 1 millisecond then... I followed your link and thought it was the extremely rare 1862 penny with halfpenny date numerals. Then realised it WAS a halfpenny!

Too far for me, unfortunately. Is it much better than the London (Bloomsbury) fairs? I found the last one of those very disappointing. Coinex was much better.

It's nice to have so many positive comments, thank you! It sounds like you're firmly in the 'ignore the holder' camp, as there are just too many mistakes made by TPG's when they move away from the core US coins. As Rob points out above, it works both ways, though, and allows some really nice coins to be picked up at below-market prices! At the beginning of this thread someone raised the question of the value in having the special 'Eric P Newman' collection label on the holder. This is something I'll probably have to forgo, as I'm unlikely to want to keep it in an MS62 slab.

Thank you, I will!

Very condescending, as opposed to those of low self esteem who bolster their self importance by talking about how much money they spend buying and selling coins to the hoi polloi. Not sure why you think that was a condescending statement, especially as you posted this just a week ago: Posted A week ago What part of their operation is loosing money? Minting circulation coinage or all the collector crap. They have about 1000 employees. I cant believe that they need that many to actually man few automated presses, so its probably 100 pleb workers and 900 project manages. Before you know it they'll be off shoring the oily bits and expanding senior management. Equally, I'm not aware of anyone 'bolstering their self importance' or referring to the 'hoi polloi'. If you have something to say about the collectors who regularly visit this forum, let's hear it in full?

Thanks Rob. Tell your wife the fiver's in the post! The silver pattern halfpenny (30667) looked nice, so shame you missed that. I was shocked by the Gilt pattern penny (30669) going for over $4.5k. It really wasn't that nice, but anything gold (even if its actually just gilt) seems to sell well over in the US.

Happy birthday guys!

You certainly know how to treat a lady, Stuart!

You mean ... the £700 I just paid for one ISN'T a bargain after all? If it's the one with the toothed border penny, it's a steal! :)

I'm always amazed at how many olympic torches have appeared on eBay. Hundreds of them. Personally I'd hang on to something like that, but I suppose needs must! On that basis, I'm sure some of these 50p's will appear over time. Just a guess… £5k? Then again, get it slabbed MS70 and sell it as unique through Heritage to a US investor/collector, probably for £20k+!

Depends on your definition! Remember, I've never spent 4 figures yet on any single coin, though that (almost) tempts me to. Without the buyer's commission, that was only 3 figures

Thank you guys! Actually I got it for a good price Peck, so you wouldn't need to sell much of your collection. Bidding was probably subdued purely on the basis of the lowish 62 grade. It's pocket porn, Stuart!