Accumulator

Welcome to the forum. I can't add anything as my coins are mostly not kept at home, and tend to be in capsules or slabs. It would be interesting to know which method you eventually choose, though, and certainly to see a photo of the finished job!

Very good! Similar to Mark Twain's: "Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt".

Ah, the great days of Communist cameras! I began with a Russian made Zorki 4 (virtual exact reproduction of a prewar Leica IIIb) for which I got 3 lenses - I still have the camera and standard lens and I bet it works if I got a film for it. I also briefly used a Lubitel (TLR) but it was a hassle getting 120 roll film processed; I did my own D&P of black and white 35mm film back then. And a Leningrad light meter (the Zorki and Lubitel had nothing electronic anywhere in them, not even a light meter) which was pretty good. Now I slum it with a Lumix superzoom FZ camera. Ok, it has a tiny tiny sensor (makes 110 film look like medium format ) but as long as I am aware of its limitations it takes some good pictures... P1000086.jpg I'm far from expert but that's a really well composed photo!

A happy and prosperous New Year to all!

You mean the South Koreans accept bank transfers then? I meant OUR building warships for OURSELVES! But wouldn't we need a shipyard for that?

If you want to go down the stereotype road, how about the even smugger 'we know best', luvvy, trendy-lefty, Guardian-subscribed, liberals of Notting Hill with huge, often publicly funded (think BBC exec) salaries and fat bottomed pensions? Then we could talk about that multi-multi-millionaire socialist, Tony Blair…. Stereotypes don't work, there are good and bad examples of everything out there.

You mean the South Koreans accept bank transfers then?

1. We are not in the Euro, and never have been. That was our government's free choice. Personally I'm all in favour of that, as the Euro itself has been the biggest unmitigated disaster of the EU. 2. Speaking as a citizen of the oldest federated union in Europe (over more than 1000 years, Yorkshiremen and Cornishmen have not lost their individual identities), the EU is hardly the recipe for the feared 'loss of national identity'. Germans, French, Spanish, and Italians, are no less German, French, Spanish, or Italian through being members of the EU. Nor are they clamouring for independence from it, apart from their own equivalents of UKIP. 1. We both agree about the Euro then. 2. You misquote me. I didn't talk about loss of 'national identity' (whatever that is? Certainly rich material for a different debate on another day), I said national democracy. How could anyone argue that wasn't being eroded by the EU?

Your Gerald Ratner moment, Chris?

Hi Geoff, thank you! Whatever you have, whether coin or token, we'd like to see a photo. The depth of knowledge here is excellent, so you can expect some informed opinions.

It all boils down to a simple choice - European Union or national democracy. The two are mutually exclusive. I respect everyone's opinion (Peckris, David, Colin, Rob, everyone…), whether pro or anti. What I can't respect is the 'political elite' denying the population the chance to make their choice. The only conceivable grounds for denial, is the opinion that 'we' know better than 'you' and can't trust 'you' to make the correct decision. It's surely that simple? Off my soapbox now…

Beautiful examples of the crown, guys. And excellent photos. Every one I've looked at has a slight flaw somewhere.

?? Having checked the website, I think he means it lasts for life in the sense that you never have to re-take the test (the RAE - Radio Amateur Exam, as it was called in my day). To keep the licence active you have to renew every 5 years though.

Just for fun, I took a look at the on-line licensing, which I see is now handled by Ofcom. Apparently I can re-instate my licence if I want to, by paying a £20 fee! There's no reason to do this, but it's interesting to know.

Both listed in Freeman (F-678 and F-679) rated R18.

I've always struggled with the MS65 = CGS85 alignment and I do think this demonstrates the tougher line taken by CGS. In my limited experience a CGS85 coin is always an exceptional example and I've not seen one that I wouldn't happily have in my collection. On the other hand I have a few (NGC) MS65 examples which I'd certainly look to upgrade. They'd never have made CGS85.

...and The Daily Mail, which does all the European thinking for a vast swathe of the population. At least they do slightly more thinking on Europe than the 3 'main' parties So you say. I vehemently disagree. The likes of the Mail have turned this country into a nation of Euro-phobes since 1975 (when we collectively voted to stay in), fed by a swathe of urban myths typified by the famous Yes, Minister episode about the 'traditional British sausage'. Just to throw one single fact at you : we, in this supposedly enlightened economy, have the lowest proportion of retirement pension compared to average wage, of any EU member. That makes you happy? It doesn't me. Nor do pro-Murdoch rants from the red-tops. In 1975 we voted to remain in the 'Common Market', what we have nearly 40 years later is something very different. We have the EU, as the name implies, a Union. I certainly don't glean my facts from the likes of the Mail and I can't see how the pension arrangements of this country have anything whatsoever to do with our being inside or outside of the EU. I'm not saying our pensions are good (they're not), just that I don't want this country ruled by Brussels. I'm not alone in that.

Things have changed, I'd never heard of call signs beginning with 'M'! I had a G8 licence back in 1974, which I kept up until about 1980. After that my interests lay elsewhere and I didn't bother renewing it. I was very active in the early days though, building some of my own equipment… particularly a 400w amp with two of the now classic 4CX250B RF power tetrodes. Did wonders for the neighbours tv pic as I recall!

...and The Daily Mail, which does all the European thinking for a vast swathe of the population. At least they do slightly more thinking on Europe than the 3 'main' parties

Me too. The seller just got back to me with this: I pulled this for the times being as others have mentioned this is not the F 21. Its odd as I am sure viewing in hand this has a sign on the truncation of the bust. At any rate I will submit it to NGC later see what they come up with. I have another (1860) lot 310755521863 I will send in also as it has no match that I have been able to find (the "I" in britt is Very high) and see what they come up with on that one. Thanks for the input much appreaciated. My reply included: "….I'm not sure that NGC have a very good record with British coins, especially pennies. We often see misattributed varieties over here. They also tend not to determine Freeman numbers and certainly don't use the even more detailed Gouby reference book…." The 1860 is interesting in that the 'I' of BRITT has been recut and misaligned, but otherwise it looks like a Freeman 10 to me, with obverse 2 rather than 3 as stated in his description (colon after G: of D:G: points to a tooth)

Me too. The seller just got back to me with this: I pulled this for the times being as others have mentioned this is not the F 21. Its odd as I am sure viewing in hand this has a sign on the truncation of the bust. At any rate I will submit it to NGC later see what they come up with. I have another (1860) lot 310755521863 I will send in also as it has no match that I have been able to find (the "I" in britt is Very high) and see what they come up with on that one. Thanks for the input much appreaciated. My reply included: "….I'm not sure that NGC have a very good record with British coins, especially pennies. We often see misattributed varieties over here. They also tend not to determine Freeman numbers and certainly don't use the even more detailed Gouby reference book…."

Welcome Geoff. I can't add anything to the IOM discussion but noticed your interests include amateur radio! That takes me back to the 70s, when I had a licence and used to spend my spare time building equipment and chatting on the 2m band.

I did, but the photos I took were crap. Far too grainy and contrasted, so I binned them. However hard I try, I can't seem to get reproducibly good images. Nothing wrong with the coin though. Those above were taken with a cheap compact camera (£75 ish), a mini tripod (£15 ish) and 3 desk lamps from Homebase which I fitted with LED lamps (£13 each plus £5 each for the lamps). Nothing fancy. And I've reduced the resolution by a significant factor to be able to post them on here.

I did buy the coin as an overdate Bob. As I recall, Rob had a very nice one for sale at one time too. He may still have photos? Dave, did you see my post about 1904 pennies in the 'Confirmed unlisted varieties' sub-forum? I'd be interested to get your input on these.

I've tried to take an angled pic of mine, in case this helps: