Nick

I have used axial lighting, but it is pretty difficult to get enough light on the coin whilst blocking ambient light and reflections. It worked ok with highly reflective proofs, but normal coins appeared dull and lifeless.

I bought something similar quite a while ago. The lamps are halogen and get seriously hot. IIRC the connections are not the same as GU10.

No need for central heating then if you have 500W light bulbs. A standard house light bulb these days is 60W (or a third of that for energy savers).

Close-up lenses have a tendency to make the phase detector used by the autofocus system go bananas.

Lustre is not easy to capture, as it is effectively the result of light being reflected in slightly different directions from the surface. The camera only "sees" those reflections which fit within its limited field of view. It could be that you need to take your photos in a place that has more ambient light, or you could try moving slightly further away from the coin.

Nice. I do like coins with peripheral toning. For coin photos, I use mode-A (aperture priority) with an F-number around 10 or so with a daylight bulb CFT light source. If your photo doesn't quite tally with what you see in hand, you may need to change the white balance to match your light source type (some DSLRs also have a procedure to match the white balance exactly to the light source).

It doesn't look at all convincing. Best avoided.

We're all just Comfortably Numb.

Weakness in the centre is often seen on this reverse. The top lion in the bottom right shield is usually less distinct than the other two.

Nice 3d. Those Edwardian threepences aren't easy to find with a well struck obverse.

I would say it is pretty close to EF.

That's a nice crown, especially the reverse. It looks as if it may have started out as a specimen. Either that or a very early strike.

DNW estimates are generally a bit on the low side, but they do depend on any reserve required by the vendor. I would say that DNW photographs are pretty good and that the coins are usually slightly better in hand than you would expect from the photos.

First set of pictures are much more realistic. Coin looks good and better than EF, but someone has had a go at it with something abrasive - hence the hairlines. Having said that, it's very difficult to find crowns without any hairlines.

They are 22 carat, so that is 0.9167 (91.67%).

Thanks. I'm not sure there are any currency florins out there with perfectly formed lions' faces, even some of the proofs do not.

This is the best I have, taking both sides into account.

...and I also forgot to mention 1876, which is really tricky to find.

I left varieties out of my list, but agree with those you mentioned.

For sixpences: 1826 (2nd reverse), 1827, 1848, 1854, 1862, 1863, 1869, 1870, 1879 (with die number), 1882, 1893 (Jubilee head).

And with the disappearance of CGS, goes with it any notion of any guarantee they offered.

I suspect that they all used the same background. The appearance of the background is dependent on the colour and reflectivity of the subject, so the duller the coin - the lighter the background will appear.

So sorry to hear of your loss, Peter. My sincere condolences.

This arsehole should be shot at dawn along with IDS. Claiming to have lowered unemployment while dishing out severe cuts to the already impoverished unemployed while giving their Champagne quaffing friends heads up and first dibs on various contracts stinks to high heaven. Hiding the Phedos that languish within Westminster is also another point.The whole establishment stinks and needs a radical clear out because the Tories are in it for themselves and their buddies, Cameron and his cronies don't have a clue about the common man on the street and certainly don't give a shit about them either. One day the shit will hit the fan that Westminster and those who sit there are bottom feeders who should be brought to justice for their cover ups and tipping the wink to their chums on up coming sales of the NHS and the PO for example. The place is rotten to the core, then there's the House of Lords whose members don't pay tax and are unelected, WHY should they be exempt? An absolute joke If this sort of post is deemed to be acceptable, then this forum is no longer the place for me.

It's a lovely thing. I'd say quite a bit rarer than a 1905 halfcrown in similar condition, but probably won't fetch as much. I expect it might go for £12k or maybe a little more.