Nick

What? Are you saying they wouldn't even eat humble pie over a date error? Unbelievable! I've guess I've just been lucky?I'm sure that all TPG's small print absolves them of any responsibility for what they might call a labelling issue.

Fortunately, the Chinese fakers can't seem to crack the edge lettering. Sadly, I suspect it's only a matter of time.

Yes, I have. I prefer to store my coins together within capsules in trays so the slabs are no use. Added to which, I don't really care whether CGS thinks it is an 82, an 85 or whatever - I bought the coin because I liked it.

During the five years that I used eBay, I must have reported getting on for 50 fake coins and not a single one was removed from sale. The only reported item that was removed was when another seller used my photo without permission, which is a fairly trifling offence in the grand scheme of things.

Wouldn't it be great if eBay pages had a facility such that rogue items could be reported? Oh wait... Yeah, the problem is, if they were to take direct and immediate action the place would be flooded with malicious reports. It needs a more measured approach. Indeed, but the consequence is that no action is taken and hence the reason why eBay is awash with fake goods.

Wouldn't it be great if eBay pages had a facility such that rogue items could be reported? Oh wait...

Not a chance. Profit is the only thing eBay cares about, regardless of ethics.

I have tried to collate the sources of information for Victorian mintage numbers, ie annual reports, trial of the pyx records, parliamentary returns and other documentary mentions to see if it might be possible to derive any plausible estimates. After many hours of crunching the numbers, I concluded that it would not be possible without having access to the Royal Mint day books. Which you should be able to get under the freedom of information act? Mark You wouldn't need a FoI request, but you would need to go to the National Archives at Kew and spend many many hours delving through the records.

I have tried to collate the sources of information for Victorian mintage numbers, ie annual reports, trial of the pyx records, parliamentary returns and other documentary mentions to see if it might be possible to derive any plausible estimates. After many hours of crunching the numbers, I concluded that it would not be possible without having access to the Royal Mint day books.

Whilst I think the obverse looks ok, the wear on the reverse doesn't look right. Wear should occur evenly across equivalent points of the design, but the thistles look to have differing levels of wear. The thistles also look more worn than they should given the general appearance of the rest of the coin. All in all, where's that bargepole.

Looks to me like each of your pictures is one grade too high.

I also note that even the best example 1965 crown the RM could find for the photograph has a number of heavy contact marks on both sides. I wonder if there are any out there without bagmarks.

I suspect a set like that would go for £75k or more these days.

The set was sold by CC, so Neil may have a picture of the reverses.

How can a coin rust when it contains no iron?

The chances of finding a genuine Northumberland shilling on eBay aren't high. That one looks like it's straight out of the container ship from China.

No problem at all. If it has copy stamped into one or both sides, it is unlikely to be able to be sold on as a genuine item.

Which is why eBay now obscures the buyer ids in the seller's feedback, so that nobody can possibly interfere with their corrupt dealings.

It's your post, Dave. Post it however you like. If it annoys a particular poster, all the more reason to post it that way, because the alternative is to submit to their prejudice.

Looks pretty similar to this.

momo33

Coin alignment is correct for an 1823 halfcrown.

I use Paint Shop Pro, but there are many free packages around. Paint.NET is free and by all accounts is very good.

Perhaps, this is one example where the DLSR with a decent lens has an advantage. It allows you to be that bit further away thus letting more light on to the subject. Personally, I photograph the coins individually and then arrange them into one image with the individual coins positioned where they would be in the proper case (like below).

The attached graph shows the Child Poverty figures for 2010, which seem to be broadly representative of the regional public spending figures. I'm not sure that having just 15% of children in poverty in the South-East quite means that they are 'raking it in', but it does explain why the South-East region public expenditure is the least.