Nick

Much has been made of the difference between the public spending per head between Scotland and England, but there are also many differences between other regions/countries of the UK. Here are the numbers for 2012/13. Region/Country £/head London 9,435 North East 9,419 North West 9,252 Yorkshire and the Humber 8,610 West Midlands 8,498 South West 8,219 East Midlands 8,118 East 7,865 South East 7,638 Northern Ireland 10,876 Scotland 10,152 Wales 9,709 England 8,529

It might be a nervy day for Scots, but not for anybody else. If it is a yes, why should any decision by a foreign country have any effect on who is the Prime Minister of the rest of the UK? I don't suppose Alex Salmond will be leaping on his dagger if it's a no.

It's a fake from China, let through by eBay. Who'd have guessed!

But it seems that there is no denomination so unloved as the sixpence.

It seems to me that most of the vitriol being sprayed around here is coming from people who don't even live in the countries concerned. Most of us that do are fairly relaxed about the outcome, whichever it may be.

Counterfeit coins are illegal, but only if they are current as they are intended to be spent as money. Fakes are intended to defraud collectors. According to eBay "rules", neither are allowed, but given they refuse to enforce these rules - fakes are seen on a daily basis.

Ah ok, that's a little more credible. Otherwise, I have a couple of very nice 1902 proof crowns that anybody can have for the bargain price of just $4k each.

$5287 for a 1902 crown PF62 can't be right - can it?

No. Enlighten me. April issue. Answers by March 15th…. Ah yes. I was looking for some mistake on that page.

No. Enlighten me.

Except that sterling silver is also an alloy.

Don't think I've ever seen one that doesn't have two weak lions in the upper shield.

Absolutely, I agree that it is a poor term to use - but I think all the TPGs use it, not just CGS. With low populations it inevitably leads to silly situations, like this 1826 'finest known' 6d, which is graded as 10 (VG) http://www.londoncoins.co.uk/?page=retailv2_details&uin=0028502 It is a rare coin, but inevitably there will be better examples out there.

I've got one. It's excellent value and packs away very neatly indeed for storage or transport. The camera stand is ok, if a little bit lightweight, but ok for compact cameras. The lights are halogen, so be careful where you place them relative to the light tent and how you handle them once you're done. However, you can buy replacement bulbs (LED etc) that do the job and don't get anywhere near as hot. I thought my lights were going to catch fire as they started to smoke after about half a minute. I replaced them with fluorescents but now not getting anywhere near enough light. I don't use the supplied lights anyway. I prefer to use a single standard fitting (BC 22) daylight bulb placed above the tent.

I've got one. It's excellent value and packs away very neatly indeed for storage or transport. The camera stand is ok, if a little bit lightweight, but ok for compact cameras. The lights are halogen, so be careful where you place them relative to the light tent and how you handle them once you're done. However, you can buy replacement bulbs (LED etc) that do the job and don't get anywhere near as hot.

You'll need a pretty substantial tripod to take the weight of a DLSR, especially if you want to point the camera downwards.

One might think that would be true, but apparently it isn't. Here's some analysis I found: The belief that Scottish independence would consign the rest of the UK to permanent Conservative government is one that inspires hope among Tories and despair among Labour. But both overestimate the influence of Scotland on general elections. On no occasion since 1945 would independence have changed the identity of the winning party and on only two occasions would it have converted a Labour majority into a hung parliament (1964 and October 1974). Without Scotland, Labour would still have won in 1945 (with a majority of 143, down from 146), in 1966 (75, down from 98), in 1997 (137, down from 179), in 2001 (127, down from 166) and in 2005 (43, down from 66).

My understanding is that the Scottish MPs would be able to stay until such time as independence was official (timetabled to be March 2016).

I know you ladies will be interested to read that an Independent Scotland can use the pound, contrary to what all the scaremongers/liars in Westminster keep telling us all, thus we'll be paying our share of your debt http://www.thecourier.co.uk/opinion/columnists/jennifer-dempsie/battle-to-save-the-union-was-based-on-false-claim-1.546581 I thought that Salmond said they would only pay their share of the debt if they got a currency union? In any case, an independent Scotland could continue to use the pound, but it would have no central bank supporting it - leaving Scotland exposed to currency speculators and runs on banks.

I haven't used eBay in months. I used to spend at least a £1000 each year, but eBay's wilful refusal to do anything about fakes etc means that I save my money to spend with the more responsible auction houses instead.

Spink 2014 gives an UNC value of £65.

Shut down eBay. World-wide fraud would be decimated in a stroke.

There is one born every minute... and they all frequent eBay.

The major auction houses and slabbing companies should be playing a part here. Each time they reject a coin as fake, pictures should be stored in their online archives clearly labelled and searchable as such.

Getting a current list of fakes is easy. Just do an eBay search for coins with the description containing the word genuine.