Nick

Does it still have 'no stop after DEI' in S3516? Yes. The items within 3516 are unchanged, albeit the prices a little higher.

Crikey! There's hope for us micro-collectors yet. Still well below estimate though You'll be pleased to know that the new Spink 2013 catalogue now recognises this variety of 1953 proof halfcrown - £2500 in FDC.

Received my copy of the new 2013 Spink catalogue today. The foreword contains a couple of pieces of interesting information: they are currently compiling information for a new edition of English Silver Coinage since 1649; and the splitting of the decimal section from the catalogue will occur next year.

Agreed. Their pictures are, by far, the best of all the auction sites.

no certainly not....as i said, pics dont reveal the finish. I think that CGS should try harder with their photography. In most cases their photographs don't allow the viewer to verify the grade or the variety, which given the nature of their business is a bit of a faux pas.

How did you manage to do that? Well... I won that one that Gary highlighted for us right at the beginning of the thread, and the seller contacted me and said he'd found some more 1964s and would I prefer that he send me one of them, that weren't damaged. Not likely, says I, and explained to him why I wanted the beaten up one in the photo, and why no other would do. Well, I'd better go and check the others, says he, and comes back saying he's found 3 of the scarce ones, decent circulated. I'll have 'em, says I, and I'll give you a fiver each for 'em. A little dazzled by my spectacular offer, perhaps, he agrees, and they arrived today. VF, gVF, and nEF. He didn't find any 1965 scarce though. What else is good to look for, he asks? So I tell him about 1962 halfcrowns, and he says he has found 6 x D.2330, and 4 x D.2331. So I got a D.2330 off him too. Not quite VF, but it'll plug the gap till I find better. Now of course, he's trying to get silly money on eBay for the halfcrowns - he put a set of all 4 1962 Davies numbers on, all low grade, starting price £25. No takers obviously. I did tell him that the number of people who collect micros is so tiny, particularly in low grade, that he'd be lucky to sell them at all, but would he listen? If anyone wants the battered one in Gary's link that started it all off, I'm happy to send it to them for nothing, now I've got 4 of 'em. Scott? A definite result

How did you manage to do that?

If you alone have seen 2-3 then there must be MANY more than the "two known" which they claim! If the estimate is based on that spurious claim, then they are being a bit naughty. That's the catch/beauty of TPGs. Once you build credibility, then your word becomes gospel. It's in their interest to build a myth whereby they are the definitive arbitor of the total numbers extant. That's why the 1901 penny slabbed MS66 made $600. My example, which may or may not have made that grade or even exceeded it cost me £2.21. Do I care? All of these populations require a several decades long due diligence period. Find a rarity or a previously undiscovered variety and then suddenly the whole world has one. As I have no idea of the scarcity I have mine valued in my collection for £18, I paid £12.38 including postage. Perhaps I should get it slabbed and sell quick to catch the crest of the wave. I've also got the unconfirmed Scotish shilling. I think I'll give CCS a ring to see what it would cost to have them slabbed It surely deserves a higher valuation than £18, at least 3 figures I would guess. Amazingly, it did sell - for £1500.

I suspect that he means tanner, but with this seller anything is possible.

That one's a piece of cake - try and distinguish the 3 kinds of 1958 halfpennies! You mean 1858, Declan? If not, then what on earth are the 1958 varieties?? No, he wrote what he meant - 1958. There are three different reverses characterised by the width of the rim and by the shape and length of the border teeth. The exact differences are shown in David Groom's Bronze book.

And something similar on a 1942E shilling.

Blimey, those pictures make even Dave's dinner plates look like tiddlywinks!

I'm sure that most matt proof coins are slabbed - but that is only to provide some legitimacy to the matt proof attribution. PCGS may well have slabbed 25 million coins, but how many are still slabbed?

I'm guessing English was the one you missed out on !

Proving something is not authentic is almost as diffficult as proving it is genuine, so the TPGs are not really staking much with that guarentee. Let's face it - you wouldn't have bought the coin in the first place if you thought it was fake!

...and therefore I might bid on them.

Even straight from a mint bag - Churchill crowns seem to be a magnet for contact marks.

I eat fast 'cos I'm always in a hurry... Declan, I think you missed the comma between eat and fast.

£220 + comm. on the groat. I THOUGHT I'd won 5! Just checked and it's 4! I thought the bid was mine! So, if I repeatedly clicked the bid button at the time of the auction, just to make sure it was mine (which I thought it was), would it up my own bid, or does it just ignore it? The first 2 lots on saturday that I won, never put any of the red writing up to say I was bidding/winning etc, but fortunately I was. Not sure what happened to the 1 in 3 from today? Even though you are at a remote location, you are still bidding in real-time with the others in the auction room, so multiple clicks will only count to make you the high bidder - extraneous clicks will be ignored.

Postage is listed on the invoice.

Lockdales will invoice you Stuart and the 3% admin will be included. Theyu are usually pretty sharp. Thanks, John! Is that by post or email? You know why I ask! By post.

Last time I bought from them, postage for a few small single lots was £7.

It's not asking too much of any program, but it would certainly take some time to adjust each of the layers to ensure that the sizes and rotations are compatible once the distortion has been adjusted.

As a quick and dirty experiment, I used Paint Shop Pro to deform the picture such that the inner ring of beads looks roughly circular. Any use to you? Paint Shop Pro also handles layers and transparency.

Overlaying images with transparency is easy enough, most sensible image processing software packages will be able to do that. However, finding a package to negate the distortion might be more challenging. Can you post a picture and explain what you want doing? Then we might be able to have a bash with whatever packages we have available...