Nick

Or it's the shill-bidder now in the lead

I would say the straight 1888 is at least x10 rarer. Pricewise though maybe only 3 or 4 times the normal. Many people don't realise it exists, and not being in the books means you are fighting an uphill battle to get a lot of buyers to appreciate or accept it. As for the second, I haven't a clue. Thanks. I guess that the straight 1888 shilling only appeared near the end of the 1888 shilling production, when the 1888/7 dies had run out.

...of the 1888 shilling that is a plain 8 and not 8/7 and the 1898 sixpence with the later reverse (1 of date to bead). Neither of these are in any of the references that I have access to.

As you have found out, it isn't a straightforward task. You will need a more capable program than Microsoft Paint. As a minimum, you'll need the ability to select circular regions, but the best way is to use layers and transparency masks. To do this you'll need a software package like Photoshop or Paintshop Pro, which you may be able to download a time-limited trial version from the Internet. However, even when you have the necessary tools, a fair amount of practice (and trial and error) is required to produce a suitable result.

I've noticed this myself Nick. My normal pictures are bigger than ebay enlarged ones which to me is quite strange.......I've enlarged my own pictures on ebay only to find they are smaller than the ones i've uploaded or are on the main auction picture. I completely sympathise with eBay because their storage requirements must be gargantuan, but for me - if the button doesn't result in an enlarged image then don't call it 'enlarge'.

Another eBay feature that irritates me is seeing an item that might interest you, so you click on the 'enlarge' photo button and it fires up a new window to show you the same photo, the same size or smaller (on some occasions).

I take the Davies value and divide it by the common value to get a multiplication factor. For the 1923 mule it is 4.3. So that gives me £17.20, £34.40, £150.50 and £322.50. Which reminds me I must get my spare VF-GVF on ebay. Thanks Gary. Interesting - I hadn't thought of that approach.

Does anybody have any tips or cunning formulae to estimate what a particular variety is worth? At present, I use Davies to rank that variety in terms of coins that Spink list and then use Spink to find a value. For example, Davies gives the 1923 florin mule a value of 120, which places it in value between the 1926 and 1925 florins but closer to the 1925. Therefore, interpolating the values in Spink 2012 gives a value of ~£200 in EF and ~£450 in UNC. Does that sound about right?

They can only be damaged in the cleaning process. A polished coin is no use to man nor beast unless you're intending to use it for jewellery.

Special delivery plus a little bit for packaging. £10 in the odd hundred or thousand or two won't break the bank. I won a lot at the Baldwins auction last week via the Saleroom. What happens now? Do I get an invoice though the post or by email etc.? I usually receive invoices from Baldwins through the post.

Not me. I was bidding online, so when it got to 130 I didn't hit the button. Can you bid online for StJames? LIVE I mean! Yes, you can. I usually use the-saleroom.com but there are probably others (eg sixbid, etc).

nah wasnt even close, 2k plus vat? and my dealer reconned it wasnt worth the estimate Hammer price was £1700, so with commission and VAT would be £2.1k - out of my league.

yep, ive hit the button...... Did you get your 1887 Roman I proof double florin then? £2k with the commission was way too rich for me.

...and the fact that it has the large head obverse that didn't appear until 1889.

This is an odd one. First time I've ever seen any coin doctored to look like an 1887 shilling. Admittedly, the 1889 shilling has a reverse similar to the scarce 1887 (1+A) shilling, but even so.

Examples of an aEF 1850/49 shilling and a gVF 1850 shilling sold today at DNW for £6,200 and £5,800 respectively (+ commission and VAT).

If only they were worth a pound, we'd all be rich.

Yep.

This would be true if you only have one press producing the coins and one rolling/bagging machine. Usually, when the mint is ready to produce large quantities of coins, they install the working dies in the presses. Now, if one working die has some damage or has been reworked and creating a variety, was used for a press say out of 10, then 10% of the coins would be of a different variety. Then, all the coins are sent to mamy bagging machines, making it possible that some bags have more variety coins then others. I hadn't really considered the number of presses in operation at one time, but I guess it depends whether the separate press outputs were combined before being fed into the bagging machine, or whether they were fed in serially.

At what point in the coin production process were the newly minted coins bagged up or placed into rolls? If it happened just after the minting process, then it is reasonable to assume that all of the coins in any one bag are the same variety. But, if the coins were stored for a time before they were bagged then it's feasible that different varieties could be mixed together. Anybody know the answer?

Thanks. I didn't think to look on the CGS website. I have both in Proof but am struggling to get currency 1+B with the center of the rose absolutely perfect. I have a reasonable grade currency 1+B but the rose centre is also a little blurry.

It's difficult to be certain from looking at the pictures, but I think I would be happy with that coin.

Thanks. I didn't think to look on the CGS website.

Not sure if this variety has been identified on the proof before.

Yes there is. The link is on the same page as the individual pdf downloads. Or you can use this link.