Hussulo

that's great.

Some of the slabbed coins like the one below: http://cgi.ebay.com/GREAT-BRITAIN-1953-1-S...1QQcmdZViewItem are slabbed by a dealer. It is very easy to buy slabs and print your own labels and grade the coins yourself. You could try and open a slab and swap the label but they are sonically sealed and the chances are there would be evidence of tampering. The latest is fake coins being slabbed in fake NGC/ PCGS slabs coming out of China. http://coins.about.com/b/2008/03/28/pcgs-w...-fake-slabs.htm The main TGP's (Third Party Grading Services) are PCGS, NGC, and to some extent ANACS and ICG. ANACS were the first to start it. ANACS began grading coins in 1972. ANACS was as part of the ANA, American Numismatic Association, until 1990. You are correct about the US grading standards. It is generally excepted that US grading is not as strict as UK grading. In most cases MS 60-63 which is unc. in US equated to EF to EF+ by UK standards, AU US equates to VF to VF+ UK (and in some cases not even). MS 64 and up, would usually would be a UK unc. As for the grading of hammered coins, they can be very suspect at the very least. There has also been a British coin company set up, which reputes to grade by the British standards. They are called CGS: http://www.cgs-uk.biz/cgs-uk/aboutUs they use a 100 point grading scale compared with the US (Sheldon) 70 point scale. At the end of the day you should always buy the coin and not the grade given by the TGP's.

A few Victorians did counterstamp their coins, to personalise them. Some used to carry the coins around with them as a sort of pocket piece. The number 30 does not light up any lights in my head with regards to it being a business countermark. If it had been say a die number, then the number would be small and raised as opposed to being stamped in. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps your relative stamped 30 or was given it on their 30th birthday as a present some kind of keepsake. If its dated 1936, perhaps they were born in 1906?

With a population of 1, its bound to be a limited mintage!

Good news my friend in the us (Don) has finally managed to submit a Churchill which graded PCGS MS65. 11834018 206560 1965 Crown Churchill Gr.Britain MS65

Good news my friend in the us (Don) has finally managed to submit a Churchill which graded PCGS MS65. 11834018 206560 1965 Crown Churchill Gr.Britain MS65

I've got an update on it: AE18 Syacuse time of Hieron Sear GVC1223. Obverse.Head of Posedon head left wearing taenie. Reverse.Elaborate trident flanked by dolphins. Thanks guys.

Blimey! Very nice Hus............... are you a millionare? cos if so, I wonder if you could you see your way clear to lending me.............................................................................. ...................................................................! Lol . I wish. The rest of my coins aren't in that price range. I happened to have some spare cash when I was offered it at a reasonable price. I'm afraid I haven't any money left know though. Mind you I did get an email from someone in Africa saying something about claiming millions of £s. All I need to do is send them a cheque for a £1000.

I received this in the post today. All 1823 £2 were stuck very well and display prooflike qualities, as does this one. You can see my hand and the camera in the reflection of the fields in this next shot:

I know what you mean. It actually belongs to my father-in-law. That and the Roman? coin I posted. They have been in his collection for a while but he was struggling to id them.

I've had a response back on this one. Someone thought it may be a Muwahhids square dirham. "the Muwahhids, produced another oddity, a square dirham that lacked every type of identifying mark and bore nothing other than religious phrases (and just occasionally a mintname). These square coins became extremely popular and were copied by the neighboring Christians, the small Islamic state of Granada, and several states in Northern Africa including the Hafsids of Tunisia and the Marinids of Morocco." http://users.rcn.com/j-roberts/spain.htm http://users.rcn.com/j-roberts/muw.htm or maybe a Spanish Christian square coin: http://users.rcn.com/j-roberts/spa.htm

Thanks guys you have gave me something to work off. I'll do a little research. Dave you could be right about it being Zeus but I would say he's facing left. Here's the features as I make them out, but it is a bit worn. I was hoping the trident may have helped id the coin.

Can anyone help with this one? Thanks in advance.

Can anyone help with this one? It is rather worn but an unusual shape: Thanks in advance.

On the subject of two headed coins. A while ago I bought one raw on the Bay (pretty cheap too) but I was sure it was genuine. So with the help of someone I know in the US I sent it off to NGC to get their opinion, and I was very happy when I found out they agreed. Ok it's not British, but I still think its quite cool.

Hi Andrew. Nice coin and great find, but as Chris says definitely not a EF closer to VF.

The size of this collection is amazing. When Ira and Larry Goldberg went on the search for these coins for their client, they were told that the budget was pretty much limitless. The goal was to assemble the greatest collection ever of the world's rarest coins, in the highest grades possible. I'm sure it will bring in some record prices.

I think a lot of the coins will be out of most of our budgets, but we can still look and drool. <a href="http://www.mkjassociates.com/cgi-bin/ilgvutoc.pl?sale=46" target="_blank">http://www.mkjassociates.com/cgi-bin/ilgvutoc.pl?sale=46</a>

I don't know much about silversnowball, but I do like those ice cream snowballs Adams the ice's sells on a Sunday night.

Without any provenance or guarantee I wouldn't risk it Gary. I know there are bargains to be had out there and new discovery's to be made but there is also money to be lost in the gamble. I doubt it will be going cheap.

Good luck with the book Dave, I'm don't know if I can be of any help, but if so, feel free to ask and I'll do my best. Let me know when it's finished and I'll give a shout out for you on the forum or CoinsGB website. All the best, Hus

Thanks Ian. Its an ongoing project and there is still a lot I would like to add. A lot of the members of this forum were kind enough to help me and donate pictures for use on the site. Regards, Hus

i see... so do you think the coin came from them? I have never seen one like it before, i've been searching the net for days trying to find what it is. Although not the young head type, here's some on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-Model-Imitation-VI...tem170204972581 and even a Half Sovereign version: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TOY-MONEY-HALF-SOVER...tem160220398361 Some people collect these, and I think they would make a neat collection.

B.P. stands for Benedetto Pistrucci the designer. Here's a link to my site, where you can see mintmark locations depending on the type of Sovereign you have. http://www.coinsgb.com/Edward_VII/991-Sovereign.html http://www.coinsgb.com/Victoria/991-Sovereign.html Hus