bagerap

Bloody marvelous! I spend a few years on here learning at the feet of the Masters. Putting in my own few thoughts on exonumia from time to time. And when it comes to my turn to shine; a chance to display my arcane knowledge; what do I get? Dino-bloody-doodoo. Yes coporolites. In the early 1800s, a local girl to me, Mary Anning, was noted for finding and selling fossils from the cliffs at Lyme Regis. She is, incidentally, thought to be the subject of the tongue twister “She sells sea shells by the sea shore” She noticed that a fossil known at that time as a bezoar stone was often found in the abdominal region of ichthyosaur skeletons found in the Lias formation at Lyme Regis. She also noted that if such stones were broken open they often contained fossilized fish bones and scales as well as sometimes bones from smaller ichthyosaurs. It was these observations by Anning that led the geologist William Buckland to propose in 1829 that the stones were fossilized feces and named them coprolites. Buckland also suspected that the spiral markings on the fossils indicated that ichthyosaurs had spiral ridges in their intestines similar to those of modern sharks. We are, in effect, talking about rifling very much like on a modern bullet. What we are in fact seeing is the mineralised result of a creature excreting in an extremely specific environment. Not too moist, not too dry and probably not unlike very deep leaf mould. The first thing that our dino-turd would do involved slowly losing its internal moisture, a process that required a steady temperature over a considerable period of time. After it had become dried but not quite dessiccated minerals would leach in from the earth and the surrounding leaf mould. Millenia later, you have a very efficient paper weight and a great talking point. The various external bumps, ridges and grooves are a co-effect of dehydration and rifling. You can find out more on Wikipedia, but I wrote much of that also.

^ My GP has the same opinion of me.

No disrespect intended towards the vendor, but WTF is a "Semi Proof"? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-OZ-BRITANNIA-958-SILVER-2004-SEMI-PROOF-TWO-POUND-COIN-/382148191177?hash=item58f9cea3c9:g:ZUEAAOSwMvtZWNLs

^ The seller was a she

It's been ended.

Not a coin, but a counting token or Rechenpffenig. Made in Nuremberg, Germany and used on a counting board to work out accounts before Europe adopted the Arabic concept of zero as a number. Just google rechenpffenig and all will be clear.

What's going on with the second 1 in the date? It's not PMD.

Thomas Hall’s London (Middlesex) copper halfpenny token 1795. D&H Middlesex No: 317. Diameter 31.2mm. Mostly found in this condition or better.

There are one or two in bronze but the lack of any other info on this one is puzzling.

More likely to be a communion token

This is a good contender, or at least close to: https://www.deamoneta.com/auctions/view/118/234

For a coin I'd never heard of before Monday: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FOUR-SILVER-COINS-FROM-CAMBODIA-DATED-1847-IN-A-USED-FINE-OR-BETTER-CONDITION-/152569108375?hash=item2385d3d797:g:vtgAAOSwY3BZMAM2

Nice work.

I've seen similar images on tokens, not coins, from Indonesia and the Philippines. No idea however on any meaning, except perhaps a crude rendition of the Garuda bird.

I think spotted this last week, and was quite surprised. I lived close to the EMI pressing plant for years and knew sod all about these tokens.

The silver shekel of biblical times is second only to the "Widows Mite" for the number of copies in existence. They are used in enormous quantities by the Evangelical Churches in the US, primarily as a teaching aid in Sunday School and summer camps. Anyone with experience of US based coin forums will know that the Widows Mite comes up for identification on at least a weekly basis and the shekel almost monthly.

I wasn't paying attention to what VickySilver said. This medal was struck in matt proof, the first year AFAIK that the treatment was used for a coronation. A bottle of Goddards Silver Dip should sort you out. A few seconds immersion then rinse with water, tamp dry. Repeat as necessary.

Most are simply souvenir medals, and most places on the tourist trail sell them.Almost invariably, the British medals are beautifully struck up. If you are not of a religious bent, they do sell for a modest price. I've frequently been surprised at prices my holy bits and pieces have achieved on fleabay.

Seller only has three visible feedbacks, all of which say Good buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended. Nothing unusual there , except that they are from supposedly three different sellers.

I make my living by selling honestly described low end items and beautifully described very high end items. I have no time for chancers, forgers and fakers. Apart from anything else, they can impact my business, particularly if they steal my copy for their dodgy trash.

TBH, the WRL mark is easier to see on their Roman & Saxon copies, but this one was waving itself under your nose. No excuse for very bad dealing practise. Incidentally, we also have this archive of bad/suspect sellers on CCF. Only Admin can post to it, but it's one hell of a reference. Particularly if you know how to use the "find" function. https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=163

If you're a CCF member then you can use this: https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=162 Once you've done it once or twice, you get to know what info to cut 'n paste before you start.

Ebay are now aware and listing has been removed. Either you can report these listings yourself via CCF, or message me with a link and the reason it's not kosher and I'll take it from there

If you get that one just right, by which I mean untouched for decades, you might be lucky to find it has a unique purplish patina that I've not seen on any other medal. I've seen several over the years and it's just the most beautiful colour. Probably a reaction to a particular alloy.