Gollum

Ok so its not pre decimal. But does anyone seem to have noticed how the new 2011 £2 coins all seem to have marks on the inner part that are there as if the machine that pushes the centre in has left an image like two large () ?. I thought it was just grease or dirt so tried to remove it with a cotton bud, it remained though. Nasty mint people. Still it could be me.

Yes but weren't the arms facing the other way.

Flamethrower 20 minutes each side.

Thanks Debbie, I have just placed my first on-line bid at a non-eBay auction! No BIN's !, NO 99p starters !, obviously for the rich people.

Thanks Garry. Apart from the first page, that first one has come out fine. (But the site I had to get it from ... GAAAAAH! Don't the stupid people who create those 'captchas' understand that a robot can't read ANYTHING in a picture? On the other hand, if they put a wavy line through the characters, then humans can't read it either!! What a bunch of total pillocks!) Anything on 1887 £5 or £2 in there. I can't get it to download. Garry, How big is it? E-mail me a copy and I will host it for those interested Actually colin the original from the american archive is about 243M and the cut down version that i put up is only about 2M. I dont understand why no one can get either I still can. the first link is merely a right click and save lin or file as, and the ones put up are just click and then choose free download. I dont have the B/W to upload the original 243M one.

I would rather not HAVE to use a machine to grade Peck, I would hate to have a coin damaged by one in the process, but if that is the only alternative to human foibles and greed that will give a more honest consistent grading, then i guess it is an option to consider. I still hate those slabs, I removed a 1964 and 65 kennedy half dollar from them a while back, they look and feel much nicer (for american coins anyway ).

Frankly as a begginer couldn't care less for coin grading in respect of companies, they are there for a commercial reason and not out of love for a coin. I ghave read so many articles about their over grading or undergrading coins for the benefit of iincome etc that it makes me wonder if they even know what they are doing, it is slowly but surely creeping to the point that they are going to be the only deciding force in this hobby that a coin is genuine or is not and what it is worth, unless your coin is in one of their coffins with a pretty sticker or ugly as may be it is going to be non commercial or a fake as far as the rest of the world is concerned. They can't even agree with each other, one slab is ripped open and sent to a different grading company in the hope of a better grade and so it goes on, then you have those professional grading companies who declare a coin as genuine or fake only to end up with egg on their faces and back pedalling when the reverse is proven. Maybe we could use laser scanning technology to determine a grade in respect to mechanical wear, I have seen them in use for body mapping, so would it be much harder to adapt. Scan a coin, match it to a number of known other grades and you get a more stable and uniform grade ?, then take into account tone etc manually or even with a laser again. Take the greed and human element out of the equation and I might take some note of those places till then I would rather ask those on here with no axe to grind or monetary gain involved.

Ilike that !, but I am soooo tempted to spray paint it gold and wait for a chinese tourist to pass by

However, unless everybody else flushes their caches - you'll be the only one that sees the change. I've just flushed mine and see that your avatar is now cyan coloured rather the purple/blue it was before. I think this is a forum s/w issue. Every time a user uploads a new avatar, a unique filename should be generated so that all browsers will download the new image. verdigris coloured, please I am sorry Peck, but I have to inform you that having looked at your Avatar, I must conclude from it's tone, and it's colour, it is not covered in Verdigris but it is a modern Fake.

The second one is very low grade but rare, the French 10 centimes 1853K Bordeaux mint is a scarce coin with a mintage of just 1,268,672, this one has the rare error of a vertical vine leaf to the right of the date Those awfull french things ! I have 3 now, they just seem to breed from no where, one has no mint mark on it due to being eaten ! but it's an 1861 and I think it's a K due to the hammer and pickaxe ? as is on the obverse of the other one, the other two have a K 1863, and 1862 with a B that looks like its been double struck slightly to the right, so its a BB. I hide them in my drawer so they don't make my other coins look ugly .

try this one. I had to edit it and it may not be as good as the original. http://www.fileserve.com/file/RU6Hhxe/Strand409.pdf or this one https://rapidshare.com/files/1906165580/Strand409.pdf

Nice idea, but it hadn't loaded even after 15 minutes so I gave up. Thanks anyway Garry. I think the idea is you are meant to right click and "save link as". comes down a lot faster.

It's about forgeries. you will need to download it and then go to an article called crimes and criminals. I found it rather interesting. http://www.archive.org/download/StrandMagazine40/Strand40.pdf

Yep, facebook sucks. Cant understand it all. My pages keep going silly. nuff said.

an olive oil bath should get it back to how it used to look Nah, I quite like the new verdigris look I thought it had been At'd and slabbed as a VF50BL(ue). At'd ?? Feel the force oh green one

Hi Colin, it's that bit that gets me, they grab it, and "independently" ( yeah right, of course it is )value it, and then if the museum is interested and can buy it they will. i have read so many stories about that independent valuation Colin, how the British museum will push for finds of any value to them to be declared as treasure trove at an inquest, and then have it valued within their means !. Hardly fair is it. What if you own the land and do not want to sell to any museum, are you then forced to sell it to them if they can find the money it is valued at, that is hardly fair either is it. If you found a coin that was unique, would you expect it to be given back, I doubt it, at least that is my understanding of it all, it's a one of and they will do all they can to keep it. I don't have a problem with them "borrowing" it for research for a limited time, if they want to display it then they can make a copy for the public to ogle at. I do have a problem with them declaring such things as of national importance and then hiding it in their grubby little safe for eternity in case it gets stolen or is forgotten, so much for it's importance to the nation. I am not surprised things do not get declared to the LFO or the like on occasion. I read about the time team crew and how they treated detectorists, as if they are scum, personaly I think that mob are a joke too, but there you go, if I am to be honest, it is the reason i do not go detecting, I have the tool, but when I think about the red tape and losing my finds I just can not be bothered to go through it all, I may well be wrong Colin, I do not know maybe the reality is different to what I read or perceive it to be, you would be more able to straighten that out to me than most, I just think a man should keep the fruits of his labour and not have it taken by govt out of greed or for some museum. Don't get me wrong, If people are happy to play the game then fine, but do not expect me to tell on someone who I see hiding a find, it's none of my business however rare it is, my mouth is shut, and I apologise to anyone who dislikes that of me. I have a big empty field next to me, I know the guy who rents it, if your ever bored I don't mind watching and supplying tea and sarnies .

Thank you David. Well I have an opinion, but some may not like it. If the coins had been stolen from an individual then what was done was right and they should be returned, but I disagree completely with any gov't imposing or demanding that any coin or such belongs to them de-facto, and is therefore gov't property, I personaly would not inform the gov't of the find or whereabouts of a coin farmer Giles ploughed out of his field by luck, regardless of its perceived importance to the state. I have a personal dislike of those professor types etc who sit at desks writing papers or other such stuff on the labours of other people, or who scream how metal detectorists are ripping up the land and our cultural heritage to bits merely to benefit their own careers whilst doing nothing to seek this stuff themelves. It seems to me they are more than happy to sit on their backsides and wait for it to come to them. I don't suppose many go out regularly in the cold, wind,rain or other foul weather at their own expense and actually put in the spade work as detectorists do. What gives any gov't the right to claim any coin found is theirs ( someone owned it before them! ), nothing as far as i am concerned, If the conservators or archaeologists want it so badly let them go and dig them up, otherwise it can never be seen and probably rust or rot away, no one wins then. I spoke to someone recently who said we had the best treasure laws about, but whilst I agree in relation to other countries I don't as a whole, if I find one coin it's mine, if I find two its treausre trove, pfft, one or twenty, it's the same too me I am afraid, only the numbers change, if they want one for history and archaeology then they can buy it from me or borrow it for cataloguing, not shoving in their greedy little safes never or rarely to be shown to the public, or like so many of our "nationally declared" treasures, sold of to the highest bidder in many years to come in order to save their failing little museum. I could explain and defend my perceptions further but I don't think we have space. Simply put, if it's stolen from an individual it gets returned and the law takes it course, if it came out of the ground I say it belongs to the person who found it. Sorry, for rant. I do have a B1 laser detector, although I got it to find the wifes ring she lost ( never did find it ), I am not a metal detectorist, although I would probably jump at the chance to be shown how to do it properly.

V dodgy provenance by all accounts Typical everyone knows except me, late to the party again !. Someone tell me please.

Ooh I knew nothing about it, please do tell, or point me to a site with relevant reading material.

Once upon a time you could only hold a small number of gold coins here without a licence but those days are gone. Hypothetically any counterfeit coins could be confiscated but it simply doesn't happen, unless you're the counterfeiter. I was actually reffering to such coins as the ( excuse me if I spell it wrong !) st gaudens dollars that were allegedly found in a safety box, or the American 1974 aluminum penny. According to a site i was reading, if you have one the secret service will pay you a visit as they were never officialy circulated.

Let us say that hypoheticaly I had a number of coins from America that if they were held by a US citizen in that country could or would be confiscated by their SS, would the same coins be confiscated from me in this country, would the USA send SS men to take them of off me, or can they not do that here. I ask because I saw something about coins being confiscated in America !. Bit naughty of them doing that.

So what does a small date look like then.

It's because you isn't elite Peck. You need to know how to bribe the forum gremlins properly

I have received an email from spink. They do not own any copyright from that old firm. Dear Mr Williams, In response to your request for information regarding "Numismatic Publishing Company", we know nothing of their heirs or successors so can not help you in this regard. Sincerely Philip Skingley

If this is not you too. http://www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk/News/Reminder-of-long-lost-Stourbridge-inn.htm Snap !. The london gazette search has the old pipe inn referenced as late as 1890, http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/all=old+pipe+stourbridge/start=1 half way down. I gave up after that as there is a lot of naughty people in that area according to court reports and it got scary, still no sign of H.Harper etc or your token. I would imagine there would be some records about as it isn't really that old to be completely out of local memories is it.