Paulus

You've set the bar 'pretty' high there!

Maybe my favourite of Rob's posts in this thread

This is a real treat Rob, keep 'em coming! :)

What a drop dead gawjuss reverse!

I just knew Rob would find a way to get his ha'pennies into a silver thread! Great stuff Rob

"Toned 1786 Maundy 3d in EF, the to the right of MAG on the reverse doesn't detract"

Have you been borrowing Dave's dinner plates?

You have some coins left?!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221491637784?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26ghostText%3D%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D221491637784%26_rdc%3D1 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221491637784?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26ghostText%3D%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D221491637784%26_rdc%3D1 To be fair, they don't state 'British' EF, and I think they use XF and EF interchangeably in the US, but they are quoting the Britsh EF Spink guide price, and I would say it is intended to mislead. Always surprised at the terminology of the Sheldon scale, a coin that we see as VF can be graded AU 50 over there ...

Nick, I for one massively value your posts and I am sure I am not alone. The political comments belong in the 'Nothing to do with coins' thread, but you know how topics drift! If you do sadly leave then please stay in touch as our collecting areas overlap.

Finally for now, a Christmas present coin that I suspect was sourced from Rob, and an 1821 Crown that often seems to be toned Would love to see all your examples (including yours Rob!)

A Viccy with multiple golden tones on the reverse And one of my favourite coins (much better in hand than the photos show, as they say on eBay)

A couple of early milled I got from Rob:

Following on from the popularity of the 'Let's see your copper coins ...' thread, and the recent postings on my question concerning the prevalence of toning in English milled silver, I have started this thread to gawk at pics of toned English milled silver. Anything goes, but attractive natural toning is preferred! Artificially rainbow toned US slabbed tat is specifically discouraged!! Here's a few of mine to get things started My avatar coin, and one of my first (lucky) eBay purchases

Revisiting my OP, it has just been my observation that colourful (natural) toning does not appear as common in early milled silver (or hammered for that matter), compared to later milled. I have a colourful toned Anne shilling, but I can barely remember seeing examples for Charles II and James II, while it seems commonplace for Viccy and Eddie 7, and less so for Georges 5 and 6. Am I right, and is there a chemical reason for this? Happily this post has resulted in some collectors posting pics of their toned early milled silver, bring it on, love it! Would be happy is this thread was renamed 'Let's see your toned early milled silver'! (Admins, not seriously!)

Me and Dave were talking about this one. I'd love to know how bad that 'thump' in the obverse right field is?Anyone seen this one in-hand? It's certainly pretty! It sure is, I've got the 'I wants' again!

I would be interested to know why it is that I have, and have seen, many Victoria and Edward VII in particular, silver coins with significant toning, but there are many silver coins that don't seem to exhibit this to anything like the same degree ... for example pretty much all early milled? Something to do with the silver alloy used I imagine?? Anyone got any 1787 silver that has toning for example?

Acquired a gorgeous 1901 HC from Coinery this week, very happy - Stuart, this is confirmation that I have received your coin and am pleased!

Another attempt to show what I meant by the coin having some lustre! I will move on and concentrate on my main focus! Thanks for all the input!

Harder to copy?

I like it too, although the eye is drawn to the thistle more than anything else ... just saying!

I should stick to what I know I think, until I have researched other areas!

Frank opinions is what I want and expect! It was only a few quid, and doubtless cleaned, but does look attractive in hand ... just wondered what people thought ... knew I hadn't got any kind of bargain or anything! Thanks Rob, yes it's very bright, I'll probably keep it for a while though, I'm sure I wouldn't entertain it if this was my collection focus area!

Please forgive me, I bought this coin on a bit of a whim knowing very little about Viccy pennies, copper or otherwise! Seemed the right combination of price, grade, and eye appeal at the time! I am an English Milled Silver circulation collector who likes to dabble in other areas, including everything else, to keep it interesting! Nothing like having a focus! I believe this is a copper Viccy penny, OT and wide colon to DEF, I am just hoping for confirmation of that (or otherwise) and comments as to appearance and grade It has a fairly red lustre in hand, which is good (I believe) and doesn't come out too well in the pics. 18.7g. Thanks for any comments