scottishmoney

Going slightly off topic with discussions of metal detecting and the Treasure Trove Act. However it does not escape me that one of my collecting interests, that of 17th century English tokens is largely supplied by detectorists finding individual tokens. The great majority of these tokens were not saved by anybody, and often after a period whence they were useful they were cast off which is why for the most part they are found in miserable states of preservation. Seventeenth century tokens usually never circulated out of a specific village or town so that is pretty much where they are found.

I would love to have an oak cabinet, but it would not fit in the bank vault too well.

Having been on some detectorists forums in the UK, I am convinced I could find the 5th David II Noble

I'm surprised they fit back in the case after putting them in coin capsules, it doesn't look like there's room in the case I have... These are small capsules called Kointains, I buy them directly from the manufacturer, but I think you can find them on Vcoins also.

Good show, enjoyed viewing your site, what an incredible piece. Just wish the boss would let me buy it.

I really need to get a Charles II bronze from England. I only have them from Ireland and Scotland of course. Curiously, apparently as with the Scottish bawbees of Charles II, there are many varieties due to the manufacturing conditions. It is a nice farthing even with the verdigris

From the Belfast Telegraph today.... What would happen if Scotland achieved its independence? Tuesday, January 16, 2007 Could Scotland survive as an independent nation? Paul Kelbie asks The Big Question Why are we asking this question now? Today is the 300th anniversary of the signing of the Act of Union between England and Scotland, and if the latest political opinion polls are to be believed it may be one of the last. In little over four months the Scottish parliamentary elections could see the Scottish National Party (SNP) win power, or at least enough votes to hold the balance of influence and push a referendum on independence. And according to recent polls, around 52 per cent of Scots would back moves to dissolve the Union of 1707, which means that after three centuries of shared blood, toil and tears, the marriage of convenience that turned a small island into a world power is shaping up for divorce. What was the Act of Union? The treaty of Union signified the end of England and Scotland as separate states and the birth of Great Britain. It was a marriage of convenience. Although the two countries had shared a monarch for almost 100 years since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland succeeded Queen Elizabeth I, they remained two distinct countries. However, when England found itself at war with France at the turn of the 18th century and King Louis XIV began pushing for the Catholic James VIII to be the rightful heir in both England and Scotland, there was a need to protect the Protestant succession of Queen Anne. Fearful that Scottish Jacobites would let England's enemies "in the back door" the Westminster parliament threatened to stop all trade with Scotland and deprive Scots of any lands they owned south of the border, unless they agreed to the House of Hanover succession. In return for creating a new joint country, the Scots were guaranteed access to England's overseas trade routes and the independence of its own legal system, universities and church. After much debate and despite widespread public hostility, both the Scottish and English parliaments were dissolved on May 1, 1707 and replaced with a new British one. Would a separate Scotland flourish? If countries such as Malta, with a population less than Edinburgh's, can be self-governing, supporters of independence believe there is no reason why Scotland shouldn't. Optimistic nationalists claim Scotland could be as prosperous as Ireland, Norway, Denmark or Iceland with enough revenue from oil, gas, renewable energy and other industries to invest in a fund to look after future generations. The idea would be to invest revenues in a permanent reserve fund and use the interest to fund public services, pensions and other expenditure for years to come. According to UK government estimates only about half of the reserves of oil in the North Sea have been extracted so far, which means that there is still enough to support a population of just five million people. An international convention has determined that the North Sea north of the 55th parallel is under Scottish jurisdiction, which means some 90 per cent of the UK's oil and gas reserves are within Scottish waters. As far back as 1975, experts recognised that oil could make an independent Scotland one of the richest countries in Europe. A government report saying as much was labelled incendiary, classified as secret and hidden away for 30 years until it came to light at the end of 2005 as a result of Freedom of Information legislation. In addition to oil Scotland has as much as 25 per cent of the EU tidal and wind resources, which if managed properly could deliver a second energy windfall for the country. However, like any divorce, it is likely that there would be a great deal of argument over the splitting of assets. Pessimistic supporters of the Union claim that there wouldn't be enough money to finance Scotland's dreams. Far from being rich, they claim Scotland would have a huge deficit of between £6bn and £11bn and would need to raise taxes which, unionists claim, would drive away much-needed businesses. What would happen to the relationship between Scotland and England? If you believe the nationalists, the relationship would change very little and perhaps even improve. For years pro-unionists have argued Scots could not survive without English financial support and as a result many English people perceive Scots as a nation of sponging whingers. Independence would force Scots to stop blaming the English for all their ills and put a stop to southern resentment at "carrying" Scotland. According to pro-unionists Scotland receives far more in subsidy than it contributes to UK coffers. However, separatists argue that Scotland actually subsidises England to the tune of almost £3bn a year. Culturally, there would be little change as the Queen would remain as monarch, just as she does in other members of the Commonwealth, while Scotland has always had its own legal, educational and religious institutions. How would Scotland fare in the EU and on the world stage? As a member state of the European Union, Scotland would possibly have more of a role in international affairs than now, as its politicians could argue their own case. Unionists have warned that an independent Scotland might not be able to join the EU if the UK was split. However, such a situation is highly unlikely, not least because the same argument of denying membership could be applied to an independent England. Similarly, many countries share overseas embassies and assets and there is no reason why Scotland and England couldn't continue to co-operate. Would it be secure? The SNP has already said it would scrap Trident, the nuclear submarine deterrent, and would prevent Scottish troops from taking part in any future illegal wars - such as the invasion of Iraq. This, they claim, would likely make Scotland less of a terrorist target. However, Scotland would continue to have a conventional military defence that would work alongside English forces in the mutual defence of the British Isles. What would happen to the rest of the UK? With a population more than 10 times the size of its northern neighbour England will always be the dominant force in the British Isles but without Scots troops and revenue, it would probably have to adjust to a diminished role on the world stage. And while England would retain Britain's nuclear deterrent, it would mean having to find a new base for the Trident fleet and supporting it from a smaller national defence budget.It is also possible that if Scotland made a success of independence, this would hasten calls for Wales and Northern Ireland to seek self-determination of their own. Could Scotland survive as an independent nation? Yes... * Scotland would be much wealthier and better prepared than many other independent nations around the world * Revenue from oil and other energy industries could be invested to provide a secure fund to support future generations * Much of the political and civil infrastructure needed to administer the country is already in place, and the people are highly educated No... * Without subsidy from the rest of the UK, it is claimed by unionists that there would be a fiscal deficit of up to £11bn * Nationalist promises to cut taxes while increasing spending on pensions and higher education would put the country in the red * If the bonds that unite Britain were severed, all the countries of the union would suffer economically and culturally

Has Charlie had the `op` then or have I missed something? You cannot ask about what you don't know or have heard about. That is the way Princess Charles wants it. Rumour hit Fleet St a couple of years back and it was quashed by Buckingham Palace.

£30 for an overdraft! Wowza, how about usury? They might just as well stick a pistol in your side.

It was a good theory whilst it lasted, all of about 20 minutes until I searched on Wildwinds and Vcoins and noticed the same conclusion, Christ lost his head when the coin wore down. On Vcoins though, I noticed that some early Medieval Hungarian coins were struck in syphate also. Another trend I notice with them, perhaps due to the differing spread of the metal when the coin was struck, they have much more frequent splits in the flan than the usual roundish and flat flans. Here is a scyphate example from Manuel I 1143-1180: And another from Hungary ~ Bela III(1172-1196)

For some reason, when the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was formed in 1801, George III renounced the old claims to the French throne. Perhaps HRH could make a case that due to his porphyria and the resultant madness, that such a renunciation was made under duress and is therefore not valid. Then when Charles III becomes queen, the monarchy can claim the French disease.

With Byzantine coins the image of Christ and sometimes the Emperor were usually in the design. It is presumptuous, but I wonder that because of this there was an effort to preserve the integrity of the design over time so that the image would not wear as typical with flat surface coins. Frankly it is one of the features of Byzantine coins that is a bit of a turn off for me, in fact I own none so far, but I would like at some point to purchase a coin of Justinian or Anastasius. If I buy a syphate coin, it will have to be gold flavoured.

Russia doesn't want to join the EU, frankly Russia will not have to. Who supplies vital quantities of natural gas for heating etc? Who supplies so much energy in Western Europe. Russia has a huge trade surplus, and the old bankrupt USSR is a distant memory. Why were Germany and Poland so concerned when Russia briefly shut off gas and oil shipments into Belarus and resulted in Belarus shutting off the pipelines west into Poland and Germany? The EU is very uncomfortably dependent on the Russian Federation and the whims of Vladimir Putin and his Oligarchy.

The EU is not going to admit anyone out of Europe. Look at all the noise from France etc that Turkey is an Asian nation. The only logical steps for countries outside of Europe is to look within their own particular regions of the world for trade agreements. The USA has done that with Mexico and Canada, as well as Chile in S. America. The APEC organisation is looking towards this goal in the Asia Pacific region. Membership in APEC includes Japan, USA, Russia, Canada, China etc. If anything I think the EU is going to go through some growing pains, and perhaps countries might even leave it if nationalism takes stride. The EU constitution was voted down in formerly driving EU countries like Netherlands and France. France's election this Spring will be an indicator of where France is going to go with the EU over the next few years. The election pitting Segelene Royal against Nicholas Sarkozy will be one of France's most important elections in a long time. Some newer EU members and candidates for the Euro are starting to have second thoughts, Poland for example. Estonia's economy is very strong and driving in the Baltic region, but... how long will that last with a huge labour shortage that cannot even be augmented with labour coming in from Russia and ex USSR states. I am not predicting the demise of the EU, but rather that I believe there will be some bumps in the road on a way to a Unified Europe.

I placed my Maundy coins in coin fitting capsules and placed them right back in their now 105 yr old home.

Something to consider seriously with Australian politics, they will more likely become Communist than re-integrate themselves with something in Britain. Australia will become a republic sometime, it nearly happened a few years ago but the referendum was buried in another issue. Frankly you have an independent country on the other side of the globe populated with people whom have very little if any ties to Britain anymore. Many of the earliest settlers in Australia were not settled there willingly so their descendants don't feel a particularly strong affection for Britain nowadays. Canada, with the exception of the French Canadiens, is a bit different. More people in Canada are there more recently from Britain and still have some ties to the homeland. People I know in Canada are generally favourable in opin of the monarchy though in reality it touches their lives little. Australia is much more integrated economically with countries in the region, China, Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia etc than it is with Britain. So any such link to what the British shall elect to perform with their currency is moot in Australia. Canada is much more integrated through trade and diplomacy with the USA than it is with Britain. It all has to do with proximity. The USA and Canada together have the largest trade betwixt their two nations than any other countries. There has been no discussion of using any currency in Canada other than integrating their currency with that of the USA. With the US$ tanking in international currency markets any such notion is unlikely. Canada's $ has appreciated 25% in value against the US $ in the last couple of years. In the short term that is beneficial for Canadian trade, however in the long term it is not.

Chinese and Russian collectors delving into other collecting interests are driving prices on their material, but also on other stuff as their collecting habits grow. I could not get over the availability of numismatic material whilst I was in China last Spring. It was possible to unload your cash for gold, commemoratives or whatever your wallet could be lightened for. The same is true in Russia. When you haven't been able to have something for so long it is tempting when you finally can collect without fear the government is going to come after you.

Yep indeed, you can click the wee banner right below my message et voila!

I have a link on my website.

And bought by all our Russian customers

The states quarters were interesting at first, but after awhile you lose interests in them. I don't even save the new ones when they come out anymore. The Presidential $1 coins mean nothing to me either. Frankly some of them are commemorating individuals not worthy of such. For instance Richard Nixon, for whom stuff is still being revealed about his chicanery even most recently.

Then you have some counties which are independent in spirit, say Cornwall. For they even have their own language out there. And even occasionally their very own sterling notes. I hate the state quarters, being near to Canada I confuse them with Canadian coins, which I try to avoid like the plaque since they are worth less than a US 25¢ coin.

You guys are aging yourselves with all this discussion of games etc that are well before my time.

My best badly listed was a poor image of a Scottish £1 note from 1961, I bought the note for £5, it is worth about £150 as it is a trial issue.

I received an auction catalog from Alan Davisson yesterday, he has a Petition crown in the auction closing in February, you can see the auctions at Britishcoins.com. There is also a nice Scottish £20 coin from the reign of James VI, but a bit rich for my blood.