Sword

That’s why I will get so much more pleasure owing a fully struck unc currency coin without bag marks than the equivalent proof in mint state (even if the proof is a lot more expensive).

Why is this tolerated by the various governments around the world? If this is not stopped, they will soon by selling "souvenir" £20 notes, $100 bills and so on.

It's obviously a gimmick by Westminster Collection. The purchase money went to charity, the Royal British Legion. They have got some publicity from it and is now giving the coin away as a prize. The flan used was a nickel plated 10p according to the bbc. An off-metal strike 1980 two pence in cupro-nickel only sold for £80 by LCA a few months ago...

Good to hear that! At least they are honouring the old fees in your case. "Third party grading" means an "independent" grading company even according to the LCA website. CGS is dependent on LCA for just about everything from availability of graders, personnel, premises and Semra ... CGS has now even removed the contact telephone number from their website. I guess it really doesn't matter to me anymore since I won't be paying their "elite" membership fee and so won't be able to use them again.

I have no doubt that Bill Pugsley can easily get an exemption from the fee if he wished. It is probably irrelevant to him anyway since he spends so much on slabbing and will quickly use up the £499 credit. However, he really care about the success and future of CGS and is giving them a strong protest if he is not currently sending coins to them.

CGS is making a real mistake if they doesn't listen to their star supporter Bill Pugsley. The trouble is that when a few of their big customers pay the £499 fee, it will be harder for CGS to make changes (as they might have to make some sort of refund to them).

They are the only UK based TPG company. I guess the slabbing concept is not popular enough here to tempt anyone else from starting. Hypothetically, I wonder if Spink could back a new TPG? Their grading is well respected and they are publishing price guides already.

I think you are right that they don't have the staffing to cope with the number of submissions. (Hence the three months turnaround time). As far as I know the graders are employed by London Coins and they grade for CGS in their "spare time". Could it be that they now have enough big customers and don't want ( or can't manage) the additional business of the occasional slabbers? I slab 1-3 coins a year with them and so I too am out as there is no way I will hand over £499.

According the information from the British Museum: The dies were made by Norbert Roettier, the Engraver General of the English mint appointed by the exiled Stuarts. The year of manufacture was 1708 and just after the failed invasion attempt by James III. These coin dies and this coin are the only known examples of the dies and coins ordered by James III on this occasion.

Glad to see that the images are well liked. I am attaching a few more photos of dies and matrices (thanks to VS for teaching me the term) taken on the same date. The quality of the photos are not unfortunately not great (I had to use a zoom lens through display cabinets and was not allowed to use a flash).

Nice coins and some very nice toning. The grades (from the PCGS website) are: 1902 crown MS64 1893 crown MS64 1758 shilling AU58 1743 crown AU58 1698 halfcrown The PCGS website is really messed up here and thinks that this certificate number is a 1868 American one cent!

Die crack shown in last photo.

I was in the British Museum recently and took some photos of the Gothic Crown dies. They are on loan to the BM from the Royal Mint Museum. (There is a hairline crack at 10 o'clock on the obverse die.)

Look forward to seeing more of your notes I think most coin collectors have at least some interest in other forms of money!

Nice error note and I don't remember seeing one with inverted numbers before. I don't collect notes and have just brought one a long time ago to frame up.

I have just noticed that if you click on the "sign up" button on the CGS web site, it is now asking an annual membership fee of £99! http://www.coingradingservices.co.uk/?page=signup It is not clear what benefit you get from having membership beyond being able to view their population reports etc. and this is hardly worth £99 a year. I have got my free membership some years ago and will definitely not keep it if CGS were to ask me for money. If they were to insist on having paid membership to slab coins in the future, then I am done with them.

Photos are allowed.

Every time I am in Oxford, I can't resist dropping into the Ashmolean Museum to have a look at the Oxford Crowns on display. Unfortunately, the Heberden coin room can only be visited by appointment. Nevertheless, there are still a number of impressive / interesting pieces in the permanent exhibits. I have attached a few photos just in case they are of any interest.

For the sake of completeness, the rest of the rarity grades are R3 (extremely rare), R2 (very rare), R (rare), S (scarce), N (normal), C (common), C2 (Very common) and C3 (extremely common)

I just don't understand how TPGs interpret the Sheldon scale sometimes. The crown is extremely attractive indeed. However, MS 60 is supposed to have bad eye appeal, lots of contact marks etc. which is clearly not the case here. It appears that coins with a trace of wear but has good eye appeal can be given low MS grades by TPGs in contrary to the definitions of the Sheldon scale.

I have read on p285 (on George III crowns) that there is a "W (Wyon) on buckle". I confess I didn't know about this before. After checking out my crown and a bit googling, surely it must be letters WWP ( on three sides of the buckle) referring to William Wellesley Pole and not Wyon?

It's like saying "it's REAL money, providing you don't try to spend it" It wonder if you can pay your taxes with them. i.e. do taxes count as "debts" to the government?