Nicholas

Photograph any coin that has little wear or is old or interesting. We will tell pretty quickly of any rarities ..

Yes, last time I saw the palm tree design like this on a coin was on a Ryal of Mary Queen of Scots, except hers had a tortoise climbing it!

Have a look at David Lisot "cool coins" Starts with Stephen Hill and a nice Civil War Pound he values at £7,500. He says of great historical value. Agreed. Then a couple of US dealers each show their cool coins with IMO very little historical value or interest, but both valued at 200,000USD and 250,000USD a piece... Simply astonishing. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Iou4FHNDECk

I still like the dateless 20P of 2008. The Royal Mint's figures state that less than 250,000 dateless 20P were struck of a total 136M mintage, or less than 0.2%. More notably it's a dateless coin manufactured in this modern century. You can't tell me that in 2008 there was some little guy working this big minting press all alone swapping dies willy nilly like they may have done 300 years ago.. Astonishing! http://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/undated-20p-coin

Looks nice Gareth from images alone IMO a modern classic.

V good purchase. And a good example of a silver coin that is full of original lustre - the point I was trying to make earlier.

Now that's a nice example. Would have been rather more expensive.

Harshly cleaned. To choose an uncleaned silver coin, think what silver might look like after 128 years - rather dull in appearance. What you want though is much of the original details. This you can determine by comparing your piece with a known example of exactly the same coin. Cross check individual high points on the coin against the known quality piece by moving back and forth across matched images. This is not a rare coin, I'd say you may do quite a bit better with more searching for 50+ quid

Without seeing in person, my guess is that not so much cleaned with chemicals but perhaps has been rubbed or lightly polished with a cloth. This is typical of most proofs- because their finish is mirror like and once you handle them they have greasy finger marks...so... it's the soft cloth treatment and voila! a false shiny appearance (that most people won't notice)

Looks ex jewellery mount then plugged and tooled at 12oclock

To get a really close image, place a magnifying glass or loupe directly over a smartphone camera shutter. Move close enough to the coin until it's focussed. You'll be surprised at the detail of the image possible. IMO it looks tampered with. For example the finger marks on Rev suggests artificial colouring of the coin.. Good luck and may the force be with you..

You've been more than generous already. Thank you. I'll get onto it.

Rob you are a treasure trove of insights. I can see the matching line of wax to the plume on the horses head so this wax pre dates 1919. Amazing! You clearly have a numismatic library at home that takes up a very large room Q. How does a mere collector get copies of Hamilton-Smith and Bliss catalogues?

Thanks Tom - yes a time when coins were coins! Rob, could you post an image of this coin from one of those old catalogues? I'd like to compare and perhaps test the wax image theory....

I like it very much. Oh but I definitely paid too much, no question and meant no more bids that day... Yes there seems to be red wax everywhere and different shades of red. Was this the method of "photographing the coin in the 1800's? Don't know how you did it Rob but your provenance analysis is mind boggling. Are there old images of this coin in very old catalogues?

Arrived today from Slaney 2. Different in person..

It's not a great web site design rob.

Try this link rob. http://www.goldbergcoins.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/41/?page=61 Choose Live Sale tab Then you need a customer ID plus email address to Log In

See this time things needs to be simpler if you want to run a global auction Mr Goldberg... Looks like 3am Melbourne. Great. 300 lots, 3-4 hours into it

Also, a little U.S. centric Mr Goldberg - what exactly is a start time of 10.00 AM PDT? I assume 10.00 am Los Angeles time?

I just love any hammered coins with some sharpness still left in the strike, but IMO Tom it's all about the portrait. There isn't any facial details and so the coins loses character and therefore appeal..

and 3 nipples?

Didnt know Bond was around in the time of James2..☺️

Gun money was supposedly made from melted guns during James 2. However I didn't know they made guns out of gold...! My guess is that the silver and gold issues were Specimens.