Nicholas

What is the 1953 penny mule ? How did it come about?

Talk about dream coin - look at the cover coin LOT 540 and the next LOT 541....take them both?

Yes Rob! Edward I Groat. Very rare on the auction scene. And almost never VF or better...

Perhaps let's say I have eclectic taste. Alright alright An E3 double leopard ... found by me with a metal detector

An E1 groat (not ex mount) nice VF

Supposedly there are over 200 Admiral Vernon medals ... This one in "Pinchbeck" a kind of brass with a few other alloys to make it more gold like.

For me it would have to be late hammered, sharp details, original tone, really nicely preserved EF Tudor or Stuart AND a great rarity eg Silver: Liz I Crown Mintmark 2 Liz I 8 testerns portcullis money Carlisle or Scarborough besieged Exeter Halfcrown spirited horse Rawlins Crown from Oxford Gold : James I spur-ryal with the lion Liz I milled half pound H8 Sovereign

Am I alone on this one, but I am unable to see the interest that anyone would have in collecting orders and decorations unless you are a relative of the award recipient?

Inverted A for a V, love it..

Any inages of the original find? Location, coin vessel, etc? This is the stuff I'm interested in...

How were the coins cleaned?

Off the bat, I'd say " nVF softly struck on horseman, striking crack 2 o'clock"

There are many rarities still off most people's radars... Trick is to work out which ones..

The rarer years (and therefore more expensive) require considerably more homework. You must know your market on the specific coin of your interest. I have seen some rare coins sell for ridiculous prices that may never be matched again in a lifetime. Just because they are rare does not automatically make them a blue chip investment.

Large mintages and scarcity. In some ways it seems rarity is perhaps somewhat relative... Especially when you think that if every 1934 crown was placed neatly on a table in a square, it would only measure 1m x 1m. Size of a small table top. That's really rare to me for a modern coin

I'll take it. However I'm not in the UK until sept 2015...

Does that include travel fees from Melbourne?

Yes, but that die crack does make an amusing image. "Tissue ma'am?"

exactly! Brilliant!

The date is the same upside down - like playing cards. That's all I've got..

I've gone a bit deeper into my study of Edward VI Crowns and have discovered that the young King himself may have contributed to some of the coinage denominations, metal purity and designs as well! From BNJ 63 (1993) C. E. Challis: http://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/1993_BNJ_63_17.pdf "In a letter from the Privy Council to Sir Edmund Pekham, 25 September 1551, we learn that it was the king's own decision to introduce the crown and the halfcrown and that he himself had drawn a design. Whether that which finally emerged was his in every particular we do not know, but certain it is that the form of the numeral five used in the date was his alone. The letter, as we have just seen, specified this as being that on 'the lowest pattern of 4 on a card of 3 of the spades'. Despite my best endeavours I have not seen such a card, but the letter has the shape, which tallies exactly with that on the coins. .." My question to the forum is Q. Does anyone understand Edward's playing card reference to the design of the numeral "5" ?

I like the description the Mint gives of the design work of the effigies on these coins..

First one looks polished

I'd say eBay only for the low end material and stick to the auction houses for anything better say >£50...?then Spink is coming Baldwin coinex StJames And for a more global approach, go to sixbid.: http://www.sixbid.com I'm a bit seasoned in this space and receive most of the auction catalogues automatically (you can also pay for this service from their web sites)