Paddy

I think he should have called himself "Norfolk an Idea".

I am certainly a home wine maker, but I am a long way from Milton Keynes (North Devon), so I am not sure it is worth the cost of getting them down here. I suspect anyway that they would not make great wine - as a general rule, grapes that are good to eat make uninteresting wine. They tend to lack the tannin and acidity that produces a palatable wine as they have been bred to be sweet and light. Grape jelly might be an alternative?

It would be a hell of a boost to our IT industry! Can you imagine the amount of work needed to convert all our old systems to £sd? When I was with IBM in the 1990s we used to joke that that was the way to really create "jobs for life".

Italian State of Livorno - see https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces51310.html

This card I picked up in an auction lot the other day - rather tickled me: It occurred to me later that: It would have seemed funny at the time because the thought that the vicar might have had any nefarious purpose would have been unthinkable and In the modern day his attentions would more likely have been aimed at the young men of the parish!

Also interesting is that he was succeeded by Caracalla and Geta - brothers. They couldn't stand their father's advisors, so had them all beheaded. A recent excavation in York discovered a Roman cemetery with about 30 bodies buried with their heads between their knees - presumed to be Septimus Severus's advisors. Geta didn't last long - murdered probably on the orders of his brother. Caracalla only made it another 5 years before too was murdered. Who would be emperor in those days!

This is the example on Wildwinds - looks to be a good match though the OP coin is rather cruder in design, particularly on the reverse.

There are generally two reasons for getting into crypto currency: The legitimate one is to make a profit by gambling on the value going up. This may be a great success, but may also lose everything invested. Doing through Paypal is as good as anywhere. The other reason is to use the funds for possibly illegal purchases, or to launder illegal capital, as crypto currency is largely untrackable. Not sure Paypal would allow this as you would need to be logged in to Paypal to make your illegal purchase or transfer, and that inevitably means it is trackable!

Certainly going to be tricky! Very little to go on - I can't really work out any of the lettering. The head looks reminiscent of Septimus Severus with the possibly forked beard? The reverse looks a bit crudely designed, which made me think of a barbarous copy - but that doesn't usually happen with silver denarius I believe? Good luck!

I might be able to help, but those pics are tiny and I am struggling to make out any detail. Can you post larger versions - if necessary one per post to keep within the limits?

Yes - I think it is evidence of weak strike rather than wear. Each of the 8 coins has a different level of detail in Britannia, but the rest of the coin is so sharp I think it has to be weak strike.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-58268540

Here is one of them for detail:

Well this doesn't happen often. At the market yesterday a chap brought me a small box of coins including 8 1908 Pennies all around AU! I believe they are all F166, so not desperately scarce, but uncommon with this amount of lustre. I cannot possibly use all of these - I will post in the For Sale section in case anybody needs one.

It certainly sounds possible - I will pass on to my friend. Can't be many people with that name writing on coins! Thanks,

Wow! Makes it quite a score then! I think I paid about £30 for the 4 penny, 3 halfpenny, 1 farthing and 1 brass threepence Whitman folders mostly complete! That one better go in my collection then.

... and finally a 1916 in rather good condition:

Next 1864 with Crosslet 4:

This one is 1863, I believe dies 6 and G so F42 - common but quite nice:

I mentioned picking up a decent Half Crown - 1927 proof version - in a bunch of Whitman folders this week. I also got a full range of other folders in the series - mostly full, much in low grade - but a few pleasant surprises like these (one per post): 1860 Beaded border - I believe dies 1 and B so F6 but please correct me if I am wrong.

Does the name Roger Bickford-Smith mean anything to anyone here? A friend of mine, who has become a coin collector in the last few years, mentioned that his uncle, the above named Roger, was a keen Penny collector - probably in the 1960s - and was writing a treatise on some aspect of penny varieties when he died quite young. My friend would be keen to know if any papers or articles by him still exist.

He has it as a "Private Listing" so you can't even see the pattern to his shill bidding.

I don't often get drawn to the dark side (foreign coins) but here a couple more I got a while back. I particularly like the Hannover piece as it is George IV as Elector of Hannover as well as King of Britain.

Yes, I know it has been mounted and repaired, but still an attractive design. The Hapsburg chin was the clincher for me:

I can see it in Krause - Y#335, page 440 in my 2011 edition. Described as "Unadopted design of National emblem". Estimated value bears no resemblance to the figures on Ebay though!