Paddy

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!

I think it is called Horsetail or Mare's Tail. See https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=257 for advice.

The 1888 and 1909 look very obviously heavily cleaned to me. It is not just the colour, but also the evidence of quite a bit of wear, which is at odds with the apparent lustre. I see quite a few like this, where some amateur has been at them with lemon juice or similar. I would be less certain of the 1854 - the wear and residual lustre look much more in keeping.

Welcome to the forum Greg! You ask a lot of questions that needs long answers, and I am sure others will chip in with their thoughts. Just to let you know, I also live in Devon, so if you would like to meet up, we can discuss and I can pass on my thoughts. (I have been collecting and dealing for 20 years+.) I am in Barnstaple Pannier market most Wednesdays, if you are in North Devon?

I still think this is the best way to deal with them:

He can't even get the date right!

That must rank alongside Ratners for a quick way to lose your job!

Another nice find for someone: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-57520248

Funny I had one as well today.

I use the Coincraft book that Rob mentions. I am not in general a fan of Coincraft, but this book is not bad and at least is not printed on toilet paper, like some of theirs. I picked it up very cheap at a coin club auction. It is on Amazon but currently cheapest is just over £80.

Nothing at all after the first - not even an aching arm. I had the second last Friday - I have felt a little tired and had a slight headache occasionally since, but whether this is because of the jab or not, I can't tell.

Another snippet from the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57170608

A couple of principles that help with Mechanical problems: "If it jams, force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway." "If all else fails, read the instructions."

Unfortunately many voting decisions (in fact most decisions in life) are made on the basis of emotion rather than logic. In the political world, you can spot when emotion has got the better of logic, when people start slinging personal insults rather than discussing the actual facts and policies that are important. The other indicator is when people start quoting "facts" that are uncorroborated, inaccurate or irrelevant. Virtually everyone in the media comes with a political bias, often emotional rather than logical, so they rarely question the mud-slinging or the misinformation. Sells more papers to keep stirring the pot.

I can't abide the first day cover/coin combination. Always struck me as one of the worst marketing ploys ever - tagging successful coin collecting market onto the rapidly collapsing first day cover market. The 1996 £2 coin though is one of my favourites of the decimal era. Shows what happen when "real" people get to design rather than trendy art students.

The trouble I think is we have too many "politicians" and not enough "leaders". Whatever you think of Boris's political views, at least he has leadership qualities, which are probably what we most needed during the pandemic. Leaders, almost inevitably, have more character, and that often comes with flaws. We should be more tolerant of these as most of the rest of the world are. (I am thinking particularly of the French and the Italians!) Politicians are trained in the process of politics and diplomacy, but somehow end up just following the process rather than leading their party or country. They end up as "grey" men and women. The other problem is we still have far too many lawyers in parliament, with the net result that their reaction to any situation is to pass more laws rather than address the problems underlying the issue. (There is another agenda too - make the laws as obtuse and complicated as possible to keep their colleagues in work for ever!)