Paddy

I have tried it occasionally, but can't say the results have ever been rewarding. Silver dip will get rid of the marks, but also all the lustre, leaving the coin flat and lifeless. Using a cotton bud dipped in silver dip or Ammonia or lemon juice allows a more selective cleaning of just the spots, but getting to a result that doesn't still look blotchy takes a lot of effort and is rarely successful. I have not tried the aluminium foil and bicarb of soda technique on a modern coin - maybe someone else has? If you have examples that are not too scarce or valuable, experiment and let us know your results. After all, the coin will still be worth its melt value, and that is all most buyers would give you anyway for the common coins.

Probably as a he "cancelled all bids" before ending the item. Maybe the earlier cancellation of the high bid was after the bidder requested a cancellation after realising it was a dud, and that triggered (eventually) his ending of the item.

I think on Ebay these days you can make an offer even if the seller has not included "or best offer". If you go to "contact seller" and push through to sending a message, you can make an offer there. Ebay seems to encourage it! Sometimes (I can't quite work out which sequence of events brings it up) a button for "make an offer" appears. That seller is in the US and prices there consistently seem much higher than in the UK, even for GB coins, so I would not be surprised if they get 2/3 of the asking price on most of those. As Rob says, it is much easier to drop your price if you have over-cooked it than ask for more once the buyer has clicked buy-it-now!

Is the 1991 Jamaica set any good? Just spotted one coming up in an auction...

I'd agree it is confusing. In the end the fact that the service is offered on the Post Office website, which was quoted, but not on the Royal Mail website, is the clue. I have run into this before - Royal Mail and Post Office are two completely separate entities these days. I discovered this when trying to send stuff to Thailand early in the first lockdown. Royal Mail site said post was now being accepted for Thailand, but the Post Office wouldn't take it as their website still showed it as closed! When I queried this at the counter they explained that RM and PO are now independent of each other.

I checked at my local Post Office this morning. Consequential loss additional cover is available through the Post Office - it is not a Royal Mail feature. You can get it added at the PO when you buy your Special Delivery postage. Because it is not a RM offering, you cannot do it online if that is how you usually pay for your SD postage. Interestingly the first teller I spoke to had never heard of it, but a more experienced person overheard our conversation and came to our rescue!

I can't really say I know much more about farthings than anyone else, but based on the images on aboutfarthings.co.uk I would agree - obverse 1a and reverse Ab. (I saw this post before but assumed someone with more knowledge would chip in!)

This one was outside my window when I was stationed in Hong Kong in the 1980s:

I am not certain but I think the Jacaranda is native to Southern Africa. Certainly when I was young my parents drank Jacaranda Sherry, which was South African. (My mother was born there.) I still have a "pottle" - half a demijohn size bottle - with the Jacaranda Sherry label on it. Currently filled with home made Apple port...

I am a minnow when it comes to Penny varieties too, but you can learn a lot from Richard's site: https://headsntails14.wordpress.com/ including relating Gouby and Freeman references.

I take it the 1971 Jamaica set is common? I have spotted one at auction if anyone is interested.

What he is doing of course is maximising his chances of a random google or Ebay search turning up his coin as a match. I have just done a search for "1915 Calendar" within coins, to track down an advertising token I have come across for that year, and lo and behold, his junk 1966 penny was top of the "results matching fewer words" list!

I have picked up bucket loads of coins in the last week and am enjoying sorting through them. This one interested me - obviously Tredegar 1812 penny, but very clearly overstruck on a Union Copper Company Birmingham Penny. Is this unusual? I see lots of 18th/19th century tokens, but have not noticed an overstrike before.

Nothing special but I finally managed to spot an 1895 2mm in a pile of Victorian pennies (I think!).

Thanks for trying @bagerap. Did you see the examples in the two links I gave? Seems unusual that there are examples in well documented collections without it making it into any reference. In the end I will sell it as it is outside my collecting area. Any idea of value? PM me if you don't want to reply in public 🙂

Beaten to the pass - another dealer has offered him £650, which I think is too high, so no deal for me.

Thanks for that @Rob - I am glad I was on the right track. If I get to buy it, it will not be for my collection, as I don't do gold, but to sell on. I have a number of non-professional collectors that visit me regularly and would love to have something like this in their rather random selections. All depends on how much the current owner is prepared to accept for it.

Thanks - I may get to own it, but I need to do my homework first!

I have been contacted by email with someone trying to get a correct ID for this coin. Can someone help? I believe it is an Edward III Quarter Noble and I tend towards S1511 because of the annulet before Edward, but I can't make the symbol in the centre of the cross look like a "Lis". Nor an L, which might make it the much scarcer S1480. It doesn't look like an E either - anyone able to tell me? I know the pictures are not great - the best the owner can achieve. I may get to see it in hand next week, but until then any help appreciated.

... Reverse:

I picked this up at market today amongst a lot of other coins. I am struggling to get a complete ID on it. Measures about 44mm across (1.75 inches) and is in white metal - probably pewter. I have found one described in the V&A: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O176361/medal-kempson/ but this gives no BHM reference. It is also here: https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1986-04-14-1 but again without a reference. I know a dealer who is keen to buy it off me, but I would like to get a BHM reference first and some idea of value? I have found similar designs used on medals and token boxes at several auctions (DNW and London Coins included) but not as a straight medal.

I can't see anything with that date in the Withers list, which is all I have to go on.

Last time I scrapped in a bunch or old pennies and halfpennies I got £3.30 per kilo. If my calculations are right, that means £1's worth or old pennies would get about £7.50 scrap - just over 3p per penny. (Time has passed, so the rate may have gone up by now.) Even though the coins are bronze, not pure copper, I have found most scrap dealers will give the same price as copper.

I agree websites are probably the best way forward and I am glad you have taken precautions to ensure yours carry on in the event of a disaster. It would be great if someone could recover and rejuvenate the Farthings site for posterity. Maybe a small consortium of serious collectors from this forum could form and fund a joint venture to ensure the long term future of these sites? With that security, we might be able to expand to include other/all GB denominations?

I can't say I visit your site, or any other dealer site, regularly as I mostly buy through auctions or when people bring me coins at market. I have just had a trip round your site - I can see no problems. It loaded quickly and without issue. I navigated around it with ease and there were no long pauses to load pages or pictures. The design is fairly simple - but I prefer that. (Too many bells and whistles can make some sites difficult to comprehend as well as slow.) Not having a website of my own I do not know what all the statistics mean, or whether they actually have any affect on the usability or findability of your site. I would suspect Google is just trying to persuade you to spend money with them.