Paddy

I must admit I find the tendency to start almost every sentence with "So..." rather annoying. If you watch Pointless on BBC 1 (as I do) you will see most of the younger contestants doing it all the time - even those with literary qualifications or occupations. For me it goes in the same category as "very unique" and "very real".

... Redacted - I promised I wouldn't get drawn into politics ...

You know me by now - I love bargain job lots! I picked up an album at an auction last week - mostly full of junk pre-decimal British coinage. (I bought mainly because the album was a good quality one, suitable for displaying better coins at market.) As well as reasonable 1953 and 1950 pennies in there (unspotted) was this 1860 in fairly decent condition. If I am reading @secret santa's website correctly this is F10, Obverse 2 reverse D, but actually the reverse is D* (with the heavy rockline above the LCW) and also has the sea not reaching the border to the left of the lighthouse. All in all a pleasing upgrade to my F10 with bonuses. Oh and it also shows the repaired A in Victoria...

Rather pleased with this 1845 Penny bought as an upgrade at an auction last week:

And I thought it was only happening in North Devon. Been in my new house for nearly a month now and barely explored the garden and outbuildings yet.

This one from today's paper made me laugh:

I picked this up on Saturday as part of a box full of foreign coins. Clearly lacking mint toning, but was this how it left the mint or did someone dip it in something subsequently, do you think?

Welcome to the forum! We could do with better (cropped) photos, but by downloading and magnifying I can get a reasonable idea. There are much more experienced experts than me on here, but it does appear right for a Charles I sixpence. I believe S2813 in the Spink book. The V behind the head is part of VI for Six - the denomination. The mintmark of a Crown gives a date of 1635/6.

Actually I believe the sunlight has a more significant effect than the temperature. I read somewhere, and have tried successfully, wiping a cleaned copper coin in mineral oil and leaving it on a sunny window ledge. A fair level of colour and patination appeared within a few weeks.

Aha! It was meant to be a dash not a minus sign! Sorry for the confusion. (Though it feels as if it should be minus - Brrrr!)

If that's supposed to get my sympathy, I'll swap you! North Devon this morning - 9C, fresh Breeze and drizzle...

Our Commanding Officer when I was in Bomb Disposal was Colonel Bates, but we referred to him as "Master".

Our favourite saying was; "The job where you don't learn by your mistakes".

Not I! I did have fun on one occasion whilst demonstrating the effectiveness of a dug-in gun position to a bunch of generals. I had laid out a range of small charges to simulate an artillery barrage and played it to the limits with the safety distances. I think I had one or two of the old duffers cacking their pants! Final piece was a simulated nuclear explosion, achieved with a 45 gallon oil drum, plastic explosive and diesel to produce a mushroom cloud. Very satisfying.

Looks like we are stuck with the old design for the Brexit 50p - just the date changed: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-51250753 Also some indication of mintage given - if they are right at 10M these will not be a scarce coin!

I can't say I have any food related memories that get me that nostalgic, however I do recall the annual family performance in the lead up to bonfire night! At that time local stores could provide only a limited range of smaller fireworks, so we were taken on the train (a treat in itself) to central London and the Selfridges store, where we were allowed to select the fireworks we most desired from the dazzling display beneath the counter. On the train home we took it in turns to take out our favourites and read the descriptions on the labels. (Can you imagine what "Elf n Safety" would say about that now?) At home, the fireworks were stored in our own bedroom for the week until bonfire night. On the great night we were allowed to light a range of fireworks for ourselves, making the displays they made even more exciting to us. The morning after, we would explore the local area trying to recover as many of the spent canisters and rockets as we could. On the rare occasion we found something that had failed to ignite properly, we then set that off in the field on our own. I can still feel the excitement today! Is it any wonder I spent a career in the army learning about and using explosives - eventually in Bomb Disposal?

The last bit on this saga - the final dealer has now been sentenced. He got away with a suspended sentence because of his health... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-51234408

We could always take the French approach - move the decimal point a couple of places to the left. Then the old pound becomes a Penny and the new pound is equivalent to 100 old pounds. Effectively winds the clock back about 100 years in terms of buying power... I am only joking!

As I have previously expressed here, my main concern with moving to a cashless society is that "Big Brother" will know exactly where we are and what we are doing all the time. I suspect it would be the demise of the Flea markets and car boot sales too.

First side appears to read "Moneta Revalie" and the second "Magistri Livonie". I had a look through Livonia coins on Numista and came up with this: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces156067.html "Modern copy of coin from Livonian order Reval. Tallinn."

This from the BBC today: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51134884 Honest guv, wasn't me!

To me the current design is classic PC bunkum, typical of the almost puritanical disregard for people's real needs and desires. We need art, entertainment, enjoyment, excitement - not meaningless mealy-mouthed platitudes. You would have thought by now they had got the message - the wishy-washy original objectives for the Millennium Dome proved a disaster, but now focused on providing entertainment and enjoyment as the O2 arena, it is thriving.

From experience I can say that Barclays generally do accept the £2 and £5 coins. Lloyds definitely don't. Anyone any feedback on any of the others?

... I doubt that is meant as a compliment!

I have a 1682 - it is pretty worn but it looks to be 1682/1 as well.