Paddy

What goes round comes round. This one was brought to me today at the market as a gift from a chap I had helped assess his collection of modern silver crowns. (He couldn't work out which were silver and which were not.) Anyway, a pretty nice 1908 Penny - I believe 2+D, F166 so not scarce but nice as a freebie!

Picked this one up at a local auction - arrived today. I couldn't resist such a good portrait on a James I Sixpence S2670 mm Lis I believe.

It is fairly standard practice for auctioneers to start as if they have a bid one below the reserve if they have no bids at or above the reserve on the books. It is the quickest way to get things moving and saves them having to declare lots "unsold" all the time, which is bad for business. It may not be entirely honest but most buyers know and accept this. More concerning is when they take non-existent bids "off the wall" to bump up a commission bid to the maximum. That is criminal and more should be done to catch and prosecute auctioneers who do this.

I begin to suspect that Ebay do not employ anyone to vet UK listings or investigate fraudulent practices in the UK. None of our reports seem to have any effect and if you speak to Ebay it is always someone overseas (US or Philippines). Anyone know if they have any offices here?

Does this work then? https://www.dropbox.com/s/hg8fzg1ro0gkrs1/Trump Border Wall Prototype.mp4?dl=0 P

They are being issued in 2018 as circulation coins. I do not know of any plan to repeat in subsequent years but as the Royal Mint is hell bent on making as much money as possible out of collectors, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Initially they were released mainly from the RM in packets at £2 each, with a small number put into circulation as "teasers". Recently a lot more have appeared in circulation - I have picked up 8 different ones in the last few weeks. There is no knowing how many they will produce or if the numbers will remain balanced. The final figures should eventually appear on their website, but usually 2 years later (so in 2020), but even that is no longer certain as their website updates have become very erratic recently.

... and "unique" now means "a bit out of the ordinary".

I am glad it meets with approval! It was a long compare with my existing specimen before I decided which one to keep. It came in with a bunch of mostly rubbish brought to me at the market last week. That is why I love sorting through boxes of random coins - every now and then you find a little gem.

So this one, which is the one I posted in for sale and is currently on Ebay, seems a pretty good strike for the year then?

... and this is the first one to make me laugh out loud in months! https://1drv.ms/v/s!Alos83kNwyLnsTmNsA9U9mE4ZRkn (saved to my onedrive as I could not work out how to post it otherwise!)

This one tickled me from the paper today.

Yes - I have mentioned this in another thread. Been down for a couple of months at least now. Keep badgering them!

Welcome to the forum and a handsome coin you have there! Sadly I would only be guessing at the origin and I would probably start with India or nearby ancient nation. I don't think there are many non-British ancient specialists here - you might try cointalk.com where I know there are several avid collectors of Indian and Asian coins.

No disrespect but I am afraid I don't buy the watch stopping the bullet story. How many bullets do you know with a perfectly flat end? That also only just have enough energy to dent the watch quite mildly? And how many "female RAF pilots" were there? ATS yes, but not RAF pilots... If you look on Ebay at any time there are lots of bullet stopping stories and I fear this is another one.

... and while on the topic, the summary pages for £2 to 50p coins are still missing and have been for a couple of months. I emailed them a few weeks ago and got a standard "non-answer". There must be a business school somewhere that teaches them how to reply to complaints or concerns without actually saying anything at all. The standard answer seems to start with: "We value your custom and take **** very seriously" but we are going to do nothing about it.

Thanks for the endorsement Dave. I will stick with the coincraft book for now - I don't collect Non-English coins so it serves it's purpose in giving me some help with identification. Also it makes a great stand for my camera when photographing coins, thanks to the ridge along the spine - and it only cost me £1 from a coin auction!

I am sure they do already. The only reason we are not discussing it is because they are impossible to detect by all normal means. About the only way would be isotope analysis of the metal content to identify if the composition is consistent with the metals used at the time.

I used to be a Travel agent but I got the sack - I took too many holidays. Before that I was a computer consultant - but they stopped talking to me.

Yes - appears to be an Alexander III Halfpenny. Obverse reads "Alexander Dei Gra", reverse "Rex Scotorum". Three varieties are listed in the Coincraft book - yours appears to be the one with six pointed stars on the reverse and only one star pierced, which is marginally scarcer than the other two. Their reference is SA3HD-015. Their comment on scarcity is: "Whilst scarce, these issues are obtainable but coins in better than Fine condition are rare." Values (from 1999) are VG = £60, F = £150, VF = £400. Those were probably well over the top in 1999 (Coincraft being consistently ambitious on their pricing!) but may be about right by now. (If there is a piercing in the second star the prices drop to £45/£90/£275 respectively and the reference is SA3HD-010.) I leave others to decide on the grading of your coin - my gut says around the VG +/-.

I found this among some coins I bought some time ago. I had not noticed before the circular mark, which looks to me like a countermark. Is it one? What is the significance? (A google search turns up one Elizabeth I Peeny with a lozenge countermark at Spinks, but no explanation as to what it signified.) As far as I can see the coin is S2570 - Third/Fourth issue Penny. Mintmark maybe Lion? Thanks for any assistance. I should add, last image rotated - Elizabeth's ear now at about 2 O'Clock. I thought I could see a head shape in the countermark but cannot get it to come out clearly in the picture.

Wow - thank you Jerry - that is good enough for me! I only picked it up because I thought it was interesting, in remarkably good condition for a jetton - and because no one else was bidding! I will probably move it on as it would be a tangent to my usual collection, so if you know of anyone who would be interested in it, feel free to point them in my direction. You may see it on Ebay soon...

That would be wonderful - thanks. I have put a post on Cointalk but got nothing constructive there so far. I got to something like Surmatent, but I wondered if it made more sense as two words - Sur Matent? Is the first word ECHAP?AUD and does that help?

I didn't think so, but a quick search on Ebay turns up this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brand-new-William-Shakespeare-souvenir-coin-Album-filler-50p-collector-silver/253951301570?hash=item3b20ad57c2:g:MBAAAOSwxLdb01-x If this is what he had in his collection he was severely deluded!

I picked up this one at the auction on Saturday (mis-identified as possibly Russian would you believe!). I am fairly sure it is a medieval jetton but I have yet to find another to compare it to. One site (finds.org.uk) has something with a similar reverse but a seated king obverse and quotes a Mitchener reference, so I wonder if my one is in that book? Any help much appreciated:

This has just appeared on the BBC local news website down here in Devon: "A large quantity of rare UK sterling coins worth about £4,000 has been stolen from a property in Plymouth. Devon and Cornwall Police said the coins were taken during the summer, from a property in Efford. They said: "The coins were not just a financial loss to the victim but of great sentimental value as they had been collected to pass on to family members". The coins included. A £25 gold & silver coloured coin A large number of £5 coins, A £5 Princess Diana commemorative coin, Five 50p Shakespeare commemorative coins, A £2 Isambard Kingdom Brunel commemorative coin A quantity of 50p London 2012 Olympics commemorative coins complete with packaging." Now I have every sympathy with the victim of this crime BUT - either the reporting is a long way off the truth, or someone is bumping up the value of their coin collection a long, long way! Or maybe the collector genuinely believed his coins were worth that much? In any case, worthy of comment...