Paddy

I tend to use DNW - I have found them very reliable, and their identification and grading is far more robust than LCA. I have not used Lockdales or any other Coin specialist auctioneers yet, so I can't comment on them.

If I am going to be away for a few days I arrange to leave the key parts of the collection with a close friend or relative. The bulk of the valuable stuff will fit in one small crate in the albums - heavy but manageable.

As always it is demand that dictates the price rather than straight rarity. There are many more collectors for the few serious 20th century varieties than the far more numerous 19th century ones. A more modern example is the Kew Gardens 50p - some 200,000 made I believe and much more sought after and expensive than the 2009 Athletics 50p, of which only 17,500 or so were made. Similarly with the 1869 penny - for any date collectors, it is a must have and far more desirable than the endless minor varieties on the 1860.

I suggest locking them in a large warehouse with a good selection of the thousands of people they inconvenienced. I think they would happily take 5 years in gaol instead of that!

My one and only really "old" book is Folkes' Tables of English Coins from 1763. Superb leather bound and gilded with wonderful wood cuts of many interesting hammered coins.

You are safe with Roman - I can read "IMP CONSTAN...." on the obverse. Thereafter it becomes more difficult - Constantine... Constantius... Constans... and which number...? A Roman specialist may be able to nail it down exactly.

The usual reason for sniping is to avoid attracting other bidders to the item you want and so reduce competition. As soon as an item starts shooting up it becomes obvious to others that there is something interesting there. If this happens early on, people have a chance to investigate and also test how high others have bid by putting in bids of their own. All this is impossible if it is all happening in the last few seconds of bidding. That is the only way you save money by sniping - you hope to reduce competitive bidding.

I suspect it means: "What Ebay wants to push the hardest"! It will be things from their favoured sellers - the ones that make them the most money.

Your link is back into the forum - not to any "interesting Maundy Set" ... 🙂

It's when they stop coming that you need to worry! 😁

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.