Paddy

Then Sixpence with Hearts:

OK - My contributions (4 coins in all). First Sixpence without Hearts:

It is always a couple of years behind but the source I use is the Royal Mint: https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/circulation-coin-mintage-figures/two-pounds-to-20p-issued

That is brilliant - thanks Rob! I have never been good at spotting the various shapes in the hammered coins, something you seem to be able to do outstandingly well. Thanks again, Paddy

A chap in the market has found this Groat metal detecting and has struggled to get it properly identified as it appears to be a mule. The obverse appears to be a Leaf issue with a Cross Fleury mintmark, but the reverse is an Annulet issue with a plain cross mintmark - and I can see no combination in Spink even close to this. Where are we going wrong?

I am also getting lots of requests for them, but mostly from people frustrated because none of them are turning up in circulation! They (like me) prefer to collect circulation coins from circulation at circulation prices instead of paying the Royal Mint's extortionate figures. It seems those sent for circulation so far were distributed to the post offices and the vast majority were taken up by PO staff for resale on the net. I suspect (hope) the RM will suddenly flood the market with them early next year.

Sadly your 1971 Twopence is worth just two pence. The media hype about them being worth more was a classic case of fake news. There are 10s of millions of them still in circulation. The rare one is the 1983 two pence but only if it reads "New Pence" rather than "Two Pence". Sorry!

If you were referring to the undated 20p from 2008, that actually did prove a different matter. The prices did go crazy for a little while after the BBC got onto the story but it seems they have settled down in the £40 to £50 bracket now. I think they would be more if the 20p was otherwise an interesting coin to collect, but with only two main designs (barring bust changes) over 36 years, not many people can get excited over them. Anoraks like me still like to put one of each away each year!

As always when checking prices on Ebay, click on the "Sold Listings" button down the left hand side and you will see what they are actually going for. The circulation ones are going at markets for around £2 each except Jemima Puddleduck, which is proving much scarcer and will make £10 to £15. Anything in a sealed Royal Mint package and will make more. I can't help you with the coloured ones as I can't stand them! Obviously the various precious metal proofs are also a different market.

Welcome to the forum! There may be others but for the older stuff I use the Coincraft book "The coins of Scotland, Ireland, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man" published in 1999. The more modern stuff is well covered in Krause, but then you are getting coins from all over the World too.

No problem, I will let you know as soon as I see another. 😊

Not sure if this one fits into your target area? A friend of mine has it and may be interested in parting with it to a collector. It comes with an advertising paper from Richards of Sheffield - the manufacturer of the penknife.

I meant to say Amazon - I got to distracted!

Actually you can get the 2018 Spink book, including the decimal supplement, for £21 including free postage on Ebay at the moment.

Nothing wrong with them, just in that condition they are effectively scrap silver. Scrap on 200g of 50% silver is less than £40, so £65 for them is steep.

Another one in the same ilk:

I disagree on a number of counts: 1. It is graded XF, which is a US grading and not the same as EF on the UK system. On the UK system I still think it would be around VF. 2. Book prices are rarely if ever realised in real life. It is worth, as was said before, what someone will pay for it. If you live by the book you will die by the book - financially at any rate. 3. I doubt very much that it would make anything close to £690 on Ebay - more likely back where we started - £100 +/- £50. 4. I believe soliciting sales in this section is against forum rules and particularly unwelcome form unregistered users. I do agree with the congratulations on a nice find though!

I stand corrected. 😊 I still wont be buying it though...

It looks wrong to me! I can't say anything specific but the toning looks very artificial and exactly the style that they create on fake coins. I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, even if the grade was correct.

At least they are real pennies, unlike this one - another of her listings: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1934-KING-GEORGE-V-PENNY-F210-UNC-MINT-STATE/302860191496?_trkparms=aid%3D444000%26algo%3DSOI.DEFAULT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D52543%26meid%3D64850ed04f4c488ea6384dadabc9a804%26pid%3D100752%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D302860817147%26itm%3D302860191496&_trksid=p2047675.c100752.m1982

I don't know for sure bu I have not encountered a bidding engine that allows "+3" though most now allow "+1". It may be that their system did not comprehend what you were trying to do and so ignored it? Probably safer to have put in your $600 maximum - if no one else had shown any interest you would have got it for less, maybe at the reserve. Or you could have tried $550+1.

An interesting thought arises from this discussion: There are effectively two ways of leaving a commission these days at most auctions - by contacting the auction house and leaving a bid in the traditional way, or by using an "autobid" through an online bidding engine such as Saleroom.com or Easyliveauctions. I would suggest you are safer with the latter as the auction house has no knowledge of your maximum bid or how many other bidders have left bids - the system just bids on each and everyone's behalf up to their maximum. The opportunity for a crooked auctioneer to start at a single bidder's top price is removed completely, and they run a risk if they take bids off the wall of finding they have over-run the limit and are left with the lot and no bidder. LCA do not have an autobid facility through their website, which will always leave them open to accusations of sharp practice. One wonders why?

Yes - but if your bid is the only commission bid he has it should start with something like "I have £300 with me..." and then each time another bid comes in, online or in the room, he can take the next increment "with me" until your bid is passed. At any point that the others give up, that is the price you should get it for. If he has two or more advance bids, then he starts at the first bid that clears the others. If he starts at £2000 when yours is the only bid he has then he is breaking the law and risks losing his auctioneer's licence or worse. If he starts at £300, has no bidders online or in the room and starts taking non existing bids to try to bump the price up to your bid, he is also breaking the law - this is referred to as "taking bids off the wall". Some auction houses have bad reputations for either of these illegal practices and regular bidders avoid leaving bids with them.

If there were no other bids you should get it at the start price or reserve price! No matter how high the commission bids auctioneers are legally obliged to sell at the lowest possible amount. With an estimate of £300 to £400 it would imply that the reserve is around £300 or less (they are not allowed to have a reserve more than 10% over the lower estimate I believe), so with no other bidding you should get it for around £300. The only way you should be paying £1900 is if another bidder has put in a bid of £1800. (Or, to be pedantic, one of £1900 but lodged after yours.)