Red Riley

Except it's NOT a flat disc That's why it's something different It seems to have two dates as well.

Peter is right, it is easy to look at these things in hindsight, but the public would have jumped on anything that promised to end the war quickly and the well-known attrocities that the Japanese commited in the Far East meant that there was no sympathy whatever among the populace at large for even the most innocent Japanese citizen. Not nice looking back but it was true. As I understood it (and I haven't checked this), the Japanese had not responded to the American ultimatum after Hiroshima and hence got the second bomb at Nagasaki. Incidentally, this bomb was actually intended to destroy the vast Mitsubishi works on the outskirts of the city but drifted off course with catastrophic results. I do have a personal interest on this, as my father was en route to join the invasion force when the Nagasaki bomb went off. He got as far as the Bay of Biscay...

My big claim to fame is that one day President Eisenhower waved to me. I was only 5 at the time... According to Keynes, an economy should raise taxes in the good times and spend what they have saved in the bad. Nowadays governments (on both sides of the Atlantic) spend all their money in the good times and panic in the bad!

It was inevitable that some day, someone, somewhere was going to send such a post...

I would agree with that, the 2nd most common of the 12 generally acknowledged 1874 varieties. Looks around GVF, retail price £30-£35 perhaps less as mid-grade bun pennies are hardly flying off the shelves at present.

Unfortunately there are lots of people like that in all walks of life. I have had many different hobbies over the years and although the vast bulk of people are honest and straightforward, there is always a minority that cross the line - from the golfer who doesn't tell you about his extra four shots in the bunker to the classic car dealer who pays the widow a quarter of what her late husband's car was worth because she doesn't know any better. Yes, coin collecting contains its fair share of sharks but it's no worse than anything else and in any other hobby you take up to replace it, you will come across the low-life that make you seethe. I would echo what others have said, take a step back and maybe a few weeks out and just let it out of your system. You will feel the better for it.

I once did a photoshoot for a motoring magazine with an M40 police pursuit driver - me in my old Riley and him in a police Vauxhall Carlton. It turned out that the mileage on the Carlton exceeded that on my 50 year old Riley by a wide margin. 'Still' I said, 'at least it's been well maintained'. His reply was unprintable. So that's the reason I run and hide whenever I hear a police siren. Honest m'lud.

Try putting a toothbrush in your ear. Hahahaha that is genuis Nice to see somebody appreciates my sense of humour.

Try putting a toothbrush in your ear.

I too am spending a great deal of time, rather than money, on old cars - but it was ever thus. On the other hand, a friend is threatening to pay me to restore his MGB to health, so that might at least supplement my meagre income as a coin dealer...

No offence to these people but having seen them on TV, the first thing they ought to think about spending their money on is an extended course at a health farm. That way they might actually get to enjoy their money for longer.

Who's defensive? Actually I really like farthings but can I sell one? Seriously though, pennies have been in the ascendency for many years now, I believe mainly because they were the most interesting coins for the 'Baby Boomer' generation to collect from change and the level of expertise in the field is unrivalled. As new, younger collectors come into the market and older collectors slowly vacate their perches, I think this dominance will fade away and we will have a much more level playing field. However, for many people, size matters and the larger silver denominations will always be worth a premium over smaller coins, whatever the metal (even gold if you take away the bullion value).

I wonder who you're talking about? I shared a stall at the June Fair and although other dealers do have a snoop round before the show opens, there is literally too much stuff for everything worthwhile to be snapped up, so it's not all doom and gloom. Although prices can appear high it is very much a haggling environment which can mean that decent deals are available.

I sold a nice AU example for £90-odd back end of last year but am struggling to replace it at a price which would allow me to repeat the deal.

Hi James, welcome to the site. Tell us a bit about yourself. What coins are you into?

Hi Fortify101, welcome to the forum. As you have already discovered that it is worth very little, I would also say that if it's a coppery colour then it's a forgery which were very common at the time. George III has always got a bad press in the colonies - but he wasn't that awful a king. Just look on him as a modern day (American!) republican.

I guess we're all different but like Declan I've also just bought a very worn penny - an 1869 this time. Whilst it is very worn, it has no damage to speak of, a reasonable tone and just good honmest wear. As I've said before, a heavily eroded coin tells you more about the contemporary culture and economic condition of a country than a sterile BU specimen ever can.

Sorry I made a mess of that. Should read; F-£450, VF-£675, EF-£850, Unc-£1100, FDC-£2750.

I think you've probably got half an error there. If as you say it is very thin, you are missing the reverse. The flan will originally have had a lamination fault which was sufficient for it to completely separate. My example of this error is below. There is no impression of a brockage on my coin as the brass 3d is on a considerably thicker flan (though there might be a hint of the back of the head and the crown), but the combination of thin flan and void of indeterminate size would make a brockage-like feature more likely. I would concur with that. The usual way of obliterating one side or the other is to put it on a lathe which leaves similar marks to the grooves on an LP record.

1971 11th edition (presumably marketed as 1972 edition); VF-£90, EF-£125. No other prices given. 42nd edition (2007, published in 2006); F-£450, VF-£675, EF-£1100, FDC-£2750. I may have others but they would take some looking out. Would be interested to know your reasons for wanting this

I think it was the historian A L Rowse who persisted in calling her Boadicea long after the version had been discredited. When this was pointed out to him, his response was, 'I would much rather take a woman called Boadicea out to dinner than one called Boudica'. Given her reputation, I wouldn't fancy dining with her however she spelt her name.

None of the crap belongs to you. It is entirely the property of Spink. Today was better than the sale 3 months ago. Then the system kept halting intermittently and updates were in the form of rapidly scrolling lots (say 10 or so). Consequently in that sale I was unable to bid on a coin that sold for about £150 less than I was prepared to pay not to mention a whole raft of tokens that I wanted, which p'd me off no end. Today was much better, though as you say, still with the dire audio. Video I can do without, but hearing the auctioneer makes life a lot easier. To eliminate the problem, I submitted a bid in advance for the piece I specifically wanted and it even demonstrated that the system was coherent as it told viewers that I was winning by giving my geographical location as part of the feed. First time I've seen that. All this is way out of reach to my unreliable coal-fired rural broadband.

There were two; 294 '1825 farthing D/U in DEI about uncirculated' (est. £180) and 295 '1825 farthing uncirculated nearly full lustre' (est. £42)

Up and down but everybody says the same. Seems like you've had a complete change of occupation too, quite envious at the moment but December... Wherry's OK but don't get me started on poxy Greene King IPA!

The lamb chops I got from Tesco's the other day must have been 'clear date' and they'd been artificially toned. Haven't seen you around much lately 400. Still on the Armada?