Red Riley

Michael Gouby is very close to there, close enough for you to pay him a visit while your wife does the market. Portobello Road is where I cut my collecting teeth buying odds nad ends from a dealer called Ken King - I often wonder what happened to him. The place used to be a real den of thieves and vagabonds but the entire area has gone stratospheric since those days, sanitised and just not so much fun any more. Personally I don't actually know if there are any dealers in the market itself, but somehow I doubt it.

That's because they're Norfolk-ing good! I'll get my coat...

Touché £400. They are all after your meal deals...what ever happened to proper pubs?I won't bother...or can't afford to bother. We are off to the pub...tonight but it won't be for the beer...maybe a nice steak for £6.95 but I won't fill my bladder at £3 a pint and £4.75 for a glass of plonk. Oh come on Peter, you're sounding more and more like my Gran every day. Beer was 12p a pint when I started drinking but then I was earning all of £20 a week. If you take RPI into account, I doubt if there's much difference. I agree that the quality of our pubs has gone down though.

Ditto, I bet you're amazed that an old fart like me even had a Facebook page!

II was going to say the same thing, not only because of the fair which is way too far north for me, but York itself is worth a couple of days of your time.

Dear oh lore, that rant was 'Grumpy Old Men, the Unabridged Version'. Much as I love this country's predecimal coinage, it was a pain in the arse to use. We have 10 fingers for a reason.

That pee water is overpriced whatever you pay for it.

Just to confuse you it's Gouby obverse J - much easier to look up than Freeman - whatever, it is still the most common of the lot. That type of reverse should have a sig. Have a look under the shield. Just checked the website i bought this 1861 from Derek, the seller states that it has 15 leaves, gouby OBV J has 16 leaves Doh... I hate 1860 and 61. Why do you think I didn't answer straight away? Per Gouby, the only two without signatures are H and J. In H, the 'B' of 'BRITT' stands clear of the head whereas in J it is virtually touching. All others will be signed.

Ee... where there's mook...

I often wonder what on Earth they sell. A quick glance at their website seems to show very little that I would want to buy and what there is is usually very expensive. Their shop is in a great position but must cost a fortune in rent/business rates. I know they sometimes handle the sale of various hoards but I just wonder what else they sell to make ends meet.

Just to confuse you it's Gouby obverse J - much easier to look up than Freeman - whatever, it is still the most common of the lot. That type of reverse should have a sig. Have a look under the shield.

It's 6 + H. Still scarce and worth quite a bit in that condition.

If all you want to know is 'what is available?', then the cheapest option for you is to buy an out of date Spink on e-bay which might cost you a couple of quid but would give you a good grounding in the history of coins in England and the UK. Obviously prices would be out of date, but if that doesn't worry you, then it's a 'best buy'.

Perhaps it was produced during the process of training up a new operative. Such items would almost invariably have been returned to the melting pot but maybe this one escaped. Incidentally, I did want to thank Chris for pointing out that the 1883 sixpence I have on my website is actually an unrecorded variety not listed in Rayner or Davies and as such worth rather (OK a lot) more than I was charging.

As a collector I agree with you 100%. I always kept the odd lower grade penny, common dates in my frontline collection and I never did own a lustrous 1899, 1905, 1911 or 1922 penny simply because I liked the strike/toning of the coins I already held or because the process by which I acquired them was memorable in some way. As a dealer it's different and I wouldn't have bought the lower grade coins in a hundred years as they would be very difficult to dispose of. I hope this comes out OK but I love virtually everything about this coin, which to my mind has masses more character than a purely lustrous specimen;

The mint produced 'maundy' fourpences dated 1702, which is interesting because technically he had died in 1701.

Sour faced old rat bag. No not you 400!

This thread is suffering from acute subject drift, but hey I'll go with the flow. Although they too are suffering from unpopular owners, it's not Manyoo that I want to see in free fall, at least they have some kind of sustainable business model despite the owners debts being lumped onto the club, no I am waiting for the day when Roman Abramovic decides he would rather have a Formula 1 racing team than a football club and Chelsea head back to the Southern League at the speed of a Peter Osgood piledriver.

I don't think the problem at Liverpool is the manager (let's face it, Roy Hodgson was about the best around in August this year) but the lack of quality in the squad probably brought about by cash constraints and the bizarre owners you've had in recent years. Personally I think Liverpool could have some way to fall yet. However, every cloud has a silver lining and if you ask me nicely, I can get you a free ticket for the away league match at Wycombe Wanderers.

Good idea. If the coins turn out to be worth zip then you won't have wasted any money.

I can understand that you don't feel the need to profit from them and don't particularly want the hassle of selling them on e-bay. Unfortunately, the time for them to appeal to real collectors as opposed to speculators is not yet and you would have the Dickens of a job preventing those whom you gave the coins to from selling them at a profit. As a previous contributor said, if you want someone to benefit, then give them or sell them at face value to a charity who would be only too pleased to get volunteers to sell them on their behalf. Up to you of course...

Agree 100% Rob. I simply had to make a choice, I couldn't afford to collect the coins that I was now hankering after, so I had to bite the bullet and put everything up for sale as the core of a business.

It certainly shouts 'Italian' but I'm going 16th century. OK, here's my punt - Venetian, 1560. Keep us informed Huss, I'll be fascinated to learn just what it is.

I think you just have to bite the bullet and accept returns in all circumstances. May hurt your pride occasionally but should prevent negative feedback, and to be fair, most buyers are honest so shouldn't cause a disproportionate amount of hassle.

My father was stationed in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch during the war and he taught me how to say it, but that is about the limit of my Welsh. Anyway, welcome to the forum Sion.