Red Riley

Actually it had ended by the time I got round to messaging him, but by none of us doing so we are our own worst enemies. If everybody messaged sellers mis-describing their coins, then its incidence, although unlikely to be totally eliminated, would at least dramatically reduce. Yes there are many instances of it on e-bay, but that doesn't make it right. I know it's a bit heavy for something as minor as this, but to quote Edmund Burke; 'All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing'. Q.E.D.

Perhaps we should all deluge him with 'points of information'.

Apart from the obvious ones (beaded border, LCW under foot) I find it impossible to commit the 1860/61 rare varieties to memory, and have to work with Gouby (more user friendly than Freeman) to establish what is what. I suspect I have developed '400 syndrome'.

This deja vu thing would have made some sense if my 2 posts had immediately followed that in which deja vu was first mentioned, but there was a sudden glut of postings which rather destroyed the effect. All the schemes of mice and men...

And a merry Christmas and a happy New Year from me as well. Remember if you're still standing 10 o'clock Christmas night, you aren't doing it right!

Should be approx. 28.4g. As it is likely that only one or two (if any) 1934 crowns found their way to China, then any defects to the original coin will be repeated on the reproduction. Essentially the process used is for the forger to employ the genuine coin as a hub from which he then cuts a die and ultimately copy coins from that die. For this reason, many of the copies are far from high grade and can be as low as fine. Unfortunately I do not know the particulars of any 1934 forgeries but someone else on here may know, failing that a search of the internet might yield an answer. Incidentally, there was a previous wave of forgeries emenating from the Middle East.

... and some of us are pretty stupid. Welcome to the Forum.

The experience of perceiving a new situation as if it had occurred before?

The experience of perceiving a new situation as if it had occurred before?

Another odd thing is that there's no rhyme or reason as to who gets it. The fittest people sometimes succumb whereas those you would least expect are completely unaffected. Presumably comes down to genetics.

Yes, best of luck Clive. My daughter attempted it a couple of years ago but got altitude sickness half a day from the top.

The 1895 seems to be unusual in that the mintage wasn't that great but a much higher proportion than normal are in high grade.

Maths (or math as you call it) was never my strong point.

According to Peter Kaye, you know you have turned into your dad when you put a stick aside for stirring paint... Sadly I've got loads of paint stirring sticks secreted in various locations but I'm getting to the point now that I forget where I've put them.

A really worthwhile exercise Declan. I wonder if it would be possible to pin this somewhere as it looks extremely useful. Perhaps you should try selling it to Spink's!

It is going to be worth a heck of a lot of money anyway. The best chance of selling well would be to send it to one of the more upmarket auction houses. A lovely coin even if gold isn't quite my thing.

To me you are looking at 95%+ lustre to be BU (which is pretty much Spink's description) and so neither of those would qualify in my book. Any advert for sale for the 1862 should make mention of the horrible black stain on both sides, especially the reverse. But I agree with 400, calling things BU is a habit I should like to kick.

I like the concept of the bid and offer price, after all that's how equities, unit trusts etc. are traded. Perhaps we should move to a similar system, the only problem being that a 40% bid/offer spread doesn't look too enticing in the cold light of day!

This coin has wear wear in odd places, the right hand and drapery to the right of the shield which is actually unusual whereas the visor doesn't show that much wear. The shoulder is quite bold and although the breast is comparatively flat, this is an area that can often be weakly struck. After due consideration I would class it as NEF, the obverse probably being much the same given the comparative completeness of the ear. But as I said before, AU it ain't!

I would have to say that with their shallow portraiture and uniformly dark patina, 26MEs are among the hardest coins to photograph successfully. Perhaps Ski could give us some advice!

Hi Huss, I did try to send you a personal message but I think your inbox is full. My message though isn't really personal, and so this is what I was going to say; 'That's a really good guide and you should be congratulated, so my comments are restricted to one minor suggestion and one typo. Firstly, under 'Buy from sellers with good feedback' you have stated 'true (not 'too') good to be true'. Secondly, in my experience blurry pictures and only a few transactions (i.e. somebody who doesn't buy and sell much on e-bay) can be a good way of getting bargains. However, blurry pictures and feedback in the thousands points towards the seller deliberately attaching a poor image, and therefore ay potential purchase should be treated with extreme caution. Hope this helps. Derek'

For what it's worth, I'm not convinced that the highest grade coins are always the rarest, which means that pricewise what middle grade coins there are tend towards the unc rather than the fine price. I think however that this rule of thumb applies to coins in which the overall supply is strictly limited - the 1918KN penny and 1946/49 threepences being good examples. With the reasonably common Victorian pennies where mid-grade coins are abundant, the opposite applies.

It's not that much better than VF! Perhaps between VF and EF at most. I'd rate it a £250 - £300 coin. Reverse looks pretty much EF, but you aren't buying the reverse on a 26ME. I will be charitable and say that the photograph may not do the obverse justice, although the ear doesn't seem to show that much wear. AU though? Hmmm...

Strangely this basic principle is probably also true for any KG5 penny, it's just that we don't notice it. Most coins were collected from circulation either around the date of issue or much later on when they were likely to be withdrawn at any time. When was the last time you saw a GVF 1914?

On the other hand, too many or long a password is a virtual guarantee that you will forget it/them as I know by bitter experience! I now use as short a password as possible for sites such as this one where it really doesn't matter, reserving the longer and more forgetable password for something important such as my bank account - still no guarantee I won't forget it though...