Red Riley

It's simple . Does the coin have all the original sheen it had when it was made? Yes/no. Everything else is obfuscation.

I don't know whose definition of lustre you are referring to by saying that proof coins do not have it, certainly not one I have seen. Proof coins tone in the same way as business strikes, the main difference being in the preparation of the blanks and the dies which may be sand, shot or bead blasted. As such I can see no fundamental difference between the shine of a proof specimen and that of a business strike, the only difference being one of quality. The term 'full red' is seldom used in Europe and is in itself confusing as the tone is usually not red at all! With a little practice it is easy to see the difference between lutre and an artificially polished surface. A coin which has toned does not by most people's definition have lustre - hence the reason one often sees such descriptions as, 'a little lustre remaining in legend'. The surface may be undamaged, it may even look more attractive than a completely untoned specimen, but does it have lustre? Not in my book.

I'm sorry but I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. My view (and I believe that of most collectors) is that lustre is that surface shininess which appears on a coin as a result of the minting process and which, given the correct storage conditions will persist pretty much indefinitely. Full lustre = BU or PAS or whatever you want to call it. Anything less can be presented with a percentage figure e.g. 50, 60 or 70% lustre; others prefer to use such terms as 'subdued' or 'degraded' lustre. Whatever you want to call it, that which is not lustre is toning (or in the case of damaged coins, bare metal) and it is therefore not logical to describe a coin with such a phrase as 'full lustre, lightly toning'.

You've pretty much stated my view, Peck. I think expressions such as 'full lustre' or 'BU' should be incredibly sparingly used or the industry will lose credibility. In my view Victorian pennies that I would describe in those terms are very rare indeed - I don't think I've ever owned one and I can't even really recall seeing more than the odd one. To be honest I like a little toning on my pennies as I feel that it can give a coin character, but also blazing lustre is pretty hard to preserve and I would always be a little concerned that the coin would tone when I wasn't looking!

To be honest, almost anything with lustre (e.g. 57, 60, 66, 70). I don't believe it is meant to deceive in any way, but all the lustrous coins look rather like caricatures of themselves and almost as if they have been painted by hand. I don't know whether it's Photoshop or some other package they use, but in the final analysis I would rather see a more realistic result, warts and all. Won't stop me bidding though!

Perhaps I'm being a miserable old git but I do find the photographs on both the website and in the catalogue too heavily 'shopped to be overly useful and one more thing, one or two coins are described something like this; 'full lustre, lightly toning'. So that's not full lustre then. I know Colin Cooke's are a thoroughly professional outfit but I jut felt they could have done better in those areas.

Sixpence probably...(sixpences are about 20mm., shillings about 25mm.). NF-F I'd give it. Either way £3.50 is a bargain. Please pat yourself on the back! Sizes really didn't change that much - the last issue shilling being 24mm.

Far from being a legal expert, but I believe the law only applies to professional sellers, everything else is a 'grey area'.

Try this for 'To Hanover'; http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/coins.html. You may need to use the 'Find' function. Courtesy Tony Clayton

Some months back I started to take a hard line with sellers - anything I wasn't 100% happy with went back. Since then I have returned 5 coins for a refund, only one of which caused problems as the seller stuck by his 'no returns' policy. This went to appeal through E-bay's dispute resolution process and in the end I got my money back. Incidentally, I cannot understand why e-bay set 'no returns' as a default i.e. you have to go to some effort to change it. Many sellers completely overlook this clause when inserting items for sale and few seem to stick to it when the chips are down.

It's never been up in America!

Yes, I bought three bulk lots. One I felt was an absolute steal, full of high grade 20th century stuff and a few odds and ends. I actually paid a fraction of its value. Of the other two, one was a broken but fixable coin cabinet (very useful) full of pennies, mostly high grade and once again I felt I had got a bargain. The third, frankly I wish I hadn't bothered... The money will only go so far and I was not there for individual lots this time. Hence I missed the pennies going for a song, but generally pretty pleased with my day's work anyway.

'One Cent Piece'? Do you have any idea what country it's from? As others have said, we can't do much without a picture.

I wouldn't have said that necessarily. My experience has been that Spink's underquote the lower grade coins (beneath their dignity I guess) and overquote higher grade or rarity.

I don't know where Spink's are getting their prices from, but I am finding them massively less than useful on modern issues. Has anyone else found the same?

I was.

Leave him alone, it's his first listing, poor love! Have a good holiday. Talinn?

There will probably be some patterns in silver, but they certainly didn't exist as a regular mint issue.

It was just The Dove when you were sober.

I think 96.2% feedback pretty much says it all.

It's a sobering thought that our coinage is now made of scrapped Ford Escorts.

Yes unfortunately, pretty much scrap. The book may say £2 but try and find somebody that actually wants a 1927 penny in VF... Had it been a 1926, maybe about £80-£100. 1927 was a unique year however, as it had the modified head in its original larger form in conjunction with the re-cut reverse, but as for value? Sadly not.

ditto

It's good that some are shifting and your assessment of average just below EF is roughly what I would have expected. I actually rather like the QE2 sixpences, I think I would have got myself in a complete tangle trying to engrave the various bits of vegetation on the reverse! I will agree about 1950s coins in high grade now becoming rather scarce.

The one in my book (I think it was a florin) had better hair but not such a strong laurel wreath! I was actually giving this sixpence a little bit of leeway for what may not be a perfect photograph. As regards the 1919H penny, to me it is 'EF Weak strike'. My view is that it is best to reserve grading for wear, other peculiarities should be described in words. As for calculating a value, well who knows? I wouldn't buy such a thing without at least a high quality photograph, but better in the hand. Quite the worst obverse strike I have ever seen is the 1918 Royal Mint penny shown on P18 of the book. I got this from change c.1970. It's EF but the head is virtually featureless. The reverse is a lot better but still not perfect...