Red Riley

These coins are very seldom graded below EF but I have a feeling that by rating it as low as fine, we are perhaps jumping straight through VF without stopping. Although it was quite a nice portrait, the obverse detail was always very shallow and as such parts of the design did erode very quickly. When all said and done, a 1967 sixpence has had a maximum of 13 years circulation and unless it was initially a very weak strike, I just don't think that's enough to get it to into the fine category. We can argue about this one, because ultimately it doesn't matter a fig!

Academic exercise I know, but at least VF. Most people don't even bother...

I have had the same problem recently. There is so much gold being flogged on e-bay, all I did was log the prices the items went for and calculate an average. Probably more accurate than Spinks! I have often thought that the way gold prices are listed in all price guides is rather less than helpful, as the bullion price varies so much. Would it not be more useful if all prices were shown as bullion plus a numismatic preium, listed as say, 'BV+15' or 'BV+50'.

Hmmm... I've always kept my sets (purchased from new) in a dry environment and I live as far from the sea as it's possible to get in this country, but still they tarnish. As I said earlier I have seen coins in sealed plastic cases with bloody great finger prints across them, so it all smacks of carelessness at the mint.

All those I've seen recently have had some degree of toning. Some have even got finger prints in the fields which is a bit careless.

(Chortle!) I was thinking much the same thing. Look I know it gives some people pleasure but it just strikes me that we are getting bogged down in a morass of meaningless detail and losing some of the fun along the way. Coins to me are enjoyable because they are a piece of history which we can hold in our hands. They provide a link to known people and events of 200, 300, 400 etc. years ago. At a stretch I can understand the interest in relatively major varieties e.g. Victorian pennies with the narrow or wide dates where this is used as a shorthand to cover a whole lot of other differences between the two types. But where the only variation is a minor date width discrepancy or an 'i' pointing to a tooth or a gap, then I'm sorry, but I can't see the fun. As ever though, if it floats your boat... (runs and hides)

Looks like 1836 to me, but it is a William IV groat or fourpence in um... interesting condition! Is it a detector find?

I'm not a hammered specialist (there are one or two in the forum) but in my view this is the sort of coin that ought to be sold at auction. Condition looks better than fine to me, but as I said I am not a hammered expert. I won't offer any opinion on the value, save to say that it will be quite a bit. Incidentally, there is an Alfred the Great penny which is almost identical (Ethelred was his elder brother) but prices are not that dissimilar.

Take a 1935, carefully lower the exergue, then take a fraction of a mm. off the height of the date at the same time recutting the 5 into a 3 by removing the vertical line and adding an oblique one at the height of the old exergue. Very skilled job and after all that, you probably deserve the £100 or so you would get for a 'genuine forgery'.

I think I would agree with you John, the ear is distinct from the side of the head which is really what clinches it for me. Incidentally, a little anecdote about these little 'joeys'; just after the war, an old friend of my father, now in his late eighties and living in Canada, used to work in the ticket office of a suburban railway station. He said that the poor little things had become so unpopular that you literally handed them back in change and ran because people were in the habit of demanding the brass variety even though they were intrinsically less valuable. Rather an unfair comment on quite an attractive coin I think, but there is no doubting that they were wont to disappear down the back of sofas ans what not. I have a vague recollection from somewhere that they are still legal tender either as a result of being included in the Maundy sets or simply because they got forgotten about at decimalisation, I can't remember which.

Thanks for your info on this coin Chris,Is it a common coin and would you say the condition is good for the age? Lastly is there any value? I dont want to keep it and will probably sell if its worth anything to anyone thanks again The pic to this coin has gone as well! it was there to view earlier! Is it just unavailable to me or are other members getting the blank box with an x in it!? Yep. That's what I'm getting.

Ditto. I got a certain pleasure out of deleting adverts for viagra and fake Rolex watches from my inbox, so if you need an assistant...

Yes I think it's coming up VF. Has a rather rough surface though which may detract.

In reality that's ludicrously expensive. I believe Azda posted on here saying how much cheaper it was in Germany. It's not the £30-£50 a year that's the issue, but the £10 every time you want to access it. No doubt he will confirm, but apparently there is no access charge in Germany.

Has definite tones of urban myth! Similar to the one that claims The Daily Mail is a newspaper The last time I heard this one it was just before decimalisation. I don't think anybody has ever managed to dig up the copy you refer to. On a more serious note Peckris, how dare you criticise the wonderful Daily Mail. It's an outrage! They should bring back hanging for such offences! Talking of newspapers, I remember hearing the following in about 1970; The Financial Times is read by the people who own the country; The Times is read by the people who run the country; The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think the country ought to be run the way it used to be run; The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who think the country ought to be run the way it used to be run; The Daily Express is read by the people who think it still is; and The Sun is read by the people who don't care who runs the country as long as she's got big t*ts.

I don't want to disappoint you, but the first thing I would say is that the coin appears to be Fine rather than Very Fine. Value approx. £20. If you were to sell to a dealer maybe £12? I would like to have a closer look at that 'I' though.

The vendor has obviously been very honest in telling you this, but in my experience this series often exhibits a virtually naked silver appearance. Strangely enough I bought a 1916 half crown last night amongst a job lot of other things, it was very dirty and sticky and so I decided to give it a wash. With nothing more than a J-cloth and some washing up liquid I spent no more than 10 seconds gently wiping the surfaces and what emerged was a GVF halfcrown with a shiny silver appearance almost as if it had been dipped. I have often suspected other halfcrowns from this era of having had the dreaded chemical treatment but I now wonder if I have misjudged them.

I am assuming that foil is the similar kind as foil caps that seal milk canisters...it must be backed with some kind of material to create that lasting impression with such sharp detail. I would not recommend anyone trying this with rare coins directly on foil... On the Mohs scale of mineral hardness aluminium is 2.5-3 and copper is 3.0 so there is every chance of scratches being sustained! However here is my attempt, and I think it summarises my thoughts on the idea too! As your all friends I am happy to do a discount... Foil 1944 impression halfpenny RARE £125.00 Blu-tac 1944 brockage halfpenny RARE £62.50 Genuine Rare halfpenny RARE £0.05 Or I am happy to do a deal on all three for £150.00 Free postage, and I don’t charge for using paypal either :-) Hmmm... you haven't mentioned plasticine. I think I see a gap in the market.

Photocopy of the Mona Lisa anyone?

At present I just incorporate mine as part of the household insurance: 1) Who do you use, mainstream contents insurer or specialist ? Just changed from 'More Than' (stupid name) ex-Sun Alliance; to Asda Insurance Services who worked out a lot cheaper. 2) How does the policy work ? I just tell them how much the collection is worth and it is incorporated within the house contents; 3) How much does it cost per £1000 ? If it works that way, they don't tell me! 4) Are there any specific conditions like the use of a safe/bank vault ? Not that they have ever told me. Wait for a claim I guess...

Absolutely bloody typical of the Windsors! They own a 1933 penny and don't even care about it. Come the revolution...

Now who's the grumpy old man? The heading of this section is 'Nothing Whatever To Do With Coins', which makes this a perfectly legitimate post in my eyes.

I have this theory that no music is ever as good as whatever was in vogue when you were 17. Me? Pink Floyd of course.

Hi St. George, not certain whether I've welcomed you yet, but take that as read. I would go VF with that, don't think it's worth splitting the obverse from the reverse here.

A very good point Rob. Most coins though don't come with provenance but 1763 shillings are rare enough for a good proportion of them, you would have thought, to have picked up a bit of paperwork on the way. I sometimes think we are in danger of looking down the wrong end of a telescope when discussing forgeries. Despite taking every precaution, it is still possible that you might pick the odd wrong'un and unless you are spending too high a proportion of your available cash on coins then it oughtn't to be a disaster. Annoying yes, disastrous no. The important word here is 'collection', i.e. an indefinite number; tens, hundreds, thousands even. Coins are not fine art where you buy one excrutiatingly expensive Monet that turns out to have been painted in a garden shed in Northampton, nor is it the cut and shut Mondeo that leaves you in several pieces on the northbound carriageway of the M1. Coins are plural and unless someone throws a cartwheel twopence at you with considerable force from point blank range, do you no harm. The best insurance policy against being stung by a fraudster is the rest of the honest coins in your collection and a sense of proportion.