Mynki

Another newbie question. Is London Coins related to The London Coin Company?

One of the things that has stopped me from making numerous purchases is the fear of being ripped off. I've looked at various offerings on ebay but just don't believe the UNC or EF ratings. In fact I've almost convinced myself that if I were to make a purchase online then the coin will likely be one or even two grades below what it is advertised at, unless it's from a very reputable dealer. Perhaps you should link to the vendors website and invite him to post a reply if he wishes to do so. This often happens on other forums I frequent and can be very useful on occasions as long as it's all done politely.

So, just out of interest, what would you all value this coin at? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Guinea-22ct-GOLD-COIN-George-III-1804-/171506612641?pt=UK_Coins_BritishMilled_RL&hash=item27ee9739a1 I can't see it being worth more than £120 - £150 but value your thoughts.

I always knew I should have selected a more masculine screen name. Sound / Peckris - I've been meaning to buy that book for some time. I'm sure it would teach me infinitely more than four coins ever would. But I'd also like to obtain the coins also. So I could also teach my son too as we're collecting together / building his inheritence etc. Thanks for all the feedback.

Now that I have your attention... In order to further my appreciation of coin grading I wondered if someone could sell me four identical milled coins. Same design and year obviously in UNC, EF VF and F condition. I wouldn't want to spend more than £50 on the whole set as it's purely for educational purposes. If anyone can assist, please drop me a PM. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for all the feedback. As a relative newbie it's very intersting to read the thoughts and opinions of very experienced collectors on both sides of the fence. Despite being in the UK I have interests in the US and spend several weeks of the year there, so I can to some extent appreciate the differences in opinion. Particularly in relation to marketing! I can see why many in the UK won't be convinced by the 'hype' though, and while there is obviously some valid reasons to slab, equally there are others not to. The situation is quite easy to compare to sport hunting. A typical UK hunter hunting in Africa is more likely to just be happy with an animal taken during a hunt. An American is far more likely to want to have it measured as a trophy with a recognised measuring service, comparable to a TGG etc. Whilst in recent times measureres of trophies in the US have created an industry out of trophy hunters. Sometines reducing the size of horn or antler required to meet a specific grade etc. It's quite obvious to me that the US TPG business model shares many similarities along these lines. Somebody mentioned the strong opinions of those who are pro slabbing. I'm not surprised, from their point of view anything disagreeing with their opinion is a potential threat to their investment, so the seemingly hard line stance taken by some can be appreciated.

Azda, forgive my ignorance but I'm not 100% sure I understand.At the risk of looking foolish, do you mean that would be a reason to slab or not to slab?

What attributes would a coin have to have before you thought it would be worth sending for CGS grading. For example, estimated value, grade etc. What would stop you having a coin slabbed? Serious answer only please. I fully appreciate that some people greatly dislike the idea of slabbing a coin and I fully respect their reasons for doing so. Thanks in advance.

Do many people specialise in collecting these? Thanks in advance.

Well I'm new Azda, but I've been reading through the forum for a while and can see you have much to contribute and also think the forum would be worse without you. The American chap is a troll and is clearly baiting you, he probably has nothing better to do with his time. Ignore him completely and he'll get bored and go away. Simples.

Thanks, I was looking for a grading book, I'll take a look.

That's a very sensible attitude to starting off - curbing impatience until you've learned to grade, and got some idea of what you really want to specialise in (though there's nothing to stop you collecting widely - but sensibly - to begin with, you can always sell off later the items you're not so keen on). I wouldn't be very surprised if it turned out that London Coins do something on those lines - after all, they slabbed and then promoted on eBay some not very special 1915 farthings (VF), so who knows? As it stands, their population reports are pretty meaningless, restricted to what they've actually seen and slabbed. Small picky point : if a Brit says something against Americans or vice versa, they can't be accused of racism. Britain and the US are BOTH composed of different races. Nationalism, is what I think you meI It's surprising how difficult it is to decide where to start. I did like the look of hammered coins, but found them a little daunting if I'm honest. I bought the Spinks guide (I know there's a new one out in a few days, but as I said, I am impatient!) but the sheer variety available doesn't make it easy. Bullion coins have some appeal as I firmly believe that silver values will increase significantly over the next couple of decades for a whole variety of reasons, but don't have the same interest or appeal as others to me personally. I wouldn't read anything into the racism remark, it was in direct reply to another member who'd used that word in his defence. Before reading the threads on this forum it was very apparent to me that there is some kind of 'special relationship' between LC and CGS. It would be interesting to see if anyone had the business accumen to market the virtues of CGS to the yanks. Writing marketting drivel on ebay does have it's advantages after all, I'm sure there is an opportunity there for someone.....

LOL Peter does have a point though. My personal view is that while there are a number of reasons for having a coin slabbed (protection, grading, 'saleability' reassurance and to have it added to a 'hall of fame' type ranking), the majority can be satisfied without using a TPGS. Capsules will protect your coins. And as Peter hints, self-education and forums like this will help establish a grade for coin as well as helping you identify the modern copies. A slab is no substitute of learning. The sales aspect has already been mentioned. A while back (and probably buried in one of the threads I linked to earlier) there was a proposal a number of members here join together to buy high grade British coins, have them slabbed and sell them via an auction house like Heritage. The reason being the observation that PCGS slabbed British coins often go for a premium in the US over what they would here. Now there are a number of reasons this may be true and slabbing is only part of it. Bottom line is, only one person can decide whether they think it's worthwhile having their coins slabbed and that's you. Some very interesting points there. It's only recently that I've taken an interest in collecting more seriously than my earlier attempts. I'f I'm honest I'm still trying to decide what areas I'd like to start serious collections in. The choice is immense and the learning curve very steep. Normally I'm the impatient sort but am trying very hard to restrain myself until I'm sure I know what I want to learn about and collect. I'd like to build a collection to hand over to my young son when the time comes and hope he'll share my interest as he grows. I confess, I'm also an investor and entrepeneur in other areas and this does rightly or wrongly make me look at potential purchases in different ways. From what I can gather, I really should look at raw initially as this will assist with being able to grade myself. I can see the obvious flaws with slabbed coins that have been mentioned and I also understand the difference in mentalities between the US and UK, I've certainly spent enough time stateside to understand how many yanks think differently from the brits, so their attitudes to slabbing don't really come as any surprise to me. So Azda, you really don't come across as racist to me, and I doubt anyone else. Life would be pretty boring if we all had the same mentality after all! My initial interest was sparked by seeing several slabbed UK bullion coins selling for an apparent premium to the american market. This made me wonder if there was any mileage in buying, slabbing and selling with the slab 'adding more value than it's initial cost' to overseas markets. This isn't the collector in me talking, but the entrepeneur. However, if it were that easy I'm sure a lot more people would be doing it right now! This also made me wonder if the likes of London Coins purchase bullion coins in volume and then examine them and simply slab the best examples to add a premium to their stock? What does everybody else think? So I think I'll probably look to acquire some similar raw coins and see how I do at grading them, and then purchase a slabbed version to see if I can see the comparrison myself. I'm under no illusion that there is an awful lot to learn here.

I'm just looking through the catalogues for next months auction. There are several entries where the estimates seem awfully low. I assume this is to try and generate some interest before the bidding begins?

Mmm .. I think I did mention controversy Mynki, though I didn't quite have this in mind! Anyway, welcome to Predecimal and, yes, there are a lot of interesting threads. And plenty of expertise in British coinage, so feel free to ask any questions you like. It isn't always like this I can assure you! Good. I have however been on internet forums or bulletin boards as they were in the beginning for some time. I've seen the best and worst they have to offer many times. I'll look forward to joining in the constructive debates going forward.

Well thanks for the replies gents. And thank you Tom for your message. I've been viewing an awful lot of coins for sale recently, and although I got the impression there was an element of tongue in cheek humour in post 2, from what I've seen there also appears to be an element of truth in it too. My opinion is based purely on what I've seen with my own eyes on the American ebay site. Thanks to the links to the other threads, there's clearly some very interesting information there.

Hi all, I'm new to this forum. I'd appreciate peoples thoughts on the following... What are peoples thoughts on CGS and PCGS? Is one more desirable than the other? And where in the UK can you have your coins PCGS slabbed, if anywhere? From what I can see, having coins slabbed just seems like a way for coin dealers to add significant value to their stock, is this a fair assumption or am I missing something? Thanks in advance.