secret santa

I even sent emails outside Ebay with delivery receipt set but didn't get acknowledgement back. Most peculiar.

I've just removed myself as a follower but would be interested to hear what their view of my Ebay case is.

Just checked that link, Matt and it has my photo as a follower !!!!! Something very strange happening.

Around 2 weeks ago I "bought" a Squirrel Nutkin 50p on Ebay for a friend. The vendor was a "nicholsonmelanie" with plenty of feedback history (although I never checked it) and was offering the coins at £2.50 and open to offers. I offered £1.50 and accepted the counter offer of £2.00. To cut a long story short, the coin never arrived, the vendor removed all trace of themselves from Ebay, never replied to emails and I received a refund from Paypal. Now, he/she only made £2.00 on this transaction but I wonder how many people were fleeced like this. I guess some people will put it down to experience and not apply for refunds but this person will probably be back under a different name to make some more money from unsuspecting people. £2 from a lot of people adds up over time and is likely to entice more buyers than an expensive rarity.

and reverse

Pictures attached (in separate posts)

Just checked my spares and I've got one of those doubled A's.

Ouch - first time I've been called a parasite.

Great work Ian........................but you really must get out more

Clearly a Chinese forgery - sea doesn't overlap linear circle, numerous other errors of design.

Spink sold a nice one in June 2014 for £3120.

Could it be a Y from a halfpenny die/punch ?

Really nice reverse on that one - not often you get to see Britannia's toes on Ed VII coins.

I don't imagine collectors will be very keen to supply sales data to dealers so that they can charge us the maximum ! We're all looking for bargains.

Matt, is there anything important beneath the black splodge top right (click on tools etc etc) ?

Thanks Matt

Only one per customer, I'm afraid, Terry

Magnificent...................

Can you download pics Pete ?

Yes that's fine - better than Spink and now on the website (example 15) Thanks R

Well done, Mike, nice addition. I'd quite like a photo for my website if you're happy - the Spink photo was down to their usual standard.

Terry's new Victoria obverse with 2 extra teeth got me pretty excited.

Whatever system is adopted, there will always need to be an "owner" to arbitrate on whether a proposed obverse or reverse type is, or is not, a uniquely defined type. For example, Freeman did not distinguish between the 2 obverses used for circulation and proof 1953 pennies, the only difference between them being a single additional border bead and thus a slightly different alignment of legend to beads. Gouby's Victoria reverse ja is so minutely different from reverse j that some may argue that they're essentially the same. Freeman's George VI obverses 1 and 2 differ by the minutest of legend to tooth alignments, so minute that Gouby calls them the same. Good luck (and thick skin) to whoever is prepared to take this on.

I don't think you'll ever get away from having to go back to the "manual" or whatever becomes the central repository of varieties. Unless the naming system contains a lot of free format to catch the particular nature of the uniqueness of the variety such as B over R in BRITT, first 6 over 8, top leaf missing etc etc, you'll never invent a system that immediately captures the nature of the variety. Even with Freeman number, there are so many 1874 variants that I always have to go back to the "manual" to check the die pairing. Gouby's system is not very intuitive when it comes to dates with many variants but at least it is expandable and can cope with new obverses such as the 145 tooth Victoria, and virtually any date width. The important thing is to have a single source of varieties, their names and descriptions, with photographs, with single point maintenance (and maybe a small committee to agree new varieties). Chris P has mentioned producing a "new" Freeman with updated numbers but, if that involves changing existing F numbers, it would be fraught with danger.

I think in an ideal world, Michael Gouby would be the person to maintain a definitive list/database of varieties with associated Freeman number where relevant (just as he does in his books), taking on the role of adjudicator and allocator of identification using his BPYYYYAB coding scheme. Whether he wants to is a different question.