damian1986

Yeah he said he would until he could reattribute. Can't argue with the seller's response. I blame a lack of sleep and too much caffeine. See I'll pay more than whatever would be a commonly accepted value for a coin if it appeals to me, but the idea that a coin that came out of auction only a couple of months ago is now worth double by virtue of the magic shrine that is the slab just gets me ticking a bit. Some coins you could probably list at double the cost price and get a buyer no problem but this is a common one that was bought at the upper estimate. Yes Maximinus I. There are a few coins struck in the name of Maximus who was his son. It's not 531A as that is a sestertius rather than a denarius but it's the same design.

Heard back from the seller and I feel like a bit of a dick whining about such a piece. He actually sends them off to the TPGs to get the attribution so in this instance the whole process has fallen on its arse.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236-238-AD-Maximus-Silver-Denarius-CGS-55-/331211751705?pt=UK_Coins_Ancient_RL&hash=item4d1dc24119 It's not Maximus... Misattributed by CGS so arguably not the seller's 'fault' but still. This came out of Lockdale's in March for £80 hammer, really wouldn't have bothered having it slabbed as £200 is silly. And 'finest known' is surely redundant as the vast majority of these aren't being entombed by the tpgs.

Thanks Peter, I'll readily buy the Rotographic publications hadn't seen this one. Easy too to get it sent straight to Kindle. I just bought The Brussels Hoard of 1908. There's an article in BNJ from 1912 but you wonder how much ground an article from 100 years ago is covering and what has changed since then but there's something to be said for tracing the development of classification / understanding of these things rather than just cross-referencing against Spink. It's all a work in progress.

I wish the time to edit posts was a little bit longer... the hEN and III is not an identifying factor for the monarch.

It's Henry III. You can make out hEN and later a III from the obverse. On Edward I long cross pennies the portrait has proper curls. The reverse looks to me like NICOLE ON LVND or thereabouts so it was minted by Nicole at London. There are quite a few obverse varieties with the sceptre, classes IV and V - I'd say this is class Va or Vb as the face is narrower and the eyes very round. I am waiting on a copy of Christopher Wren's book on Long Cross coinage identification. May be worth a look for in the region of £12. Actually I don't know what would be the best resource for these would guess probably North's hammered coinage but haven't found a copy of that at the right price yet.

It's a shame that St George is falling asleep on the 2012 piece and that 2005 was put together as a stick-and-paste job with a St George that looks like a mildly aggrieved Reg Holdsworth squinting after having lost his glasses ("al gi' thee a backhander lad who doest' think ya are wit' one wing 'n no belly?") Bringing the 1935 crown into the equation and the order would be 1871, 1935, 2012, 2005. There are some nice St. George and Dragon designs on the older German talers and some Italian and Hungarian coins which would make for a more difficult comparison but Pistrucci still wins this one for me. Everything he did seems to have attached a real sense of grandeur and his works were deeply rooted in the works of the ancient past. The modern pieces, whether aesthetically pleasing to you or not, completely lack substance.

Probably the only thing I regret about purchases I made in the last 6 months is shoehorning coins into my collection because they were available and ticked a box. So I had a think / whinge about how I could get what I want whilst still being "representative". Your goals give you a lot of flexibility but there's a risk of buying a coin because it's the only one that's within your per-coin budget just to meet the criteria of having got something for that particular monarch. Don't buy a coin for 3 months and you can have one of these http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/3664-coin-aquisition-of-the-week/?p=106621 (if you can find one this good). But then 3 months is a long time to wait... it's difficult. I find this useful. The problem is that these sidelines get cocky and before you know it... The first post I made here was about not buying coins in the best grades you can afford, because doing so means you can't cover as much ground as quickly. But then the more ground you want to cover you end up having to fork out the cash anyway and doing things quickly means you'll probably defer most of your research until you have the 24 coins sat in front of you. At which point you may only be happy with half a dozen of them and decide you want to change focus or upgrade the rest. I'm personally always trying to mitigate against that, and I guess you are too otherwise you wouldn't have asked the question. I think now: short term goals with a view to larger ones. This has meant buying things I didn't plan on collecting originally, but also not giving a shit about some coins I'd originally planned to buy.

Very likely. Looks to be a 9b of Edward I. Thanks Clive, I'm being a little harsh I know - keywords like "unresearched" will index better so he'll get more exposure in searches and I appreciate he needs to shift the coin I just get fed up with the marketing. Regarding Saxbys I don't think I could ever buy a coin from them now, even if it was something I really needed and everything seemed in order. Out of principle. I can't find the post we had recently with the nuked coin but what possessed him to respond to a bidder with "you're naive"? How about hold your hands up and admit to being found out. No one seems to do that nowadays. As if his reputation isn't tarnished enough as far as anybody who gives a shit is concerned - what is he actually defending? I know the attitude seems to be "let the buyer beware" and all that, which is fair enough to a point, but surely we're morally obliged to to act within the confines of what is fair and productive to society - he's not going to struggle to put bread on the table or have to fire his staff if he gets an honest price for something. It just makes people more defensive. "By directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention." -- I'm pretty sure this breaks down somewhere at doin' people out of a few quid

I presume he means unresearched in terms of king or class. But yes, I agree, there's clearly been some research done! Ah I just think seller is using 'unresearched' in lieu of 'low grade' or 'unidentifiable'. As a buyer I'd be more comfortable with 'unresearched' rather than 'hard to tell', but its misleading - he probably did his research but didn't get anywhere with it, which is different. Can you make out the king and class Clive?

Incidentally I like how this seller was able to identify the denomination and mint and assign a BIN price to this unresearched piece: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Unresearched-Silver-Hammered-Long-Cross-Penny-/360950798199?pt=UK_Coins_BritishHammered_RL&hash=item540a581777

You know I did think it was his wife at first, 'tache and all. If not his wife, then who is she? As it goes the design is fairly accurate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_I_of_Prussia

You know I did think it was his wife at first, 'tache and all.

KM#525. 2 Mark. 1901. Wilhelm II, Prussia (Berlin mint). Commemorating 200 years of Prussia as a kingdom. Pretty common, nicely toned imho. KM#500. 1 Thaler. 1871. Wilhelm I, Prussia (Berlin mint). Celebrates victory over France in the Franco-Prussian war. Seated figure is pleasing to look at under a glass. Hair detail look a little flat but no wear to the ear or beard so I figure it's mostly weak but I struggle to tell.

Sounds perfect! I hadn't given much thought to driving over but that would work. Actually I was in Prague last year and regret not bringing back a few crates of Krusovice and more cigars. The cigars I can source online, the Krusovice I haven't been able to find anywhere. A few barrells of the good stuff in the boot sounds about right Hohenschwangau would have to be on the cards. The whole area looks amazing

Actually, thinking about this, I'd have said that 110,000 is relatively low, and I think that the 1866 coins are included in that figure. The Thalers with the Bavarian coat of arms were minted in much higher quantities but go for quite a bit more. Ludwig II was a crackpot by all accounts but did some nice work - Neuschwanstein Castle - I'd like to get over and see this this year. A few Rapunzelesque blondes whilst in Bavaria is another incentive..

KM#877 18,52g of .900 silver mintage of 110,000 pieces The Virgin Mary as Brünnhilde, and the baby Jesus as Richard Branson - well, that's a novelty... I have a 2009 copy of the 1801-1900 Krause, handy reference. 80.00 in BU is a bit dreamy though, but maybe you could get them that good at that price in 2009, I wouldn't know. I stopped looking at prices in foreign coin catalogues, less so the English ones too nowadays. Hah yes Peck that was all part of the appeal. What's the link Scott? I'm quite interested in some of the 18th and 19th C stuff.

KM#877 18,52g of .900 silver mintage of 110,000 pieces The Virgin Mary as Brünnhilde, and the baby Jesus as Richard Branson - well, that's a novelty... I have a 2009 copy of the 1801-1900 Krause, handy reference. 80.00 in BU is a bit dreamy though, but maybe you could get them that good at that price in 2009, I wouldn't know. I stopped looking at prices in foreign coin catalogues, less so the English ones too nowadays. Hah yes Peck that was all part of the appeal.

Ludwig II Madonna Thaler, 1865, Bayern.

What's your reference guide for Russian coins?

or you could go for something really interesting, like this , shame he doesn't post to the UK Realised prices for this (ten dollar) coin: MS-62 BN (PCGS) March 27, 2004 (Heritage Auctions)...$43,700.00 (Live phone bid)MS-64 RB (PCGS) January 15, 2005 (Heritage Auctions)...$36,800.00 (Live floor bid)*MS-61 BN (PCGS) May 7, 2005 (Heritage Auctions)...$39,100.00 (eBay Bidder)EF-45 (PCGS) Private sale (2007) $22,000.00MS-64 RB (PCGS August, 2007 (Bowers and Merena Auctions)...$85,100.00Courtesy of an overzealous Ken Potter - http://koinpro.tripod.com/Articles/1969S1cDDFound.htm - who reckons there are "just" 30 examples in existence.

Thanks for sharing Scott I am looking forward to digging more into Russian coins. For now I'm back to German. The first to arrive is a decent example of the 4 Reichspfennig "Bruning Taler". I don't really understand the logic behind the coin - the idea was that shopkeepers would reduce prices (I guess working in multiples of 4 rather than 5 was the idea) which would in turn get people spending and sort out a poorly economy. It didn't work.

'nah' as in you do have a Peter I, couldn't find it sorry can you post it? I think you did well with the Ivan the Terrible good scalp.

Fascinating - and not bad coins either, despite their irregularity (or perhaps because of it?) See I think that their irregularity is, in the main part, testament to the minting process, they'd be flattened out and end up more oval in shape. Actually Peter I did away with these coins, introducing the rouble in about 1705'ish off the top of my head.. The one you posted Scott is the Ivan the Terrible one? The odd thing is, and I may be wrong here but it does seem this way, the older wire money is actually better. All of the Peter I wire money seems to be crude, oval and missing parts of the inscription. These dealer graded these gVF and aEF respectively if that helps put it into some sort of perspective - I was only really interested in seeing the portrait on the obverse and a 'legible' description on the reverse: hence two purchases to cover more ground in this respect. The full inscription would read 'Tsar and Great Prince Peter Alekseevich of all Russia'.

Two Russian silver wire Kopecks of Peter I (c. 1700). Approx 10mm x 8mm (!) As I understand it they rolled silver into wire with the needed diameter and then would cut the wire along its length to produce each flan, really a crude way of ensuring 'consistency' in weight / silver content. Two dies were then smashed together with a hammer, the bottom die fixed and the top die held in position by whoever was doing the hammering.