Nordle11

Yeah that's nice, I don't think I've seen that reverse before

There seems to be a new thing going around at the moment that looks like a miniature telescope, it clips over the camera lens on your phone and is basically a macro lens. You can get one with a fish eye too, it looks pretty good, but not sure how good for photos of coins. Here's a link to one of the more expensive ones, but you can get some as cheap as a fiver it seems.

Get the hardback Swanny you won't regret it

Probably not because it's so subjective, but nothing will be 100% in this area. I think it's a great gateway book into grading however, and while some grades might not be bang on the money it definitely helps you to get a general feel of high areas that wear on a design and what to look for. Also don't forget it's Chris' baby, so don't expect a ton of criticism of his book on his free site

I think you've hit the nail on the head there Mark, the increase in desirability of a slabbed coin I too think is down to assurance more than anything else. I also think that more than ever people are becoming aware of the potential investment in coins, regardless of whether they're interested in collecting or not, and as such they are inexperienced in grading and will pay that bit extra to have a pre-graded coin they can assign a price to. People love to quote the 'value' that CGS have assigned to their coin when selling it which I find is always inflated.

Crappy grading service?

I also think that because CGS and LCA are one and the same, every coin that is consigned to them is then slabbed so it's not just people using the slabbing service but also the auction service as well. This will up the percentage.

Generally speaking a slab will warrant a premium. I guess as yours was a rare penny, Gary, it was the coin that sold and not the slab. As Dave was saying about my 1904, once I break it out I'm losing about 30 quid.

Welcome! This site is extremely useful and there's tons of help and experience

Agreed, I found it impossible to photo my gold plated penny and get the same background colour, it just goes instantly black because of the reflectivity.

It's not too difficult to find one in top grade but you'll have to pay a little more.

That was a great read, thanks guys

Can you put up a closer pic Teecee?

I've checked 50+ others and can't find it, let me know if you have one with this flaw

I have a 1920 penny here with an apostrophe between the I and D in FID, and it looks like the die cracked to a tooth as a result of the flaw.

I'll certainly keep an eye out while I'm doing my dailies and I'll let you know if there is anything of interest

Actually, now I'm re-checking it and others online, I think that the missing chunk nearer the top of the serif is making it look like the lower part is thicker. Maybe you do have something there Terry!

Here's the clogged N I found, no where near as severe as yours but clearly beginning to get bunged up..

It's true but I'm not planning on selling it so don't need to retain the premium and all my other coins are in capsules and then in Lindner trays, it would just be sitting on top of the trays on it's own

I don't have one with 2 errors, but would you count the 1880 with the re-tooled O in ONE and the overstrike in the date? Also is this 1940 the single or double exergue? I found a 1940 with the clogged N but not the V, I guess N blocked up first out of the two. It was a double exergue.

Well said Pete, plus the fact that if there is an unattributed open 3 on ebay, Scott will have bought it before anyone else sees it It is well documented though and people seem to be more vigilant these days.

There's 2 spaces at the Midland that they use, and every 3 months they set up in the bigger room. It was a surprise to me the first time because I didn't know about the room change and I nearly walked into a stamp fair I think it was!

As is normally the case though, a quick email and everything is sorted. One lovely email from Semra later and it's been taken out.

Interested. Thanks

An interesting one for me, a type-2 blank planchet. Looks great and can't see any sign of PMD, but there's what looks like a linear circle and I thought that it would only be evident after a strike and not before. I have 2 questions; 1) Does the rim rolling create the linear circle or is it part of the design? 2) Is the linear circle incuse or in relief?