ozjohn

When it's all said and done you have to live with it I don't. Good luck to the good ship Scotland and all who will go dawn with her.

I can see you are a Scot who has lost all sense of reality in your dislike of the English. It's the English tax payer which has kept Scotland going for years and Scotland will be in a sorry state when that source of income has gone. It's not me saying this just about every financial commentator, banker, economist seems to share the same opinion only the people leading this insane drive for independence mostly driven by a hatred for England want to ignore the realities The only people who will benefit in the end when the dust has settled will be England and Wales being relieved of the financial burden imposed by an unproductive Scotland. However the breaking of a union that has existed for over 300 years by people who only have hate as their motivation and no regard for the welfare of the Scottish people is a sad thing to see. As for my passport profile. All I am saying is a simple statement of fact if Scotland becomes independent you will no longer UK or EU citizens and claims to a UK Passport are not so clear. Sounds to me that you want your cake and eat it. As I was born in the UK I am at present entitled to a UK Passport. However unlike you I have an Australian Passport and proud to have so.

Sorry UK citizen and EU citizen.

With regard to passports the current UK passport basically says UK citizen and UK citizen. If the yes vote is carried the Scots will be neither and as a result there passports should be invalid. There are many implications for a yes vote including aged pension, currency etc. for which the England tax payers have been footing the bill for years. If it comes to a financial decision for England they should be glad for a yes vote but be prepared for Scottish "illegals" when the true implications of independence come home to roost.

From time to time I see George 111 coins on Ebay listed as reproductions but in my opinion these are fakes and could be used by third parties to deceive. They are not of a high grade nevertheless they do not help the situation and should not be on Ebay.uk . I think in the US reproductions like this are allowed if they have something stamped into the coin such as reproduction etc. but these listings had nothing on them to indicate this. I would have thought under UK law items such as this are illegal as they are counterfeit coins and should not be listed by Ebay.uk.

I'll be there.

I've been looking on ebay for a high grade 1920 florin. There is plenty of low grade stuff VG to F and one slabbed Ebay # 181515950631 which is graded at MS 64 but still has a little wear on the king's ear and weak lions on the upper shield on the reverse but still a very nice coin. I think these problems are due to the minting rather than wear due to circulation. Any other date of that period there are plenty of coins of VF + and higher. As 1920 is not a low mintage date I wonder if the people were weary of the debased coins when they first came out and spent them as quickly as possible thus causing more worn coins. However it has to be said there are a reasonable amount of higher grade 1921, 1922 etc. florins around with the lower mintage dates 1924 and 1925.

All this is true but I have to say 1821/ 22 & 23 are easy to find but 1920 is elusive despite the official Royal Mint figures for 1920.

I was reorganizing my florin collection and noticed I have an 1892 jubilee head florin. I checked the value with the Value of UK Coins of Great Britain and England site where it is listed as F 30 GBP, VF GBP 100 GBP & EF GBP 325. The first question is are these realistic values and the second is what is the grade of this coin? My grading of the coin is VF+ to EF-. Any comments please.

Thanks Gary 1000, Only one problem he doesn't mail the item to Australia.

I looked at tripods. Again anything that was any good was very expensive and they did not seem to be able to pointed directly downwards which I think is necessary if you want to reduce distortion of the picture. Possibly you can correct this with Photoshop but the least post processing the better Also the stability of the camera tripod combination is questionable as the camera is not over the center axis.

Trying to improve my coin photography rather than a flat bed scanner which seems to show flat surfaces where the coin comes in contact with the glass plate. This was taken with a hand held Canon A540 6MP with close up lens. I'm looking for a camera stand but they seem to be just about impossible to obtain in Australia although I have seen some cheapies on Ebay but the freight is GBP60 for something costing GBP30. I hope this shows the coin better than my last effort.

Not at all I was referring to Salmond Having been born in the UK I think I have every right to comment on the self destructive actions of a few who exploit many for their political ego. This madness was started by Blair who setup the separate governments for Scotland etc. with no regard to the English who only have the Westminster government. At least I think we have got it right here in Australia with the State Governments whose activities are regulated by our Constitution. The irony of it all is our Constitution was a bill of the House of Commons where they managed to get it right for Australia but fail to do so for the UK. For example if Queensland wanted to leave the Commonwealth of Australia it would require a referendum with a 2/3 majority and also be carried by a majority of the States. A union is the sum of its parts and all should get their say not just the Scots in this case. Given the ill will that has been generated by this exercise and the unequal distribution of powers like for example free Universities in Scotland I get the feeling that many English would now vote for Scotland to leave the union if they had the chance as they are by and large financing this.

He ain't no scot and has little grasp of the truth.

I don't think the coin listed on ebay would fool anyone that it is a reproduction. However there are coins listed on ebay that are reproductions and not marked as such which could be used to defraud people as they are cast from molds made from real coins and you cannot tell if they are the real thing or not from a picture on the ebay listing. It has to be said the seller points out they are reproductions but if they are brought by a third party and relisted as genuine no one will be the wiser until they receive the coins and realize they are not silver and are fakes.

It's a nice coin but I am just wondering if it has been cleaned at one time as I can see slight scratch marks all in the same direction especially on the reverse of the coin.

What was this pattern 1920 shilling?

Last week I asked about cleaning a 1913 half crown. After a week of dithering I decided to do it. I was cleaned with bicarb of soda dissolved in boiling water in a bowl with aluminum foil in the bottom of the bowl. The pictures of the cleaned coin are included. Do I clean the coin some more or leave as is?

Mark, The coin is in an old 17th C oak flight of draws maybe something in the oak wood helps. John

The opposite end of the scale to my I've Cleaned It. One way I have found is to breath on a coin like you are cleaning glasses and leaving in a protected place open to the air. Repeat as many times necessary but it's a slow process. The coin illustrated took a year to retone. I have to say it wasn't dipped by me but it was very bright when I obtained it.

You are probably right but I could not find Goddards locally and all I could get were various preparations offered by chain jewelers which all contained sulfuric acid. Funny thing is Goddards used to be available from discount stores in Australia but no longer it seems. Even the polishing cloths seem to have disappeared.

I've just received a 1927 florin I brought on Ebay. I can't believe the relatively low price this coin brings as there were only 15000 minted for the proof sets with no issue for general circulation in 1927. Also I have noticed several circulated examples of this coin turning up on ebay which suggests many sets would have been broken up and spent as it was released just before the start of the great depression. I suspect the number of this coin still in high grade is considerably less than the 15000 issued adding to its rarity.

sorry John not Johni

Hi Mark, I used sodium bicarb plus salt in hot water with aluminium foil in the bottom of the dish. I tried to make the solution fairly weak so I could control the reaction by removing the coin and then washing it. I did this about 3 times (hard on the fingers with the hot water) until I was happy with the result. I looked around at various commercial silver dips to see if they would be suitable but most contained sulfuric acid which I thought would not be very good for coins. Johnj

A lot of coins are dirty around the lettering as the surface is more protected there by the lettering and the rim of the coin. On the other hand it is harder to clean in that area for the same reasons.