ozjohn

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ASPREY-1987-LONDON-SOLID-STERLING-SILVER-POT-INC-TWO-KING-GEORGE-IV-1948-FLORINS-/182586059532?hash=item2a82fa2b0c:g:gIcAAOSwN6JY9QPk This one takes some beating Incorrectly described overpriced. GBP 40.00 would be too much.

I would have thought the 1927 crown and florin were a dead heat for the last coins to introduce the me effigy rather than just the florin.

I think this seller also offers reproduction (fake) Victoria half crowns on Ebay.

Another gem? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1828-HALF-CROWN-/252940298332?hash=item3ae46aa85c:g:zq8AAOSwlMFZGg-l GBP 25.00 it's not worth 25 cents. I do not think it will fool anyone.

If you look at EBay's listing policies it stipulates that a copy should be clearly identified. In practical terms that means that copy or reproduction should be stamped into the coin when it was made. Although not the full answer to forgeries however it would stop people buying copies such as the 1903 halfcrown in the hyperlink and relisting it as genuine. I was under the impression this was the case in the US and should be the same in the UK. Of course there will always be dishonest people trying to pass off high quality forgeries of rare coins such as the 1905 halfcrown which can only be countered by forums such as this keeping a resource of known examples. It has to be said copies of coins reduce buyer's confidence and from personal experience I have been reluctant to bid on George III & IV, and early Victoria halfcrowns because of the number of forgeries. They may be easy to detect in hand but from a photo in an ebay listing is another matter. The Edward VII and Victorian veiled head halfcrowns are much easier to detect as they are very poor copies

Have them graded by London coins for a "real" expert opinion!

Noticed a mistake the pound should read halfcrown. Sorry about any confusion

According to one site I used a pound is worth about GBP 4.50 in today's money.

Just on a search on Ebay the ME version of the halfcrown seems to be rarer than the 2nd effigy. As far as I know no figures exist on the mintage of the two different types.

One thing that has occurred to me is Australia is the last country to still maintains the weights and sizes to their "silver " coins. The 5c (sixpence) 10c (shilling) and 20c (florin) still retain the same size and weight ratio of the imperial coinage. Can any other country still claim this?

Interesting find. Looking at what you can see of the coin it was not new when it was buried/lost. Speculating on the wear it may have been lost in the early part of the 20th C. Nevertheless it represents the part of the history of coins in Australia and assuming it is not a rare coin would be of interest to a local history museum.

For Australia I think up to $1000 GST free then 10% GST. If multiple items it would be advisable to arrange split packages to avoid GST.

There are several apps that will resize a photo for you. The one I use is called IrfanView which also has photo editing features and is free. If you resize a 5MB jpeg file to VGA the total file size is under 100 kB which is well under the 500kB limit imposed on this forum

Most informative however I was less than impressed on how the coins were handled by the graders. Perhaps not so much of an issue for gold but for silver and then then bronze I could see fingerprints and smudges on encapsulated coins developing overtime. I also hope they do not drop coins although there was a soft mat in front of the grader coins have been known to roll when dropped.

I'm off to the UK in August and will try to get there as I will also be going to Wales. Recently I visited the RAM in Canberra again an interesting and informative visit. In your post you mention that you could not see the manufacture of the strips of metal the blanks are pressed from. This was the same at the RAM however the manufacture of the blank coins has been moved offshore to Taiwan perhaps this is the same in the UK.

Neither am I but somehow it just doesn't look right.

I saw this 1874 halfcrown listed on Ebay and it did not look "quite right" to me.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1874-HALFCROWN-VICTORIA-BRITISH-SILVER-COIN-EF-/252759585892?hash=item3ad9a53464:g:i8UAAOSwUKxYmfUj for the following reasons. Firstly on the obverse the lettering seems to be double stamped on the ORIA DEI portion of the lettering. While on the obverse the non angle portion of the harp seems strange with a double line through the center of it while the backward S shape seems raised rather than incused. In general the faces of the lions in the shields seem to be a trifle large for the bodies. Perhaps I'm seeing things! However any other comments are invited. Photos of my coin of this date are included to compare the listing with.

Ok, what does impress you?

Plenty of Chinese fake halfcrowns on eBay. I always report the items but eBay do not inforce their own rules that state the coin should be clearly marked as such i.e copy or replica. Perhaps all members of these forums should report these listings. Initially they are described as copies but the coin is not marked as such. The real problem is when they are relisted by less than honest sellers as genuine. Usually they just do not look right so in your case the coin superficially looks ok.

Sorry I should have mentioned the coin in question was a 1905 1/2 crown.

I can remember posting on these forums that a replica (a very bad one) sold for over GBP 100. On a more serious note replica coins being passed as genuine destroy people's confidence Ebay lists them even though it is against their rules which say replica/copy coins should be clearly marked as such. In the case of UK coins isn't it illegal to forge coins in your country.

PS looking at the PCGS photo it is very different to the photo taken by Sterling and Currency.

I saw this listing as a popup on Google https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/items/1910-sydney-mint-sovereign-unc-pcgs-ms62. Looking at the listing, firstly the obverse. I was not impressed with the grading which was described as PCGS MS62. There seemed to be some wear or perhaps a light strike with bag marks on the rim of the king's ear. However it was the reverse that really attracted my attention. The strike was terrible and was similar to one of the examples in the Chard rouges' gallery https://goldsovereigns.co.uk/fakes.html, In my opinion this example has a high probability of being a fake and perhaps an example of when a coin is TPGed it receives less scrutiny than normal.

1927 florin is a case in point a mintage of 15000 is the total for this year. Price now under GBP 200. Conclusion collecting date runs UK florins is not very popular.

Trying to kill 2 birds with one stone. Firstly this is my attempt to photograph a coin rather than scan and secondly this coin seems to have developed reasonable toning. Any comments would be useful especially regarding the photography. The coin was photographed using a tripod mounted Panasonic DMX -TZ20 camera in aperture priority mode f3.5 and 1/60s and side illuminated using 2 LED light sources.