ozjohn

Doesn't look right to me. Both the obverse and reverse are badly minted with the reverse showing a very low relief compared with the Sydney 5 pound piece in the Victoria museum with St. Georges head lacking most detail and King Edwards beard and ear are in a similar condition. Also there is no line down the center of St Georges sword. The only other thing is the coin has seen some circulation but lacks the normal bumps and abrasions associated associated with circulation. Certainly much to be concerned about with this coin.

Must be April fool's day.

Just noticed the typo in the title of this post. My apologies.

I've just received a CGS 70 .925 1920 silver sixpence. I do not normally collect sixpences but this one is different as it is .925 Silver not .500 silver. Does anyone know why these were produced? I've seen many 1920 florins and halfcrowns and some seem more like like silver than others. but verifying the metal content of a coin is difficult at home. Were any of the higher value coins minted in .925 blanks left over from 1919?

Apologies to Daniel Craig and James Bond. The Australian Newspaper 9/11/2021

Coins of England & The United Kingdom, Pre-Decimal Issues, Standard Catalog. 55th. Edition.

Downloaded the 2021 edition of Spink yesterday for $15 from Amazon which is pretty good value. Still have my 2016 edition if I have the need for a real book in my hands.

A couple of “metric” anomalies in Australia. In aviation altitude is in feet, distance in nautical miles and speed knots and finally although all the Whitworth and BA threads have been replaced by their metric equivalents pipes and gas fittings are still BSP British standard pipe.

Nothing unusual with 3” of rain in eastern Australia. 10” of rain (25.4 cm. or 254 mm.) is not un common but it’s usually a feast or famine with rain fall. At the moment in Brisbane we are being threatened with restrictions and in Sydney the dams are 100% full.

I noticed that said the beer measure was US fluid oz which was incorrect. An imperial pint is 20 fluid oz. and the US pint 16 fluid oz. Sorry for the mistake. I guess 16 fluid oz to a pint does make sense as it weighs a pound for water as does a liter of water weighs a kilo. As to returning to pounds, shillings etc. I think there is a distinct possibility COVID may have dealt a death blow to circulating currency. I’ve had bills in my wallet for six months without spending them while inflation has made circulating coins worthless. Most transactions seem to be tap and go nowadays.

Australia changed to the metric system in the early 1970s and is now entrenched.However many things retained their imperial size and were soft converted. For example 3” x 2” timber became 75 mm x 50 mm. Drinks in pubs stayed the same as a midi or pot was half a pint or 10 oz.a schooner three quarters of a pint or 15 oz and a pint or 20 oz. I think these were US fluid oz. as a UK pint is 16 fluid oz. and if it is water weighs a pound.. Having said that I think the adoption of the metric system has led to a marked decline in arithmetic skills in this country as the imperial system required an understanding of units to survive. For example when school leavers were confronted with a time sheet they were incapable of performing the calculations necessary to complete their weekly time sheet. For the most part they could not handle a system based on 60 rather than 10. Not only that a good understanding of units is essential for anyone considering a science based career. Imperial units are still in the language ie missed by miles, give or take an inch etc. Babies birth weights and the surf have also retained their imperial units

.Correction the coin was PCGS MS62 not NGS MS 62 as previously advised. Sorry if there has been any confusion

Hi Blakeybou, I guess you would expect the coin to look different if it is cleaned. The real question is. Has it damaged the coin in some way? The images show a NGC MS 62 coin I cleaned using the bicarb Al foil method. I think I prefer the cleaned version. Like I say cleaning is something that should be approached with caution. In addition when you think about it toning is really a form of corrosion that has already effected the coin's surface. PS how did those seeds go? Regards, Ozjohn

I've seen small ultrasonic jewelry cleaners in Aldi here in Australia. no doubt there are similar in the UK. Don't know how effective they would be for cleaning coins but I suspect they wouldn't inflict any damage as they are low power devices. However any attempt to clean coins should be approached with caution, Personally I still think the bicarb of soda and Al foil in hot water is the best method as it does not attack the coin's surface and the silver sulfide is converted back to silver metal.

https://www.coingradingservices.co.uk/index_org.php They still seem to be in business. like all grading services they can be patchy with their appraisals. Personally I have never used a TPG'er but have acquired coins that have been slabbed by these companies NGS , PCGS and CGS. IMO judge the coin not the grade TPG'ers assign to the coin. If you are new to coin collecting I suggest that you obtain a copy of the excellent book The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins published by Rotographic available from Amazon in book and Kindle formats.

Date of my 1903 florin. Looks about the same as the previous example.

Poor grading by TPGs is not unknown as witnessed by the many examples I have posted on these forums. To the coin in question. I noticed the marks on the queen’s neck and they are definitely old as they are toned into the mark which is probably damage sustained during the minting process or circulation.There does not seem to be any evidence of deliberate alteration of this coin and TPG’ers should take account of this during their appraisal process. Better that the mark be noted on the slab.

So why did the RM advise that the 1927 set was in a leather case when plainly it was issued in at least two formats?

I've seen some cardboard 1927 specimen set boxes on Ebay similar to the 1950 proof set box. An example is below. Possibly its a fake but it seems to have some age. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162915958842?hash=item25ee8c403a:g:nF8AAOSwQYZWxiTC

Just finished watching Robson Green's Hadrian's wall walk. Apparently there are 56 phallic symbols on the wall. This time it was described as a good luck charm and used to ward off the evil eye.

IMO still looks like wear to me especially the obverse. The highest points are all worn with the only detail on the lower parts of the hair where contact wear is minimized. In my experience lightly struck coins of this era are for the most part are patchy. For example a George V first type florin. On the obverse the King's ear, and the hair just above are the most likely affected with the lions on the shield on the reverse corresponding to the same area similarly affected with the rest of the coin remaining fairly sharp As for technical grade I think PCGS etc. should in their opinion note that the coin is a lightly struck example. I have and old set of encyclopedias called The Children's Encyclopedia by Arthur Mee that shows the operation of the Royal Mint in the 1930s. One thing that struck me, pardon the pun was the visual inspection the freshly minted coins shown as part of the process. You would hope that most of the really badly minted coins would have been culled at this stage of production.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224490919818?hash=item3444b3978a:g:QOoAAOSwYjReLcLD Saw this one on ebay.uk a PCGS slabbed coin graded AU-55. Also included a screen shot of the PCGS photo. I think this coin is badly over graded and think F-15 would be a more accurate grading as there is considerable wear on the obverse that cannot be putdown to a light strike. The reverse although appears to be less worn is not anywhere near to AU grades. Again I do not thing these professional graders are producing a constant product. I know you should buy the coin not the assigned grade but new collectors can be badly miss lead by this sort of miss grading. A PCGS AU-55 grading example is included for comparison.

Had the first AZ shot in May. No side effects at all. Second shot due in July. Vaccination hesitancy rife in Australia but the recent Victoria cases have focused people’s minds and vaccination rates have accelerated.

Saw this one in Pompeii on a trip to Italy. According to the guide it was pointing the way to a brothel.

Some of the best images of coins I have were from scans on a flat bed scanner. This is probably due to the coin being very close to the light source eliminating reflections from the plastic surface.