Colin G.

Fascinating stuff Rob thanks!! I have a couple that have different names on the reverse of a couple of others, I will put them up for deciphering!!

The bad thing about multiple coin lots at auction, they have mixed up the coins/tickets Now I have to try and match the coin with the ticket, which would not be too bad if I could read Rev Rogers' tickets!! Rob, you said you should have been a pharmicist due to the fact you could read such handwriting. Image 1 shows the tickets for 5 x 1860 farthings, I can read the "5 berries in wreath" bit, and one appears to have "beaded edge" and another possibly "dot circle" so I am assuming these indicate beaded border varieties if I am reading them right. The others seem to say "serated? edge" so I am assuming implies toothed, but I may be reading this wrong. Images 2 & 3 show the backs of the tickets which I assume indicate where they were bought(illegible)and the price of 6d or 1 shilling as shown in image 3. Finally I can say he certainly had an eye for a nice strong strike!!

I use the Lighthouse Optima M range for this, where you can store 12 2*2's per page, my better coins are self slabbed The pages with slips in for the coins were also pretty good, but the plastic is hard so I was always worried about scratching the coins.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of it doesn't reach the melting pot anyway, it has just become the latest short term investment, it is probably getting shipped all around the world as it is re-sold waiting for the bottom to drop out of the precious metal market!!

Now go and stand in the corner and repeat after me...farthings are great!! Tell you what though, Colin, your eyes must be brilliant. I spent about half an hour last night trying to give an 1881 the right obverse attribution, and even through a loupe I was squinty afterwards. Turned out to be an Obverse D (from your website) with the F merged with the linear circle, in well over EF. The bizarre thing is now I can identify the obverse types from a distance. After a while it really does become quite obvious, but drag me away from farthings and I don't have a clue

Now go and stand in the corner and repeat after me...farthings are great!!

The 1909 I would give GVF whilst the 1917 probably around Fair. The fist might be 'worth' about £3 whilst the second has no obvious value. I have put 'worth' in inverted commas because that is purely a book figure; dealers are unlikely to want it other than as part of a bulk lot and you may struggle to reach that figure on e-bay. So make of that what you will! I would agree with Derek entirely, you can see similar examples in my shop as confirmation

Have been doing as you advise and looking out for threepenny pieces, and saw this on fleabay. He's offering dates from 1952 - 1971. Were any produced in 1971 just a few months before they ceased to be legal tender? If so, that's a tad short sighted I would have thought. Phil, That is a result of Ebay making you list the Reign/design of the monarch. So the dates correspond to the Ebay category not the dates on the coin. There is a 1970 proof version, but otherwise the latest date for a currency specimen is 1967, I think!!

My last box went off to the local charity shop!!

The amount of times I have squinted at a photo, or thought I saw something I can see what you are saying, but 99.99% of the time it is your eyes or a combination of lighting and marks on the surface confusing things, but you just never know.......

Good luck Bob, would be great for another farthing collector to find one, but if you find two let me have one cheap!! Not familiar with Knightsbridge coins, but have a nice day

Dave just for you

I do that, Colin, and not just for farthings. Definitely towards the autistic end of the spectrum, like most of us, I suspect. handy when you discover a variety though - just to make sure I didn't sell a Gouby X for 99p before I knew about them... But that is the mad part, it would drive me nuts!! It is the only way i can start to get an idea of scarcities on varieties, which although not entirely accurate (because I may distort the figures by focusing on a type) does give a good indication. I thought I was crazy doing it for farthings, you must be really crazy doing it for all denominations

Oops missed the important bit - 1848. I have trawled through my scans of 1848 farthings, just to double check, and no previous example is in there (I keep a scan of every Victoria and earlier farthing I handle)...I think it must be some form of OCD Not in Batty or Bramah, I can not believe this one has never surfaced before...get checking!!

Snap!! I always try and do the upgrade route, although I do now admittedly buy bulk lots to more and more because they are the best way for me to be able to examine large quantities of farthings. I agree that Ebay has its bad points but as Declan says for exposure as a relative newbie, it does take some beating, but the better your stock gets the harder it gets to sell it for a decent price on Ebay...it is a strange phenomenon!!

John I am more worried that I did not see the totty

Looking through the lots from yesterday and noticed that one farthing looked a bit different,thought it was a die flaw at first, the coin is a great looking GEF with lustre traces, got the lens and microscope out and hey presto it has the E of DEF clearly over another sideways E. I didn't even spot it yesterday when looking at the lot, this is definitely the most exciting farthing find I have ever found....now I do sound really sad Has anyone ever heard of this one before?

Now that is a strange one

Being a detectorist myself I find this sort of thing frustrating, it makes us look like the "treasure hunters" a lot of people think we are. I know where money is involved, it always strains relationships you only have to look at inheritances!! It will inevitably end up in court where the costs will eat into most of what either of them would have gotten anyway!!

The mule was a shame, had a large corrosion spot, but was otherwise not bad. Think the same coin has gone through london coins twice!! I have to be honest, when I talk prices I talk about the bulk lots which is mainly what I go for, unless something really catches my eye , so the grading issue would not really affect me since they are not given for bulk purchases. But Peter/Rob I know where you are coming from

I didn't bother with them Colin after my last 2 attempts at buying there ended in 65-80 negatives! I didn't bother. I looked at the catalogue, felt underwhelmed, and decided to find something better to do. If by normal service you mean lower prices, then that would be expected because any initial weakness is likely to be in the mid-tier coins. Actually there was a nice copper/bronze collection forming quite a few of the lots, which would have been a very nice collection. By normal service, I mean realistic prices which made sense

Went to Warwick & Warwick today, and actually came away with four lots, the prices seemed a lot more realistic, with silver still going a bit crazy!! There will always be the odd exception but some lots were going well below estimate. Fingers crossed that the madness is starting to fade away.....at least until I have bought up a load more coins

At least one will be out there somewhere, I would put money on it. It has happened with all other varieties (except for the obvious die number coins etc) and I am sure it will eventually happen with the 1903 open 3 so keep looking!!!

Colin, Many thanks - I received the coin sheets today. They certainly do the job, although just one will hold my entire collection at the mo I'll put an order in for the albums, and start looking like a real pro Glad they arrived safe and sound. They are a great folder option, plus it gives you plenty of gaps to now fill