mrbadexample

Whilst I understand the concept when the bidders are in the room, I don't see how this works for email & postal bids as the auctioneer knows these beforehand. If he starts at the highest of these bids, it means that I cannot win the auction for less than my maximum bid?

I'm struggling to get my head round this. Surely the bidding should start at one increment above the second highest bid?

So what dictates the start price?

Thanks Pete, sorry I missed your reply somehow. I'll give them a ring in the morning just to be on the safe side.

Cheers, think I've got it covered then. I see we get to pay 17% on top of the hammer price too.

Right, belt and braces, I've sent the form in to both addresses. Hopefully that'll work. Fingers crossed.

Thank you all. The site doesn't exactly make it obvious, does it? Either that or I'm a bit thick. Which is possible. In their Auction Buyer's Guide it says you can email bids to semra@londoncoins.co.uk but no mention of the form, so I just sent an email saying what I wanted. Oh well, I'll send it in again to the bids email with the form attached. I'll probably end up bidding against my duplicate self. So, what happens if two people email in with the same maximum bid? Is there any facility to watch the auction online? It's a good job I only want one lot.

Righto, I'm after a few pointers if possible please, as I'm new to this. There is just one lot I would like to try and purchase. How do I go about it? It doesn't seem terribly clear from the site what I actually have to do to bid. Can someone give me a rough idea please? I promise the lot's not one any of you are interested in. Honest. Cheers, MBE

i.e. far too much. You're getting the hang of it.

I didn't know about that, if it's true. I'm still staggered that people would bid so much from a 0 feedback seller.

Well, I have been collecting for over 30 years, off and on, and I have tended to concentrate on farthings. In other denominations, I haven't got much 1860-1900 just because it tends to be more expensive. I've just been reading through the March LCA auction catalogue, with the Finchampstead collection of farthings. Apparently, I'm missing nearer 28 than 8! These are what I consider to be minor varieties and die errors (broken letters etc) so I'm not too worried - I have quite a few varieties but it's not the end of the world if I don't get them all.

We're still going! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EXTREMELY-RARE-1934-KING-GEORGE-V-SILVER-WREATH-CROWN-Reasonable-Grade-/121903052893 Is ebay's buyer protection really that good?

I've just gone through my farthings too. One thing I didn't do was list a value for them. Perhaps I should have. In most cases I can't note what I paid - some of them I've had for 30 years, others I bought more recently but don't have any records prior to this year really. It was quite a painstaking job going through each one to make sure I've got the correct variety noted, as I have almost all from 1860-1956. I'm only missing about 8. Wish the rest of my collection was as complete!

Who ya fighting?

Yes, yours and Swanny's both good. And at least they have tails.

What do we think of this one? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/English-Silver-Double-Florin-4-shillings-Q-Victoria-1889-aUNC-353-/381166207945?hash=item58bf46c3c9:g:4~wAAOSwPYZU6HGB Cleaned?

Any idea what it was originally?

Great detail on the lace Matt. Fairly weak lions in the bottom half, like mine and jaggy's. Seems to be common?

So, not long now until the Midland fair. I'm looking forward to it. Who else is coming then?

D'oh. I've just read the description. "Obverse has been cleaned". Kind of gives it away.

How do you know Rob? I don't dispute what you're saying, but what makes you say that? It's just that I'm starting to get a bit paranoid and think that everything I buy has been cleaned.

It's better than a proof. It's the previously-undescribed-staggeringly-rare broken tail variety.

Hmmm, that certainly rings a few alarm bells. I have to accept anyway that the likelihood is small. I just want it to be true.

Thanks. I would agree that proof should be sought. I know what you mean about the year too - a lot of the silver seems in particularly good shape. I always put that down to people putting the coins aside as it was the golden jubilee year. What if I were to have it slabbed? If I sent it to CGS as a proof, would they tell me if it wasn't? By the same token, if I sent it as a normal strike, would they tell me if it was a proof? The more I look at it, the more I'm convinced.

Further pictures: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BxBRenK8v0n-T0dhdTdzNWFoZ2c&usp=sharing The first four (sorry, I didn't turn the obverse on its side, and I don't know how to rotate it in Google Drive) were taken outside, and the camera decided it needed the flash. The last two were taken inside by the window with the flash turned off. I'm hopeless at photography but pleased with the above two.