BBC one - fake Britain

[Rob]

It certainly seems a little 'un-British'

[1949threepence]

Just watched the programme on i player, and can only echo the closing words of the guy who bought all the commemoratives - "research and do your homework" - in other words "caveat emptor".

Sorry, but I don't have a lot of sympathy.

Nice spot by Geoff T. Agreed with all he said.  

 

 

[Peter]

Pete you are more slippery than an owl and wiser than a badger.Can't see you being mugged.

[Rob]

1 hour ago, 1949threepence said:

Just watched the programme on i player, and can only echo the closing words of the guy who bought all the commemoratives - "research and do your homework" - in other words "caveat emptor".

Sorry, but I don't have a lot of sympathy.

Nice spot by Geoff T. Agreed with all he said.  

 

 

The guy was lucky in that he bought some sovereigns that made a profit, even coming from LMO.

3 or 4 years ago I received a call from a woman whose father had died and spent a 5 figure sum on LMO things. e.g over £1K on a 1791 guinea in a pretty little box with a cert of authenticity and product description showing a picture of a PAS 1791 guinea. Sadly, the contents of the capsule graded fine. Two other boxes held a selection of low grade Roman and middle eastern coins with a retail value of 150 to 200 on a very good day. Cost was over 1200. Lots of other overpriced LMO goodies(?) were also purchased together with maybe a dozen sovereigns.

Luckily for me she had done some homework before calling, and indicated she was prepared to get back only a fraction of what he had spent without me appearing to be the one doing the rip-off when my face dropped on opening the boxes. I wish all were like that. The day before yesterday I had to give similar bad news to someone that had spent a few hundred on gilt modern coins - pennies, 20p's, 50p's etc. Again, the resale value is a few pounds at most per item - if you can find a buyer. He will get back approximately 10-15% of his outlay.

It goes back to the point I put to the BBC researcher. Nobody would spend £10K or more on a car without looking at it, taking it for a drive, and generally satisfying themselves it was reasonable for the money, yet people hand over similar sums to the LMO and Westminster etc without blinking, i.e. the consumer has to take at least some of the blame for their predicament. Possibly more than half the blame considering the amount of money these companies have to spend on marketing and advertising in the national press. Whether you like the LMO or not, they have to charge over bullion to cover their costs. The problem is the self produced tat they market, less so the overpriced collectable items.

Let's face it, every one of us routinely pays a massive premium to intrinsic value, but we are generally saved by doing due diligence. Caveat emptor every time.

[1949threepence]

When I was a rookie collector, I made mistakes and forked out on some overpriced coins. But I never whined and complained about it, as though it were somebody else's fault. I simply observed, learned, did more reading, researched my field and improved my expertise. As time moved on, I even started to pick up some bargains.

When building my collection, I've even taken the hit from the money spent on an earlier coin, by upgrading that specimen. It's because our interest tends to override the cost. Indeed, most coin collectors are in it for the actual coins themselves, and have no intention of actually selling them anyway. Or would only do so if they genuinely needed the money for other things.   

    

[Rob]

Or as has happened on more than one occasion, given up as the acquisitions slow to a trickle. Most compulsive collectors will struggle if only adding 1 or 2 coins each year. The first half of the collection might come easily, but the second half can be difficult, verging on the impossible.

That's why I deliberately reset my collection criteria to be as diverse as possible. I can easily look for a sovereign and buy a sestertius or whatever instead.

[1949threepence]

10 hours ago, Rob said:

Or as has happened on more than one occasion, given up as the acquisitions slow to a trickle. Most compulsive collectors will struggle if only adding 1 or 2 coins each year. The first half of the collection might come easily, but the second half can be difficult, verging on the impossible.

That's why I deliberately reset my collection criteria to be as diverse as possible. I can easily look for a sovereign and buy a sestertius or whatever instead.

I started on Victorian pennies 1860 to 1901, in 2010, and am now down to the rare varieties. I know full well I'm not going to get them all. Indeed, with a few, there is only one example. So there will come a time in the not too distant future, when further additions to that collection become so infrequent, that my attention will shift to the next area I have planned, namely seriously starting with pennies from 1902 to 1967. That will probably be next year at some point.     

Edited September 30, 2016 by 1949threepence

[Nordle11]

I'd say you've done pretty well in that timeframe, the bun heads aren't exactly the cheapest either. You'll burn through the 20th C  

[1949threepence]

3 minutes ago, Nordle11 said:

I'd say you've done pretty well in that timeframe, the bun heads aren't exactly the cheapest either. You'll burn through the 20th C  

Cheers Matt. Of course the rare pennies in the 20th century are well known, and there are fewer varieties. That said, there are some extremely expensive ones amongst them, when in prime condition. I'm thinking especially of the 1919KN and the 1926ME. If I'd had the cash at the time, I'd have gone for Steve's in advance of starting. 

But before all that I've got to finish the 1860 and 1861 series, as far as is practicable, as well as a few other little spaces.