The London coin Fair

[Emperor Oli]

..and if you see a 2+A 1953 Farthing sold buy anyone who trades online, reserve it for me!

[Sylvester]

i bet they have James II sixpences in VF, can i get one? can i...

(don't have the money for one now, but i do need all of the varities eventually, that includes all reverse types and all overdates).

[Half Penny Jon]

I am mainly looking for half pennys to fill my date gaps, I think there should be a nice selection of high grade ones there. I will try to be there for 8.30 or about that because I want to be the first person in line!

[william]

I am not allowed to travel about 200 or 300 miles to a coin fair

[Emperor Oli]

It's far too expensive to get there what with the trains being over £50 and petrol approaching £4 per gallon. You could always fly I suppose but even that's fairly expensive.....

[Half Penny Jon]

Its a shame that the fair cannot be accesable for everyone, it does howvever happen several times a year.

[Sylvester]

so it's cheaper to travel from Manchester Pic to London Euston, than it is from Sheffield to St Pancreas? (or whereever it goes now that they've shut St Pancreas for re-development).

[Geoff T]

Trains are still going into St. Pancras, but into the new platforms. It's only the front part of the station that's inaccessible. King's Cross is still a mess though. You need search party to find the tube entrance.

[Sylvester]

Ah right! i haven't been for over a year, and 10 years before that, so perhaps in 9 years time i'll go again!

[Coppers]

For those of you who will be attending the London Coin Fair tomorrow -- would you post a report of your visit there for the rest of us?

[Half Penny Jon]

Sure of coure I will. I know Chris is going tomorrow, but he will be selling. Is anyone else going?

[Half Penny Jon]

Do any of you remember that 1902 LT half penny that I was outbid on about 2 months ago? Well, I was just looking at it and I say that it was Wybrit who outbid me! No hard feelings Wybrit , is it as nice as the picture suggested?

[kuhli]

Wybrit is a class guy. From what I have seen of his collection through his occassional photo posts, I am jealous. I have also bought many coins from him over the past year or more, and have never been disappointed. He is probably one of the main reasons that I began to focus on British coins when I did.

[wybrit]

Do any of you remember that 1902 LT half penny that I was outbid on about 2 months ago? Well, I was just looking at it and I say that it was Wybrit who outbid me! No hard feelings Wybrit, is it as nice as the picture suggested?

Here is a picture of it:

While not full lustre, it is still a very nice piece, pretty well struck.

There is a "strange madness" in Spink suggesting that the low tide penny is worth more than its little brother. I've seen lots of uncirculated 1902LT pennies and have owned more than one. This halfpenny example is only the second I have ever seen for sale. I did not own even a beaten-up example of the low tide ½d prior to landing this one.

[wybrit]

Kuhli is also a class guy. He can answer just about any question you have about any coin in the world. I have learned a great deal about coins from different countries from his postings at CU.

[wybrit]

Back on topic, I stumbled on to a London coin fair the last time I visited the city with my family back in 1998. It was a marvelous time and coins were still reasonably priced then. The fair was held in a site near Kensington (Olympia) tube station as I recall. I sure wish I was there today!

[Half Penny Jon]

Here is my report of the London Coin Fair (5th June 2004):

There were about 70 dealers each with their own table displaying their coins in Lindner trays, wooden trays, and in cabinets. There was a lot of hammered and ancient coins as well as artefacts, but Milled still remained prominant in the trading. There was a marvellous selection of high grade silver coins for example I saw not 1, not 2, but 3 1934 Crowns being sold by the same dealer! He even let me handle them. One was EF, another one was GEF, and the last one was UNC, the dealer also showed me a FDC Cupro-nickel proof half penny.I also saw some marvellous gold on offer, a good selection of Five, two, and one guinea pieces on offer. I also saw two 1826 proof two pounds on offer for about £2,600 each. There was also a large selection of bronze and copper coins on offer. There was not much high grade copper on offer, but plenty of bronze.

I bought the following coins today (all half pennies):

1. 1908 BU full lustre GEM.

2. 1922 BU.

3. 1925OH BU almost full lustre.

4. 1925ME BU full lustre GEM.

5. 1930 BU Full lustre.

I also saw Chris wheeling and dealing as a member of Vale Coins. I bought the 1925OH half penny from him aswell. I also saw some outrageous prices for bronze coins. I was shocked by a dealer with a selection of George V half pennies for sale at about £100 each, they were only UNC good lustre! I also saw two 1902LT half pennies there. One was UNC lustre and was priced at £100, and the other was UNC good lustre and was priced at a massive £250!

There was also a good selection of proof sets, including a 1937 gold proof set, several 1902 gold and silver proof sets, several 1927 proof sets, and numerous others. Also, there was one copy of Peck for sale there for £110, I though about getting it but I don't really need one in this stage of my collection.

Overall it was a wonderful day out and a great experiance for me as a specialist collector! I now have 14 gleaming half pennies including the very hard to get 1925ME, and 1922.

[wybrit]

Now I am jealous! Nice acquisitions, especially the 1922 and 1925 ME.

[Half Penny Jon]

Chris was exhibiting some really nice coin too, most of them were from the website.

[Coppers]

Congratulations on the new additions to your halfpenny collection and thank you so very much for your report on the London Coin Fair. For those of us who cannot attend, it was the next best thing to being there.

[Half Penny Jon]

That's alright, Chris is still probably there amid the hustle and bustle of kean collectors all looking feverishly for the right coin! I must say that there was a lot of people there, and I am sure that I was the youngest person there by about 20 years at least!

[Master Jmd]

Chris was exhibiting some really nice coin too, most of them were from the website.

most from the website?...were there any nice pennies there?...

1. 1908 BU full lustre GEM.

2. 1922 BU.

3. 1925OH BU almost full lustre.

4. 1925ME BU full lustre GEM.

5. 1930 BU Full lustre.

you are now making me envious, and i dont really like half pennies

Edited June 5, 2004 by Master Jmd

[Guest Chris Perkins_I'm_a_Guest]

That's alright, Chris is still probably there amid the hustle and bustle of kean collectors all looking feverishly for the right coin! I must say that there was a lot of people there, and I am sure that I was the youngest person there by about 20 years at least!

What do you mean by 20 years, you know I'm only 11 years older than you!

And, it was me with the 3x 1934 Crowns, and the cu-ni halfpenny. Credit where credit's due

Thanks for coming it was good to see you. I'm back now on a friends PC. Fly back to Germany tomorrow.

[Half Penny Jon]

There were some pennies at the coin fair, but I didn't see any high grade ones though, at least none with full lustre. Oh yes, I saw a 1925 penny in UNC good lustre. PS: I especially like my 1925ME half penny, don't ask what I had to shell out for it though!

[Half Penny Jon]

That's alright, Chris is still probably there amid the hustle and bustle of kean collectors all looking feverishly for the right coin! I must say that there was a lot of people there, and I am sure that I was the youngest person there by about 20 years at least!

What do you mean by 20 years, you know I'm only 11 years older than you!

And, it was me with the 3x 1934 Crowns, and the cu-ni halfpenny. Credit where credit's due

Thanks for coming it was good to see you. I'm back now on a friends PC. Fly back to Germany tomorrow.

I didn't say it was you Chris because I didn't know whether you wanted people to know about them as they are very rare coins. It was great to see you too Chris, see you at the next coin fair in november perhaps!