Wampum

I could be wrong, so more research would be needed ,however to get the look and smoothness, the pure gold shot would need to be vacuum casted, I think this can be done through induction, however probably you could use some enclosed furnace. This should leave your bar with the smooth cushion look. The exact amount is put into the mold/molds melted and then left to cool before being removed.

I would say you should be able to get this, for around £20 if not less. Grade wise looks to be about fine, would not be much better than this, Colour wise looks good. It has the semee of hearts around the horse in the Hanoverian arms,(the shield on the left with T . H above it). With these, and the Shilling, you can get them with Hearts and without hearts. These are struck "en medaille" with both side showing the same way. The 1787 shilling can also be found with no stop at the various points around the coin, nothing much to do with this Sixpence ,however you will probably want both if you get one 😊. Now if you can find a 1798 Shilling with no stop, it is a 'Dorrien and Magens' shilling worth thousands, but be careful as there are a lot of fakes of these. A good coin maybe to get a feel for them to start with, however you should be able to get a really good example, for not much more,(in some Auctions you can find them within one lot coins) ,as these were really well struck, only real thing to watch out for is coins that have been over cleaned. On most of the 1798 fakes the fish tails are the give away, that is the way the metal has not been able to flow correctly into lettering similar to the III and some of the lettering on your Sixpence above, there are only a few known 1798 so more than likely none are real. Hope this all helps and good luck if you decide to get it.

@LawrenceChardJust out of curiosity, are the two coins shown from the same Batch/Box?

Can remember before professional grading came along, What grade do you think that Crown is ," I dunno are you buying it, or selling it" I have used CGS or LCGS now (the older slabs where CGS,and better quality material) ,and have had a few crossed over, to sell through HA in America. I think a few where marked down with two marked as cleaned, most crossed over as exact grades ie CGS 80 to NGC MS63. I always think if I want to keep a coin for my own collection will look for a PCGS, however to sell on more than likely look to buy NGC, however that's just my preference. One thing I think is that American graders can be Harsh on UK numismatic coinage.

White gold can be plated with a layer of Rhodium. Some firms use a layer over their 9ct and 18ct jewellery as a cost effective way to finish it. It's still all gold, just not as hand made. However having said that might not be the best idea to buy a hallmarked gold ring from the website Alibaba.

I would try your local Auction house, you can see what they have over the next few Auctions, and if needs be your local jeweller should be able to get it re-plated to look like new. Most new rings are plated anyway. If not you could go to somewhere like Cooksongold, they sell findings and supplies, however also sell wedding bands. (unsure if they are Hallmarked) I have not used them, however know a few friends that have with no complaints.

Aye lad there could be a possibility I am closer to a Bus Pass than you, It was the time when Disco was all the rage, and the only thing on-line was my washing.😄😄. Not a bad price for a 2015.

I would agree with @SilverMike,with Die polishing the lines are pronounced and stand out from the surface, more visible under magnification. Due to how the devices are incuse on the Die, when they are prepared, These will usually stop dead at the edge of the image ,in this instance around the Kings head Lettering , and St George. Marks that are not from Die prep will form a halo around the image/Device where no scratches are present, or at least less scratches occur. There is a possibility of this around the horses head, under Georges arm, and around his hairline, however this would be going just by my own experience. It is a lovely looking coin, and for it age would be more dubious, if it did not have any marks on it. I would say the coin looks to have been well loved and brushed over with a soft cloth from time to time, however would not have thought it's been deliberately cleaned. Good luck if you decide to go for it, would be nice to own.

I think a reasonable price would be £292 retail, would love this if was in the market to buy. Really nice coin.

Looks like an interesting find, there is a possibility of a few with the same error. Just going by what I see It's looks like an edge strike through, with detritus completely filling the gap between the two denticles, and maybe a partial fill of the one next to it on the collar. If it had been broken off then the dentil would have been wider with two being joined, with more damage to the other denticles, just from the picture a filled die looks more likely. Most common cause is grease with compacted fluff. I love finding these when looking through listings, however getting one straight from the Mint is a another example of poor Quality Control, as this would have been an easy spot. Hope the next one you get is prefect, Always hate getting something from the mint only to find it has to go back. NGC would have maybe classed it as a Mint Error Coin with a strike through designation.

All possibilities, will be interesting to see how far afield they get over the coming years, It will be like the yellow plastic ducks of the coin world, especially if they all started at your shop.

With that name change you can see why they got rid of the Mens blue pills, Seems they prefer something more off the peg.

@CoinsOfTheRealmAuctions Sorry if you thought my comments where against you, I was just mentioning some of my own experiences, with regards to Auctions in general, and nothing was meant to be implied to anyone in particular, and my comment on Shill biding was merely my take on why that is the preferred method of some sellers.

It looks like the pressure was wrong on the coin press. Not sure if the Mint use an upsetting machine anymore, so would be interesting to see if the devices are softer(for want of a better description), even though there is no difference to the coin.

This would be the best idea, however I think the way some sellers look at a reserve, it is set, whereas with Shill bidding they can push the buyer to their max bid, which might be £20 or £200 over the reserve depending on the persons want of the coin.

I think off the wall bidding has always been used by Auctioneers to increase the bids to the reserve. Some Auctioneers use it too much, so will tend to stay away from them. Not just in the coin market seems prolific throughout the Auctioneering Field, if you see the same items that sold the previous month with a hammer price, back for sale the next month that is usually a good indictor. It is the new form of this especially on Ebay, where they will bid till your bid is beaten, retract the bid, and put their bid in one below yours. This has happened me a few times, to the point, that if I want something, I will make sure, I only bid on the day, so as to read the auction. Again with this, it is greed playing a role, rather than letting the coin find it's own level, definitely not the nicer aspect of collecting in general.

I tried last month with Gieger for a box of the 1oz bars however they are not shipping to the UK. I emailed them to ask what the postage was, and was told that I would have to get them shipped from their American distributor, as they won't ship to the UK from Germany. This could have changed now however looking on their site they still don't have UK listed as a shipping address. I know this won't affect the OP however thought to mention it for UK buyers. Love these buttons, not had a chance yet to own any, however on my growing wants(need to own) list.

The royal mint still have an * beside some off the 1/4 oz plat coins, so there is a chance that they will have a few listed again for sale. There is a Platinum 2017 £5 that is showing as a stamp pack that has not sold out, however never seen this, so not sure if it's the Piedfort. From what I have seen with Platinum premiums, it is definitely the hardest Metal to stack in more ways than one. It is nearly 2 to 1 however you are paying more for a Platinum 1/4 than you would a gold 1/4 excluding the VAT.

You normally find both bids will be accepted, however whoever placed the bid first will be the winner, that includes book bids, phone bids,and live bids. So a book bid left two weeks ago will take first priority, from an online bid left the previous day.

I can remember phoning up finding out what they had in stock, and going from there, you got your price on second hand they charged their price and the Vat was on the difference. They posted out your items ,and everything was on the invoice. I think the internet has killed this. Dealers now call it special margin schemes then charge three times the price of it's value. I have seen some items at over 300% on special margin schemes which is ridiculous ,especially for something that is in line with bullion, an exception to the rule would be the items of numismatic value. I understand that there maybe more work involved, however they have bought those items, more than likely below the bullion price on the day, especially if they bought in bulk someone's collection. however to then charge two/three time the value, not just Silver, Platinum on the Second Hand market is even worse. Another thing that seems to happen is that it's not even classed as Second hand and charged with full VAT(which strangely works out cheaper than the Second hand stuff listed), Coins minted twenty / thirty years ago surely can not be classed a new. This sort of thing has only really happened over the last ten years or so, and to me is a real bugbear. We need a Wetherspoons of the bullion world.😜

I think it's always good to keep some silver within your collection,I can remember when you got 3 1 oz brits for a £10. There was no real kilo coins so mostly bars,so had a few 50oz Crown Kitkat bars which if I remember didn't pay more than £150,had quite abit more in varying guises , however sold the most part to go down a solely numismatic route which might not have my greatest moment. I think if you get bored collecting Silver leave it collect something else, however don't sell, until necessity, it will still be there when you re-kindle the romance.

It is always worth while having some literature, does not have to be a huge library, would start with Marsh for Sovereigns, and a COIN year book and Spink for an overall view. Only reason is sometimes you can pick up something that has more Numismatic value, than the bullion price paid. I would never rush a purchase as you always regret something without having thought it through. I have done this and more than likely 90% of people have. This is just something I do, however I have a Bank Account solely for metal, which I transfer monies into , and a cashback Credit Card. I transfer monies in ,so I never overspend, pay by C Card (when you can, some places it has to be from Current account )pay off total on card, and get cash back at the end of year. Long winded however this means covered by C Card, and only it's details are used. Best thing to do is collect what "you" like.

You could get these great for silver as will keep up to ten years tarnish free (have not kept anything in them that long so can't guarantee this), Opening and closing the capsule will reduce this time greatly. I hope it is alright to put this up https://www.dauwalders.co.uk/10-ultra-intercept-coin-capsules-166671-p.asp I have bought from them, really easy to purchase and quick delivery, plus all different sizes and a chart to let you know what to get. Ps the reference number beside the capsules is the ref for the size from the manufacturer so keep this as a ref for next purchase.

I think the official weight, would be twice that of a Half, and half that of a Double.

An absolute brilliant find, the debris won't make a difference to the grade, however the damage that it has caused will, most of that looks like plastic which has been grated off by the toothed edge, if there is any sharper tooth edges they peel off little bits of the coin capsule. These then can scratch the surface if not removed from the capsule ,however posting it "as is" increases the risk of damage. you could buy a camera bulb blower to remove the debris first, which however would risk more damage when removing the coin from the capsule (the frosted rims are easily marked by edge of a capsule),once detritus has been removed, send it for conservation which will sort any other issues to the surfaces, however not the marks. The holder will keep it good until you want to sell,then put it back into it's raw state when you sell or keep in the NGC Tomb. I have seen some PF70 with more damage than a PF69, like this one 6057258-001 PF70, so you do have real good chance on a really good grade. This is by far one of the better finds I have seen anyone getting for awhile, so what ever you decide hope it works out well for you.