Simonz

Thanks so much Lawrence for your advice. Yes I was already a little wary of it for all those reasons even before the certificate alert popped up. Will give it a miss for now.

Thank you, yes just made me nervous when that alert popped up, abundance of caution and all that!

Anyone any experience with dealer 'ukcoinage.com'? They have a few coins I fancy but my web browser threw a 'invalid certificate' alert a couple of times which is a worry? Did a search on the forum and they're not listed in the 'Dealer Directory' Any help appreciated.

Very happy with the King's arrival in the colonies! Only took 2 weeks! Can be 4-6 weeks sometimes. Is the packaging slightly excessive? 5 boxes, like opening a Russian doll, or 'pass the parcel'!

Thanks @sovereignsteve that's what I thought, re-stamp to correct wonky 'R'.

Apologies for posting this Guinea in a Sovereign thread, but seemed the most relevant place for this question. Looks like a double stamp of the 'R' in 'GRATIA' Not mentioned in Farey's Guinea Guide, is this kind of thing too minor/common to list? He does list a several other varieties.

Set my alarm wrong and missed the Heritage auction today! Saved some $ though!

Very happy with this 1774 G3, One of my few local finds. Some tiny 'haymarking'? Do you think this would get an 'MS' grade?

Mea Culpa! Purchased a 1957 Sovereign from Coin Cabinet auction pre xmas for £430! +6% buyers premium £455.80. Chards have one in stock for £569.34, Britannia coin co £525. I wanted the date, thought I did ok? Keen to get a 1937 G6 too which is going to be £4k+! Got lucky with some dates under spot, if you want specific coins you have to pay. If your into bullion then it's not too difficult to find good deals?

Starting to fill out my Elizabeth heads, this one from the Coin Cabinet, pre Xmas auction, they take a while on the slow boat to NZ! In the bottom 1/6th of graded coins so a good candidate for de-slabbing...

Thanks so much @Booky586 There seems to have been a lot of intensive research put into this series of coins!

1887M Is this a DISH M8, Marsh 131E, Spink 3867B? Melbourne, second legend?

Amazing collection, that's some serious coin! Congrats! Has anyone done a NGC vs PCGS comparison? Grade the graders!

YAY!, mines on the way too, single sov. Most stuff seems to take a month to ship to NZ so I've got to try and forget about it. Tracking doesn't tell you anything once it leaves the UK so no point in the hourly checks! Looking forward to seeing more pics, sans grainy frosting?! RM has exceeded their delivery prediction of 12 weeks by 5 weeks! Assume the max mintage is including those for sets, anyone done the maths?

Great idea, wouldn't be hard to add another choice on the submission form, like the cross grading options? Would give a bit of extra profit for graders saving on slabs?

Old Gold finally arrived today.

Very much appreciate you calm and measured response! You're right, relax, I feel honoured to be able to look after this coin for a while! The photo side of the 'disclaimer' also features a copy of the label in the slab, suggesting it applies to the slabbed coin? Such a strange and confusing thing to include, if it's slabbed it's guaranteed?

In the same building! I feel another expletive brewing! I arranged an appointment to view prior to auction but was turned away, it's taken 2 months for them to get regraded, I assumed all grading was done in the US, so they were transiting the Atlantic endlessly! And, ultimately, NEEDLESSLY. AARARGGAHGGHHHGHG. They were sat in the building the whole time... I'll let the Pogues sum up... "You scumbag, you maggot You cheap lousy faggot Happy Christmas your arse I pray God it's our last" Sorry, looking forward to a strong dose of Christmas 'Spirit'!

The plot thickens! Super excited to finally receive the Ellerby Hoard, James II Guinea I won nearly 3 MONTHS AGO!! There's a big 'BUT'! "THE NGC GUARANTEE DOES NOT APPLY TO THIS ITEM" Sounds like NGC and Spink have fallen out. In NGC's 'opinion'... it's a coin, but they can't guarantee it! I'm now going to type something I've never typed before, all caps and bold, yeah do it... WTF!!!! ...Nope, doesn't feel any better, maybe some physical abuse to de-slab it will help, what you reckon?

No seamed a clean crack, with the right method! "All in the name of liberty!"

As requested here's my first time at PCGS slab 'redemption'! Cracked a few NGC slabs before, and the G-clamp method works really well, but, as I discovered, PCGS requires a different approach. PCGS Slab Redemption.mov

And another Vic today, 1 sov jubilee head to complete the set, but which variety? Intriguing and complex story behind these https://issuu.com/jammdesign/docs/jubilee_brochure I'm thinking DISH M8, Marsh 131E, Spink 3867B? Melbourne, second legend? What do you think? Purchased from Trademe.co.nz, I asked for $50 off and he said yes, free shipping, close to spot, happy with that.

Will do, surprised how nonjudgemental everyone is, was expecting a barrage of 'don't be a bloody idiot'! Refreshing. I do have a couple of other coins on the way that will be trickier choices. I keep trying to come up with definitive boundaries and then I buy a coin that doesn't fit. 'Details' no brainer, sub 'MS'?, outside top 10%, or 20%? Then you've got attributions to specific hoards or collections... list goes on. Maybe I should just resign myself to the dark side? (I blame @Solachesis for starting the whole star wars kerfuffle)

Best tool to crack a slab?

1866 VIC OZ SOV – Arrived today from Stacks Bowers after 34 days in transit! Filling out my collection of Victoria heads, like this one because it actually says what it is 'One Sovereign' is it the only one? Do I de-slab it? 606 in higher grade, 378 lower, across PCGS and NGC, she's looking for an excuse to break free! What do you think?