LawrenceChard

Now £1,444.60 ($1,944.45). When I saw my name mentioned in this thread, title "The coming Gold crash", I thought "I'm still waiting for it". 😎

Which reminds me of a line from Monty Python: We'd like to apologize for that last sketch. We're sorry. We really are sorry. We're honestly so ****in' sorry... 😎

What is "television" in Tierra del Fuegoan Welsh?

Maybe she learnt English from an American. Re convicts: she is supposed to answer "you mean all those people from Britain?" 😎

How does she pronounce them? ...and how does she pronounce transportation?

Sure .925 silver makes sense if it is for circulation, or to be handled for some other reason, but otherwise yu might as well have .999 silver for stacking and investing. It is an exact parallel with gold, where .916 or .900 is good for circulation, but 999 is good for stacking and investing. Apart from local import duties which might give preferential treatment to 999 gold, there is no compelling reason to prefer .999 over .925; with the possible exception being if any mint were dumb enough to make it look like copper by excluding any silver from the alloy, but hey, who would be that stupid? 😎

I disagree about "I guess on reflection it's only like saying "I'll phone you", Here "you" are the object of the verb "phone", "I'll phone to you" would make no sense. In "I'll write you later.", "you" is not the object of the verb "write", but is what would be the dative in Latin, or an indirect object "to you". The direct object, which has been omitted, would be "a letter / postcard / e-mail, etc", as in "I'll write a letter to you later." "I'll write You later." could be correct if said by Caroline Kepnes. It would be correct to say "I'll draw / paint / shoot you", as in all these cases, "you" is the direct object of the verb. Rout also annoys / amuses me. I feel sure the English word "route" is from French, as in en route. I heard booey (for buoy) on a YouTube video recently, and could hardly believe it. A newly arrive Martian could be excused for saying boo-oy, which would be far more locial and sensible than "booey", effectively pronouncing "o" as "e", or "oy" as "ey". 😎

It is more likely that none of them had the correct gold content, than all of them having the correct gold content. These were not numismatic forgeries, they could have been "circulation" forgeries, or more likely "bullion" forgeries, to sell to tourists, investors, or for jewellery. Even from the mediocre photos, every coin looks fake or suspect. "the Middle Eastern forger?" - there must have been / still are thousands of them.

We don't test most of the brand new mint sealed ones, but we do "random" checks on one or two coins. We do weigh all the incoming new monster boxes and tubes, to ensure weights, and quantities are correct. With secondary market coins, every incoming coin gets a visual check, which usually only needs to be brief. Older coins (pre-QE2) usually get double checked. More "interesting" coins get XRF tested, and sometimes photographed. Most get double checked by a numismatist before being allocated to stock, before we sell them. An XRF test can detect incorrect metal content, but correct metal content does not guarantee a coin is genuine. Human eyes, combined with experience, still beat machines, for speed and accuracy. 😎 Just found this YouTube video I was looking for: We may have a better one somewhere.

Fair comment, but... I think the RM would have been working to a Privy Council notice authorising a special coin for the silver jubilee, and it was issued at face value, except for the proof version you show, and even that would have been issued at a modest price. I suspect there was no Privy Council consent to create coins for Prince George's birthdays, and that there may have been suggestions and rejections. I am not suggesting these coins were not approved, just not as Prince George's birthday commemoratives. I would be happy to be proved wrong. 😎

I agree they are all nice enough designs, but what has St. George got to do with Prince George? Nothing, except for both being called George. There is no mention of Prince George or his birthday on the coin, only on the packaging, and the advertising. Phineas T. Barnum would have been envious of the RM marketing of these coins, along with other Prince George offerings. Perhaps we should re-package some of them and promote them on Boy George's birthday? 😎

I think the engraver deserved a round of applause, but someone misunderstood at the awards ceremony when the M.C. said "give her a big hand". 😎 BTW, Why is she holding a stick of rhubarb?

Flash, also known as flashing, is excess material attached to a molded, forged, or cast product, which must usually be removed. This is typically caused by leakage of the material between the two surfaces of a mold (sic) (beginning along the parting line) or between the base material and the mold in the case of overmolding (sic). Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_(manufacturing)

The boss at our local zoo realised we did not have a mongoose. He asked his secretary to ask a supplier for a pair of them. She wrote "Can you please supply us with two mongeese?" Realising that didn't sound right, she "corrected" it to mongi. Then she tried mongooses. The boss didn't like that. After some thought and discussion, they decided to write "Please send us a mongoose" P.S. Please send us another one. 😎

... and don't say you are just nipping out for a fag! 😎

Yes, it's nice enough, but... WTF has it got to do with his birthday? 😎

Is she wearing a Liberty bodice? 😎

That is actually St. Nigel, the patron saint of anagrams. 😎

That's a good list of Americanisms. I can think of a few: Brit: "I'd like a coffee to take away please! Yank: "Oh, you mean a coffee to go" Yank: "We open Monday through Friday" Brit: "Do you mean Monday to Friday?" Yank: "Uh!" One common Americanism is verbing nouns. Another, even worse is verbing adjectives, for example "a colorized coin", instead of "a coloured coin". Yank: "I have just gotten my degree in English" Brit: "Who sang Ruby Tuesday?" Yank: "Dunno, was it the Kaiser Chiefs?" Brit: "No, they sang Ruby on Wednesday" Yank: "Make America Great Again" Brit: "Again?" Yank: "You're from London, England?" Yank: "You're from London, England, Do you know Fred Smith?" I don't think the English language grates on Americans. They simple don't understand it. Don't ask me about the use of euphemisms to avoid taboo words, or euphemisms to avoid taboo euphemisms. 😎

I thinks it reflects classical Greek, and later Roman ideals.

Yes, it is excellent, and all the better for being on a medal, with its higher relief. Who was the butt-naked model? 😎

I am not worried about the realism. In any case, the whole dragon thing is allegorical or mythical, and symbolism is historically important for coins and heraldic imagery, however... I do think you have a very good point. I think we need a new separate thread for attractive young ladies with clothing malfunctions. Do they have to be on coins? 😎

Most TSF members will be familiar with Benedetto Pistricci's versions of St. George and the Dragon, as used on gold sovereigns from 1817 to date, give or take a few years. His work also appears on crowns, and on multiple and fractional sovereigns. The Benedetto Pistricci version is generally recognised as a classic masterpiece, but other versions exist, and not only on British coins. but in paintings, carvings, pub signs, medallions, and probably elsewhere. Our resident "flasher" (photographer) commented about this coin recently: (LC) Better than Pistrucci's? No, not better, but I like it - love the dragons foot frantically clawing the rim in a vain attempt to get away. Bravo George! I invite other TSF members to add their favourite, least favourite, and any other St. George images here, with or without the dragon.

Thanks, I will have a look at them later. ... and they should be useful links for other TSF members also. 🙂

Actually I think I have also downloaded the same PDF, but it's still not easy to read, which is partly why I bought a copy of the book. Is there an easy way to convert a PDF to text? It may be me being a dinosaur, but I find many PDFs difficult to work with.