refero

sure, whenever you need, just write me a message, i'd be happy to help

34 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

Some of this may depend which part of Italy you call home.

As you mention taglioni, it sounds like you may be from Piedmont, and truffles suggest Alba.

But are Lagotti Romagnoli any good for hunting cinghiale?

i m from Tuscany; high quality white truffle can be found in Tuscany (San Miniato/Pisa and across the border with Umbria), in Marche, in Piemonte (Alba of course and Langhe region), in Umbria etc...

Lagotto is the only world-wide breed exclusively specialized for the truffle "hunting". It is a very ancient breed which was originally used as a general "retriever". 

On 21/04/2022 at 19:07, Roy said:

Who the hell pays £2000 for a dog?

As italian, i can easily answer to this; Lagotto is widely known as the best dog breed for truffle retrieving. Especially white truffles which easily go for 3-4000 Euros / kg. I have no idea if the story is just invented or not, but 2000 gbp for a selected lagotto puppy is average price. I have no idea again if the owner is just in love with this breed or bought it for commercial purpose (i dont know up there but in Italy truffles are a big thing in the food sector and some people that loves it, like me, wouldnt hesitate to pay 50 euros for a good tagliolini home made past with selected white truffle...

And if you thing about that...we all here share a passion that brings us to over pay little rounded pieces of metal,.... sometimes queueing hours on line or waiting years to get our hands on what we look for.. and we are ready to pay huge prices over spot... if you look from outside it s a non sense neither...

maybe is my mistake tho; i assumed the goal of this thread was to count London mintage; if we consider all other mints of course figures are totally different!

i guess you were referring to Sidney and Melbourne mints. 1887 is quite a crowded year yes)

33 minutes ago, Jvw said:

Don't forget the 1887. It was minted as a young head but also jubilee head. 

a 1887 London young head would be a huge surprise to me... mintage is from 1871 to 1885

ah and the 1879 of course

interesting topic... let's count! (only London mint)

20 pre victorians; 59 victorian's ((35 shield - 10 young head - bear in mind that like this i m counting twice 1871/2/3/4-  6 jubilee - 8 old head); 9 edward; 8 George V, 1 George VI; 

57 Elisabeth's (but consider that from 1983 to 1999 included we are talking about only Proof sovs, not bullion, and that applies to 1937 too); for not saying about the 1953 sov...(which i didnt count in here)

that makes 97 pre Elizabeth + 57 Elizabeth = 154 (again, i counted 1871-2-3-4 twice, i didnt include 1953, and there are 18 proofs)

this is a mere theoretical exercise since, as someone already pointed out, there are some sovs which are just not collectible for 99% of collectors... 

1819-1823-1828-1838-1839-1841-1874-1917

On 31/03/2022 at 20:28, modofantasma said:

Hi Folks 

Saw this today. Whilst I'm really a bullion stacker I would like to get a few of the pre Victoria portraits 

Do you think it's worth buying a coin like this with the wear at that price point? (I suppose if it dissappears in the next few minutes I got my answer) 

Do you think it is better value to buy one in better condition at a higher price? 

I'm not particularly worried about budget more interested in value and what I get for the money. 

https://atkinsonsbullion.com/pre-owned/dated-sovereigns/george-iii-1816-1837/pre-owned-1817-george-iii-full-sovereign-gold-coin

The 1817 sov is not a "rare" coin per se. It is an expensive one, that's for sure. It can be compared to the 1838; you can find them (and often in high grading) in every medium-to-high level auction. There are dozens slabbed by PCGS-NGC. It is just a matter of saving enough money to be able to afford a decent one. I d never get a 1817 coin in fine condition, for that amount..

thanks @LawrenceChardand @Foster88 for sharing your thoughts on that; 

it is true what you both say about auctions; consider that a lot of collectors (like me, i m italian living in italy) have very few chances to meet with UK coin dealers, to go to fairs, to actually see and assess personally coins in hand... and especially with Covid, travelling has become much more difficult, and sometimes unsafe..

online auctions are going to be more and more relevant in the future in my opinion, and slabs are perfectly matching with this trend. Its a guarantee (even if i got the impression that most people buy the slab with the magic number, rather than the coin within..)

going back to those 3 rare coins, and if i were to make a catalogue, i would re allign prices to what the market is saying/asking today. There has been a run for sovereigns in the last 2-3 years and victorian shields in high grade are getting scarcer and scarcer. 

23 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

.. and I meant to type BSJ instead of BS!

😎

ok but apart from these BSJ-BS-SJA.... any concrete thoughts?

yes indeed i meant Baldwin of St James'

good morning everyone, 

talking about London super rare shield sovereigns, i was trying to figure how often they do pop in market/auctions and if and how the rarity goes along with a decent grading.

-1841 is undoubtedly the rarest; i havent seen an at "at least" EF one for ages and i dont even want to know how much would a AU58/MS61 go for in an auction today

- 1839 is a pretty huge mistery to me; proof ones are way "more common" (not cheap tho!) than the "regular" bullion one (i guess at that time people saved the 1838 as the first Victorian gold coin). Proofs are actually sold on important auctions on regular basis while the bullion is much more elusive. I remember a MS62 sold a couple years ago at Charles Wander auction for 4500 (?) gbp hammer. And last month an au58 made 5200 gbp hammer at BSJ auction. I feel this year is much more rare than perceived around.. What are your thoughts on this coin?

- 1874 pops "pretty often" even if usually in very poor condition. At the same last BSJ there were 4!!!, the best one being an au55 and, quite surprisingly, 2 of them shown unknown die numbers (33 and 35 if i m not mistaken) while usually they show a 28 or 32. 

any input would be much appreciated

thanks Sovereignsteve; i was referring to "normal" coins in raw box version, no Slab, no 69 or 70 grade. It happens i bought a couple of 2022 proof and i m missing the 2016 one..

Good evening all, 

have in your opinion the 2016 proof sov (90th birthday) and the 2022 proof sov (Platinum Jubilee) the same current value? i m looking for a trade and i d like to know if it can be coin per coin, without any kind of extra (otherwise, what would be the more valuable one?)

thanks in advance for your advice