SilverMike

A nice before and after NGC conservation study here, on a very lovely 1923SA 1/2 proof. I knew it was nice, but I always struggle to see through the haze with confidence. Came back PF65 🙂 Obv Before: Obv After (the photos don't really do it justice): Reverse Before: Reverse after:

Cheers, I had never considered that... I'll never not see it now though 😂 100% agree on the print

Been a while since I bought anything new.. I thought they did a great job with the Decimal Day 50p

My nod to the Platinum Jubilee, all the rarer JC obverse. Slightly annoying bit of c**p inside the slab on the gold crown so that will need to go back, but I'm not complaining, its a lovely set and i’m very happy 😃. Need a box now!

Received today, slightly off track and indulgent purchase but the provenance drew me in! Not really sure what to do with it now, other than put it in the beautiful antique oak cabinet that im selling 😉…

Lovely George II crown 🙂

I don’t disagree, id use them for sure. They were in an auction today but I don’t think they sold, the auctioneer or seller felt they still had a healthy premium above melt it seems.

rather than putting them in a dusty cabinet or slab why not re-purpose them (an 1817 and an 1820).

Thank you. I generally ask for conservation, sometimes its done, other times not. When it is done, yes I find it does make a big difference, especially on these older proof where copper spots can make them look awful (they are almost always fully removed) and they can suffer from being hazy and the conservation makes them pop again as they were meant to. Sometimes, if the toning is nice and even and gives extra depth i’ll not conserve, but the copper spots are a bugger and for me they detract from the eye appeal.

Lovely half sovereign today, back from grade:

The designer is clearly talented. Here is a snap shot from the website. They need to bin the selection committee

The days of the 2014 type design are well and truly dead. It annoys me what they are doing to the Britannia as I was a big fan and could have been an annual collector. What's wrong with just one excellent design. Surely there must be one collector at the RM who understands what makes a winner. The main design is ok, a bit samey but it sits comfortably in the design run of the last few years. The 'special release' celebrating "womanhood" is just terrible in my opinion. These designs would be ok for mass bullion release to give a bit of variety to a stack, but they aren't a desirable showcase proof piece. Excellent point and it would have done very well.

Its only in the last year as the forum has grown and business members are charged higher fees that it has become a big problem and unharmonious in my opinion. Personally I only see it going one way if left unfettered, private individuals will just list elsewhere and stop looking in and the sales forum will simply become pages filled with dealers stock lists.

As someone has already mentioned, its should be limited to x amount of posts in x amount of time, a bump being allowed once a day as it currently is, in my opinion. however, if I were a dealer having paid what they are asked to pay id want my money’s worth too and that sort of limit would not be acceptable. The sales format just isn’t geared up to handle the loading a few dealer can easily put on it, never mind once the normal members are added in, it’s no wonder people get annoyed and push the bumping rules. The forum needs to decide what it wants to be or do something significantly different like an eBay type environment for sales. Edit: I also agree about splitting out the metals for what its worth. But I also remember when the highest paying members at the time were asked their opinion @richatthecroft and most were on a similar page to what you propose, but were basically told no and something quite different happened.

A few of us contributed to this thread a while ago. Its now cheaper to grade than stated here after NGC updated their pricing structure recently. Also good

Put “Plain Edge” in the mint mark box. They will the catalogue it right and it’ll be on the label. I use that box for anything like that 👍

Thank you. What annoys me is that they put coins like this in normal capsules. In this case, obviously the plain edge is a feature, but you can't 'enjoy' it when in the capsule (and I don't mean take it out and rub it around your body like people were indicating in the other thread). I grade, so it will be sent (boo, hiss, stone him 😂) so I will at-least be able to see it better once slabbed. But for those folk that don't (and thats fine, im not looking to bring up that debate again!!), the capsule lets down the entire presentation for me. Potentially I may have kept it out of a slab and had a box made for the two of them, but I'd need a much smarter capsule.

Yes, they are very beautiful. Look forward to the next coin in the series. I hope the wait isn't too long this time 🙂

Bit of caution on that description, the edge isnt milled on this set as far as I understand, its plain. Which whoever that person is should know…

Flipper 😏

Very true, could be. Look forward to seeing the video 👍

🤣 Yeah, don't do that. He ended his video by saying " Yes, I think this is worth £95" .. it may have been 3.5 minutes earlier but it wasn't by the time he finished with it. I also think his description of how shiny and heavy it was compared to a circulation £2 kind of gave the game away 😂 Thanks for sharing 👍 Edit: worth adding, no problem handling with bare hands, its the safest way, but don't touch the surfaces of a proof, ever. The grease from your skin not only leaves an ugly mark and possibly scratches the surface if its a smudge, but over time the acid also etches the surface - permissible on the rim, destroying it numismatically (in most cases) if on the surface.

If the Great Engravers hadn't done so well, Id be 100% with you. But you aren't going to pick up a (gold or in some cases silver) big proof pre-1900 for much under 20k and then thats for a beaten up veiled head proof. Also the post 1900 ones are still a serious amount of money, 1902, 1911, 1937. There are obviously some of the early milled, guineas etc that are in proof but its a niche market... this release for me is about the alignment to the modern Sovereign, when they come around.

Thinking about it, if you happen to have the modern 2oz gold 3 Graces or the 2oz Gold Una, surely you'd want the 2 oz George III and/or 2oz Victoria (assuming YH) to go with them? it's the same idea as the recent Gothic release. Its an expanded Great Engravers release in my mind, some coins may not be as desirable as others but there will be quite a few key coins...

It was this, putting the correct product code in. https://www.royalmint.com/basket-page/Add?sku=UK22PJS2&quantity=1