I won this by mistake, entered too high of bid (thanks, fat fingers) , and didn't feel like retracting it. I paid $37 for it, book value in XF is $65.00 Thing is, it's unusually bright for it's age, but I see no marks from cleaning.
Well, they are the sellers pics, right? Shopped or otherwise, the jury is out till you post your own.........
I don't think I would have graded that as XF based on that photo. Too much glare and overexposed. Big drop in value from XF to VF.
VF environmental damage. Seriously, Tim, why don't you go purchase a UK coin book on grading or something? Better yet... Aren't you writing a book on collecting UK coins? You should reference that book on how to grade your collection.
Buy the coin before the book, and ask the forum - come on Dim Dong Il, you know better than to post something logical in a Detecto thread.
It is difficult to evaluate the coin based on the seller's photos. I'd like to see your photos when you get the coin in hand. The seller's photos make me think that this coin has seen much silver polish over the years. I'd give it a "VF cleaned" based upon the pics.
Book value in VF is $37.50. You severely overpaid for this coin. I really don't think you should return it (though you might anyway), since: A) You knew you could retract the bid when you made it. Someone even told you how to do it. B) You thought the coin was shiny/bright based upon the seller photos, so you knew it was polished. In fact, the seller's listing even says that the coin was cleaned! http://www.ebay.com/itm/380692478362 C) You over-graded the coin to XF, not the seller. Since all three things were your choices, I think you're at fault for the transaction. Also, just wondering, why didn't you bid on the AU55 PCGS one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/370816757299
I read the Spink book at the library. Good information as far as identification, but what really threw me for a loop, there is NO MINTAGE FIGURES. None, whatsoever. Also, from what I gather, the book you referenced has a bunch of ads in it. I wonder if this is any good? Don't need values, just mintages.
Oh, and Tim, my opinion is that you should pay for the auction if you're going to start a thread by saying you paid $37 for the coin.
Tim - In some cases, particularly with old coins, mintage numbers are often unknown. And for the most part mintage numbers are meaningless anyway. What matters is how many examples of a given coin still survive. But nobody knows that, the best you can do is guess based on how often examples show up in the market. If you want to know about British coins get the Spink book, it is the bible for most collectors. If you want to know about values, go here - http://www.mcsearch.info/index.html If you want to find out more information, use the links you find here - http://www.cointalk.com/threads/united-kingdom.14085/ And if there is something you can't find that you want to know about British coins, then try here - http://www.predecimal.com/ - talk to Chris, tell him I sent you. We haven't spoken in many years but he knows as much about British coins as anybody I know.
Often times as with Scottish coins, the mintage figures are given in stone's weight ie multiples of 14lbs. But the problem with the Scottish mint in Edinburgh during the 17th century was the individual weights of especially the bronze coins varied a lot so mintage figures are rendered useless. I know that the Hibernia and Rosa Americana coins were accounted for in stone's weight also.
And in other countries mintages were accounted for by the marc. But depending on the time period in history, and what the country, city, province, bishopric, duchy, whatever - a different version of the marc was used. In other words, the marc (a unit of weight) had at least 11 different established weights that I know of. And they could vary greatly.
