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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Steven Dale, post: 7830898, member: 115658&quot;]Hi</p><p><br /></p><p>Along with the whole look of the holder and label I would add that in my experience (I am British and live in UK) there are few UK auction houses I would trust 100% to give an accurate value of a coin. Many fail to even provide sharp photos on their sites (and often of only one side). This has made it very difficult during the pandemic to have any idea of what one is bidding on. I have been sold coins as genuine that were not as well been the victim of inaccurate descriptions. In both cases I ended up keeping the items and getting a significant refund.</p><p><br /></p><p>On one occasion I questioned one item and it was withdrawn so success there.</p><p><br /></p><p>I would only trust specialist auction houses who have the resources to properly check coins and provide sharp photos and accurate information (on mint, varieties or errors etc.). My personal shortlist is as follows (in case anyone is looking to buy at UK auctions):</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Lockdales (<a href="https://www.lockdales.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.lockdales.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lockdales.com/</a>)</p><p>2. Spink (<a href="https://www.spink.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.spink.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.spink.com/</a>)</p><p>3. Baldwin&#039;s (<a href="https://www.baldwin.co.uk" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.baldwin.co.uk" rel="nofollow">https://www.baldwin.co.uk</a>)</p><p>4. Warwick &amp; Warwick (<a href="https://www.warwickandwarwick.com" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.warwickandwarwick.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.warwickandwarwick.com</a>)</p><p>5. Chards (<a href="https://www.chards.co.uk" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.chards.co.uk" rel="nofollow">https://www.chards.co.uk</a>)</p><p>6. Dix Noonan Webb (<a href="https://www.dnw.co.uk" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.dnw.co.uk" rel="nofollow">https://www.dnw.co.uk</a>)</p><p>7. London Coins (<a href="https://londoncoins.co.uk/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://londoncoins.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">https://londoncoins.co.uk/</a>)</p><p><br /></p><p>Of course I am sure there are others but these are the ones I have bought from or checked out personally. I have approached a coin expert at one large auction house only to be told by him that he couldn&#039;t help me with my query as it was outside his expertise. Fair enough but the auction house in question (none of those listed) was promoting it&#039;s expertise in giving valuations of coins!</p><p><br /></p><p>I would also recommend Spink for their publications which are held in high regard by many. They mainly specialise in books on British coins (their Coins of England books are regarded as the historic reference) and Ancient coins (Greek and Roman) but d cover medals and some other countries.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another recommended title would be the Coin Yearbook (<a href="https://www.tokenpublishing.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.tokenpublishing.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.tokenpublishing.com/</a>) - the publishers also cover Banknotes and Medals.</p><p><br /></p><p>London Coins also do grading and their auction archive is very informative with many images that are of high quality and a great resource.</p><p><br /></p><p>As always, do your own research and buyer beware![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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