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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;SwK, post: 2019360, member: 22309&quot;]<b>Over half a Century ago in the early years of collecting[ATTACH=full]365195[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><br /></p><p>The year 1960, a trip to London was exciting, the highlight was not visiting the City of London and visiting the a world that had no changed for over 100 years, I would first visit this area to do my business in the early morning walking passed the Bank of England walking to Smith St.Aubyn.</p><p><br /></p><p>As quickly as possible I would do my early business and jump in a cab to get to Spinks in St James by 10am, it was a glorified high quality Antique Shop from Ancient Antiquities to Coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>I needed to back in the cab back to the banks for a pre-lunch noggin by 12:30, this ritual would finish not earlier that 3.30pm as the discount houses needed to balance the books of the banks with support from the Bank of England.</p><p><br /></p><p>As I approached King Street, I could see the Sargent of Arms waiting to greet visitors outside Spinks. He would request were you were going. Coins I would say, he would walk you through to the back of a narrow passage way to the back of the building. A rickety old lift would be called down with the press of an old button no 2. The steps would wind round the steps up to the second floor.</p><p><br /></p><p>As soon as you entered this room of numismatics you were entering a world of Charles Dickens, the light was poor with raw bulbs except near the windows. The room last saw a coat of paint maybe after WW2. Coin boxes all down the right hand side of the large room. A wonderful old cabinet holding the medallions against a wall. To the right was the offices of Patrick Finn, and Liddell.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the offices of the dealers they would keep their own coin cabinets and a special box – these were for special customers, there was a ‘pecking’ order and I seemed to be at the bottom for-ever.</p><p><br /></p><p>There was one thing missing, just the tall desk a cashier would stand at in the late 18th Cen doing the books of the company. We had Judith Spear who looked after Gold Coins in the office on the corner of the building.</p><p><br /></p><p>From this company maybe 80%+ of our collection visited Spinks in St James, well the company has been dealing since 1666</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Regards</p><p><br /></p><p>Jeff[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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