Traveling Willburies, nope, Bellmans 1 1

[VKurtB]

On 9/24/2023 at 5:09 PM, zadok said:

...just keep in mind it gets windy there...we dont need anymore international incidents....

I’ll be givin’ ol’ Longshanks an incident or two. 

[VKurtB]

 

On 9/24/2023 at 2:57 PM, Hoghead515 said:

82 is my birth  year. Would love to see a pic of it. 

With my “bottom of the line” iPhone, and cropping, this is the best I came up with. I’m not fully pleased with it:

 

This may be a VERY common date for the half sov. One of the higher mintages. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by VKurtB

[VKurtB]

As I look out my hotel window this morning, I see the River Ness rolling by (and the water is quite high). To my left is a quick trip to the open water of the North Sea, and to my right is Loch Ness itself. I cannot bring myself to even look for “you know what / who”.

Edited September 25, 2023 by VKurtB

[VKurtB]

A special note here for @Fenntucky Mike and @numisport . The railway from Stirling to Inverness does a huge climb and then a huge drop. The station stop just after the summit is Dalwhinnie.  After a 4 or 5 minute stop there, with me doing visual 360’s as best I could, the train resumed the downhill run. AND THERE SHE WAS - the Dalwhinnie Distillery. It felt as if I was passing hallowed ground. 45 minutes later, I literally was. Before reaching Inverness station, the tracks nearly encircle the Culloden battlefield, where the Jacobite Rebellion met its end. 

[VKurtB]

Proof positive that Chucky the Turd is in 50p circulation:

[Hoghead515]

On 9/25/2023 at 3:59 AM, VKurtB said:

 

With my “bottom of the line” iPhone, and cropping, this is the best I came up with. I’m not fully pleased with it:

 

This may be a VERY common date for the half sov. One of the higher mintages. 

I like it. Nice find. Sounds like you had a great trip. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Hoghead515

[VKurtB]

On 9/25/2023 at 1:08 PM, Hoghead515 said:

I like it. Nice find. Sounds like you had a great trip. 

Duuuude! We still be trippin’. Inverness, Scotland for two more days, then the Caledonian Sleeper to London arriving at 8am Thursday. The Coinex 2023 show is in the Mayfair district Friday and Saturday. Today I picked up a 1917 Maundy Set, a few modern Royal Mint issues I had missed, and an Edwardian  coin holding box that will become an accoutrement for a competitive exhibit at Colorado Springs in March. It has spring loaded spots for 3d, 6d, shilling, florin, and 1/2 crown. Picture to follow. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by VKurtB

[Zebo]

On 9/20/2023 at 12:41 PM, VKurtB said:

Here it is:

Sorry about the lighting. Not light balanced. 

And you didn’t pick me up one?

[VKurtB]

On 9/25/2023 at 2:02 PM, Zebo said:

And you didn’t pick me up one?

I’ll just hustle back to Paris. 

[Zebo]

On 9/25/2023 at 9:03 AM, VKurtB said:

I’ll just hustle back to Paris. 

I haven’t been to Paris in decades and have no desire to ever go again. Scotland on the other hand is on my list to visit next, along with the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland.

[VKurtB]

As promised, the Edwardian (1900-1910) spring loaded coin holding box:

 

[Zebo]

Kurt,

  here’s a sovereign holder for the fashionable gent in early 1900s England. 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2023 by Zebo

[VKurtB]

On 9/25/2023 at 3:12 PM, Zebo said:

Kurt,

  here’s a sovereign holder for the fashionable gent in early 1900s England. 

Full sovs? I didn’t realize they were carried much. 

[Zebo]

On 9/25/2023 at 5:03 PM, VKurtB said:

Full sovs? I didn’t realize they were carried much. 

They were, many holders in many different configurations. I don’t have a photo of a nice half and full sovereign carry case handy. The one posted is for full sovereigns. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Zebo

[VKurtB]

I saw more full and half sovereigns today in shop windows, but with this morning’s earlier purchases, it’s time to pull back a little until London on the weekend. I did pick up a full sized bottle of Tomatin Amarone Cask Whisky, a product of the closest distillery to Inverness. There is a distillery being built IN Inverness itself which is expected to start operating in a year or two, right aside of River Ness. They have batches in barrels now, but none bottled yet. 

[J P M]

Very nice holders, I guess scratches on coins were never a consideration in those days.

[Henri Charriere]

Just curious...

Anyone recall exactly what coin it was actor Rex Reed handed the flower girl played by Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady?

[VKurtB]

On 9/25/2023 at 11:58 PM, Henri Charriere said:

Just curious...

Anyone recall exactly what coin it was actor Rex Reed handed the flower girl played by Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady?

Tuppence?

[Henri Charriere]

On 9/26/2023 at 2:24 AM, VKurtB said:

Tuppence?

'Twasn't a sovereign or Tuppence.  More likely a Guinea or Half Guinea, if that lesser denomination exists.  Just cannot recall but remember she bit into it and was all excited in that charming cockney way.   Thanks.

[Zebo]

On 9/26/2023 at 3:27 AM, Henri Charriere said:

'Twasn't a sovereign or Tuppence.  More likely a Guinea or Half Guinea, if that lesser denomination exists.  Just cannot recall but remember she bit into it and was all excited in that charming cockney way.   Thanks.

I beg to differ. The setting was 1912. Guineas were long out of circulation so if the coin was gold, why else would she bite it, it was a sovereign or half sovereign. Given Rex’s library, below, it would most certainly be a full sovereign. My tuppence worth.

 

[VKurtB]

Now in London, the Bloomsbury section, to be accurate. I learned a lot about the Highlanders while in Inverness. I got Culloden Battlefield heather in my shoes, and rain water on them.  The battlefield is, in its own way, even more moving than Antietam or Gettysburg. 
 

I learned the first truly civilized Highlanders were the Picts, obviously followed by the TIFF’s and the JPG’s, and preceded by the truly rare Kodachrome slides. 
 

The Cairns are regularly visited by plain-clothed Druids, chanting and dancing and attempting to pass their more annoying members back into time by passing them through rock slabs.

I got to speak to one Druid who really didn’t look the part. I told him, “Funny, you don’t LOOK Druish.”

Edited September 28, 2023 by VKurtB

[VKurtB]

The bus is going to neither the station, nor the bear, but to the neighborhood. 

[Hoghead515]

I really like that coin box. Ive never seen one or knew there was such a thing. Thats very cool. Nice buy. I bet it was bad about scratching them back in the day. What is it made of? Aluminum? Tin? 

[zadok]

On 9/28/2023 at 6:51 AM, VKurtB said:

The bus is going to neither the station, nor the bear, but to the neighborhood. 

...mr. rogers would like that....

[CIII]

Have safe travels.  

[VKurtB]

On 9/28/2023 at 12:26 PM, Hoghead515 said:

I really like that coin box. Ive never seen one or knew there was such a thing. Thats very cool. Nice buy. I bet it was bad about scratching them back in the day. What is it made of? Aluminum? Tin? 

From the weight, I’d guess tin. Can tin be plated with silver?

[Hoghead515]

On 9/29/2023 at 3:47 AM, VKurtB said:

From the weight, I’d guess tin. Can tin be plated with silver?

 Id say it could be. Is it silver plated?  Thats very cool if it is. 

[J P M]

On 9/29/2023 at 3:47 AM, VKurtB said:

From the weight, I’d guess tin. Can tin be plated with silver?

Didn't the British silver plate anything that was not moving to fast. 

[zadok]

On 9/29/2023 at 7:59 AM, J P M said:

Didn't the British silver plate anything that was not moving to fast. 

...everything but their trains....

[Henri Charriere]

On 9/28/2023 at 6:33 AM, VKurtB said:

....I got to speak to one Druid who really didn’t look the part. I told him, “Funny, you don’t LOOK Druish.”

I'd trade our non-stop chanting, saffron-robe wearing, incense-burning Hare Khrishnas for your quieter, more dignified Druids any day of the week.  🤣