Rich

🙄 My wife would do a better appraisal of a coin- and she has as much interest in coins as I do in handbags and knitting 😂

Some big prices @Mike

Sounds fantastic, and I admire your longer term goal of the best of the best and the provenance in this case would be important. I am very much a hypocrite when it comes to grading coins, my heart is stuck firmly in the past with coins catalogued in a nice series of Mahogany coin cabinets with felt lined trays and coin tickets for identification. But then my head tells me that in the modern world where distance buying covers the majority of purchases, then an indicative narrative grade and photo doesn't cut it when putting down hundreds or thousands of pounds- this is when grading comes into its own. Also, as @mike points out, conservation/ restoration can improve coins: I did recently conserve and then Grade with NGC the Gold from a 1911 Coronation proof Set that I own. The reason was that the Sovereign and Half Sovereign were so hazy and murky, it was impossible to judge the Cameo on the design, and the haze in the fields hid any sign of the polished surface- I knew the coins were good, but inquisitive to know how good, but couldn't begin to judge the Grade. Here's a before of the Set, and an after of the Sovereign: The Half did ok too, but I think NGC were a bit mean not giving it a Cameo designation: Although I conserved the Gold- I would never consider conserving Silver coins, to my mind, that would be sacrilege.

I don’t appear to be able to edit any of the posts I have made. Except this one.

Blackwell’s £44 preorder https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/English-Pattern-Trial-and-Proof-Coins-in-Gold-1547-1976-by-Alex-Wilson-Mark-Rasmussen/9781912667598