Shop of Horrors

[Courtenay]

I hadn't heard of the A-Z coins and haven't seen any of them yet, but they sound like fun — just found the list of all the letters here... https://www.royalmint.com/coinhunt/ster ... ver-coins/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rob Houghton]

my idea is just simply to get four 2017 coins (my Jeremy Fisher one is 2017) with different characters, and put them on eBay auction starting at £5 lol!

[Courtenay]

Make sure you say they're RARE and HIGHLY COLLECTABLE (words that are almost as guaranteed to suck buyers in as BANNED and VERY OFFENSIVE)...

[Boatbuilder]

Hmmm! Something called Trades Descriptions Act springs to mind.

[Courtenay]

Yes. I was intentionally harking back to another discussion we had a few years ago when someone found a copy of Enid Blyton's Magazine being auctioned on eBay with "BANNED AND VERY OFFENSIVE!" in the heading — because it included a Three Golliwogs story with their original, very politically incorrect names. Ah yes (after a search), here it is: http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... =10&t=6931" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd forgotten how much it eventually went up to — 25 quid, which is a lot more than a single EB Magazine usually goes for, to my knowledge!!

[Fiona1986]

I swapped a regular 50p from my purse for a Tom Kitten one in my work's till just the other day, and I already have one of the one that says Beatrix Potter with a little Peter Rabbit below. I've seen more though working in New Look but never had any of my own coins on me to do a swap. I'll have to look out for the alphabet ones.

[Courtenay]

I swapped a regular 50p from my purse for a Tom Kitten one in my work's till just the other day, and I already have one of the one that says Beatrix Potter with a little Peter Rabbit below. I've seen more though working in New Look but never had any of my own coins on me to do a swap.

[Fiona1986]

I can only wish!

[Courtenay]

Have to admit I like the idea of the Quintessentially British A-Z 10p coin set, but I haven't seen any of them in circulation yet (though I have to admit I don't always look at my small change). I just thought of looking further into the Royal Mint's website to see if you can buy the complete set, and you can: https://www.royalmint.com/our-coins/gre ... ted-Coins/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mind you, yes, I know they're collector's items and uncirculated — and it's not that bad a price for a special gift or memento (and doubtless the complete collection in good condition will increase in value over time) — but I could easily say the Royal Mint is trying it on a bit here too... £52 for a bunch of coins that are collectively worth £2.60???

[Boatbuilder]

You have to view anything that is termed a 'collectors item' as an investment. After all, what is the difference between spending a few quid on items that are in mint (uncirculated) condition and spending sometimes more than a few quid on something that is 'second hand', such as a book that has maybe been handled by many and at the same time acquiring a certain amount of damage.

I guess it's all down to whatever 'turns you on'. Myself, I rarely buy second-hand books.

However, having said that I bought a first edition of a book earlier this year entitled 'The Struggle For Europe' that was written by Chester Wilmot in 1952. Chester was an Australian journalist/war correspondent who also worked for the BBC and had only written two books as he died in an air crash involving one of the first Comet jets in 1954 over the Mediterranean, en-route to the UK. When I received the book (which cost me just £3 + £2.80 delivery from an Amazon seller) I was also pleasantly surprised to find a sizeable newspaper cutting, neatly folded inside, taken from an August 30th 1952 (unknown) newspaper which gives an account of one of the second world war decisive battles - 'Alam Halfa' (Egypt) - on its 10th anniversary.

What drew me to this book, you may ask? Well I was watching an Aircrash Investigation program (Nat Geo) about the aforementioned Comet crash and became aware of the author through that program. On the program his daughter, who was just a child at the time, had gone to Heathrow with her mother to meet her father from that flight and gave a heart-felt account of her memories of the occasion. This touched me and I was prompted to search for more information about him and ultimately discovered this book which I subsequently decided to buy. The book is also in very good condition with dust jacket and the cheapest one on Amazon today, without DJ, is now £20.80 including delivery, so I think I made a good 'investment'.

My apologies if this is somewhat 'off-topic'.

[Courtenay]

Well, I would consider "investing" in the A-Z coin set just because it's fun and quirky and most of the choices are things I also love about Britain - and given that there are 26 of the coins and I haven't even seen one of them in circulation, it's not too likely that I would ever be able to collect the whole set off my own bat (and they wouldn't necessarily be in as good condition as the uncirculated ones either). But it's still a fair bit of money and I'm not yet sure I can justify it to myself... I don't need them that much.

[shadow]

I was sent an offer through the post for a 60th birthday Prince Charles £5 coin. The price, including presentation card holder plus postage and packing, was £5. I thought that was a bargain and bought it but then wasn't sure if it was legal tender and could be spent.

[Boatbuilder]

If it is one that was produced by the Royal Mint then it will be legal tender, although why would you want to buy it to spend it?

[Fiona1986]

You don't buy second hand books Boatbuilder? those are the best kind of books in my humble opinion.

[Boatbuilder]

I did say 'rarely' Fiona, not 'don't'. With all the books we have accumulated over the years space is now at a premium. So much so that I recently donated quite a number of books to a local children's charity shop.