Master Obit

It's lovely to see so many responses. I'm quite an avid collector, and have been since I was around 5 (when my dad found a bunch of foreign coins in a Coinstar machine and gave them to me). Since then, I've expanded to a collection that has some representation from (I think) 203 different territories/dependencies and a complete set of every circulating commemorative (including the Kew Gardens 50p, a few complete sets of Olympics 50ps and all four Commonwealth Games £2s all acquired at no more than face value). I do have a pre-decimal set of coins but which I've not spent quite as much time on of late, with a fairly complete set of pennies from 1860 onwards (though not all in especially good condition). I also have an expansive collection of banknotes, with an emphasis on UK and the territories, the majority of which has been sourced in the wild (with some exceptions, such as editions of ten shilling and pound notes). One of my best chance finds was a £10 note which has been misprinted (the last three digits in the serial number are missing, the result of the ink running dry), in change from a McDonalds of all places. I absolutely refuse to buy any of the so-called "coins" that the Royal Mint issues that don't get circulated. I remember the time when they used to circulate all the commemoratives, whereas now they have far more interest in profit than encouraging people to collect.

Grrr. My chances are limited now as paper notes are very hard to encounter, much less commemoratives. I need a good bank contact. I'll try and upload some images of some of my best pulls from the wild if anyone would be interested.

I'm missing the Nicklaus fiver from my Scotland set. I could easily buy one, but I prefer to try and source things naturally (which can include asking bank workers). I've got a rather good set of Scottish banknotes including one of the hundreds in very nice shape that I've sourced entirely in the wild (though I did get some help from someone who worked in a bank with a lot of elderly clients).

I That's such a pity, and they were probably sold for way less than they were worth. I've gotten to the stage where people recommend me to others to assist with valuing collections, and it makes me very happy to save a few people from having this happen. I once helped someone who had a tin of old coins that they thought were complete rubbish and were willing to just give to me, and in amongst them was a genuine Cromwellian shilling. It ended up being authenticated and sold at auction for I believe somewhere around £2,500, so it's always worth spending time on these things. I'd have absolutely killed to own it myself as it was such a beautiful specimen, but I couldn't really justify the expense at the time. I could have just not informed them and gotten it for free, but my conscience would have eaten me. They did buy me a very nice watch as a thank you gift.

That's a pity, I'd have been more than willing to take them off your hands I'm currently valuing a coin collection that a friend inherited from his grandfather - it's a proper old school collection, and full of very interesting pieces (several of which I will acquire for myself). I always think it's sad when collections that people put a lot of work in to just get split up and sold, but c'est la vie.

I've got a much simpler solution. I muted the bastard ages ago. Not sure why everyone else hasn't at this point.

You can keep Romesh. I think these type of polls necessitate bringing a few celebrities down a peg or two (which seems appropriate given that Prince William is on the list).

If I was staying in the same hotel as each of these ten people, and they started hitting on me, I'd be telling nine of these to fuck off. I can maybe understand the appeal of one or two others, even if they aren't my type. Other than that, I have grave concerns for anyone who voted for these people.

I really like the intelligent humour here.

Watch the circulated 50ps part of this video especially My Whole Coin Collection!!! 4 Years Of Christopher Collects!!! - YouTube (36:33 onwards). Way, way more than any one person needs. He jokes about "having a problem", but this is seriously in the realms of needing actual help for a hoarding problem.

I can confirm that I am alive and well.

That guy is one of the biggest twonks on youtube. Exactly what is wrong with "collectors" nowadays. I saw a video once where he was showing off his "collection", proudly boasting "I've got 574 Sherlock Holmes 50ps!", "369 Miss Tiggy-Winkles!" etc. Yeah, good for you. That's not a collection, it's a hoard. A high-standard collection doesn't contain masses of the same coin, especially common ones. He could release 99% of them back in to the wild, giving other people the chance to find them and also giving him funds to buy much nicer coins but no, he would prefer to just sit on a pointless hoard. I shudder to think how many really nice coins he's ruined with fingerprints because apparently he can afford to hoard thousands of pounds of coins but can't spare a tenner for some gloves to handle them. There seems to be some definite interest in coins in this forum (and even a few fairly avid collectors), perhaps people would appreciate a coin thread? Anyone on board?

There are dozens of non-circulating coins that they've churned out in recent years as a money-making ploy. Very much devalues the hobby and puts people off wanting to bother collecting.

And some Charleses want to be in the worst cunts (as a tampon).

The one he's shown the obverse of is the coronation 50p. It's actually quite a nice design imo.

Craig. It sounds horrible. Three of the most collosal twats I have ever known have been called Craig. Never mind Craigslist, Craig should be ON a list.

Confirmed that it goes up to 2022 before having a rather lovely meal. 2023 will probably land in the latter half of the year, around the same time as Q4 of the regular index.

Okay so a little bit of a deviation from the usual topics. As some of you know, I do quite a bit of research on British longevity (hence my mastery of the GRO index), and especially on the longest marriages. A number of the ones I was aware of have ended recently, which means the current list is now looking quite sparse. There's a reasonable userbase on this forum, so I figured it might be worth a shot to appeal here for if anyone has any knowledge of any British marriages of 75+ years, past or present. Fully expecting this topic to end up on 0 replies, but you miss all the shots you don't take. **Not suggesting anyone should share details of people without their consent, but even just having some sort of indication of whether they exist amongst people here would be useful.

They are still very interesting - George Ives was a fascinating individual, the last individual who was allowed to wear a Victoria medal.

Overseas deaths are excluded from the regular GRO index. There is an index that is housed at the archives that lists overseas deaths of British nationals, but I think it only goes up to 2021. I'm actually having a meal with someone in the vicinity of the archives tomorrow so will arrive a bit earlier and pop in to check (since it might somewhat dampen the mood if my best suggestion after a good meal and wine was to go and look at some microfiche).

If you're one of the Jehovah's witnesses that knocked on my door last week, I apologise for the somewhat creative language I used. Some of the words were probably a bit too complex for someone with your dangerously low intelligence quotient to understand. I'll simplify my language next time and just tell you to fuck off.

Ditto.

I do - George died 24 July 2018, shortly before their 78th wedding anniversary. Phyllis died 25 January 2022. Helpfully the article showed their 75th anniversary card from the queen, allowing an exact length to be calculated from the date. A lot of couples on my list are missing an exact date of marriage because ancestry only gives the quarter.

He's rather outshone by a couple of the hunky backing dancers, lets be real.

Sadly Eileen died not long after that article, and Ron died in 2015. There are still plenty out there to be found, and I'm convinced there must be people on here who know some.