Roy

My gardeners would have found it by now if I had!
🙂

I often notice "ghosting" on coins.
I tend to see it most on gold sovereigns, particularly George V and Edward VII, but it can and does occur occur on many other coins. Pennies of the same two monarchs also often show ghosting, but what it it?
A "ghost" image is where a faint or hazy part of a coin's design is reproduced elsewhere on the coin. The ghost image I see most frequently is a soft outline of the head or portrait of George V can be seen in mirror image on the reverse. This is mainly on the earlier "large head" coins from 1911 to 1928 inclusive.
Recently, I came across a remarkable-looking sovereign, a 1922-P Perth Mint example, which also had strong ghosting of the head on the obverse side, as well as on the reverse. I almost had to reach for some eye drops when I saw it.
Here are some photos:

Here, you can see a "halo" effect surrounding the portrait, and roughly following its contours. I have seen similar effects before, but on this coin it is far more pronounced. The halo area appears to be slightly concave, and I am still  trying to understand what process or events caused it. The concave parts extend to the circle occupied by the lettering, where the field flattens back to normal.

Here Doug has drawn a line showing where to look for the ghosting.

On the reverse, you can see a large depression corresponding with the portrait on the obverse, mirrored of course.
This effect is caused be the fact that the volume of metal displaced by the portrait is greater than that of the reverse design. This had been a constant problem, even back to the old head coinage of Queen Victoria from 1893 to 1901 inclusive.
There were some experiments with changes to the portrait on minor coins, from about 1922, until a smaller head portrait was adopted in 1929, which appears to have solved the problem.

This side by side image helps to demonstrate the effect

This 2x2 composite image, with drawn outlines further demonstrates it.
Just for good measure:

Another interesting feature:
A sub-surface air bubble on the obverse. I have explained air bubbles elsewhere.
This old page http://24carat.co.uk/frame.php?url=1926modifiedpenny.html is about 1926 "Modified Effigy" pennies, which are scarce, and the same portrait was used in 1927. It also mentions ghosting.
Some collectors worry about various effects seen on coins, particularly because of counterfeits, and I hope this post provides some help and interest to all collectors, new and old.
 

“A man’s right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state as servant and not as master—these are the British inheritance.” 

Awee the stuffed fellow looks cute. Trust me, seeing a real one, snarling, in the dead of night, out in the wild, is enough to make one wet their pants.

This is more like it. 

Wise words @Bixley.
I had the same discussion on here a few years ago after I lost one of my best friends. One of those sobering moments.
I accepted the fact that my wife would most likely outlive me, she's younger and in far better health.
We set up a standard account for her here and I told her to get in touch with the forum when it's time for her to liquidate. She knows the user names to trust.
It's not a perfect solution but I'm sure a far better choice than turning up at a dealer with a briefcase full of coins. The forum should hopefully assist and collectively give her fair/market value for my 'stack'.
I don't have any concerns over CGT or IT because  @sixgun will be bringing the coins over on his yacht, and we all know what dreadful luck he has.
As you say, accidents can and do happen.
 

Stupid question: Will there be a platinum Completer? 
 

I use the 'William Wallace' method.
My bits and pieces are scattered all around the country 😊

At Hampton court for the release of the “Tudor Beast” release …. Very nice … nice to see a two kilo Una and the Lion as well 😂

..and no risk of a nautical mishap!
Nice yield 👍

Kinesis started paying out the Holders' yield today - a lot of excitement. 
i was please with my payout.
It depends on the activity on the Exchange but people have said it has worked out at 4.5% holders' yield for them. 
So free vaulting, no VAT and 4.5% yield for having your metal in the Kinesis system.

Papabearxxx joined the forum Apr 3, made only one post and was last seen Apr 9.
Did he achieve what he set out to do?

Picked this up in town today, not bad for £100

Papabearxxx joined the forum Apr 3, made only one post and was last seen Apr 9.
Did he achieve what he set out to do?

Papabearxxx joined the forum Apr 3, made only one post and was last seen Apr 9.
Did he achieve what he set out to do?

“A man’s right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state as servant and not as master—these are the British inheritance.” 

@Bigmarc @KevinFlynn
Kevin, you are right to be concerned about your future financial position post retirement. I am a baby boomer, I don't apologise for that, but I am in a ridiculous position where I am post retirement, no debt, no rent / mortgage, am still working (because I want to), get a state pension which isn't that far off what I earn and I don't have to pay any National Insurance. I pay a lot of tax but no N.I. Ridiculous.
I am in the works pension fund. They match my 7.5% along with the Government's 20% top up (pre tax deduction). 
ON top of that, I have a SIPP (my investment + 25% Government top up), an ISA and my PMs.
I do not intend to use any of them if I can avoid it, they are my inheritance.
Learn about stocks, funds and trusts. Do not trust grown ups. Every single person who writes about investments has an agenda and are not to be trusted.
Get your house secure and make sure it isn't taken away by the State if you need to go into a care home.
HOpe that helps.

 

If you hide your coins round the house I think it is very important to let the executors of your will know where they are hidden. And give an indication of what they are and approximate value. After all, you don’t want rarities being sold for bullion prices to the local pawn broker, or worse still, being lost with the sale of a house. I have given full details of my meagre stash to my and my wife’s executors, including details of dealers and sources of online information about coins for example Chards and Numista. Also notes about the tax status of gold with regard to capital gains tax and inheritance tax and the fact that it is untraceable by the authorities. Accidents can and do happen. You and your loved one can get wiped out in a car crash.

The big financial aspects in life are usually wages, house and pension. You take responsibility for your work, you take responsibility for your house, you should take responsibility for your pension. If you dont understand your pension then learn. It is too large a sum not to. The OP also mentioned a SIPP. As a self invested vehicle there is no one other than yourself to make invest ment decisions i.e. No scam.

To be fair to the silver boys, silver has/could've been a good investment. The problem was me.
When I first started buying silver (2014-2015) it was cheap compared to today, in fact just like gold I could've doubled my investment. Maples, Phillies and Brits were £12-15 and the Perth stuff was a little more.
Had I kept them, I could've realised £24 on the former and £30 on the latter without too much trouble (actually my kooks and koalas sold for this, my lunars for a bit more). As it happens, most of my silver stack sold on here a few years ago, the special year brits and pandas and libs sold easily.
I did well on my beasts too, picking them up for under £30 at times, perhaps £40 as an average?
Wait...my silver stacking has been a good investment! *
(just my gold has been better 😊)
 
*coins, not bars. They suck.

Not to be Captain Obvious here but anyone you've ever met can recognise your ink and prolly your dog, too. 👀
First rule of stacking...
🤷‍♂️

I want to paraphrase something Maloney said in one of his videos on the History of Money. He asked a room full of children which was the odd one out - when shown a picture of US dollars, Monopoly money and a $20 gold coin. They said something along the lines of 'the gold is money because its valuable, the others are just paper'.
Young children are less conversant in the doublethink of modern society and less articulate with repeating semi-truths or even non truths. There is no filter, they just say it as they see it, with little recourse to how their friends/society might always view them.
Now whilst I don't claim to be a Maloney follower in the sense that gold/silver are going to the moon, the anecdote resonated with me.
I've always loved history, and I first became interested in coins as a young child. I blame my gran who was frugal and taught me to save for a rainy day. So yeah I developed a love of money both current and historic. My dad had previously collected coins, mostly farthings, but had some 1887 silver coins too. He gave them me, c.1989/1990. Well that was it, I took a keen interest.
Even as a young kid though I quickly took a shine to gold and silver. He asked me if I want to collect copper/bronze coins and was met with a flat refusal.
In my head the distinction was clear, there's good - quality money, and there's base metal junk. I even looked down my nose at 50% silver as if it was some kind of con trick.
I don't know where this sense or attitude came from but it felt natural, that gold and silver were inherently precious (maybe I'd watched too many Indiana Jones/Goonies type films).
So why do I collect silver? Simply because I always have. I believe silver to be pretty, intrinsically valuable and historically interesting and I like the way it feels.
So why not gold? I can't afford it, is the simple answer. I could (and did) when it was sub $350 an oz. But I sold off what I'd bought in around 2009/2010 just before the peak of the market, made a nice profit too. I haven't bought any since as it's out of my price range.
As for VAT... Buy eight, tenth or twenty-sixth hand silver.
All my silver is over 50 years old.

The only 2 things I can give my opinion on is watches and whisky/rum mate.
Watches: Is a long game as the business model has changed and if you sell any of your in demand watches you will be blacklisted. So essentially you need to have a lot of spare cash to get every model you will ever need and then decide to make the profit. So a very long game and also a few different factors make it hard to even get in the door.
1. Salary - You will always need 10-20k on hand in case the phone call comes in for the model you have registered interest for.
2. Taking an initial loss - You will most likely take a loss on your first watches/watches this way it helps the dealer see that you are in to watches and not a flipper. 
3. Building the relationship - The dealer needs to want to give you the in demand models so you will need to be quite friendly. 
4. Sheer luck. You could wait 6 months for a watch. You could wait 2 weeks for a watch. You could wait 3 years. Its a hard game to realise a stable return. 
Whisky/rum: As someone who works in that industry I would say that if you do not then it will be hard to make a good return. You need to know that everyone that works for these companies can get these bottles for usually less than half of retail price. So you will always need to be on the lookout for deals and it will take up some amount of time to try this. As you stated there is also the space issue. I currently own 48 Bottles of whisky and I have maxed out the amount of room I have for it. Even having this amount of bottles wont make it worthwhile in the long run. I feel a lot of people who have big collections of whisky tend to work in the industry. 
Could be wrong but that's all from personal experience over the last 5 years. 

my time has been prosperous and I will enjoy the benefits I have earned. Your lucky and enjoy them sir, but the reality is many dont becuase the system is broken and sold on a pack of lies. 
The quote I gave above is from Margaret Thatcher. - Im fully aware who it was and as Ive stated before - and I was born albiet - I was a young lad, no poitician whose been prime minister has been any good for this country, not one.  but i know you are doing a little deft touch of sparring
I think expectations have changed. Yes they have  - but to make those expections today is to enslave yourself in debt, thats unfortunately the truth. 
Do you think I'm 'conditioned - we all are to some extent, but our congative bias and dissonance kicks in. its the pysche of human survival', am I politically correct? I'm no more politically correct than you are bully, which makes us awesome. - I dont doubt that for one second.