• No trains on ECML, but no Village Halls in my diary

    From Roland Perry@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, January 31, 2026 06:18:09
    So tomorrow I'm driving to London instead, and next weekend driving to
    my first double-booking of the year.

    Friday: Funeral and wake of one of my old Amsoft team (Brentwood).
    Saturday: Repair Shop in my GF's village, or will it be taking some
    50% silver** coins to be valued by travelling buyers in Ely.
    Sunday: Newmarket Racecourse Antiques Fair (buying, not selling).

    ** Silver market is very odd at the moment. Huge demand from electronics
    companies, USA-ians allegedly hoarding it, can't ramp up mining very
    quickly, but smelters are refusing to take scrap silver due to the
    perceived volatility in price. It's doubled this month. 1920's-40's
    half crowns now worth perhaps ?12 each.
    --
    Roland Perry

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.8
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Sam Wilson@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, January 31, 2026 12:56:55
    Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk> wrote:
    So tomorrow I'm driving to London instead, and next weekend driving to
    my first double-booking of the year.

    Friday: Funeral and wake of one of my old Amsoft team (Brentwood). Saturday: Repair Shop in my GF's village, or will it be taking some
    50% silver** coins to be valued by travelling buyers in Ely. Sunday: Newmarket Racecourse Antiques Fair (buying, not selling).

    ** Silver market is very odd at the moment. Huge demand from electronics
    companies, USA-ians allegedly hoarding it, can't ramp up mining very
    quickly, but smelters are refusing to take scrap silver due to the
    perceived volatility in price. It's doubled this month. 1920's-40's
    half crowns now worth perhaps œ12 each.

    Somewhat better than inflation - according to the BoE something costing 2/6
    in 1930 would be around œ7 now.

    Sam

    --
    The entity formerly known as Sam.Wilson@ed.ac.uk
    Spit the dummy to reply

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.8
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Roland Perry@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, January 31, 2026 16:37:59
    In message <10lku6n$2tkr0$1@dont-email.me>, at 12:56:55 on Sat, 31 Jan
    2026, Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> remarked:

    ** Silver market is very odd at the moment. Huge demand from electronics
    companies, USA-ians allegedly hoarding it, can't ramp up mining very
    quickly, but smelters are refusing to take scrap silver due to the
    perceived volatility in price. It's doubled this month. 1920's-40's
    half crowns now worth perhaps ?12 each.

    Somewhat better than inflation - according to the BoE something costing 2/6 >in 1930 would be around ?7 now.

    ie about 50x

    On the other hand, if invested (my USA-ian AI suggests S&P 500) it
    would be worth about ?1,000.

    The silver bullion price has gone up approximately 200x since that
    decade, so better than inflation; but only a year ago it was 70x. I
    suspect that's why many people think there will be a "correction"
    soon, so I thought I'd see what I could get for them.

    Where did them come from: well with a slightly different hat on I
    sometimes buy house-clearance coin collections, can be anything from
    half a dozen in a job lot of other things, or an album with 100 in. Most
    are usually copper, the 12-sided threepennys, or random foreign coins;
    but there's sometimes these silver Half Crowns, Churchill Crowns (which
    are worth nothing unless in mint condition, which they never are) or
    Channel Island etc 50p's.

    ObRail: I also have some rather nice engineering drawings of steam
    engines, a couple of oil lamps from nearby stations, several
    Acme-Thunderer whistles, a large TfL enamel roundel for "Charing Cross",
    and a good talking point - a Pandrol Clip. This month a signed 1975
    Terence Cuneo print.
    --
    Roland Perry

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.8
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Sam Wilson@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, January 31, 2026 17:52:47
    Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk> wrote:
    In message <10lku6n$2tkr0$1@dont-email.me>, at 12:56:55 on Sat, 31 Jan
    2026, Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> remarked:

    ** Silver market is very odd at the moment. Huge demand from electronics >>> companies, USA-ians allegedly hoarding it, can't ramp up mining very
    quickly, but smelters are refusing to take scrap silver due to the
    perceived volatility in price. It's doubled this month. 1920's-40's
    half crowns now worth perhaps œ12 each.

    Somewhat better than inflation - according to the BoE something costing 2/6 >> in 1930 would be around œ7 now.

    ie about 50x

    On the other hand, if invested (my USA-ian AI suggests S&P 500) it
    would be worth about œ1,000.

    The silver bullion price has gone up approximately 200x since that
    decade, so better than inflation; but only a year ago it was 70x. I
    suspect that's why many people think there will be a "correction"
    soon, so I thought I'd see what I could get for them.

    Where did them come from: well with a slightly different hat on I
    sometimes buy house-clearance coin collections, can be anything from
    half a dozen in a job lot of other things, or an album with 100 in. Most
    are usually copper, the 12-sided threepennys, or random foreign coins;
    but there's sometimes these silver Half Crowns, Churchill Crowns (which
    are worth nothing unless in mint condition, which they never are) or
    Channel Island etc 50p's.

    I have a Churchill Crown somewhere. It?s very rarely out of wherever it is
    (we moved a couple of years ago so I?m not sure) but I doubt it?s mint.

    ObRail: I also have some rather nice engineering drawings of steam
    engines, a couple of oil lamps from nearby stations, several
    Acme-Thunderer whistles, a large TfL enamel roundel for "Charing Cross",
    and a good talking point - a Pandrol Clip. This month a signed 1975
    Terence Cuneo print.

    Is the Pandrol clip an ?e? or a ?w??

    Sam

    --
    The entity formerly known as Sam.Wilson@ed.ac.uk
    Spit the dummy to reply

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.8
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Roland Perry@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, January 31, 2026 19:16:30
    In message <10llfhf$33lg7$1@dont-email.me>, at 17:52:47 on Sat, 31 Jan
    2026, Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> remarked:

    ObRail: I also have some rather nice engineering drawings of steam
    engines, a couple of oil lamps from nearby stations, several
    Acme-Thunderer whistles, a large TfL enamel roundel for "Charing Cross",
    and a good talking point - a Pandrol Clip. This month a signed 1975
    Terence Cuneo print.

    Is the Pandrol clip an ?e? or a ?w??

    e
    --
    Roland Perry

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.8
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)