Format Coins Of Birmingham: Still In Business?

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Author	Replies: 8 / Views: 2,074
daltonista Pillar of the Community United States 1058 Posts	Posted 08/26/2023 6:12 pm Hoping to find a contact there for a bit of help on an old sale of theirs. All I have as a starting point is an old Noble auction listing with the provenance footnote stating, in its entirety: "Format, 3688." I suppose that could be a lot number, but I'm clueless at this point and really can't confirm online whether Format is still doing business. Maybe someone who used to work there? Many thanks in advance! "If everything seems to be under control, you're just not going fast enough." --- Mario Andretti Report this Post to the Staff

Kipster Valued Member United Kingdom 312 Posts	Posted 08/27/2023 02:56 am I'll do some rooting around and see what I can find out. It's Sunday and likely as not, it'll stop me from getting bored. I like a challenge. Report this Post to the Staff
Tom Goodheart Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 856 Posts	Posted 08/27/2023 06:21 am Been trading since 1971 and Garry Charman who founded it was born in 1946, so may have retired. The address in Birmingham is a set of serviced offices. And they aren't listed as a member of the British Numismatic trade Association so I wonder if it's another 'old school' dealer that is no longer trading? They used to publish twice-yearly fixed price lists. #3688 will be a number in one of those. Edited by Tom Goodheart 08/27/2023 06:23 am Report this Post to the Staff
andyg Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 1314 Posts	Posted 08/27/2023 4:40 pm Company status - Dissolved 7/8/2020 https://find-and-update.company-inf...any/01054504 Report this Post to the Staff
daltonista Pillar of the Community United States 1058 Posts	Posted 08/27/2023 5:15 pm Thank you, andyg, Kipster, and Tom Goodheart! It makes perfect sense that it would represent an item number from a fixed price list, as I have many of those old round paper coin tickets indicating provenance with similar information. "SNC" for Spink Numismatic Circular shows up quite frequently, for example. In this case I'm hoping to track down Format's description of a "likely unique" Regency Period silver shilling token that last changed hands (before I snagged it at auction last year) in 1998 at Noble's renowned Sale 58. I did check for Format of Birmingham on BNTA's roster, as well as the Coinhunter website, and then ran into over 42,000 instances of "Format" in my search of the Newman Numismatic Portal. Fortunately, I was able to narrow that down to a solitary citation in a footnote to a 2010 article in the BNJ, to wit: "Vice, D., 1988. 'A trial strike of a Birmingham counterfeiter's die', Format 37, 8 (sales list of Format Coins, Birmingham)." So my thanks to all of you for helping me figure out what the attribution number in the Noble lot description may have meant! And unless you've got a pile of Format's old price lists from 30 to 50 years ago, Kipster, I've probably taken this bit of provenance research as far as possible. I'll write up a post on my mysterious token for these G.B. forums sometime over the next week or two. "If everything seems to be under control, you're just not going fast enough." --- Mario Andretti Report this Post to the Staff
Tom Goodheart Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 856 Posts	Posted 08/28/2023 11:09 am Ah, yes. Found it @daltonista. How annoying of Noble to omit which list! Sadly my friend who has most of the Format fpls needs to know which year's issue to narrow it down! He might try anyway .. Report this Post to the Staff
Tom Goodheart Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 856 Posts	Posted 08/28/2023 11:24 am List 50, March 1995 daltonista. Edited by Tom Goodheart 08/28/2023 11:27 am Report this Post to the Staff
daltonista Pillar of the Community United States 1058 Posts	Posted 08/29/2023 6:23 pm That's fabulous, Tom! You and your friend have my sincerest gratitude! Now I can give this piece some definitive coverage in its own separate forum. Thanks again, sir! Tom PS - And thanks for the heads-up PM too, Tom. Apparently I neglected to subscribe to my own topic! "If everything seems to be under control, you're just not going fast enough." --- Mario Andretti Report this Post to the Staff
Tom Goodheart Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 856 Posts	Posted 08/29/2023 6:32 pm Glad to be able to help. Report this Post to the Staff
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