Royal wedding: William and Kate

The wedding (scheduled to take place at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011) between Prince William of Wales and Catherine Elizabeth "Kate" Middleton boosts production of the new collectibles around the whole world, from coins and post marks to badges and magnets for fridge.

This postage stamp (with a portrait of the bride and groom) is released at the opposite side of the world, dwarfing the island nation of Niue in the Pacific Ocean, whose population barely exceeds 1500 inhabitants

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Posted by andrew, April 25, 2011. Post has 0 comments.
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Wacky Couple Share Their Home with 240 Love Dolls

60-year-old Bob Gibbins, and his wife Lizzie, 55, have a rather unusual collection of 240 different kinds of love dolls that they like dressing up and taking on shopping trips.

Bob relaxes with some of his favourite dolls

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Posted by andrew, April 5, 2011. Post has 0 comments.
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Student discovers 50 pence piece dated 2011 in her change

It's a find that could earn a student a mint - a 50 pence piece with next year's date on. Sarah Legg was handed the coin in her change after paying for lunch at her college and noticed an unusual design.

The silver coin features one of 29 designs by members of the public created for the Royal Mint ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Now the 17-year-old forensic science student hopes to sell it to coin collectors to help pay her university fees after she leaves Fareham College in Hampshire.

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Posted by andrew, December 17, 2010. Post has 2 comments.
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Banker Spends 35 Years Collecting Beer Cans

Nick West, 51-year-old banker from Clevendon, Britain has spent the lats 35 years putting together an impressive collection of 6,788 beer cans.

The banker from North Somerset started his British beer can collection when he was only 16 years old. His wife-to-be, Dorothy, bought him a book about collecting beer cans, not knowing she would spend the next 35 years regretting her bad taste in presents. Nick became quite fond of collecting all kinds of beer cans, and before long, the couple had to move to a larger house, one that would be roomy enough for his ever-growing collection.

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Posted by andrew, November 25, 2010. Post has 1 comments.
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Master Modeller Builds Unique Matchstick Armada

79-year-old Phillip Waren has spent the last 62 years of his life creating incredible ship models out of old matchsticks and the wooden boxes they used to be packed in. He started building his amazing matchstick models when he was just 17, using the things around him, and since matchsticks were much more common back then, finding large supplies was a very easy task.

The master modeler, from Brandford, Dorset, has created every ship built in the Royal Navy since 1945, as well as 60 other ships from the US navy and other impressive floating fortresses from 18 other nations. One of the largest ships in his collection is the famous USS Nimitz, the largest aircraft carrier in the world.

Throughout his career as a ship model builder, Phillip Waren created over 400 individual ships, as well as 1,200 airplane models that make his aircraft carriers look more real. The average ship in his collection is made using around 1,500 matchsticks and takes about a month to complete, but for his larger creations he used over 5,000 matchsticks and 200 wooden boxes. These took him about a year to complete. All in all, Phillip Waren used around 650,000 matchsticks, to create his entire fleet.

Although many museum curators told him his matchstick creations are worth serious money, Phillip Waren considers them invaluable, and has never once considered selling them. He decided not to ensure them either because he feels “the purpose of insurance is to replace things when you lose them. These can never be replaced”.

Sadly, his collection isn’t going to grow much bigger than it already is, not because Phillip Waren is getting to old, but because the wooden boxes used as packaging for the matches have been replace by cardboard ones, and his stockpile is running low.

Take a look at Mr. Waren’s detailed collection and prepared to have your mind blown:

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Posted by andrew, August 31, 2010. Post has 0 comments.
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Currency of the criminal

Britain axes 500 euro note over organized crime fears. Such is its popularity among criminals, the 500 euro note has earned itself a nickname - the Bin Laden. It is so called because you know it's out there, you know what it looks like, it moves around a lot but no-one ever sees it. But the note's days as a favorite for organized crime gangs, terrorists and money launderers may be numbered after it was withdrawn from circulation in Britain.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) said there there was 'no credible legitimate use' for the notes - which are worth £426 each. UK wholesalers agreed to stop selling the distinctive pink and purple note last month after Soca investigators found nine out of ten were used for illegal activities.

The move is likely to heap pressure on the European Central Bank to withdraw the note from circulation entirely. It remains legal tender in the UK and there are fears British criminals will now simply source their 500 euro notes on the continent, or turn to the smaller value 200 euro note which is worth £170.

Before the ban came into force, Soca found one backstreet money supplier which imported more than £4million worth of the notes in a single year - more than the number used by major high street banks.

Big money: the world's largest denominations

• Euro - 500 note, Value in Pounds £426
• US $ 100 note £67.19
• Chinese Yuan 100 note = £9.83
• Australian Dollar 100 note = £60.20
• Canadian Dollar 100 note = £65.99
• South African Rand 200 note = £17.95
• Swiss Franc 1,000 note = £609.86
• Singapore Dollar 1,000 note = £487.18
• Russian Ruble 5,000 note = £112.31
• Indian Rupee 1,000 note = £14.94

Posted by andrew, May 13, 2010. Post has 1 comments.
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Fashion and money

Katie Derham poses in a £50,000 dress made of money to launch a lottery show.

The People's £50 Million Lottery Giveaway will pit worthy causes against each other in a public vote. And these environmental projects must prove they deserve to win £50million. Derham said: "It's going to benefit people for a long time".

If our ladies think it is not so attractive we have another one:

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Posted by andrew, March 24, 2010. Post has 0 comments.
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10 Pounds of Scotland

The Scots have a colorful (and tragic) history of fighting the domination of the English that ended, more or less, with the butchery that was the Battle of Culloden (16 April 1746), in which tired, hungry, and somewhat unenthusiastic Scotsmen armed with swords, at best, took on England's best, armed with bayonet-fixed firearms. So it was with some surprise that upon giving a 20 pound note with the likeness of the Queen on it to a cashier for my first purchase in Glasgow's Central train station (a local map book), the 10 pound note I got as change looked like this:

When the typical 10 pound note I see in London looks like this:

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Posted by serge, March 18, 2010. Post has 0 comments.
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Wedding of Charles & Diana coins

One of the most important events of the 20th century was Prince Charles and Diana Frensis Spencer wedding. It has been connected with the big expectations. Prince Charles, the applicant number one on a royal throne, has received chance to get successors that guaranteed continuation of dynasty Winsors. Diana Frensis Spenser, the daughter of the viscount and viscountess Oltorp became the bride of the prince. Wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spenser has managed to the British treasury in 600 thousand pounds sterling Also it became the most expensive in the British history. In honour of wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spenser London mint made a memorable coin with face value one crone.

England 1 crone 1981. Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

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Posted by serge, November 9, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
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Nine-year-old coin designer

Florence Jackson (9 year old girl, Bristol) has become the first child to design a British coin: her drawing of the high jump, marking the 2012 Olympic Games in London, was chosen as the winning entry out of 17,000 in a Blue Peter competition (a long-running BBC television program for children).

Olympic gold medal winner, Denise Lewis, and her high-jump design makes history on the reverse of this new 50p coin, which also features the 2012 logo!

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Posted by serge, October 17, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
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