Rogues Gallery & Gold
Regency Coins LimitedRegency Coins (UK) Limited of Essex seem to have taken over from Investors in Time, with similar dodgy sales techniques.Unauthorised Credit Card Charge for Unsolicited GoodsThe first we time we became aware of Regency Coins was in June 2009, when we were contacted by a concerned member of the public. His octogenarian friend had been sent a "coin" by Regency Coins, and had £3,500 debited from his credit card or bank account. he had contacted us because of our page about Investors in Time.We decided to investigate... The Essex ConnectionIt almost seems as though any coin dealer from Essex is either a crook, or at least uses dubious business practices, although hopefully there are at least a few honest dealers in Essex. (In fact those listed on Coin Dealers Directory South East page are all sound, to the best of our knowledge).It started with Gold & Silver Bureau, run by John Coppin, which seems to have spawned a number of "wannabee" professional numismatists. These also included Coin Connection, three ex-Coppin employees, who appeared to have been trying to make an honest living, although they did lack in knowledge and expertise. The JigsawAt present, we are trying to piece together the parts of the jigsaw. Firstly, the information we currently have is all third party hearsay, so there may be some inaccuracies, and we will continue to edit this page as appropriate.We are told that Regency Coins was run by the same people as previously ran Investors in Time. It may be that Regency Coins, or its owners, have bought part of the Investors in Time business. In one sense, there is nothing untoward in this, except the risk of getting tarred with the same brush as Investors in Time. Would a reputable company or investor want to buy parts of a dishonest precursor? Dodgy?We have seen and heard enough about Regency to guess that they are using similar dodgy and dishonest sales and business practices as Investors in Time did, so unless we learn to the contrary, we would advise any potential coin collectors to avoid doing business with Regency.The "coin" we referred to above is only an unofficial fantasy "pattern", and suspect they as often, it has been sold as a real official pattern coin. Even if it has been correctly described, which we doubt, it has been hugely overpriced. We have a similar piece on our website with an asking price of £750! (at the time of writing). Regency have charged nearly 5 times this amount. See *Valuation below. Regency Coins Rip OffDon't get ripped off by this company.Doing some quick check on the web, including Companies House, revealed the following: Regency Coins (UK) LimitedName & Registered Office: REGENCY COINS (UK) LIMITED1 ROYAL TERRACE, SOUTHEND ON SEA, ESSEX, SS1 1EA Company No. 06009383 Status: Active Date of Incorporation: 24/11/2006 Country of Origin: United Kingdom Company Type: Private Limited Company Nature of Business (SIC(03)): 7487 - Other business activities Accounting Reference Date: 30/11 Last Accounts Made Up To: 30/11/2007 (TOTAL EXEMPTION SMALL) Next Accounts Due: 30/09/2009 Last Return Made Up To: 24/11/2008 Next Return Due: 22/12/2009 Last Members List: 24/11/2008 Previous Names: No previous name information has been recorded over the last 20 years. Address30, Hainault RoadPostcode: RM6 6BJ Tenure: Internal area: 123 square metres (approx) Year built: Bedrooms: Plot area: 63 square metres Free valuation estimate: £218,000 Value range: £196,200 to £239,800 (Alan Worby's home address) Domain NameDomain name: regencycoins.co.ukRegistrant: Regency Coins Registrant type: UK Partnership Registrant's address: 30 hainault road chadwell heath essex romford RM6 6BJ GB Registrar: Daily Internet Services Limited t/a Daily.co.uk [Tag = DAILY] URL: http://www.daily.co.uk Relevant dates: Registered on: 02-Apr-2008 Renewal date: 02-Apr-2010 Last updated: 18-Mar-2009 New OwnersThe owner or principal of IIT was Steven Lawson, assisted by his father Alan Lawson. The new owner of Regency appears also to be called Alan, but with a different surname, Alan James Worby.
Are We Sure? - Copyright Thieves More AddressesRegency Coins UK LtdWe're listed under Coin & Medal Dealers Tel: 01268 289574 Unit 1, First Floor, Capricorn Centre, Cranes Farm Rd, Basildon, Essex SS14 3JJ, Tel 0871 - 4238871 (Premium rate number)
Lee Connors, Sales Assistant,
Mark Colin Hall, Director
Matthew David Barber, Director (Aug 2009) Update - 12th Aug 2009Today we received a letter from solicitors Barnett Alexander Conway Ingram LLP, stating that they act for Regency Coins, accusing us of libellous statements and innuendos in (presumably) the contents of this page. Having re-checked this page, we have made a few minor editsWe intend to send a formal reply to BACI denying and refuting their claims and comments. The original and current content of this page is true and accurate to the best of our knowledge, and is in the public interest. We will also bring to their notice the infringement of our Intellectual Property Rights, and ask for certain undertakings from their client. * ValuationAll valuations are, to some extent, a matter of opinion. It remains our opinion that the coin reported above was overpriced. While we did not originally have a link to our "similar" coin from this page, in case any reader should wrongly think we had created this page as an attempt to appear "holier than thou", or whose prime purpose was to harshly trash a competitor for our own benefit. BACI have asked us to identify our "coin", and we therefore have added a link here to our 1901 Hibernian Victoria Fantasy Pattern Four Shillings in Gold.New Home PageWe also note that Regency have now changed the index or home page of their website, removing all six of their previous coin images (there were apparently seven, but one looks like a variant of another of the six). These have now been replaced by four images of noticeably lower quality. Our guess is that the other three original images were also copies found on other websites, and probably used without the copyright owners permission.We note there was no credit to other owners, and we believe the 1826 sovereign images were those to be found on the excellent website of cruzis-coins, and we could probably identify the source of the sixth image with a little research. October / December 2009Since creating this page, we have been contacted by a number of other individuals who were having problems with Regency:
Another "Website":The domain www.regencycoinsuk.com displays a single page site, with a few "larger image" pages, listing two Victoria sovereigns, and a tatty looking William and Mary Five Guineas (or 5 Guineau according to Regency), for sale, with an invitation to contact a-t-pearson@blueyonder.co.uk if interested. There is no indication on this page that Regency Coins is a limited company.A Whois Domain Search Shows:Domain Name: REGENCYCOINSUK.COMWhich is singularly uninformative, but we have seen a number of domain registrations where the true registrant is hidden by the registrar, in this case a "cheap" hosting company. Limited or Unlimited Liability?We would think that anybody with a legal claim against Regency may have additional rights against the directors as they appear, in places, to be concealing the fact that you are dealing with a limited company.Tip of the Iceberg?Every so often we receive letters, telephone calls or e-mails from collectors telling us their own tales of woe. Some of them relate to Regency Coins.On 9th November, we received the folowing e-mail:
Hallmark CoinsHallmark Coins Limited, Matthew Barber, Lee Connor and Mark Hall have instructed solicitors who have written to us contending the allegations contained in the above email from Mr AA are not true and are defamatory. They state that:
Companies House Search for Hallmark Coins Ltd Name & Registered Office: Domain CheckDomain name: hallmarkcoins.co.uk Update May 2012Hallmark Coins & Copyright Abuse Copyright Theft
Copyright Notice
Copyright Infringements Remedies
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