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I just won 18 Postumus (A.D. 260- 269) coins from the Oliver's Orchard Hoard of 1983. The hoard was found while plowing a field and consisted of 1,559 coins, almost entirely of Postumus antoniniani except for 14 denarii of Septimius Severus.

awesome...how many forums are you going to join to advertise your coin for sale?

During the first week of May I spotted a 'Silver Hammered Penny King Edward I' for sale as a Buy-it-now' on Ebay, £38 total including Ebay insurance and 48hr Royal Mail Tracked delivery. As the coin was in fact an Edward III florin coinage penny of Canterbury, and quite scarce, I bought it and tracking showed that the vendor posted it on 10th May. Over the next 48hrs or so it tracked to the Birmingham MC sorting office - where it stayed. After a fortnight I spoke to the vendor who contacted RM and received an unhelpful reply and no coin. After 3 weeks Ebay gave me my money back within 24hrs of my claim as suggested by the vendor and I wrote the coin off mentally with much regret. It is noteworthy that with the refund Ebay actually state that if the purchase is subsequently found it can be kept and they do not have to be informed. Well, it was delivered out of the blue by postie on Thursday! Only 8 weeks in transit! The vendor and I have exchanged several cheerful emails and I get to keep the coin for nothing! As far as I can tell the coin is S1547, N1122 (VR) and DIG Obv 1 rev Ai. Jerry

Then a decent 1863 'open 3' , £30 at Midland Coin Fair.

Whilst the interest in collecting from change may fade away, the interest in rarities, especially nice ones, is likely to be subsumed into the general collector desire for quality rarities seen across all spheres. Otherwise, how do you explain the prices paid for hammered coins, none of which circulated in living memory. Their desirability stems from the history and all coins are part of that same history. Not all denominations have a large following, but one day their turn will come when relative rarities are fully appreciated. Take halfpennies. Much rarer than pennies in top grade because alongside farthings, they were the mainstay of the working class cash economy. That means a high grade example is always a good long term bet given they weren't normally set aside and collected per se. It is a common thread throughout history. Look at Roman sestertii as an example. These were the circulating base coinage of the Roman era, and again, not something the rich and famous would set aside. However, the Bolsena Hoard found in the late 19th century in northern Italy provides ample evidence that even 1700 years ago someone thought them collectable. As the hoard contained a large number of top grade sestertii spanning a few centuries, it beggars belief that they were collected from circulation. The hoard only makes sense as a collection. i.e. we are just the latest in a long history of people who collect from interest, rather than as an investment. As I wrote in my testimony to Cope part 2. We 'met' on ebay. He, as my regular nemesis, eventually asking if I was a copper collector. Silly and obvious really. When we had both bid over twice book on a lustrous 1718 halfpenny that came back in the sale as a 65RB, it was clear that we both appreciated the relative quality of the coin, and how infrequently they turn up. High grade modern pennies will also fall into that same collectable category once enough have been melted and are no longer readily available, and this might happen sooner than you think. In the past 20 years, I estimate that I have consigned somewhere near a ton of bronze to be melted of all denominations. Why? Because nobody wanted them, so you melt to free up cash. The odd rare piece will have gone through undetected, but the vast majority will have been worth scrap value. I am not alone in having done this. This will increase the relative abundance of the rarities over time. Every dog has its day, and as far as I can see, always will do so on a recurring basis.

I now have my own New model crown and a total beauty it is to I got it for less than three figures so am really happy its in about EF grade

One of the fundamental rules of collecting is that it is entirely down to individual taste, with no right or wrong. A person unable to see alternative views is too blinkered or has an unhealthy personal interest in the outcome. It is also a given that if someone writes down their research on paper, some people will collect said identified differences. One or more of the latter group will then see anomalies and try to rationalise them, and so the research continues. The logical conclusion therefore is that eventually, we will able to identify nearly all of the coin dies that were ever made. Not 100%, but pretty damn close. As a reference point - great. As a collecting aim - get a life if you want everything, and ask to carry any brownie points into the afterlife, because you will need all the time you have 10x over I can't explain why, but whenever I hear the passionate debates about what is right and wrong and the refusal to back down on a view, I am always reminded of the late Eric Heffer's speech in the Commons concerning the Labour left's hounding of Princess Michael of Kent regarding her father being in the SS during WW2. The basics were along the lines of: I think it important that someone from this side says this. I've never met the woman, have no desire to meet her and I am unlikely to ever do so, but in a democracy, nobody can be held accountable for the actions of their forefathers. So if those trying to make political capital from this would kindly sit down and shut up, we can get on with the business for which we were duly elected. He may have been left wing, but living in a democracy topped his political views By extrapolation, a tolerance of conflicting views ensures that life can continue peacefully, with the only likely damage in numismatics being data overload. I can live with that. The views will always be diverse, only the tolerance varies.

Fully functional teapots hollow spouts and removable lids.

Here's one of mine displaying the same die deterioration. A not uncommon feature on farthings of 1675.

In A.D. 286, the Roman emperor Diocletian put Carausius in charge of clearing out the Frank and Saxon pirates pillaging the English Channel. Carausius defeated the pirates, but then declared himself ruler of Britain, in effect, becoming a pirate himself. Carausius struck coins in his name along with Diocletian and Maximianus in hopes that he would be formally named as a co-ruler; which did not happen. In A.D. 293, Carausius was murdered by his chief minister Allectus. In A.D. 293, Diocletian appointed Constantius I his Caesar and he defeated Allectus in A.D. 296 and control of Britannia was restored to Rome. Carausius struck coins in the names of the Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximianus. This presumptuous and ill-fated desire to be recognized is why the reverse legend of these coins end with AVGGG- - one G for each Augustus. These coins also have XXI in the exergue, which is likely a mark of value, meaning 20 parts alloy to 1 part silver. They also have ML at the beginning of the mintmark; which translates as "money from London." Carausius A.D. 291 Ӕ Antoninianus 24mm 4.3g IMP C CARAVSIVS P F AVG; radiate and cuirassed bust right PAX AVGGG; Pax stg. l., holding olive branch and transverse sceptre; S-P across fields. In ex. MLXXI RIC V London 143; RIC V.5 London 2197 Diocletian A.D. 291 Ӕ Antoninianus 21x24mm 4.4gm IMP C DIOCLETIANVS P F AVG; radiate and cuirassed bust right PAX AVGGG; Pax stg. l., holding olive branch and transverse sceptre; S-P across fields. In ex. MLXXI RIC V London 9; RIC V.5 London 3546 Maximianus A.D. 291 Ӕ Antoninianus 24mm 3.8g IMP C MAXIMIANVS P F AVG; radiate and cuirassed bust right PAX AVGGG; Pax stg. l., holding olive branch and sceptre; S-P across fields. In ex. MLXXI RIC V London 34; RIC V.5 London 3607 Allectus A.D. 293-296 Ӕ Quinarius 19mm 1.9g IMP C ALLECTVS P F AVG; radiate and cuirassed bust right. VIRTVS AVG; galley with five oars. In ex. QL RIC V London 55; RIC V.5 London 276 This topic is merely a gloss on a subject that has several good books written about it. Two suggested books-- Roman Britain's Pirate King: Carausius, Constantius Chlorus and the Fourth Roman Invasion of Britain by Simon Elliot Rebel Emperors of Britannia: Carausius and Allectus by Graham Barker and Sam Moorehead

I have been giving my unwanted pennies to a charity shop (animal not human they are too greedy) and when I go in to see how they fared they are always sold out, apparently its youngsters going in to buy them, so maybe its an upward trend, hopefully

The problem with spurious Mint emissions is that a deliberate anomalous product commands a much higher price than a random blank picked up and thrown in the bucket for use. i.e. if you could prove it was a striking specifically tied to a certain mint action, such as trying out a regular mix on a different thickness blank, or a test for a new currency contract from a foreign country, you will do better than the unintended oddball. Wrong flans occur regularly, which is not surprising given the billions of blanks cut every year. Clearly even a hundred wrong'uns would be extremely rare, but in the context of mint operations would only amount to a rounding error if checked for weight. So to consider the above point, it is definitely not common, certainly excessively rare (in the context of a currency issue) and maybe even unique. The problem lies in documentation, because errors are by definition, not struck for the records.

I've just formed an end-of-season football harmony group, called Manhattan Transfer Window. You're welcome.

Thanks both, that is helpful. I will report back... P

Why don't you do that and find out as it is a cheap option? The cameras of the new phones are constantly getting better and you could very well be happy with the results.

Not absolutely everyone then! 😂 Still very happy with my acquisition 🖖

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/127945382130?_skw=1696&itmmeta=01KWV68AKFNDSWCKKGPY94SJ64&hash=item1dca2398f2:g:iPYAAeSw35RqQGXn&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAAwGfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xDovThOToFz2ZFPxugPA9XSFNn8ZGWTRKC3MuiLJB2vvvikM48JUeNQ5533R99qzPdpkTJiede8k08e1bKo7QPHnPdYirkor3VFy0FOX2Qdv22cpy62ndLBOphkklDDLEyhg7Dorvm0zathn1pNWUCTsodDHQA6DNvLqugFfUYUWRm5YRDRZiZddbZrVpucvMHW9MCW66Ze6LEzfoQ8w6lGoPt4ne1QgIBCoh6HWU%2FLyw%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6aqoebmZw

On the plus side, a lot of the flan issues were ironed out during the decimal patterns by using various metal mixes and flan thicknesses. The presence of almost consistent flan lamination for certain varieties suggests an attempt to standardise minting conditions, more importantly on a series which didn't circulate. The engraving wasn't particularly divergent from the normal currency issues, but the minor fiddling with mixes and also presumably striking forces for the mixes will have helped immensely in arriving at the ideal.

Your picture is too blurred for comment but here are my own pictures from my website: Single exergue with waves almost touching the line and double exergue with waves clear of the line.

Just to add a bit more: the first few years of the changeover to bronze saw a helluva lot of repunching of date digits and legend letters. Bronze is a harder metal than copper, and the coins were thinner in size, so dies got worn relatively quickly. As well as that, the Mint is reported to have experienced a lot of problems caused by the change of metal, which the huge number of varieties (major, minor, and micro) in the first few years can attest to.

Just an oddball. Letters and digits on worn/filled dies were often repaired by re-punching, and not surprisingly these were often slightly misplaced. Of little extra interest unless the wrong punch has been used or the misplacement is extreme. As for the ‘4’ it may just be a die flaw. Jerry

Here is a pair of 1/12 queen Anne flintlock pistols I made. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JRH-9o-P6sg

Here is all the dies I made with the different collars.

An 1889 F127 narrow date,13.5 teeth £200 on Ebay.

An 1874H F69, £17.10 on Ebay.

Finally, after a month of challenge getting BT/Open Reach to repair my landline I at last have acceptable broadband and can post some recent acquisitions. First an example F10 new obverse 2*, £20 at Ebay auction.

Yes, most certainly a worn die. And a truly shocking price which would be way too high even for a good strike UNC example. Here's a much better example at a reasonable price: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/157378763239?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338946167&toolid=20006&loc=&customid=4581527531114051_710033490_o.9beeaa501cf11ef92efac014f4958c05&msclkid=9beeaa501cf11ef92efac014f4958c05

For me it would depend on whether the brightness indicated by the one on the left is a result of polishing to within an inch of it life. I can live with faults if the coin is sufficiently rare, but it isn't. Personally, I would bin (sell) both and put the proceeds towards something better, which would be easy given the number extant. The detail visible has been covered by the previous posts.

I try to avoid "slabbed" coins as made by the third party grading services like NGC however this time it's worth it for the verification that it is a genuine coin, even if harshly cleaned. In this case, there is a bit of historical significance to the coin. On the reverse is a small trident to the side of the mint mark of A. "A" signifies the Paris Mint and the trident was the privy mark of Zéphyrin Camélinat, who was the treasurer of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune">Paris Commune of 18 March to 28 May of 1871</a>. Despite the foot dragging of the bankers and the approaching troops of the conservative republican government, he managed to produce, it is believed, about 75,000 5 Franc silver coins, 30,600 of which were in two wagon loads that were taken to the front lines directly from the Paris mint so that the doomed soldiers fighting for the Commune could receive their back pay on May 20 as the final battles began. <a href="The Coins of the Commune">The Coins of the Commune</a> (the term sou survived from pre-revolutionary France as a slang word for 1⁄20 of a franc - thus 100 sou = 5 francs) One in nearly perfect condition recently sold for $9,000 and fakes are all too common. This one, with the damage from the heavy cleaning - the scratches are quite visible even through the slab - was "only" $295 and moves into 5th place in my "you spent how much on a single coin???" list. It is still a classic example of being reminded to grab the best you can afford because that's better than none. Nevertheless this will be the gem of my French coin collection.

Definitely the one on the left. As well as @Coinery's comments, the detail on the reverse is far nicer.

You've answered your own questions/observations perfectly.

I can see this as a possibility, and I did test the water with the family....little interest on any front other than "What's it worth?" or..... I could consider a Viking Burial ? 🤔 in regards to the future of my coins... nothings been set in stone ,,,,or been put in a slab 😉👍

I could see doing that but I'd rather give my son a shit ton of good silvers that can be sold here and there as needed rather than everything all at once. I'll never sell any of my collection. But my son is free to do anything he wants/needs to do.

"It is still a classic example of being reminded to grab the best you can afford because that's better than none. " couldn't agree more with this statement...its kinda the way I've been through life, I was "Collecting / Hoarding ?!?!" in a day of uncertainty with recession ..... times moved on and over everything....once I was asked Why??? rubbed worn out scrap??? its what's around and what's I can afford, yeah! some good...some bad....but good to have a something to show for my efforts...the slab thing I don't get either is it just hype or what ultra purest collectors really want?? how many of mine can be considered to be slabbed?? However, I must admit I'm considering at one point in history I will auction all the silver coins off, and buy a single gold coin with the proceeds, this will be a heirloom and to remain within the family........

Lobel or Noble? Trying to work out if it is a misprunt. Jim Noble in Oz used to send out lists too, hence the request for clarification. Good luck finding someone who keeps Coincraft's price lists. most aren't even read before the bin calls. I usually peruse them before binning, but only keep them if there is something worthy of recording. And amusing as it may seem, 1967 pennies at a fiver a pop, or whatever, is not a good reason.

Going to see"he music box" at the bridgewater hall tomorrow well its not really genesis but its very close its 48 years almost to the first time i saw them in 1978 at knebworth for a fiver tickets for tomorrow are £60 but hey you cannot take it with you and life is for living ......... just put some old cds on and enjoying myself

Just for the hell of it I messaged the seller yesterday evening to point out it was a replica (being polite!) and I see this morning that it has been taken down.

Here's my set. The halfpenny is the weakest of the three, but I only paid £43 for it and it's good enough for me. Weight of the halfpenny is 0.24g.

Yup, madness. I bought the Marshall coin in 2004 and I am perfectly happy with it - £87 delivered. I did have a go at the Lockett piece that was sold recently, but that made silly money,, and I like mine for the quirky shape and outrageously large distinctive tickets that came with the Marshall coins (44m dia).

Tower Mint Charles I, 4th bust, Group D 3a1 penny, mm. pellet/2 pellets (assuming no extra pellets off flan), inner circle obverse only, garnished oval shield with no CR, standard legends both sides CAROLVS D G M B F ET H REX / IVSTITIA THRONVM FIRMAT with single pellet stops both sides. S2846. The bust is not directly comparable with the larger denominations, but broadly follows a style which can be dated 1632-1635, with a preference for the last couple years. It is a single arch crown, but the Gp. E bust typically has a double arched crown and is in any case a very cosmopolitan mix of styles given the introduction of the 'Aberystwyth' bust from 1638. Pennies were struck with pellet(s) as initial marks for most of the reign from 1630 onwards, meaning there is much dating conjecture. Stylistic comparisons seem to give the best results. I will do a bit of digging through Dave Greenhalgh's reference collection when I have time and see if I can find a die match. Chas. 1 pennies are a bit of a b**ger to find in high grade, with yours being a typical example. Lots of mucky detail, but not much really clear. Your best bet for a good penny of the reign is the last bust which crops up more frequently in thoroughly acceptable condition. Typical examples shown of a few busts.

Hello Ancientart, welcome to the forum. I'm not suggesting your account or website aren't absolutely genuine, but to anyone reading this and visiting the website linked to above, I think caution should be exercised - the very generic looking website was created less than 6 months ago, the address is a PO Box (and has opening hours!) and the links to facebook, x, pintrest etc contain no content (yet). I'm sure Ancientart will build up a reputation in due course. 👀

1862 2+G F38 Another rare slot in the collection filled

It may or may not attract enough interest to eventually be classed as a variety. Do some research, write an article, and who knows? Gouby listed the 1946 ONE' and claimed it was scarcer than the 1926ME. I used his note in my ultimately successful effort to get Spink to include it in the Standard Catalogue, which would have increased collector interest several times over.

Were they the band that had a big hit with Carabao D'Amour?

Hey, Jerry, apologies I’m deep in Germany right now. The first coin is definitely a 2b. The second is not a series I collect, yet, so not overly familiar without the literature to hand. Nice wins, though…I had all the Edward Penny lots in my watch list. There was that class 1 coin in a lot, along with a 3/4 fragment of a class 1 with an annulet on the breast…prices were all strong, though, so I just had the 4 Elizabeth coins I was after.

Best way is to avoid ebay. Don't feed the beast, as they aren't open minded. By their own admission they don't have enough experts to remove claimed fakes, so have to rely on alternative opinions. Given Barton's metal is a gold leaf bound to a copper substrate, it is virtually impossible to get sufficient metal flow of the gold when cutting the blank from the sheet to completely cover the copper edge as seen above on my halfcrown. The smaller the denomination, the easier it will become due to thickness, but punching equipment isn't renowned for producing perfect blanks, and not required, given the coin with be struck with a collar to stop the metal flowing sideways. It isn't impossible to get some gold on the edge, but perfectly covered? Not in my opinion, though others may choose to differ.

You’ve compiled a highly eclectic collection of coins! Great stuff!

Yup, that’s another one. Jerry