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After checking my rotographic books I noticed that 1868 has a lower mintage than 1869, so why is the 1869 much rarer than the 1868?

I agree. I would always prepared say how much I've paid and to hear others' views on that amount. Most of my coins have come from 3 or 4 online coin dealers and I've made two visits to the Midland Fair as well although I only bought five predecimal coins during those two visits. Then again, the sums I'm paying for coins are an order of magnitude lower than some on here. It's enlightening for me to see pictures of the excellent coins in your collection and those of other forum members. I appreciate your opinion regarding my coin, it helps me live and learn, although I'm currently not actively looking to upgrade any of mine. I will be adding different types and perhaps hoping to buy more shrewdly on the price/grade spectrum. Cheers!

Wow, delete those 2nd set of pictures The coin itself judging from the 1st pics looks nice although a fair few OBV/REV scratches, possibly cleaned

It is believed that coins are often struck using dies from a previous year, but without altering the date. Similar to your 1869/1868 example, in the Victorian Copper Penny series the 1849 is clearly much rarer than an 1848 but the documented figures are 268K and 161K respectively. The best example is the 1852 Royal Mint Parliamentary return of 236K but no one has ever seen an 1852, so presumably those bear a date of 1851.

Obviously one can make money on coins which is why we have dealers and auction houses. I would class coins as an 'alternative investment' a bit like art or antiques. In a large portfolio, one might have a couple of percent invested that way. The problem is that people like Merrill Lynch who manage billions in investments probably don't have the expertise for this kind of investment and, for that reason, will avoid it. So coins as an investment are likely to be a marginal product at best. Gibbons might fancy themselves as an investment manager but they will always be on the fringes of the financial community.