Leaderboard

You'll be needing the Endoscopy department for that.

If a £1 coin is worth £3K and the Daily Mail costs 65p (surely something wrong!), then pro-rata, that's about right. I wouldn't value a copy of the Mail any higher than the implied 0.0216666p price. In fact I'd probably still feel ripped off.

Found another error with the latest ESC last night, the standard George IV are listed on pages marked "Pattern Crowns" spent 15 mins searching for the No of a 1822 crown until I realized what the problem is. However even with the faults it is, along with Davies, an invaluable book for the silver collector.

coa is certificate of authenticity

Pyx Trials - Checking precious metal coinage for weight etc... usually 50 around examples of each coin minted are checked by a select panel for conformity to size, weight, purity

And a doctor with a good aim

Bugger Doctors

The ESC update was a bit of a disaster in my opinion as the previous rarity values were taken verbatim as far as I can see. There are a few things added such as prooflike examples of an otherwise standard coin, which in my view is just an early strike from better polished dies. It doesn't make it a proof and therefore is not worthy of cataloguing as a separate variety. Adding in a few of these and not proof reading properly means there is a disagreement in the concordance with the previous ESC numbering. This catches up at Ed.VII by leaving a few gaps in the numbering, which asks the question why was it not done properly in the first place. There are more varieties in the 6th edition compared to the 5th, but a corrected ESC would be preferable. And it falls apart easily based on my sample of 1 book.

The 2 pronged 1839 1/4d is easily obtained and not rare.The 1840 2 pronged (the result of a die clash) are difficult and command a substantial premium.

It's easier to say which bronze halfpennies don't have a I for a 1. I don't know of any as this was standard in the Victorian bronze. You see a range of fonts and sizes across the different denominations and issues, so what is normal for one is not necessarily the same as was used for the next. The only thing that stands out in this regard is where you get an Arabic 1 over an inverted Arabic 1, resulting in what appears to be a Roman I such as the first digit in the date below. The same thing occurs on the not so rare Roman 1 1825 shilling.

Sorry DrP but a capital i for a 1 was pretty normal for that coin in that period. The missing prong is also normal as the dies got old and blocked up. I'm sure one of the penny/farthing masters will be on soon and correct me if wrong.

Penny Acquisition of the year for me , just in time for Christmas. f164a Terry

last trip out with the detector gave me a cut half of Henry III Bury, and a nice piece of hack gold