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The only information I have on this coin is as follows: "Kings Norton Metal Company Trial piece. Obverse: Bust right within raised inner circle and outer border of linked circles, no legend. Reverse: KINGS NORTON METAL CO L.D around an border of linked circles, this encircling 10 small circles and a further border of linked circles, the cypher KNM within. Weight 10.19 grammes" It is a lovely quirky coin which I bought last year. It is slabbed by CGS at grade 65 which is GEF grade to non Coin Coffin Collectors. The Obverse is worn and could possibly be a weak strike as it certainly won't be a worn die. It is the only one known to CGS and I would appreciate any information upon it for my records

But this is a currency piece....

Here she is. I know where it is but I can't tell (it's not me !)

Well worth it. I have used mine over and over again.

Two undoubtedly currency 1853 groats coming up in next DNW sale on 14th June ! Both have the "curly" 5 and the larger 3.

This is a much more complex subject than it first appears. As far as official issues are concerned, it's not the 3d but the halfpenny (1925) where the ME begins, and the last denomination to introduce it was the 1927 proof florin. However, the matter is complicated by pennies (as usual!). There is an extremely rare - possibly unique - 1922 penny with the modified effigy and the rare experimental reverse (so-called "1927 type", though it isn't). My own thesis, developed in an article for Coin News, is that this doesn't date from 1922 but is an experimental piece quite possibly struck in 1925 - when no pennies were scheduled - using the new obverse and a leftover experimental 1922 reverse die (which was effectively introduced for each bronze denomination when the ME came in, with the exception of the 1926ME penny, which I suggest was an unplanned emergency issue). The relative rarity of the halfcrown types has long switched back and forth; my opinion is also that the ME is scarcer, but not by a long way.

Not anysort of expert on these but looks gen - if its a fake its a really good one

It looks absolutely fine to me. Without handling it I would agree that it's a genuine mint issue and grades at VF or a touch better. If it is a fake it is a very old one as it is virtually impossible for the fakers to get the difference in colour into the legend and the bits of dirt into the edge milling in the field. What was the source of the purchase?

There isn't anything that screams fake. The obverse looks ok to the extent that the distance from the legend to the linear circle looks ok (i.e. variable) on the obverse compared to the illustration in Marsh. The image of the reverse isn't good enough to pass comment. What does the edge look like as I can't see any trace of the milling?

Whilst I'd already got a Freeman 20, the one I've just managed to get is a full grade higher, about NVF. I don't think it's worthy of the title "penny acquisition of the week", it is nonetheless an acquisition, and it is somewhat scarce, so I'm quite pleased.

I think it's maybe the first gold victorian sixpence i've seen. It has H35 and 500 scratched in the OBV just to the right of the last A in VICTORIA

That's a really weird one. The obverse is not a sixpence. Sleepy has it I think - it's the half sovereign obverse, gold proof error. Davies 1141 indeed.

I was told by a predecimal guru that I should move my recent posting to this topic. So here goes: I recently made some Victorian bronze acquisitions to my collection: Victorian pennies of 1867, 1882-H, and 1885.

Peck did say that he was in danger of never getting the publication completed if he started to record such varieties, but did not discount them, and I suppose when you think they would have been across several denominations it would have been a further addition to what was already a mammoth task.

I do love the Davies book, I have to say!

It's French not Latin .....

Looks like a case of mismatched photos. The obverse is from the unmistakable 1935 "Rocking Horse" Crown.

have emailed the guy as he has excellent feedback and may have just mixed his photos up..

Richard , I spoke to you some time ago about my possible 1953 121 tooth matt finish penny, its below. Terry

Just bought an interesting coin - matt proof 1953 penny but struck with the circulation obverse die (121 beads; A of ELIZABETH to bead) rather than the proof die (120 beads; A of ELIZABETH to gap). I suppose it's logical that, if they were struck for photographic purposes, they would strike examples of both circulation and proof coins in a matt finish.

Jan 1971. 15p

Just me You MUST write this information up. I believe Rob is working on a new ESC and this kind of info would be the icing on the cake.

Hi, I have collected die numbers for a number of years now, 6d 1/- and 2/-. I currently have 878 of the possible 1107 die numbers for Shillings (excluding varieties and errors). I know a collector that had just over 1000 of the 1107, so there are less than 100 unknown numbers. I have found very little info on the die number series apart from the books already listed in the above posts, Davies, ESC, Coincraft etc. Tony Claytons site with known die numbers is not very up to date. I e-mailed him a while back with the numbers I had, but he never updated it. There are a couple of errors/updates on Davies, 1868 I believe 51 is the highest number, not 54. 1874 I believe 70 is the highest number not 76. 1877 I have with die 70, Davies lists 69 as highest. As far as varieties go, if you collect all the numbers, you will generally have all the varieties, since this is all the dies that were used. There are only a hand full of exceptions, the main ones worth noting are The 1866 die 63 has the standard obverse and also found with the B/R in BRIT obverse. 1879 die 9 has the standard obverse and also found with the R/B in GRATIA (there was one for sale on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1879-Victoria-Shilling-Unlisted-GBATIA-Error-Variety-die-9-EXTREMELY-RARE-/200974960748?pt=UK_Coins_BritishMilled_RL&hash=item2ecb0a886c ) London coins also sold one a while back. There will be plenty errors in the series too, broken dies, filled dies etc, but not really varieties. Hope this helps