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Really pleased with the 1870 penny I just bought off e bay as an upgrade to my current one. An UNC choice example, with residual lustre and nice toning. The original listing is here and these are my photos:-

Its like when I get put through to a call centre in India....and they say "Hello my name is John" ....er, no it isnt , so you're lying to me from the off ...!

In the case of earlier coins, I think an overlay programme is easier because you have no 'standard' grid to work with in the first place. All you have to do is reference it to your chosen standard die (the best struck high grade example you can find) and then look for variations to build the database. If you have an overlaid triangle, you still need to rotate this to the correct position, so you may as well rotate the superimposed coin. That program can be bought off the shelf. For many hammered coins, a simple line from two opposing points in the legend which passes through an identifiable feature on the bust or other central design feature is often adequate due to the wide variations from die to die. In the case of later milled coinage, the pointings to teeth are easier to work with once established, as they do not have the same level of variation.

1865/3 halfpenny 5 over large 3

These are my 2 examples of the halfpenny overdate.. 1865/3 halfpenny 5 over small 3

I managed to get this nice coin, and it filled a gap too.

Now got an 1897 O .N E penny (F147) courtesy of Bob @RLC35 I'd estimate at EF. Nice coin and another Freeman currency type box ticked.

Quite pleased with this one as an upgrade. I am now happy that I have all the 20th century pennies that are achievable in an acceptable grade for me. (Which means I can focus more on all the other upgrades I need to achieve!)

It would be a lot easier if some were a bit more presentable. The temptation to store nos. 4 & 5 under the felt instead of on top must be immense.

I was pleased to spot this as a 'buy it now' on Ebay, so I bought it then! Purchased on the first, it arrived today! I had been tracking it through Ebays 'Global Shipping' system, finally I can sleep at night. F24, with the missing top leaf. Cost me £150 all in, £40 of it postage via 'Global Shipping', what a p-i-t-a. But I wasn't going to argue, under the circumstances. One for your 'Rarest Pennies' page, Richard. Jerry

The 1902 LT can perform well on the right day.

There is one 20th centre halfpenny that is very underated in it's rarity and that is the 1911 A+b shallow neck, narrow date. I have one in about Fine so it exists but I've not seen another in about 10 years of looking to upgrade.