Leaderboard

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Superb-Unc-1893-2-Victoria-Penny/323461050495?hash=item4b4fc7f07f:g:B0IAAOSw7E1bn-zr This is totally out of order. In a CGS slab and he does not even own it. UIN is 40402 The coin was sold at LCA 18/3/2018 LOT 2435 then put straight in a slab...I know the GUY who has it. Wonder what he is going to send the buyer instead ☹️

Ok, I don't expect to get caught in the stampede given it has only had 57 views in a week and no replies. The appearance of this https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/baldwins-of-st-jamess/catalogue-id-srstja10031/lot-3b393123-8bdd-4927-9e94-a94c00d6b2d5 in tomorrow's BSJ sale prompted me to revisit the reason for the large cross to the right of the bust, which is something I have long had on the list of things to do. In his article on the coins of Williams I & II, P W P Carlyon-Britton noted the following varieties for the sword type. Var. A - a modified reverse at Ilchester; B - two pellets one side, and a large cross the other i.e. the above; C - two small crosses to the left of the King's neck - these two at Dorchester; D - annulet by face; E - cross by face - these two at Wareham; F - a variety of crown seen at London. I am sure it is no coincidence that of the above locations, Dorchester and Wareham are adjacent mints separated by only a dozen miles. The question therefore is why do coins from these two mints have the symbols by the bust when no other mints striking in type 6 have them? Despite their proximity, North only gives one moneyer common to both mints (Godwine), but Oter is unquestionably the resident engraver at Dorchester for a considerable period including this issue. This would indicate the marks are not the work of an idiosyncratic moneyer. The fact that more than one moneyer is involved says it is done for more than a whimsical reason. The next nearest mint locations striking in Sword are Chichester, Shaftesbury and Ilchester, with Ilchester the closest - again a location for a variety. What happened in that area to warrant unusual die features? There must be a link somewhere. Sword type is thought to have been struck in the period Michaelmas 1080-1083. My initial thoughts were directed towards a connection with Abbotsbury Abbey, which is reasonably close to Dorchester. The case for a connection was stengthened when I discovered that it was founded by one of Cnut's thegns, Orc, in the early years of Edward the Confessor. Orc and his wife lived at Portesham which is between Abbotsbury and Dorchester, however, it is not close to Wareham. It would be appropriate to celebrate their largesse, and with a timing that is about 30 years after the abbey was founded, could be related to the passing of a major benefactor. William was in France for much of this period and before, leaving his half-brother (Bishop of Bayeux & Earl of Kent) in charge of the kingdom. The latter outstripped his authority by hoping to succeed the Pope, which wasn't in William plan, causing him to return whereupon he intercepted him on the Isle of Wight. Again, geographically separated from the two mints. Thoughts anybody? Fortuitously, I have ticked the Dorchester box with a coin of the same type, but as you can see, mine has the much smaller crosses to the right (var.C) and is a completely different die pair. So we have different moneyers at separate, but relatively close locations adding features only seen at the two locations, with more than one die with additional features cut at both locations. Sword is the second rarest type for William I after Profile Right. The search for plausible reasons goes on.................

Don't forget that variety of 1861 Halfpenny with the boatymcboatface reverse

I've been on the other side of the fence. When I started working for myself over 30 years ago, the handful of manufacturers each had their own little competitor in a former employee who had set up. If things got a bit technically complicated we would regularly suggest to our customer that such and such a person was the right tool for the job, depending on the instrument concerned. You didn't need to rule the world, just make sure the customer was happy, as it guaranteed he would return to you in the future. Slabbing however is a different matter. It is much simpler, despite the TPG claims, and any collector could assign a grade based on an accurate appraisal if they took a bit of time to get up to speed. It isn't rocket science, which is why they are never going to look a gift horse in the mouth and will always do the job. To claim slabbing something was pointless would bring into question their whole raison d'etre. Hang on a minute..................

I saw one of those for sale the other day I nearly bought it

I certainly remember picking up pre-1920 silver during the 60s, but it had pretty much faded out by the 70s. I don't recall ever getting any Vicky silver but I heard a tale of someone in New Zealand getting a William IV halfcrown in change! Best I had, only ten years ago was finding that one of the "pennies" in my pocket after a day at the market was actually a half sovereign. Somebody must have gone home very upset!

I did find about four pre 1920 silver coins in the years 1975-79 if I remember rightly they were sixpences and shillings no florins so it was prob only 10p face value - they were in dire straits and it was very hard to work out what the dates were , they were true "scrap only" coins . TBH it was hardly even worth looking with the amount you found , I remember the best place to be given silver was by passing a note to an ice cream van , it's logical if you think about it , pester power would get parents to seach the bottom of a drawer to find a coin for little billys ice cream

This is the 1877 he's selling, it has the two 7s closer together , it is pretty rare though.

back to the original question - saw him last year up in Scotland. Friendly chap.

I wish I knew how to post pictures .. it'd be much easier. [

Danish 8 Skilling? Ot possibly not that exact demonimation, but similar .. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces108569.html

Yes I also struggle with them I seem to have pages and pages of 61's and so many have legend errors or overprints but also I cannot for the life of me get my head around the 61 and the 62 half penny dies ... I seem to have three main types of 1861 ..one with the pointy lighthouse..the "pointy Mclighthouse" type. The round lighthouse Non pointy McLighthouse with the LCW, The Non pointy without the LCW (not sure) and then this strange character that has a very different lighthouse a nicer "not quite so pointy with nice glass on the light Mc lighthouse" (which I think is rare) there seems to be a 62 with the same Type ...oh and I forgot the door I cannot remember but we were discussing the 62 and there seemed to be one that was without a rock on the left of the lighthouse I had two or three of them so they cannot be rare . Mostly with pointy Mclighthouses