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Can you not get rid of the crap in the middle Terry as that may help. Its not going to look any worse with having a big scratch below 🙂

I was looking through Santa’s “heads ‘n tails” site earlier and the “ inverted V for A in Victoria “ obverse Freeman 10 caught my eye. As Santa asks, does it exist? As a true variety, I think not. Certainly F10 pennies with an absent bar to the A do exist, but I feel it is highly likely they simply represent die fill for the following reason. The working dies used to strike coins of a particular design can be used in their hundreds depending on die longevity and coin demand, and will themselves each be struck from the master die. The master die includes the lettering on the coin, though not necessarily all the digits. Master dies can last years preparing many hundreds of working dies depending on demand. Freeman obverse 2 exhibited mal-alignment of the letters in BRITT, a master die or hub issue transferred to many working dies. Look how long the Freeman obverse 6 master with the flawed colon after D:G: lasted- years! The point I am making is that an obverse 2 working die could not have been made with an absent A unless that featured on the master, which is unlikely. Therefore there would be no need to erroneously enter the A on the working die using an inverted V punch, the bar of the A can only disappear through die fill, and an absent bar cannot be taken as evidence of use of a V punch any more than the absent bar of the E in an ONF penny implies use of an F punch. Both these are spurious varieties. The majority of the true minor varieties that we see are are the result of something added rather than something absent, re-engraving of design or erroneous letter or number repair while trying to prolong die life. Or indeed sometimes deliberate overstrikes to the date for re-use in later years. Opinions please! Jerry

That's a secret !!!!

It's good that we can still find things to discuss - I love it !

Gouby E/Freeman 3: if in doubt, count the teeth - 138 of the little beauties.

Here's a new grade! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1855-Four-Pence-Victoria-Silver-Coin-UNC/233092612896?hash=item3645670320:g:l90AAOSw8l5Zc-AA:rk:14:pf:0