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Thought this 1890 at auction today looked a bit different to any I have seen before, with higher rotated numeral 9. Was a bit tempted to have a bid but then realised it was Stacks Bowers and last item I bought from them (for $110) I had to pay an additional $60 shipping + $35 Wire Fee

I see that the rotated 9 type you've posted Ian is a 15 tooth example , I also have a similar one with 14 teeth , the bottom one of the group of three Blakey , is the raised up 9 type that your after, the one below , its the 14 tooth type listed by Gouby. There are two other 14 tooth types that ive come across , the bottom one in the group of three pictured has the normal digit spacing with the slightly rotated 9, and the third type on the last coin below, which has the 9 and 8 very close like the raised 9 type, but has all the digits in a straight line , its not listed by Gouby

It is if you don't look too closely.

Me too. Made a bird table yesterday from stuff I had in the garage.

I've spent a lot of time sitting in the garden (and gardening there) over the last few weeks, during the fine weather, and listened as never before to the bird song. Watching the birds, and trying to ID which ones they are. Some like the blackbird, sparrow, thrush, wood pigeon and robin are obvious, but there's others I don't know. I've noted that there are nests in some of the bushes, especially in the rockery which is just outside the conservatory window. Fascinating seeing the birds fly in and out. I reckon with one tall bush, there are sparrow occupying the lower half, and blackbirds occupying the upper half. Made a lot of sense as the bush is very thick, so must be comparatively warm and dry inside. Even seen them fly in with straw in their beaks. Interesting when I sit out there they just continue with their normal chirping. But as soon as the cat comes out, they start their alarm calls - even though she's not actually that interested in them. On one occasion a group of them "mobbed" her, and she ran back indoors. The almost complete absence of planes means you can listen to them uninterrupted. Especially as all the neighbours seem unusually quiet as well.

Except that by his calculations the human population would now be in the trillions.

This is a dwarf Dahlia sp. I have half a dozen of them. Seems early for them to be out but nice to see 👍

The problem is that we always were, and still remain, totally clueless as to what the actual reasons were, and will continue as such until, and if (seems highly improbable), some document is discovered which throws light on the matter. Clearly the issue is not one of any great importance, was no doubt very quickly forgotten by all involved, and the reasons never passed on to succeeding generations of mint workers - or anybody else for that matter. As for mintage possibly around 10k of each reached circulation, given the tiny numbers now extant. Can't see there being many more for the simple reason that none were collected in the early days, and if the mintage had been higher, they would have reached a wider cohort of the public, and been noticed by collectors of the time. We know that because none are in especially high grade. It was obviously much later when the first specimens were identified and put aside. Not sure when that was either - pre Peck, but no clear indication of roughly when.