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Hi Jerry, I've had time to knock this out this evening with the superimposed images you requested.........good idea! Actual pictures of both 1875 'Cannon Ball' coins are at the left hand and right hand ends, both shot at the exact same 100x magnification, and identically positioned. The unusual (italic looking) 5 picture has then been over-laid onto the normal 5 picture. Looking from right to left, it has then been gradually removed, 10% at a time, using the software transparency feature.................to slowly reveal the normal 5 underneath. As you suspected, it is pretty convincing that the unusual looking 5 is NOT an altered die......... even though at first sight it would seem to be so. I guess it is just a late strike of this variety, with part of the top of the 5 now blocked out. Hope the pictures are clear enough; I had to resize to stick within the 500K limit!!

Totally agree Jerry. I've also noticed that his website is littered with errors of fact.

I hope the buyer viewed it in hand and did not just buy it from the OBV picture 👍

Just watched a nice 1911 Hollow Neck sell for £1800 plus commission at Tennants auction.

Well to get the ball rolling, here's a London Mint issue from a couple of years back. They sold these as a "loss leader" at £20 to entice you to buy another half dozen coins at twice the price. But I liked the coin and as I am a Merchant Seafarer thought it was appropriate. I didn't buy the others and it was almost 2 years before London Mint stopped contacting me to "invite" me to buy the others in the series. But on the whole I think it is a good design and has been well engraved and minted.

And that has been the thrust behind this column & quite agree. Also, surprisingly beautiful on occasion as well....I would encourage readers to post like coins either in this post or to start new ones...

Looking through the folder for this set, I've noticed that, for the John Logie Baird 50p, they write "From an early age he showed ingenuity, setting up a telephone exchange to connect his bedroom to his friend's houses." So, either his friend did have more than one house or they should have written "to his friends' houses." Perhaps this is the error in question ? I will continue looking.

Both will do. I don't know the answer, so 'a couple, generations back' will presumably apply at some point even if they were cold blooded and had feathers. A couple of generations back is less certain, but possible.