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OK, I just got my 7th Edition ESC (2020) and have looked at it for a bit. Not sure if I agree with all of the designations and have found more deficits in the proof and pattern section of the 20th C. pre-decimal series. One thing I notice is a referral to "page 657" in several places and note that the volume ends at page 597, or at least in this copy. Also I noticed that there is not the reference section related to Provenance the way there was in 6th Edition pp. 583-647. That was hugely helpful, does anyone know if this was somehow left out or just what happened? Maybe my edition is somehow short of this...

Last Christmas at Dunham Massey:

Still being curious about the change from coin orientation to medal orientation in 1887 I contacted the Royal Mint. Their reply is attached for information. However US coins are still minted in coin orientation and changing it did not seem to help the George V silver issues. As a general observation US coins seem to be deeper struck than UK coins and possibly a benefit in the quality of strike results..

Although wreath crowns were struck in very limited quantities each year I don't think they can all be regarded as proofs. It's widely accepted that only a very small number of proofs were struck presumably using special flans resulting in sharper edges. One would expect that proofs were struck multiple times. The Royal Mint are selling 1951 crowns (at inflated prices) and does not describe them as proofs. As far as I know, they are described as specimen by respectable dealers as the consensus is that they were struck to below proof standard.

These issues aside, is it worth getting the 7th edition if you have the 6th? From what I have read about the book, they are now including current prices. Are these simply based on the Spink catalogue with guess work on the less common varieties? Considering that the 6th edition came out not so long ago, it can appear that they are milking it somewhat.

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY!!!!!

Yes, I have often wondered. In business over here in USA, such "enterprises" are labelled Loss Leaders - they serve as advertising for other high profit issues or are the backend of various contracts that must be fulfilled. These are opportunities for numismatists.