Leaderboard

I often get asked how hammered coins were made (beyond the 'hammered' bit), so put together a quick, light-hearted step-by-step guide. Thought it might be handy for those new to the field. Step 4 is by far my favourite.

Many thanks Martin, Glad you liked it. I wasn't sure how to describe the halfpenny, so that's brilliant. Its a bit worn and not obvious what's going on when you look straight at the coin (on the photo of the obverse you can just see the light bouncing off the 1. Tilt the coin slightly and the 1 jumps out clearly. An affordable impulse purchase. If its any use to Richard he is more than welcome to use it for halfpenny varieties. Very Best Regards

The 1874H penny above is a standard Freeman 71, namely 7+G by his die pairings. However, your 1861 halfpenny is much more interesting - it is a Freeman 282, coincidentally also a 7+G pairing by his halfpenny die pairs, BUT the 1 over 1 to the left was only recorded by Iain Dracott back in 2004 in his series of halfpenny articles in Coin News magazine, and not many are yet known. As halfpennies tend to be less focused on by collectors, I bet there are a few more around and unnoticed, but once again you have nailed a pretty rare, if not especially (yet) sought after, variety! Well done again!

Last Bronze today an 1861 Half Penny . Condition is poor (Gouby 7 obverse not sure on the reverse) but the date was of interest. Must be lots of examples around in better condition, but nice to have this one

Very distinctive top of lighthouse confirms reverse g.