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Since finding this place I've very much appreciated the wisdom and knowledge on display here. I'm hoping that in due course that I might be able to contribute some of my own! I started collecting in the last years of pre-decimal coinage, and with my dad put together a collection which gave us a lot of pleasure. I like to think that most of the good ones I found when I slipped behind the scenes at the Post Office where my mum used to work a couple of days a week; truthfully most of them probably came via my dad's Civil Service colleagues and friends! But I do vividly remember finding my 1950 threepence, completing the date run - not at all easy towards the end. We moved on to stamps, which was also fun but I never loved them in quite the same way. Following the demonization of our historic coinage our collection spent almost 50 years hidden away, but when I officially retired (kind of) I began to think about reinvigorating it. There were some easy quick wins, such as filling date sequences we hadn't really been committed to (or perhaps were raided by me when my pocket money was proving inadequate 😧). Our pre-1920 silver collection was particularly threadbare, and I was lucky to acquire examples of many of the types while the silver price was still reasonably sensible. But for me nothing in the coin world beats rummaging through boxes and bowls of coins. Although sometimes it's quickly clear that I'm not going to find much, I'm often surprised at some of the coins that dealers are ready to throw into their bargain bins. Enhancing the collection has also proved to be a fine way of remembering my dad (d.1997) in a very meaningful way. The collection definitely remains "ours".

This one, on an F16, has always intrigued me. Ghosting of Victoria's face can be seen (as it often does) above Britannia's left knee, but there is also something strange going on with the border teeth. The series of pictures at the bottom show an overlay picture of border teeth, from the same coin, which I have made gradually transparent from 0% to 100% as go from left to right hand side. This shows that the marks through Britannia's knees are clearly from border teeth. I bought this coin at Heritage in 2013 (MS63 Slabbed), and it took me a long time to find another F16 like this, to prove that it must have occurred during the minting process.......rather than the coin being hit with something post-minting. I will show the pictures of that other coin immediately below, as this picture uses up my 500Kb allowance!!

This is just about the most extreme example I have come across !!! An 1862 penny Note the half circle on Victoria's back , its the shield from the reverse side . The extra ribbons are created from the folds in Britannia's. dress

Calm down everyone, nobody is accusing anyone of dishonesty or lying, or any any other form of undesirable attribute. It is a friendly forum, though I do seem to offend occasionally - not intentionally, but we are who we are and I might be a bit set in my ways to change. As Coinery wrote, it was intended as tongue in cheek, as a perusal of my similar previous posts with a similar emoticon would lead you to infer. All questions are valid, but with multiple questions on the doubling of characters already asked on this forum and replied to ad nauseum, I assumed that with over 160 posts, some of a similar nature, you had already explored that search option and done some background reading. A quick search of "doubled OR repunched characters" brings up over 600 posts, so lots of wheels have been reinvented over time. Apologies for any offence caused - it wasn't intentional. I am genuinely harmless, but rushed off my feet of late due to a fortnight in hospital with sepsis causing HMRC filing grief. And on another apologetic note. I give notice of apologies to Coinery for acquiring the Anchor over Key marked Elizabeth I halfpenny in the recent Noonans sale with the penny anchor punch. I think it might be big enough to fit a 2d, but haven't had time to explore yet. It also has lots of underlying detail from the previous state of the portcullis punch employed, so could be more useful than normal. I will send pics when I have time and probably drop in during the next few weeks if you are around as I have just had a change of tenant in Yeovil, so have to do some repairs. I assume it was on your list of things to acquire.

Thanks for all the kind words. @Paddy I've never actually bought a bulk lot of coins, and I'm thinking it's something I need to experience! Doing your hunting at someone's shop you don't risk being saddled with stuff you don't want, but perhaps I'm playing things a bit too safe. @Peckris 2 I have a comparable tale from much earlier this year. I was at one of my local antiques centres where I'd been rummaging the lower grade pennies for a while, finding very little. I moved on to some of the other offerings and gathered together a nice little group. Before I left I thought I'd dip my hand in the pennies one more time, and out came a 1951. You can't beat that moment of disbelief!

No way you’re new to this, your language and approach is not elementary, it’s very weird! I know it’s not helpful or constructive to say this but I am really struggling, I can’t pitch you at all.

It looks to me as if there was nearly a brockage, as the raised detail of the teeth is the incuse detail on the die. If a coin is not properly expelled between strikes, it will act as the die and leave an incuse detailed impression, because a die has the inverted relief, ie incuse is raised an vice versa, so to have raised 'incuse detail', it had to be a wrong-un, because the die would not have changed its relief and would strike normally, albeit off-centre. With several examples known, the detail must have been from a trapped coin.

Well, 1900 was currency. There was no 1901 crown. My understanding is that, much like in the US, people just didn't want to carry around the weight of the 25 g. coins. Here the casinos are the main reason they were in production as long as they were and were a big influence on the introduction of the Eisenhower dollar in 1971. Using the crown as the basis of a commemorative denomination was probably the best thing that happened to the coin. Of course, I don't tend to think they're too heavy ... Or too bulky... But then most things are paid for by me with the funny plastic card rather than from a bag of silver coins ...

Honest answer - absolutely not.

I can only real talk about my observations on copper or bronze pennies, as that is my major interest . I find that over stamped letters/ numbers are extremely common on coins up to about 1863 though some can still be seen through to the 20th century . The last I think being 1945. The ones that are of interest to me and I would guess a lot of collectors are the ones that are dramatically out of place or triple struck . Some examples below Triple struck Y quite sort after , note the G and D overstruck but of little interest Here's Y over Y dramatically out of place 8 over 8 And just look at this one !!

Phew, thank goodness you don’t, this fella may have been a little too much for you!

I remember switching from bags of pennies and halfpennies from banks to looking through brass 3ds. There was a 1949 in the first bag I looked through!

Found another quite good condition coin from the hoard..... albeit 2 pence Maundy, George IIII, 1822, 😕 not sure I can cope with all of these good condition coins after a life time of manky worn out ones.... 😕

Those prove my point about it being easier to see on more worn examples - the ear on those is far better preserved than you'd expect looking at the obverse as a whole.

Sorry for the delay, it’s been a mad few days! Blimey, Rob, really sorry to hear you’ve been in with sepsis, that’s miserable. That’s a lovely halfpenny you have there, and at an excellent price, especially when the example I quote sold for £375. I did see it, but had my eye on something else. I know it’s nothing of the class of yours, but I picked up an anchor halfpenny not so long ago…plus very limiting resources are always going to force some difficult decisions. Yours is the same die as the Comber, Wilkinson & Lockett example and, what’s interesting, is what initially appears to be a double-strike of the portcullis, is actually the bottom half of it being re-entered, it’s identical on each coin. What’s also interesting, is that the oddities beneath your portcullis are less prominent on the Comber example, excepting a few dots here and there, most notably in the bottom 2 squares of the vertical righthand row. Equally the horizontal bar running under the anchor on yours, which possibly hinted at a key (if that’s what’s being referred to), is also not present on the other example. I wonder if some of what’s being seen on yours is the die becoming progressively damaged? Re your trip South, if I’m not on nights it would be great to catch up…there’s a lovely riverside Greene King pub, 1 minute off junction 13, if that suits you?

I think it has always been accepted that the Double Florin was a further step in the attempt to decimalise the currency, so it seems even more crazy that they started re-issuing Crowns at the same time as the DF. I suspect we will never know the reasoning.

Yeah, my bad - though the 1900 mintage was twice as high as the previous two years; theory: after Victoria died, they decided to use up the 1900 dies and carried on minting with them in 1901. That would indicate that if she hadn't died, there would have been currency crowns in 1901 and maybe 1902 if she'd gone on that long?

I'd agree - the reverse is no better than GF, but the obverse (under the tarnish) looks better; it's not easy to tell but I'd say AVF?

I accept the apology thanks. Maybe I was quick to get carried away. I know doubled or repunched characters are not of much interest I have learnt that. But some insignificant types or differences on coins have have been assigned freeman or gouby numbers and classed as more than insignificant although widely considered not real varieties. I dont have the all the book's and as far as I can see If one of the main specialist has written about a specific difference on a coin then it becomes something of interest. FYI i did exhaust searching for any written information about the coin in question. I'm quite happy doing my own research but if I can't find the a definitive awnser then I may ask the question. I started the question with I doubt it. I was just looking for confirmation of my own deduction thats all.

With all due respect to Rob, I too have noticed that he’s coming over as being a little less tolerant than usual…I think this could be, in part, on account of the gulf between his knowledge and the cerebral challenges he getting on this forum nowadays, if ever, to be fair! Top tip, though…as infirm, elderly, decrepit, grey, miserable and grumpy as he may be…he’ll be worth much more to your numismatic journey onside 😉

When I started working in 1974 I could afford to buy a few pennies from one of the mail order coin dealers. In those days you did not get a nice colour photograph of the coin you wished to buy, but rather just a brief description on a typed list. I bought this penny for a few pounds. I was a little disappointed when it arrived because of the black spots on an otherwise good looking coin. I was, and still am puzzled as to what caused these marks. The uniform pattern looks like marks left from a pierced metal tray

https://headsntails14.wordpress.com/ Ah. I got the name wrong, didn't I !

Hello and welcome. Ive been here only a short while but learnt loads, its a great place to be 👍

Welcome @Avocet! I too like nothing better than sorting through a big box full of old coins, both British and foreign, finding the few gems and identifying them in the appropriate books. Sadly these days the bulk lots in the auctions go for quite a lot of money, so more difficult to get them at an affordable price. Good luck with your future hunting.

I told my wife this looked great and she suggested I was losing it....

I have to say I was very happy with the result of the earliest sale in LC. Found in a lot of pennies covered in soil bought locally. I paid £10 including flower pot on the grounds I wasn't going to clean all of them up for him just to find bugger all. I overpaid for the soil though. :)

Several of the his claimed discoveries (e.g. the 1875H and VIGTORIA pennies) have turned out to be not what he thought, so maybe it's just newbie enthusiasm.

In another post he mentions he’s a beginner, 12 weeks into the hobby. Fair play that he’s navigating all the auction archives, retrieving past sales, in-touch with all the literature, and holding his own in the variety conversations, all in such a short window. You simply have to take your hat off to him/her, that’s very, very impressive!

I had thought the same - one great rarity would be very lucky, two would be incredible, more than two seems ... odd?

You seem to be talking about this coin on two threads , it really only needs one. How about photos so it can be verified and included on the database, which will make it more attractive. It really is quite hard to believe that you have found all these great rarities in only a couple of weeks when hundreds of highly knowledgeable collectors are looking out for them - you haven’t just bought someones collection? Are you a collector or a dealer? Most of us on this forum know a fair bit about each other (including in many cases our actual names) as members of quite a small community. At the moment you are just a moniker. Jerry

Here you go @Coinery! Sorry for the delay.

I wouldnt lose any sleep over it as NOT one 👍.

Not if use of the alternate letter was intentional, as I explain above it’s just part of day to day maintenance of a die. And also difficult to prove it’s not just partial die fill of the lower limb of the ‘E’ . But it’s a grey area in that some collectors enthuse about mis-strikes and die flaws, incidental dots and dashes and the like. To my mind a true variety is a deliberate planned change in the design on the die, the flan (weight, metal composition, polishing ) or a significant accidental change through the act of man. Obvious date width differences might just creep in in the later years when die to die differences were rarer. And not all variations even if rare attract a premium, desirability to collectors plays a major part along with whether published or acknowledged by an accepted expert in the field (Freeman, Gouby, Sessions et al). Jerry

Although the mintage of Maundy coins is not high, they do mostly survive in good condition as they are not circulating coins. In addition, Maundy coins are minted every year. I don't think Maundy "odds" (i.e. not in complete sets) are considered to be rare.

Not quite sure what you're saying? The Mint stopped using 92.5% silver from 1920 as the price of silver during WW1 had risen to the point where it exceeded the face value of the coins being struck. Yes, it came down again a few years later, but the Mint were never going to reverse their decision. The same thing happened after WW2 when silver was abandoned altogether but this time it never came down to make using it for coins cost-effective. I'd treat YouTube videos with a large pinch of salt!

what coin is it ?

It's a weird one - I remember when I was searching through bank bags as a schoolkid in the late 60s; now and again I'd see 1915 or 1916 pennies where the head just 'looked weird', especially around the ear. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but I did notice each one when it appeared. It may be that the difference is more obvious on a more worn penny than on one that's EF or better? In other words, the ear is less worn than it should be and seems a bit more sunk than on normal examples.

It's good. I have recessed ear 1915 pennies both with and without broken tooth. Without seems rarer. Haven't yet seen a 1916 without broken tooth though.

It wasn't totally abandoned - there was a DF pattern done in early George V so they must have toyed with introducing them again.

Not only did the Double Florin prove unpopular at the time, it still seems unpopular now. Whereas a Victoria crown in reasonable condition will make much more than melt, a similar double florin can still be picked up at scrap or even less here in the UK. Anyone looking to make a long term investment in silver would do well to keep an eye out for cheap DFs at the moment.

A lot of bar workers wouldn't. That's why they stopped using them as were frequently passed off as a crown at a financial loss to the barmaid through deductions in her wages. A sort of play on an anecdote I experienced on more than one occasion whereby an old landlady in a pub in Oldham which did a particularly nice pint of Oldham bitter, had a terrible habit of giving you £4.02 change for a pound note after you had bought 7 pints which cost 14p a pint at the time. This is 50 years ago and she is long dead, but everyone remembered her for her reputation, even in a conversation with a local I had a couple years ago! I wish I could remember the name of it, but is probably long demolished - or a fast food outlet.

Agreed, though there are exceptions like the New York 1960 crown which - though not a proof - has "shiny" fields and commands a premium over the normal ones. And don't get me started on 'mirror' fields! I remember bidding for and winning a complete 1887 Unc silver currency set at Warwick which more than one dealer there dismissed as cleaned. As the mirroring was in the fields but not on the raised elements of the design and legend, it obviously hadn't been cleaned. Oh well, my gain...

Cool. I always thought that it would be cool to be out and about town with a full one of these But also a full one of these My understanding is that each spring load holds 5 of each denomination so 5 3d, 5 6d, 5 1/-, 5 2/-, 5 2/6, 5 half sovereigns & 5 sovereigns would give quite the jolly time on the town in an era (say 1900) where a pint of stout was 3d Oh, no, I don't own these but if it were back in the day, I would!

If you wanted to be really fussy a full set would include the 1887 Arabic 1 and Roman 1 variants and the 1888 and 1889 Inverted 1 (or is it a die-filled normal I serif or broken punch?) for second I in Victoria variants. All three variants are listed in Spink so I think it's reasonable to include those in the set. I did anyway...

While I can understand being worried about fakes, the wreath I am considering is from a UK seller with 100%/22286 transactions and accepts returns. Price is consistent with what I see on londoncoins. Seems about the best I can do from this side of the pond.

For me in the midwestern US, auction houses are ... difficult... at best. Both do have best offer listed. I know there is a web site with current auction results tabulated, I'll have to look see.

The 1834 is definitely Maundy as by that time the small silvers (1 and 2 pence) were not in general circulation. The 1710 twopence was both included in Maundy sets but also in general circulation. I found the smaller silvers easy to pick up quite cheaply throughout the 17th and 18th centuries (with only a few really scarce dates).