declanwmagee

Indeed. The Pound stayed the same. The d and the p did not.

What's going on here with the C in VICT then, do you think? I can see the die flaw - could it have made such a mess of the letter, or is there a vertical in there somewhere?

You will need a copy of Derek Allen's Grading Guide, Freeman - bronze, Davies - silver and Dave Groom's silver and bronze books to act as references. Stick your nose into them and learn the identifiers thoroughly and you are set up to collect. Good advice Rob! With those 4 you wouldn't need any of the others for ages. I wouldn't bother with the price guides yet, Ozzy. It won't take you long to work out what's overpriced and what's a bargain. Stick to Eliz-II and learn it well before moving on to G6. And don't buy any junk! There shouldn't be anything you have to settle for low grade in that period (apart from the 56 ha'penny varieties maybe). Nothing cleaned, enamelled, pierced, polished, or otherwise abused. Learn the difference between an UNC and an EF. Aim for wall-to-wall beauty.

George VI cupronickel - got to be top grade though - the world is awash with circulated examples. Even 1948, traditionally the commonest year, is getting harder to find in UNC now. Elizabeth II tricky '50s: 1954-1959 3d's, 1/-'s. 2/-'s and 2/6's. There are some interesting varieties to hunt for in 1953 farthings, 1956 halfpennies and 1962 halfcrowns - these still slip under the radar sometimes. An oddity that shouldn't be difficult but is: 1958 sixpence. Try and put a complete high grade Elizabeth II predecimal set together - just under 150 coins if you include most microvarieties, and you'll soon find out which are the undocumented difficulties!

There's a big fat serif on the normal capital C, so I'm veering towards just a cud associated with that die flaw, and nothing interesting underneath. Better to be pessimistic with these I reckon...

Talking of 20p - I saw recently that among the early 60s patterns for decimal coins, not only was there a 1/4p, there was a 20p too. Makes you wonder why it didn't make it until 1982 and wasn't introduced in 1971. Maybe the experience of the Double Florin was haunting them! Long memories! Mind you, it wasn't exactly as if florins were "that there new fangled thang" anymore. I sometimes like to hold a Double Florin in one hand and a 20p in the other just to remind myself that they are the same denomination.

Talking of 20p - I saw recently that among the early 60s patterns for decimal coins, not only was there a 1/4p, there was a 20p too. Makes you wonder why it didn't make it until 1982 and wasn't introduced in 1971. Maybe the experience of the Double Florin was haunting them!

But I do have a 1903 open 3 penny. Or did I dream it?

Nor me! I don't have an ever increasing bag of unidentified washers either.

Me too! I've sold you a few too...

Looks like your coin is still for sale in Israel, Rennes! the same 1928 penny, unmistakeably

Here's mine. I've catalogued this one as Small 8.

Last time I was there we sat against the neon sign on the top of a hotel overlooking the railway station and watched the sun come up on Hawaiian mushrooms...

Perhaps because there isn't a Plain Trident 1858, the book you're using doesn't mention OT. They are all OT.

Thank you Steve! I do love that story. It's the perfect answer to "Why do you collect coins?". That's what it's all about - the treasure hunt.

In all fairness to the "programmers", they are not the people who initiate system changes. This lies in the hands of "highly qualified" and completely inexperienced Business Analysts and their cohorts, the Project Manager, another completely useless though highly valued member of the IT management team. Both of these groups, are people who by and large, are afraid of technologists (programmers and systems analysts) and like to keep them at arms length and preferably on another subcontinent. Most of them dont believe that people other than themselves can pat their heads and rub their tummies at the same time. Such is IT today. (/rant) Ah I remember it well! I bailed out of IT in 2004 when I was overpromoted beyond the level of my own competence. Lead Programme Manager. I still don't know what that means but as far as I could make out it involved producing and presenting Death by PowerPoint and prancing about in front of a whiteboard trying to rationalise the muddled thoughts of those watching me. I found myself longing for the days when I had been a techie prowling the floor fixing PCs. It was like being the RAC man, and everyone was pleased to see me. Blagging money out of the Directors for projects I really didn't understand just wasn't the same! Now I dig holes for a living: best career move I ever made, and I get to take the afternoon off if I don't fancy doing it in the rain.

Hi Alan, I also have a small collection of old penny slot machines (Allwins included!) and collect pennies. Some of my best finds were amongst old pennies that I purchased years ago for the machines, so you may be lucky! However, unless you find especially rare coins, those you have in less than pristine condition are unlikely to be worth much. Before bidding on eBay, or anywhere else for that matter, it's worth picking up a book or two and learning a little about grading and values. You could do a lot worse than read through a few threads on here to start you off. Good luck and thanks for joining us. How many of the 1927 rev 1922 pennies are extant, Steve? And do tell once again, for the benefit of Mr Allwin here, where you found it...

If they're going on the 'bay, you could do a lot worse than BIN & BO! You can sit them on eBay for a year for under a fiver! The right buyer will turn up before then! That's where I have knowledge, and where I am leaning, for coins £100-£400 anyway, I think the effective 15% or so sellers' premium and 0% buyers' premium swings it, will ensure it is open to eBay.com too, it's only a few pence ...and if you get an eBay shop for £15 a month, each coin is only 10p every 30 days. I think we're all overgraders now.

Funny you should say that, Nek....watch this space

Interesting Peck. So was VF correspondingly higher too, or was there a bigger gap between VF and EF than there is now?

It says here: "In 1864, during the Mastership of Professor Graham (1855-1869), a new and wasteful practice was introduced of scrapping all imperial coin dies on the last day of the year for which they were dated, regardless of their condition. Previously, dies of one year continued to be used for the following year so long as they remained serviceable, sometimes with the date altered by overcutting the last figure. The only known instances of such overcutting in the bronze series occur for the years 1865 and 1889." So not really about the 1882 penny. In a footnote on the same page, he says: "...all three denominations dated 1876 and 1882 were struck by Heatons. In some years the blanks were obtained from Birmingham, but the actual striking was done at the Mint."

I don't even try and distinguish between Davies Dull and Bright. And this from a man who likes his microvarieties. Now if only there was a pointing, I'd be interested...

Blimey Declan! That capsule must be the size of a side-plate. Inner Diameter = 65.00 mm, Outer Diameter = 71.374 mm and the inside depth = 5.486 mm. The ring would have an inner diameter of 41 mm and an outer diameter of 65 mm. Course I now have to work out where to put the capsule, it obviously won't fit in those boxes with the flips, but at least the coin is safe!

No - most of them are in self-adhesive cardboard flips with the little windows, stored in these boxes... but I had to think outside the box with these.

Closed - without squashing the copper! Steve Rideout of Coins, Medals and Gifts, Walsall, (s.rideout@sky.com), does them for about £3 each, if anyone else needs a capsule for these monsters.