declanwmagee

Not really coins, as such, are they? More round pieces of metal.

our old friend Swedish copper!

I'd be a bit suspicious of the 565 bidder too: £55.55 £77.77 £111.11 £122.22

Did any one see this one? I did bid all I had, but all I had wasn't much at the time so I got my arse justifiably kicked. Is it what it says it is?

Interesting! Spit is vaguely alkaline, and tin foil is really aluminium, which has quite a high affinity with oxygen, so it may reduce any oxides on the coin. Watch out though as aluminium oxide is harder than steel, so any rubbing will be catastrophic!

absolutely right, Rob, and I can't be doing with looking at every 1964 that gets listed, so I had to snap these up, if only for the time it saves. I charge £10 an hour to my gardening clients, so after 90 mins looking for those varieties, I've broken even! Now all I need to do is to mock up some of them tricky 65s...

That's why I thought of you, Scott - it's yours if you want it!

P.S. I always tell 'em about Dave Groom's books...the more people start looking for micros, the more collectable they'll become. One of the great things about this market is that it doesn't take too many of us to influence it.

I'll say. Always worth striking up conversation with people, I find. They're all gagging for good information, and for those of us who haven't got pots of money, information is barterable. He sent me the D.2330 for nothing as a thank you for the advice.

How did you manage to do that? Well... I won that one that Gary highlighted for us right at the beginning of the thread, and the seller contacted me and said he'd found some more 1964s and would I prefer that he send me one of them, that weren't damaged. Not likely, says I, and explained to him why I wanted the beaten up one in the photo, and why no other would do. Well, I'd better go and check the others, says he, and comes back saying he's found 3 of the scarce ones, decent circulated. I'll have 'em, says I, and I'll give you a fiver each for 'em. A little dazzled by my spectacular offer, perhaps, he agrees, and they arrived today. VF, gVF, and nEF. He didn't find any 1965 scarce though. What else is good to look for, he asks? So I tell him about 1962 halfcrowns, and he says he has found 6 x D.2330, and 4 x D.2331. So I got a D.2330 off him too. Not quite VF, but it'll plug the gap till I find better. Now of course, he's trying to get silly money on eBay for the halfcrowns - he put a set of all 4 1962 Davies numbers on, all low grade, starting price £25. No takers obviously. I did tell him that the number of people who collect micros is so tiny, particularly in low grade, that he'd be lucky to sell them at all, but would he listen? If anyone wants the battered one in Gary's link that started it all off, I'm happy to send it to them for nothing, now I've got 4 of 'em. Scott?

Well, how about that, I just scored 4 of the scarce 1964 sixpences...

well, I think we've answered the original question! They are.

and he seems to have a huge selection of big silver from around the world. No bronze or copper though...

Crikey! There's hope for us micro-collectors yet.

...also in Freeman, 479, 480, and 481. I made the decision very early on not to try and distinguish those 3. I do try and cover most of them, but not them.

That one's a piece of cake - try and distinguish the 3 kinds of 1958 halfpennies!

Aha! From wikipedia: "The Great Copper Mountain was a mine in Falun, Sweden, that operated from the 10th century to 1992. It produced two thirds of Europe's copper demand in the 17th century and helped fund many of Sweden's wars during that time.[59] It was referred to as the nation's treasury; Sweden had a copper backed currency."

I think it's something to do with work being done at the mint that year. I'm sure I read that somewhere. I might be completely wrong though.

Here's one for starters from some cowboy on eBay... 1930 Penny

and then it all goes streaky 1927-1931 - do you think that's production, or ore? Or ore. Honestly. I wouldn't have got away with that if I'd be public speaking.

Ever so interesting! These days, the top producers of copper are Chile, the US, Indonesia and Peru, but I think we can safely say that wouldn't have been the case back then. Add the trace element abundance from the various sources to the fact that there are 29 isotopes of copper, most of which are decaying at various rates, mostly to Zinc and Nickel, and then further down the chain to other metals, and you could easily conclude that the exact composition of any two lumps of copper are always going to be different.

It's got to be alloy. My 1903 is the same, but 1904 is back to normal. Of course the official alloy is the same throughout: 95% Cu, 4% Sn, 1% Zn, but that won't take account of any impurities. Is there a metallurgist in the house?

I think it's safe to assume that your 20p has no value over and above face, Stoll. Bung it on eBay and you might get a quid.

Mine looks more like an inverted V http://i593.photobuc...fONEoverZ-1.jpg[/img} Maybe this was subsequently repaired That die flaw that Scott identified really is a better diagnostic than the N, looking at your coin, David. I'd have missed the N, but I won't forget the die flaw now.

not just pennies, I'm sure. Here's my 1902 halfpenny and it matches your description perfectly, Stuart!