Peckris 2

I remember a childhood holiday in Ireland. We were camping near Galway Bay and were given some freshly caught mackerel - great supper that day!

True, but a lot of people - me included - are still meat eaters but have cut down their consumption. I like to eat fish where possible and there are some great vegetarian dishes out there.

Farmers Markets are still popoular

I go into town once a week, to a restaurant and M&S. Often I go to Hotel Chocolat, sometimes to Superdrug and Waterstones and Boots, less often Smiths. And that's about it.

I feel sorry for them. 😮

Yes. Ironic that there is nothing scarce about 1902LT or 1912H pennies.

I think it's down to crown collectors. Quite possibly a large number didn't get into circulation. As for the unpopularity of the design, that would have mattered less to collectors than to the spending public whose views on the currency carried more weight. The 1968 booklet barely mentions ANY varieties. As to 1913 pennies, I'd think there are still plenty of dealers who don't make a distinction?

I've seen Edward farthings with "lustre" - the right colour but totally the wrong texture. Almost certainly artificial.

One factor I neglected to include in my list is the number of dealers who "invested" in RM mint bags, which may still be partly around, but only of 60s dates. Penny varieties are an intriguing story; though many of them were described in Peck most collectors didn't have access to that expensive resource, and Freeman was only published not long before decimalisation. My theory is that these got melted in direct proportion to the mintage.

Ah, got you - the 3rd example.

Not like genuine lustre at all - it's been artificially gilded, probably to pass off as a half sov> You can always tell these - the gilding is matt and completely the wromg colour.

Project Fear! Unicorns!

Can I recommend the book Zucked which tells just how much Facebook manipulates its users?

There are quite a lot of complicating factors: most but not all coins containing silver were hoarded or withdrawn much earlier the craze for 'modern' began in 1966 with the government announcement of impending decimalisation and the 1967 date freeze : obvious rarities / scarcities were taken out by collectors, though many scarce varieties didn't come to light until after the event, and this applies to all denominations halfcrowns and halfpennies were demonetised in 1969; most 1925 and 1930 halfcrowns had long gone, the scarcity of many Unc 1950s halfcrowns only emerged quite late, there would have been few around. Apart from those, they are both denominations notably lacking in rarities florins, shillings, and sixpences carried on in circulation until 1992, 1990, and 1980 respectively; probably nearly all still in circulation got withdrawn - higher % than for 1971 I would say as there would have been little interest (and 'of interest') by then only pennies and 3d bits were withdrawn in 1971; probably the majority of 3d's were withdrawn as the scarce dates would have been collected. This leaves pennies which as always leave more questions than answers finally an unknowable but probably quite substantial (judging from the many rubbish lots at W&W in the 90s) quantity of postwar predecimals was saved in tins, pots, jars, Whitman folders, cheap albums, boxes, and god knows what else, as keepsakes by non-collectors.

A gift to a non-collector, I'd imagine.

I found that through a search for '1953 penny' and it was the first item. But no mention that there were two earlier patterns - where did you get that information from?

Yes, the wear pattern is totally abnormal.

Very clumsy! 30 seconds examining any penny from 1937-39 would have revealed that Geo VI pennies use a flat top 3.

As long as you can tell whether the obverse / reverse combination is either London or Birmingham, then you can say which it is. If iit's so poor you can't tell, then safe to assume it's Birmingham.

It wasn't Paul McCartney, was it?

Unfortunately, in accordance with all the sad gits who insist August MUST be 08 and not 8, that won't work. 😄

I've met Rob and ChrisP, but nowadays I could only manage a meeting a short distance from the city where I live. 😢

Unfortunately, it all depends on the horrendous habit of putting a zero in front of a single digit month. I used to be a computer programmer and I know how easy it would be to add that zero behind the scenes, but suppress it from the display. For me, today's date is 2/2/2020.

Didn't Scott (where is he?) get one of these very cheap in a lot from eBay?