Peckris 2

I'm guessing a lot were melted in 1971 as they were not generally known as a 'key date' variety back then. High grade examples would have been rare even then.

Sorry, but I think she deserves everything she's got. She's put Party ahead of nation, stuck stubbornly to her red lines, refused to engage in proper cross-Party talks, ignored pleas for indicative votes, and when challenged she simply trots out the well worn soundbite about 'the people asked us to deliver Brexit so that's what we are going to do" rather than engage properly with the question. You listen to reasonable people like Hilary Benn, Dominic Grieve, etc, and she just comes across as stubborn, blinkered, and totally unyielding.

Makes you wonder just why Baldwins kept schtum about such a rarity?

Thanks! That's where I went wrong - I Googled him and found markrasmussennumismatist-betchworth.co.uk/ which I think is his old website? It's still there but nothing is active on it apart from the three main buttons (Home, Coin..Service, Contact).

How did you get to his stock? He has various buttons on his home page, but they're unclickable, i.e. they don't go anywhere.

Wasn't Mark Rasmussen the first to publicly offer the 1952? If so, he should know where it came from. (His website doesn't feature his stock strangely, but the photograph on his home page - when you zoom in - I'm sure shows the 1952 at the bottom.)

Who told us that - Farage? It must be true then..

However, it's a proof. Perhaps a few VIP proofs were struck but only one (?) was actually issued before the King died so the rest were melted? I'm guessing the 1954 was a pattern - with no pennies planned perhaps they just wanted to test out the new obverse?

Yes. Already minted I believe, unless Theresa May asks for an extension.

According to the official site https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/whatsinthebasketofgoods70yearsofshoppinghistory/2016-07-21 the "basket of goods" to measure inflation has been used for seven decades. It's reviewed regularly and some items taken out and new ones added as fashions change, but it's still the most reliable indicator for CPI inflation. Apparently the measurement dates from January each year, so that doesn't account for March to April. The spreadsheet I've got shows monthly inflation from 1962 to 1973. In every year bar one, the increase from March to April is the biggest; the exception being 1963 where the increase is modest, but then it begins to reduce for the rest of the year. The other possibility is that buyers (private and / or commercial) were using up their budgets and allowances before the new tax year started and that high demand generally results in higher prices. However, I can't see that applying to the sort of everyday items that would be in the 'basket of goods'. So it's a bit of a mystery. Edit: mystery solved! Traditionally the date of the Chancellor's Budget was March, so as duties would get added immediately on things like alcohol, tobacco, and fuel, those would have seen a big increase in inflation for a month.

Interestingly, there's only ever been one 52 halfcrown found. It had been well circulated so it begs the question whether it had started out life as a proof, like the penny? However, there were obviously no plans for any UK pennies after 49 (1961 was the next regular normal mintage) so possibly a VIP proof or, more likely, a striking for the Museum.* It's unlikely there are any records or we'd have known about this penny and wondered where it was hiding. *revised: if it was for the Museum it would still be there.. AND we'd have known about it!

I think the last two images are the best - they show the coin in its natural tone and are a sufficient size. (Probably didn't really need most of the others.) Nice farthing.

This one was 18!

Yet they seem to be "old fogeys" who claim to have been there at the time, but they seem to have very short memories for anything except urban myths! Mind you, they weren't numismatists so they had no special interest in the subject as we did.

Yes - and the biggest jump in 1971 was March to April (nearly 3%) which seems to point the finger squarely at decimalisation. However, when you look at the equivalent figures in 1969, 1970, and 1972, again the biggest jump is March to April, which seems more to point the finger at the end/start of a tax year than anything else.

Got it in one. Plus all the usual "biggest con inflicted on the British public" "some prices doubled overnight" "someone charged 16p for something that was 1/6 before" nonsense!! Amazingly, more than 3/4 of the posts are to that effect. Talk about urban myths.

That actually says 1952 and the post hasn't been edited. Where did 1852 come from?

Sorry to bring coins into this discussion, but... Could this result in the first overdate for very many years?

Here's one of the biggest problems. There are Brexiters who claim that over 80% of voters at the last General Election voted for Brexit as both Conservative and Labour manifestos accepted it and would implement it. That may well be true, but who votes about Europe at a General Election? And how many read a manifesto, especially just one small paragraph about Europe? My MP is a Labour Remainer in a city that voted Remain. There will be many in 2017 who voted for a particular party as they had all their life, but even those that didn't must have voted here for a man who was clearly pro-EU. And repeat that scenario in many constituencies across the land. So the GE result should be wholly disregarded for the Brexit question.

I'm currently in a nostalgia thread on Facebook, where someone posted the introduction of decimal coins in February 1971. Guess what the predominant comments are, that are driving me up the wall trying to show the evidence to disprove?

I advise you NOT to buy more than one of my 'How I Did It' guides, you only need one and there is only one. You may already know this information in which case you should not buy it The price plus postage covers my expenses with a little bit left over This time next year, Rodders...

Always seeing obverse, still can't find reverse...

Not your fault - but what a url !!

Or if M&B Mild, 1/10 ! By the way, I still remember 5p meters in 1980-82, i.e. the immersion heater in our bedsits bathroom.