Peckris 2

The light striations in the obverse fields indicate it might well have been wiped or cleaned in the past. As for polishing - is the mirror finish only in the fields but not the raised design (difficult to tell from those pictures)? If yes, then not polished, but if shiny all over then it most likely has been.

His last name wasn't Kuryakin by any chance?

Ok, but you did say "the US stole the silver from the people as did the UK earlier"

You'll have to be more specific - this topic is 13 years old!

That's exactly what I'm referring to.

Difficult one. The obverse looks good - VF I'd say - but I do have some problems with the reverse, which looks somewhat too detailed for a coin of this grade. Having said that, this type did have a wider/thicker/more protective rim on the reverse compared to the obverse, so it may be kosher. If it is, then you have a very nice coin.

Yes, probably repunched. You can in fact see traces of something underlying - just above the I, between the red lines.

I'd be very interested to learn the sources you used for the knowledge you've acquired? No accusations, I'm just genuinely interested!

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!

It's not the thinness - it's the recessed area as you say. On the left coin you can clearly see a hollow surrounding the ear which is absent on the Unc example.

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.

You're thinking of skanga!

For me it grades AUNC with lustre. A nice coin at the right price (I wouldn't care to say what that would be!)

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.

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

If a florin was a tenth of a pound, and a DF was a fifth, then a crown was a quarter. Fits perfectly with a decimal system.

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?

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...

It was the very last year that Crowns were issued for general currency. Arguably it too might only have been a commemorative, but you could argue either way as 1901 was definitely currency.

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 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!

Fair enough. If you're putting in 11 hours a day 24/7 then you absolutely deserve the good luck you've had. I couldn't / wouldn't do it myself but hats off to you.

I would say that it's pretty clearly a clogged die. Has all the characteristics.