wybrit

None of the dates are rare as such, but the pieces themselves will attract interest provided they have not been polished or put in a silver cleaner.

I don't understand why ebay can't use the same categorizations across the board. The US site does not split the milled coinage up - in fact it doesn't even separate the milled from the hammered. This will mean that you could miss a lot of good stuff listed through that site (still used by many Brits, I might add).

It is a fine forum Chris has here. Sylvester also pointed me here. Where's he been??

They are two of the most common dates in the series. Anything less than BU full lustre isn't worth much.

Checking in. I've been busy in my regular job of late, less time to post. There's also a lot of personal business to attend to this time of year, including the dreaded income tax forms, which are finally done.

One of the scams I see a lot on ebay is selling Maundy threepences as currency ones. There are some sellers who blatantly claim the item is "currency" when it is not and others who just don't mention the type at all - but happen to be selling the 1d, 2d and 4d of the same date in different auctions at the same time! Given the price differential with some of the Victorian pieces, the practice has become widespread on the net.

1967 was the last year sixpences were minted for general use. There were some 750,000 proofs struck later on dated 1970 (though they were not actually made in that year). The sixpence (2½p) was demonetized in 1980, in anticipation of the eventual elimination of the ½p in 1984.

It's my favorite reference. Surely someone would come in and buy the rights to it so it could continue, much like Chris acquiring the rights to publish Collector Coins?

ebay doesn't allow a link, unfortunately. The site address is wybrit.com.

And of course, if someone actually does fork out £100k, I won't complain.

I knew that the 1869 would be discussed here! No, I am not mad, at least not in this instance. It sure got everyone's attention though!! Not a bad advert for 4p!

Comment on the "decimalization wallet." The wallet is soft plastic, so you will almost never find pristine coins in them, having been tarnished and destroyed by the PVC in the plastic. There are lots of nice, raw BU coins of the dates 1968-1971 about.

I've heard about the grading companies not grading cleaned coins, but I thought couldn't they just put somewhere on thre barcode bit that it has been cleaned? Some companies do that. Most notably, ANACS will "net grade" a coin for cleaning and note it on the label.

Pathetic 1933 fake indeed!

I wouldn't put much faith in a slab being a guarantee of anything. Chris' experience merely confirms this. Here in the US (I'm a Yank too), I've seen quite a few coins in slabs, which have had outside help to create toning containing every color in the rainbow as this seems to be a fad among certain collectors here who are willing to pay huge premiums for such coins. It still comes down to the buyer making the decision, of course. I'm suspicious about some of these toned coins as well and question why the prices are so high for "monster toning." Slab grades are technical and do not take into account the coin's attractive (or lack of) qualities. My point remains, though, that cleaning is probably the bigger pariah of this time and largely goes unreported in ebay listings. Slabbing with the two big companies does offer some type of protection, including financial, if the coin turns out to be a problem piece. While I'm not a big fan of the process (~90% of my UNCs are raw), I do appreciate its advantages.

Interesting. I just picked up a '53 proof set with the same 2A combination on the farthing just two weeks ago. Are they as rare as supposed? (not one of my better pictures, I'm afraid)

Let me add some (fill in your adjective) Yank viewpoint to this fine discussion. I do slab some of the coins I have because they sell better in the US. The other reason I will choose to slab is to assure the potential buyer that the coin has not been cleaned. The top two slabbing companies, NGC and PCGS, will not slab a cleaned coin (admittedly, mistakes can be and are made). As I said in an earlier post today, ebay has become a haven for many cleaned and sometimes harsly cleaned British coins, both in the US and in the UK. I've gotten really fed up with buying what I am told is an UNC that turns out to have a ton of hairlines that a seller either doesn't know about or won't tell you about. About 40% of the latter type will deny when told that the coin was cleaned. Are all graded accurately? No. It is still the buyer's responsibility to decide whether to pursue a slabbed coin. Nowadays, do I want some assurance that the coin is uncleaned? Yes, because I have spent a lot of time and money returning poor mechandise. I want the chance of getting a dog reduced when I pay up.

One of the most disturbing things about British coinage on ebay is the large number of cleaned coins there are, especially in the higher EF and UNC grades. Cleaning is seldom brought up as a problem in an ebay listing. To make matters tougher, cleaning hairlines rarely show up in digipictures and never do on scans. There are many sellers with high feedback ratings, including some who would surprise you, who sell their items without describing the cleaning they've either done themselves or had done from a previous owner. Avoiding cleaned coins is nearly impossible if you buy on ebay. One thing I can say about PCGS and NGC - they will not certify a cleaned coin.

Great accomplishment to have the book done by this time. Congratulations (even if there is a misspelling).

Chris, I gave you permission to use any of my images, so if you still need pictures of the veiled head florin and halfcrown, please email me. I sent you a link to my coin gallery some time ago, but if you need it again, let me know.

The reason you can not find one is that no for-circulation halfpennies were minted in 1961. This is the only year in the bronze series (1860-1967) that a halfpenny was not struck. Those that were struck that year: penny, threepence, sixpence, shilling (English and Scottish), florin and halfcrown. The halfcrown of 1961 is found struck on proof blanks as well as on standard blanks.

Best Buys: 1869 penny in about uncirculated condition. 1839 penny with just a slight bit of rub. Both at a tiny fraction of their true value, both in online auctions. Worst buy: 1889 shilling, graded BU but harshly brushed. Sent the coin back to the ebay seller, but it "never arrived." He got my money, I got the shaft. Total loss: $84.65.

If the "P" in Penny points between two border teeth, the coin is quite rare. Otherwise, if the "P" points to a tooth, you have the common "low tide" variety.

One minor correction: Page 20: "Tbe Bronze Coinage of Great Britain" : change Tbe to The.

Fake Edward VII crowns with dates other than 1902 have been available on ebay in the past. It would be nice to see a picture or get some measurement of the coin's diameter, though.