The Bee

Phew, What a comprehensive system and such a lot of information on "historic" and current prices. I guess at some point you need something like that to avoid duplication (I should have done this for my newspapers) and if you decide to sell bits off, it would to keep the Tax authorities happy, not to mention your insurer

The Ebay description was rather erm "odd" as well. "This is a British Victoria Penny coin from 1862, minted during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). It is a copper coin with a brown colour. The denomination of the coin is one Penny. It was manufactured in the United Kingdom, specifically Great Britain."

1855 Halfpenny Could there be and overdate ? Hi I have a few 1855 Halfpennies. Looking again at one of them, it looks as it the second 5 in the date might be over another date ? I wondered, if it is an overdate, what it might be ? Best Regards !

Apologies - just realised I've asked the same question as Paddy !

Would anyone know where I can buy Verdi-care in the UK or would I need to order it from the USA ? Many thanks !

So I've been at it for about a year now 1) I have been building a list of coins I'm missing and those I'd like to upgrade in a spreadsheet : Crowns to Farthings And then (like Paddy) 2) I've been photographing all my current Bronze and Copper date runs and part date runs and am putting them in Powerpoint That way I quickly open the relevant slide deck, Copper Farthings 1672 to 1850, flick through the slides to find a high res image of the current "best" obverse and reverse I find this an easier method to spot if I've found a potential minor or major upgrade [Given my collection is at the other end of the scale of the Penny Collection There is usually more opportunity for a major rather than minor upgrade, it remains a bit of a Spaghetti Western as in " the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"] Best Regards

It feels like a huge challenge. The British Bronze Penny 1869-1901 by Mr Gouby, sets the bar on expectations . High definition colour illustrations coupled with well thought out text are a powerful combination. I would love to see the same for Halfpennies and Farthings. But once you extend to the end of the decimal period, to do it justice, its a shelf full of publications, Your website feels a better and more flexible approach as I have no doubt more varieties will emerge in the next few years which can be captured in a website in a few days, rather than a 2nd edition printed publication. The 1905 smaller 0 is a good example (and jowly QV). Thanks again for the website !

Amazing collection. Thank you for sharing !

Hi Richard Here is what I thought might be 1905 small "0." The "0" does look smaller. Great to get your thoughts Very Best Regards

Apologies Peckris 2, my typo, I should have said reverse ! There are lots of nicks and scratches. Then yes, I suspect at some point after it came out of circulation it went into a collection and had a polish and a lot of the original patina has been lost. My runner up is below

Very pleased with Crowns and another 1849 Florin that was included in the lot - But this is probably my favourite for the week. It is an upgrade to my 1861 QV Penny (worse than many others) , with a possible repair to the second N in Penny on the obverse

Hi Martin, Many thanks for the feedback, that's really good news, a new one for my Farthing trays It was the previous owner who had paid (I assume) $70 I have retained all my different QV penny die clashes along with different widths etc in my penny trays. Whilst they are nothing extra (seem to crop up all the time), they are interesting Best I think I've seen was I think one of Richard's on another post - quite stunning Very Best Regard

1865 Farthing "Die Crack in Front of Britannia" Late last year I bought a lot of halfpennies and farthings (including the E/F over B halfpenny). As I'm wrapping Edward VII's pennies, I pulled out one of the Farthings for a closer look and then left it ! The description is G.B. Farthing 1865 EF Die Crack in Front of Britannia $70. Had a look - at first glance it didn't look like a typical die crack ? Could it be damage to the reverse die ? Very Best Regards

Hi Richard I've certainly be interested in a copy of the scans please Below is what I thought might be the small 0 1905 - another circulated penny - of course I could be wrong ! Very Best Regards

Well, I did as much as I could manage on 1907 , I found 10 (or at least I think I found 10) and then bundled all the rest of the 1907's away. I do remember buying coin monthly occasionally from my local WH Smith's, I was collecting Crown's and Half Crowns in the very early 1990's, so (assuming 1907 hasn't completely confused me) was probably around then. Very Best Regards

They are a nice team though - I put a few bids in and had the feedback that my bids were all at the auctioneers discretion. So somewhere between the lost hope and no hope !! Very Best Regards

There is quite a bit of general guidance, but the focus seems to be 2nd hand clothes (Vinted), 2nd hand Furniture, clearing individual items from your attic etc. Selling online & HMRC | UK Seller Centre Probably best to give HMRC a call , they are usually pretty helpful, though it might be a 30 minutes wait to speak to someone ! Very Best Regards [May start recycling some of my numerous "duplicates" especially decimal which I pick up with pre decimal and don't collect]

Many thanks Peckris2 , No problem at all, I think it's just a worn damaged coin. Would be interesting to see if there was anything on the 1863 penny with the spec ! Started on Edward VII pennies today - working through David Groom's book - Identification of British 20th Century Bronze Coin Varieties . 1907 is proving quite a challenge (does the 7 point to left right middle or to the tooth) Very Best Regards

1900 Penny with "9" aligned on the tip of the tail rather than at the top Something for a murky Saturday. Might be slightly uncommon ? I think for all my other 1900 pennies the date is aligned at the top !

Many thanks Richard , I my mistake, I had assumed the gouge was the thing and the odd 8 shape, was somehow damage ! Have you seen other examples from 1892 ? [Assume the 1863's are all damage - did think there was possibly something sticking out to the left of the spec] Very Best Regards

Apologies the images above ended up in the wrong order - the top image is the 1863 ? 1865 ?? The next two are the 1863 with the spec on it ! Very Best Regards !

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year I have had two weeks holiday (unheard of for me) which among other things allowed me that time to sort out and weed my penny trays. Having done that I just wanted to share some images from 1863 and 1863 [?] and 1892 The first two are the same coin. I noticed that there was a spec of something under the date. It looked like damage, but on zooming in (2nd picture) did wonder if there something hiding? Its a tolerable 1863 ! The second very worn penny I think is 1863, but wondered if it might be an 1865 over 3 that has suffered a bit ? Again could just be damage - Any thoughts ? Last one from 1892 looks like slight doubling of the linear circle Very Best Regards and best of luck collecting in 2025

1870 Penny E in ONE and 1861 Halfpenny Many thanks for all the above its has been really help. My example of the halfpenny (E over or under B etc) shows some wear and has been circulating (you can only just make out the lower limb of the E, the end of which crosses the B just under halfway up). The other examples (referenced in the link above) which survived in better shape might be more decisive Managed to sort l my pennies through to 1894 and weed out all the many duplicates (which I had piled in hopes that they might fill a gap) earlier than I expected. Which gave me time to have another look at that E in ONE from the 1873 penny. At first glance it looked as if there might have been a repair, but on closer inspection the lower limb of the E looks damaged and I don't think its anything more than a damaged E. I also had another look at the other 1861 halfpenny (above) again on closer inspection it looks like damage of some kind (both images are below) When sorting out the penny trays I have used Mr Gouby's book (the British Bronze Penny) along with Richard's web pages (probably been another 1,000 views by me!) to identify the correct (best I can) Obverses and Reverses Apologies but I had a couple of minor queries as a result and wondered if anyone might be able to assist ? In 1874 the Royal Mint "narrow date" pennies were mainly reverse "j" with a few "ja", and then in 1875 the Royal Mint narrow date pennies were reverse "ja" only. There are several differences between j and ja noted. The most obvious one (for me) being Britannia's hair. For j long hair and for ja much shorter hair. The second difference the angle of Britannia's helmet. I wondered if anyone has spotted any other differences in Britannia's hair, either on the j or ja reverse for either date ? (had a bit of ambiguity with my reverse j hair) And my second query, while working through The British Bronze Penny, there are examples given of slight doubling of the linear circle in similar places by the date e.g. 1874 H and 1875. Working through my trays I found a few possible examples including 1875 and 1892. I made me wonder whether the effect of slight doubling might have been a set up / mechanical issue ? Very Best Regards

Many thanks again for your help I will return the halfpenny to the discard pile ! I will have a closer at the Penny. I am sure you are a both right, it is most likely damage, probably random abrasion. Peckris is absolutely right, it can't be an F as there isn't a trace of a serif, even an upside down L wouldn't fit (had one been available) Very Best Regards

Many thanks Martin, that makes complete sense. The only example in Mr G's book, from the very rare reverse, had the date lower and it just didn't look the same Hope its okay to share a couple of other photos. The first is the ONE from the reverse of an 1873 penny. I wondered if the E had been repaired with an F, or whether there was just damage to base of the E ? (nice penny whether damaged or repaired) The second is an "odd" looking 1854 Halfpenny from my discards pile. I had found really nice minor repairs (I liked them anyway !) to another 1854, the letters repaired being DEI GRA. You can see the "I" and GRA) in the last image which I had overlooked previously, 1854 being (judging by the number I have found) an extremely common date, and had another look at "odd one" I wondered if it was damage (maybe heat) or possibly a die clash ? Victoria seems to have a raised jaw bone - the line of which runs up to her ear and then appears again behind her ear to the each of neck under her hair. Both the base of the R in Victoria and in Gratia (under the microscope) seemed to be joined at the foot which makes me think its damage Very Best Regards