The Bee

Many thanks for the advice, I've ordered a copy of the Token Book ! Very Best Regards Richard

Many thanks Paddy - it's great to know what it is ! Sounds like I will need to try to acquire a copy of Wither's list of Evasions along with literature (with decent pictures !) on contemporary counterfeits, as I'm likely to run into other examples (based on my so far 5 and a bit months of collecting). I did wonder if it appeared in "A Journey through the Monkalokian rain forests in search of the Spiney Fubbaduck. (Evasions)" which I believe also covers evasion coins. Best Regards

John Jervis [later Earl St Vincent] I found this earlier today. I bought another old album at auction and removed most of the coins last night , all worn , Charles II & George I Farthings , George II and III halfpennies etc. Anyway I had a few minutes this morning - didn't read the legend, superficially the obverse looked similar to some my George II counterfeit types , but clearly it isn't "Glorious Jervis" on the Obverse with a very worn bust presumably John Jervis, and Hira Rosa. on the Reverse over a Harp. Tried to find it on Numista (along with the George III Simian above) to add to my "collection" but couldn't locate it Any thoughts ?

Hi SilverAge3, I think it probably is a simian type (similar to - but in much better condition than my 1757 Halfpenny - which is more typical) a clear stick like arm It almost looks as if someone has stuck a cutlass into poor Britannia and then walked off and her foot is amazingly small as well ! Assuming it was made in the UK, being a fairly obvious and crude counterfeit, it might not have been long before the counterfeiters were rounded up and transported Very Best Regards

Hope you enjoy this one, I had to smile when I found it a couple of months ago. Just look at that eyebrow ! It now resides with the rest of my George III Half Pennies Very Best Regards Richard

I started to sort out my Victorian - Edwardian Halfpennies at the weekend. I say started because it took ages to pull together all the best examples. I'll need to go through them again and try to sort out them out properly identifying the correct die pairs Anyway here is (I think !) an 1861 Halfpenny where the 2nd 1 has been struck over another 1 (but no 8 over Very Best Regards Richard +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My first coin purchase was a George II 1757 Halfpenny bought on a Saturday morning for 50p from an antique stall set up in what was then our local reference library ... unfortunately there are no official 1757 Halfpennies . I still have it and a quite a few other contemporary counterfeits or contemporary forgeries from albums. You might have seen the following for sale on ebay It is a George III Halfpenny dated I think 1775 (its very difficult to read) struck over a Palmers Stagecoach token which would date to around 1797 SCARCE George III Evasion Half Penny Overstruck on Palmers Mail Coach Token | eBay Very Best Regards Richard

Hi I occasionally, rather than buy old PVC coin albums to search, I buy a large circulated "penny" accumulation. Invariably it contains all kinds of stuff with it. Typically very worn :17th and 18th century British coins; "modern" GB Farthings and Halfpennies (George V onward); coins that have been used to undo screws; 19th French; other non UK; tokens; plastics buttons etc Anyway as a means to relax I bought a jumbo accumulation which arrived this week. As always I do a first sort (pull out all pennies by reign and then I'll do another pass through looking for varieties QV - GVI). I also have a "dirty coin bag" on hand into which I deposit the worst of the worst ! I was motoring through ... reverse yep its a 1943 Half Penny .. flip over to the obverse .. ouch what a mess and reached out the dirty coin bag and then stopped to have a closer look Images below Hope you enjoy it ! Its been filed at the end of the half penny collection with other weird finds Wondered if anyone else still buys jumbo mixed lots of circulated coins to search Very Best Regards Richard

Many thanks for the comments, It hadn't occurred to me as it has just turned up randomly in a mass of coins, but yes could be that someone has masked parts of the surface (as you can with glass) and then applied acid to the unmasked areas to make it look as it look as if the half penny was damaged. Shame there isn't a similar (but safe !) way to gently remove the surface on on some of my pennies, where the date and design are virtually worn off. I'm sure in some cases there would be nothing to find but with others there may be quite a bit of information Anyway below might be a lamination error, its a George V 1920 Halfpenny (currently escaped) running from DEI downward Great to get your thoughts Very Best Regards Richard

Many thanks Jelida, These are the best photos I could get. I only occasionally find pre 1860 pennies in old albums (pre 1860 Farthings and Half Pennies are fairly frequent) so it felt worth a bid Very Best Regards Richard

I just assumed it was the end the downstroke from the 7 , I will see if I can get a better photo

Hi, Just going through a bucket of circulated pennies. I havn't gone through so many in ages. Two more bags to sort out. Mainly George V (someone really liked collecting 1926 for some reason!) First pass through = my best find is a 1902 Low Tide in decent shape (so once I've checked it - it will upgrade my current one) for a circulated penny (not rare or probably even scarce but normally I find them quite worn). Others include circulated / worn KN 1918 and 1919 (loads of GV H pennies, to be expected) and odd George 6th Halfpenny (almost went into the dirty coin bag) which I might share. Anyway in the meantime thought I share close up of the 1858 8 over 7 Penny off ebay . When it arrived because of the light I just couldn't see it - but once under the microscope its quite clear Very Best Regards Richard

Hi Hope you don't mind some Farthing photos I couldn't find anything similar to this - great to get your thoughts - another coin from an old album [I seem to recall seeing one of these as a kid in a coin book or magazine but can't place it] This is an 1874 H Farthing . I spotted the R in REG immediately its much thicker than it should be. [contrast to R in BRITT] The G is D:G: is also interesting it looks like someone got into difficulties and It the same spot for the G over G (I have a very poor example of one of these) [contrast to G in REG] Great to get your thoughts - what do you think ? Have you got one of these in your collection ? Very Best Regards Richard P.S. Hopefully these will be the last photos for today - great to get your expert views on this and on the 1865 posted earlier !

Hi, Many thanks again for help with the farthing and apologies for sharing the photos before thoroughly inspecting the coin surface ! I guess I hadn't expected post mint damage to align so closely with the existing lettering or that Bronze could be so easily flattened I should have been more suspicious ! Like the 1893 penny below , where part of the 3 has been pushed to the left due to something heavy being dropped onto the surface

Hi Martin, Many thanks for looking at photo. I am certain it must be post mint damage on the R and the G. I had a closer look and angled the Farthing to highlight what might be going on a bit clearer and it now shows up much better. There is what I thought was a light scratch running from Victoria's mouth and if I follow it across, it goes through the bow in the ribbon (where it is clearer) and then aligns with downstroke of the R and then on the rim of the Farthing there is a slight dip Then there may be something just underneath the front of the wreath which could align with the G in D:G: less certain about that, but as the R is aligned with that damage I would expect something similar happened with the G Many thanks again Best Regards Richard

Hi Paddy, Just to enquire - is there anything you would be particularly interested in re Farthings ? I have 1860 onwards (with the obvious gap) sometimes with more than one example and a duplicates tray and a further folder ! (so there are some varieties) And one tray with various Farthings from Charles II, William III, George's, William again etc through to Victoria (few nice coins but nothing "special") Very Best Regards Richard

Hi Paddy, Many thanks for the message It difficult to tell but looks about the same depth as the rest of the legend. I wondered if it was an attempt to make a correction to the G and R that didn't work out ! I'll might see if I can get a photo of the Farthing at an angle Very Best Regards Richard

Hi I wondered if someone could help with a query ? Earlier this year I started to collect (mainly) GB Bronze and Copper coinage. Its collecting for enjoyment and relaxation rather than to make money or for completionism (collecting can be addictive - only have to look at my newspaper collection for that). I have basic date runs of : pennies; half pennies; and farthings (and a few date runs started for silver coinage) I tend to buy old coin albums etc which no one else is that interested in I recently bought an album of circulated very worn 1860's - 1890's pennies (I've seen the term "misty" which I quite like used to describe this kind of wear!) One coin in the album puzzled me it is an 1877 penny (very worn) the first three digits 1, 8, and 7 match the "normal" 1877 penny, the last 7 (only the upper part of which can be seen due to wear) is much further to right. I do have other 1877 pennies which are slightly wider but nothing this far off. I can't find any photographs that are similar I checked London coins etc. My 1985 Michael Freeman Bronze Coinage is too old to help. I wondered if anyone could therefore direct to photographs showing 1877 wider date pennies so I can see the differences ? I can always share a photograph if that helps - but it is very worn Best Regards Richard Heaton

Apologies Martin, my mistake please see a picture of the obverse - its pretty bad I'm afraid

Hi Hope this is useful. If you need a better photo I do do one tomorrow in the daylight

Hi, To wrap up 1877 I took this photo earlier comparing the "misty" 1877 with I think a 12.5 tooth [?] (which is underneath) It most likely a 13 Very Best Regards Richard

Hi I will start a new thread and send it !

Thank you again to everyone for your help on this - I have managed to photograph the misty 1877 under another 1877 and it does look like the 13 tooth - so a common version - I'll post that image a bit later In the meantime hope nobody minds - here is the reverse of my "best condition" 1877 with the odd 2nd N in Penny and a break in the ships ribbon or pennant (not sure what to call it !) And apologies I also spotted yesterday 1861 Penny (might be common) which is normally reverse side up in the tray, the obverse legend Victoria is missing possibly the bottom of both I's the C and the O; the D in D.G. has gaps at top and bottom, and the D in F.D. has a gap at the bottom. I'm certain I saw the identical problems on a coin in Richard's amazing wordpress Penny listings - but couldn't track it down again ! (should have made a proper note of it) Lastly, I know this isn't for everyone, I collect Farthings , I doubt that I have anything rare (virtually everything has come out of old low cost albums) but there there may be something of interest. Obviously a different topic but not sure where to post if of interest Very Best Regards and thank you once again to Terry for his photographs of the 1877 penny dates, to Richard for his 1877 penny photo and incredible work on Wordpress, to Paddy for pointing out the date type, Martin for the 7 over 7 photo, and for Alf and Martin for the feedback on the "foggy" (don't see how the ship could have seen the lighthouse) 1862 penny Richard

Hi Paddy I'm sure you are right. its probably 13 tooth rather than 14 tooth version (may thanks to Terry for the size breakdowns). As a comparison I took as look at my "best" 1877 Penny (fortunately only some of my Penny's are "misty") I think its 12 teeth but I might be wrong (still getting to grips with what to line up when counting !) it is small compared to the "wider". My "best" doesn't have the double 7 which Martin kindly shared but there is something up with 2nd N in Penny - looks like there has been a break of some kind - might need to check under the microscope

Hi Here is the 1862