The Bee

If all else fails I think the realised prices might be available via "the Saleroom" Best Regards

Many thanks Martin, Glad you liked it. I wasn't sure how to describe the halfpenny, so that's brilliant. Its a bit worn and not obvious what's going on when you look straight at the coin (on the photo of the obverse you can just see the light bouncing off the 1. Tilt the coin slightly and the 1 jumps out clearly. An affordable impulse purchase. If its any use to Richard he is more than welcome to use it for halfpenny varieties. Very Best Regards

Last Bronze today an 1861 Half Penny . Condition is poor (Gouby 7 obverse not sure on the reverse) but the date was of interest. Must be lots of examples around in better condition, but nice to have this one

Many thanks Richard - great to get it confirmed - I do have problems with lighthouses (well the ones on GB Bronze anyway !) I will adda note to the tray Here is the obverse which I think must be K Very Best Regards

Back to 1874 H having checked the pennies sadly I don't have reverse I as yet. For a circulated coin the H over the gap look a good clue. But so far I have only one example of an 1874 H Penny where the H is over the gap between the beads, but its not the reverse I. Its quite a worn example of Gouby BP 1874 Jd Anyway onto the pictures, the circulated Penny below might be reverse g and obverse K. It is a wide date H and the sea crosses both sides of the linear circle. There is no rock on the left of the lighthouse and the O from ONE looks to be close to the top of the lighthouse. I'm not sure about the lighthouse though, seems to be one of the areas that wasn't protected and gets worn. Have attached a picture of the obverse and a close up of the left and right sides of the linear circle showing (I think) the sea crossing both sides If I'm mistaken please feel free to correct me ! Very Best Regards P.S. the spots to the left of the galleon seem to be annoying examples of light pitting (corrosion) which pepper both surfaces

Hi Wondered if this handwriting was known at all ? First ticket found in the collection I'm working through - a George II Farthing

That's exactly what I did . Very kindly I was able to buy the original version and then Michael had spare updates and sent me one after he got back from holiday (I guess not everyone who bought an original copy were still collecting when the update came out). So currently it "lives" on the floor usually open for me to refer to (my books "work" rather then sit on shelves for display purposes). Told Michael that its a brilliant read (if you like that sort of thing of course) ! Very Best Regards

Hi I pushed the boat out last week and bought an 1858 Penny, 8 over over 7, for just over £12 It reminded me that I thought I had some other examples of Penny "something" over "something's." I had a quick look yesterday (now I have the microscope) and found an 1865, 5 over 3 (most likely would have come from an old coin album) It's very clear but I don't think its anything unusual - just wanted to check In the 2nd image you can clearly see the 3 hiding behind the 5, with a tiny bit of the 3 sticking out of the back of the 5 at the top Very Best Regards Richard

Many thanks Bernie, really helpful. So at some point I will need to find an A over A. And not at all Martin , I should have posted a clearer picture earlier I will add R over R to the description in the tray Very Best Regards

Many thanks Martin, Here is a close up of the A and another picture of the R in Reg - hopefully a bit better this time

1860 Penny N over N (Z) Gouby Dd [I think !] also possible double struck R in REG Spotted the first error quite easily but it looks as if there is a second one, well unless I've misidentified the penny in which case that'll be the 3rd error !

Hi Martin Many thanks , no its not an I, I think I thrown a bit by the closeness of the back of QV's head to B in Britt which seemed closer than other 6 + G's Currently I only have one example of an 1874H obverse where the sea doesn't cross the linear circle . I have it as 7 + G

Penny 1874 H Hi, Started to sort my Pennies yesterday so I don't totally lost. While working through 1874 penny widths I checked the obverse of one, and it looks a bit different from the rest Its worn, but the back of Queen Victoria's head is almost touching the B in Britt, the rest have a much larger gap. The only Obverses I seem to be able to find seem to be a bit scarce, so I assume I'm missing something obvious. Great to get feedback on what the Obverse is (assume reverse is standard). Any thoughts much appreciated !

FYI I have ordered the 2nd edition updates from Michael Gouby, for the British Bronze Penny 1860-1901 (mine copy being the 1st edition). Apparently not everyone who bought the 1st edition upgraded to the 2nd edition and so Michael had spare copies of the update. The first edition was a really interesting read (well I found it really interesting anyway !). My plan is to re-organize my Bronze pennies more clearly into a "best penny" date run 1860 - 1970 which I can upgrade from time to time. Then using separate trays from 1860 onward I'll use those for varieties / date widths etc. 1860 onwards and label them as I go, so its easy to read what is where at a glance. Clearly it is impossible to have every variety (just as its impossible to collect every 18th/19th century newspaper title - some have tried) but I can upgrade the varieties when the opportunity arises. It will hopefully avoid the pennies getting out of control and help with structure. I will probably also try for a few half penny varieties as well as upgrading and some more farthing varieties over time. I have the beginnings of date runs prior to 1860 with some common varieties (and some fakes/non regal)- but for silver it will just be date runs. Best Regards !

Hi, Just wanted to share a 1862 Penny with raised piece of the metal (probably irregular rather than a dot) above the right leg of R in Victoria (ink or other stain under the R !) Just wondered if anyone else had seen anything similar ? Best Regards

Many thanks Peckris 2. I do now have a copy of the British Bronze Penny 1860-1901 (arrived yesterday) and it is a great read. Interestingly the 1986 earlier volume covering 1860-1970 is only available in 9 libraries (according to World Cat), 8 of which are in the UK and 1 in South Africa. So I have set some searches in hopes one will turn up in time. Very Best Regards

Hi, Apologies ... Was going through 1908 checking dates and found what I think might be ... Edward VII Obverse Gouby B (Freeman Obverse 1*) - tried to tie all the evidence together in the one image Best Regards

Many thanks Peckris 2 ! I'll wait to see if anyone has any thoughts on micro varieties before I post any other date widths I posted under "Ticket Central" three coin envelopes, but didn't want to derail the ticket discussion. They include a sealed one from Spink. My guess is its a 1967 Penny or similar - I will try to open it without damaging the envelope around Christmas And Copper123 mentioned the high cost/ poor return of the the 1875 Farthing in the plain brown envelope, so I thought I'd share an image of the expensive 1875 no H Farthing, along with the holed Jack of Cumberland to Hanover Token from the Baldwin's envelope (there were also a couple of Toy coins and fractional Farthings in the same accumulation) Also attached (from the same accumulation) 1860 Farthing BRIII REG (obviously not , but the top of the T has been very weakly struck only a trace to the left) and and 1861 (much less interesting) Farthing where there has been a break of some kind on the A in Victoria, Very Best Regards

Apologies if this is the wrong place to. I have been occasionally finding damaged tickets but hadn't realised that they might be useful in tracing which collections / auctions coins have been in. Sadly in the absence of tickets I think all I have which are remotely related are: a "modern" sealed Spink envelope (probably contains a penny); a Baldwin's envelope with a holed "to Hanover" token; and a I what might be a pre decimal envelope with an 187 Farthing in it. If I find any tickets that have a number / surname on I will share them

Hi I have just finished pulling together my 1879 Pennies to compare date widths - all circulated coins . Apologies for any duplication. Top left is the narrow 1879 The very worn penny at the bottom of the picture may just be a more worn version of some of one of the others (I have found 3 examples in identical condition) Great to get your thoughts - I'm sure I'm missing a few ! Best Regards

I wonder, could it be the least flattering coin portrait of any GB monarch ! "Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel." Benjamin Disraeli

For 1892 I think I have a worn example of the fatter face. I think when worn you can see a "v" in the chin area. Think I've seen "fatter face" for sale in good condition (possibly EF) but expensive. And sounds a good hypothesis ! If QV was unhappy about it in 1874, then she would probably still be "unamused" at a second attempt in 1889 - 92 . Her chins were looking better in 1896 just in time for her Diamond Jubilee the following year!

Hi, Just a query. I had a look at my "best" 1890 - 1892 Pennies. These examples being circulated show wear on highlights (particularly wreath and berries) but the portrait is okay and QV's chin is clear. My 1890 and 1891 have the fatter chin and 1892 normal chin. So being curious I wondered whether the changeover was clean* or does anyone out there have either a 1891 Penny with a normal chin or an 1892 Penny with the fatter chin ??? Very Best Regards * I will have a look at the rest of my 1891 and 1892 to see if I can find anything

Many thanks for the comments When I joined the list I really didn't think anyone would comment on any of my posts - being a relatively complete beginner I really like blakeyboy's 1880, the correction to the "0" is clear, I assume that followed on from my posting at the the top of the list Thank you PWA 1967 for the comment on the 1896, I had no idea it was scarce. only that its the only one I've found (obviously well circulated). It made me wonder if there was a practice at the Mint, when they has spare time (aside from repairing broken dies) they prepared a die with the first three digits and then just had to put the last digit in, but suffered last digit "creep." Or maybe it simply was done for bet / last day on the job / the heavy head after the big night before ! I wonder if there were letters to the Times about sloppy pennies ! Incidentally Newspapers even early ones were consecutively numbered for each week or day e.g. 1000, 1001, 1002, etc. But I've noticed when it got to Christmas / New Year this is the time errors creep in. You'll find the number doesn't change , or changes by far more than it should. On 1889, both pennies are in decent condition. These were probably purchases to upgrade and probably bought two by accident, rather than the one I needed. I know its a bit numpty, but if you look at the lower of the two QV's and follow the queens eyebrow up to the top, there a clear depression which has the illusion of being roughly triangular (head left from the end of the eyebrow then when it terminates up right and back down right). This has the missing leaf. The nose is different (the right side of the "triangle"-and the nostril is different , as is I think is the chin, possibly the neck, etc. Photographed at a different angle the differences wouldn't be so obvious. I only spotted it because like to handle coins and as I tilted it at a certain angle the sunlight caught it and I saw the area under QV's nose. If anyone has the time / interest and is able to share pictures of other extremes in dates from any year that you've noticed - that would be really helpful Very Best Regards and thanks again

Many thanks Secret Santa It is really helpful to see the examples of the differences in the widths of the date I think I have the 9.5 and 10 Probably though an improvement on1896 and 1897, where the mint staff must have staggered back in to work after a very big night out, or the QA team was unwell ! Very Best Regards