The Bee

Hi Apologies for troubling the list so soon. Having read through Secret Santa's Penny Varieties, I decided to be a bit methodical and work through all of my Victorian pennies, to see if I had anything variety wise which had escaped me so far. I was following up searching for different date widths for 1889 - 1893 pennies and so far checked 1889 - 1892 - sadly they all look the same I did however find while sorting out the pennies a 1860 penny where the date on the reverse has the appearance of being etched in - so you just have outline of the date, I assume its an odd form of damage, as I can make out the same effect on BRITT REG, the coin has been shined (by a previous owner) and is in terrible condition so it doesn't photograph that well - but great to get your thoughts Also thought I'd share a 1890 Penny where the 90 is slightly lower than the 18 - I'd not noticed it before my assumption being that its probably fairly common And I wondered what years you would recommend I should check for "date widths" aside from 1877 and 1889-92 ? Thank you for your help ! Very Best Regards Richard

Hi I had an attempt at removing the old DNA and gunk. 1855 Halfpenny date with 8 over 8 ? 1st 5 over 5 ? and possible overdate on last 5 ? Very Best Regards

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, I received another pile of circulated pennies over the weekend and had a look last night. Over half of pennies in this accumulation were end of QV reign 1896 -1901. So far had a look through 1896 and 1899. Under 1899 I have one example where spacing of the 9's are clearly closer together (first one I think I've seen) assuming its Mr Freeman's 1 B (I have the 2006 reprint) not sure if there is any other description. I also started to tidy up 1880 and found just one where the 0 is set slightly higher. Lastly having found missing serif's in 1888 (quite a few so must be quite common) I thought I'd check 1889. No luck so far on 1889 missing serifs, but on comparing my 1889 in the main tray vs the 1889 next best (which I had relegated to the box of next best's) I noticed some differences on the obverse on Victoria's face. I assuming the smooth nose might be 12N and the one with a triangular depression would be 13 N ? Very Best Regard

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