Rob

Carbon spot?

Nope. Blandford Forum. And Corfe only has one f.

A Dorset one.

Or an E over F, but not punched deeply enough into an already hardened die

Definitely two different dies because even if the fields were polished to remove the flaws and underlying E on the highest points on the die, it would still be present where it crosses the right prong of the trident.

My coin has no serifs to the bottom of the first I in VICTORIA and the F, plus on the reverse there is a long vertical flaw leaning slightly right passing through the centre point of the 8 from the rim to just under the hemline above, but quite faint once it hits the ground. And there is no sign of the underlying E in ONE which would have to mean that mine was before it was recut unless it is a third incarnation with the field polished sufficiently to remove the original. That's possible given the underlying E in ONE on yours is not parallel to the linear circle, which mine is. My LCW is not well formed either

Call it F whatever you want. Happy to bow to superior knowledge. It's a prooflike reverse unc type example early bronze penny to me. I just went off the ticket, which I'll change.

Don't know if it helps with the chronology at all, but I have an F10 where the reverse Es are weak to the point where the first one has the middle bar nearly filled, and the second E with the bottom bar quite filled.

Because people buy the paper and so they have an ongoing business to fund their diatribe. There's only one paper without political affiliation and that's the FT. Sure some journalists are left of centre and others right, but the paper gives both sides the opportunity to air their views. All the others you can bin because they will only ever lean one way or the other, so objectivity is inherently compromised. Another good source of apolitically driven information is of course Private Eye.

sic (twice) Come on chaps, sharpen up.

Your legend looks marginally thicker all round compared to the other three. That would be as expected of a copy made from a mould which was in turn taken from the genuine article

Because some genuine pieces sell for thousands,

Two parts joined together says it all. It is a modern casting. Genuine pieces are thin and very difficult to cast copies to the correct thickness.

Frankly the picures aren't good enough to make a reasonable assessment. But, having said that, the attached is less than perfect, but still infinitely better than the stippled veil detail seen on what is offered. I would avoid them personally. http://

The uniformity of colour suggests they have been dipped or cleaned in some way, and the absence of fine veil detail says there isn't a single uncirculated coin amongst them. Yet again, the number of genuinely uncirculated coins is a very small percentage of the total available. Yes, they should be desirable simply on rarity alone, but less than uncirculated deserve better acceptance than is currently the fashion. Historically people used to collect in all grades, but grade inflation has helped many people to assume that only high grade is good, and that low grade is the new high grade.

Good fine, cleaned. The obverse maybe a bit better.

That's horribly overgraded. I sold this one as a good EF on the grounds it couldn't be unc.

A few sub-conscious rules of thumb help here. Apart from the obvious 'If it seems too good to be true - it probably is', it is also worth remembering that the number of genuinely uncirculated pieces from 120 years ago or whatever is tiny. A fraction of one per cent would be appropriate. Everybody wants them, so vendors satisfy the market by selling things labelled appropriately. That is why it is imperative that collectors learn to grade first and foremost, Ebay is not an appropriate place to learn grading skills.

They're human. If uncertain, greed will usually win out.

It depends on bright. There is bright as in dipped which is more a case of personal preference, or bright as in polished which reduces value and is generally avoided. A coin with natural random toning is less likely to have been cleaned in the past as cleaning usually results in a very even tone, maybe because a dip or polish must surely leave a chemical deposit on the surface. There are a few threads on the forum regarding toning including this one http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/9647-lets-see-your-toned-english-milled-silver/?page=1

You might get a couple quid on eBay, but they occur so frequently that there is no real demand. The thing is, it isn't a variety, just a random error.

Blocked dies as a result of grease not being cleaned and subsequently being trapped between the dies during striking, this preventing a fully struck up piece.

France 3 Portugal 1, 1st goal 39 minutes

The box looks to be in good condition, which is not so common. There is only one side of the coins shown, so the other side is unknown. The coins will probably have a toning line across them from contact with the ribbon - many sets do. There is also a couple of spots on the halfpenny and florin. It's much better to see things in hand. Go to a coin fair. If convenient, the Midland is tomorrow at 9:30 at the Motorcycle Museum. York racecourse is next Friday and Saturday, Wakefield is the last Sunday of the month at the Cedar Court hotel off Jcn 39 of the M1, starts at 9:30.

According to Krause, the portrait types were .903, but the non-portrait types (earlier, say 1740s) were .917