Rob

I wonder if the cessation of striking the currency 10p had anything to do with the continued use of the old florins? 1981 was just after the silver bubble, and although the silver price was still above face value, the collapse of prices in 1981 must have freed up a quantity of Cu-Ni pieces initially retained in the belief they were silver, not to mention bags of deposited florins previously obtained from the bank to sort through for silver. You still get predecimal Cu-Ni saved in the belief it is silver today, so not a lot has changed as far as the man in the street is concerned. The same pattern exists for the 5p, with the next currency issue being in 1987. The 50p by contrast was issued approx every other year

The guy is selling for a charity, so a quick message might be all that is required to get it removed.

The letter profile is too similar for it to be a repunched/repaired die. If double struck I would expect to see the same on the border teeth, or anywhere else for that matter. The lighting is a bit misleading, so do the teeth show the same displacement? If not, then it suggests it was on the die as made.

I think coins were collected fairly soon after the concept of a coinage was introduced. The evidence is certainly there for numismatic hoarding by the Roman period, because the Bolsena hoard, sold as part of the Sarti sale in 1906, contained practically as struck sestertii covering a period of 200 years or so. There is no way that high grade sestertii would survive in circulation for so long, leaving a numismatic collection as the only sensible alternative. The artistry employed in engraving coins would be as recognisable as that seen on jewellery or other artefacts, so there is no obvious reason for not collecting them.

Pretty poor show there. Where are the missing possessive apostrophe's (sic)

Given my list is 1975 and no. 44 and yours are 57 & 58, the latter should be early 80s at the latest, o/w list 1 would have been by appointment to Queen Victoria.

No

I initially thought early 1975 given he was talking holiday bookings, but with consumer prices up 16.4 in 1974, 23.6 in 1975 and 11.5 in 1976, it would suggest later in the year as inflation figures take a bit of time to compile.

There you go. Can anyone put a definitive date to this issue?

Not a clue. Sorry.

You might be surprised. Coin porn has been mentioned on occasion, so googling porn could result in some unexpected readers!

In which case, cut your losses and sell. I'll take a Minton, Lavrillier and a KN - then I'm done with bronze pennies. You can also throw in a Derwent Wood pattern anything and a Victorian decimal penny to save the hassle of selling separately. All options considered.

No, it's ok. He's from Leigh. Quite normal for anything down the East Lancs.

Looks like it. No mention of a variation for DH361

It's not D&H 394, as that is 1791 and 18 acorns. I think it is DH361 because of the 2 dots instead of an acorn at 12 o'clock

The lot is 3 coins. The 1772 isn't illustrated, but the second and third coins are.

Just discovered this one is in London. I thought it was going to be in NY like the one a month ago. So now I had a notification of a sale in NY, but not this month in London.

Spink USA & in this country almost appear to be separate and unrelated businesses based on previous experience. e.g. Until recently they didn't advise UK customers of US sales, which doesn't make sense if you have a common customer database. I don't think there is a great deal of crossover of material, and don't see any prospect of them rolling out this format as normal for the UK. I think there is enough material around for the present auction arrangements to continue.

In the days when mental arithmetic was part of daily life, the changeover wasn't that difficult. A florin was still a tenth of a pound, 120+ years after it was first introduced and the continued use of existing 'silver' coins made things quite easy. With the old penny demonetised, there wasn't even the need to use your 2.4 times table. For small change, all you needed was an approximation to know you were in the right ballpark - an ability which people appear to be sadly lacking today, cf. D Abbott MP.

Try dug up and crud removed.

Definitely not. People on ebay want to get everything for a quid, so the market obliges and provides them with s**t. Pay more and you would expect to receive, and in many instances would receive, better quality.

The amount of Cheddar consumed in this country must dwarf all the other types put together. As prevalent as other British or foreign cheeses are, there is no way they are consumed on a regular basis by most people who will have Cheddar in most instances, whether a block or grated. It's cheap and cheerful, and crucially, affordable by all. We bought some Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire recently from the farm, and they make as much cheese as their cows produce milk for - a couple hundred kg a day. There are fewer than 10 farms making Lancashire cheese. That's b****r all.

The design is quite intricate and a fair amount of work has gone into it implying a relatively upmarket source, so what does HME stand for? Her Majesty's Exchequer? Harrod's Money Exchange? Any magazines in 1971 with the initials? Thoughts anyone?

Penny

The Elizabeth I Irish copper penny and halfpenny of 1601 which was the first attempt to introduce the metal, followed by the Harington issues in mainland Britain.