Gary

Sorry Alan but they are not even going to get you a Foot passenger crossing. The H is there on the 1882 and both coins are very worn. Keep Looking. Sorry!

I have one of these too. Same die crack from rim to H of Halfpenny. No sign of 8 over 6 on this Die.

I hoped you would pop in on this one. Thanks for the pics Gary. Have you closely inspected the slabbed F282A? Is it really a 6 over 8 or is there possibly traces of the upper arc of a 6 poking out above the upper 6?

nice coin Nick.

Cleaning, what does that mean? What do we mean when we say don't clean coins? There are probably many threads within this Forum to do with CLEANING coins. If we are talking POLISHING ie. brasso or metal polish then NO don't do it! If we are talking carefully removing dirt from within the legends of a coin then and giving it a gentle wash in soapy water then YES. Removing green deposits from Copper Nickel or debased silver with acetone then YES. There is POLISHING which comes under the heading of deliberately trying to enhance the appearance but there is also carefull removal of dirt and foreign matter that comes under the heading of PRESERVATION as over time this foreign matter will result in surface damage to the coin. Certainly don't POLISH coins and don't use abrasive methods of foreign matter removal, BRILLO pads etc. Non abrasive methods such as acetone perfectly ok. Generally speaking high grade coins will need no cleaning as they have seen no or little circulation however I am sure that everyone has seen high grade coins with black finger prints on them! Even if your hands feel dry there is always moisture on the skin so when you buy that nice BU coin and pop it into your collection only to look at it a couple of months later and see a nice copy of a fingerprint in the field! Years ago in a leading coin magazine there was an article recommending that no matter how good the coin looked it should be first dipped in lighter fuel and left to dry before putting it into your collection. This prevents the appearance of fingerprints. Is this CLEANING and as such to be avoided? Any cleaning method that changes the natural appearance ie loss of Patina or irreversible damage ie scratches of a coin is to be avoided any other "soft" methods that serve to preserve a coin should not be frowned upon.

Thanks for that Bob. As you said it would easy to mistake this as a 6 over 8 on a worn coin as the loop of the 6 within the top 6 would be protected from wear where as the top arc of the underlying 6 is more exposed to wear. It would be interesting to see a higher grade F282A to see if there are any traces of the top arc.

Thanks for the info Rob. I have never heard of these two overdates. Dracott has no mention of them. Mal Lewendon does mention a 1876 over 6 but from the Pic it seems to be a normal 6 over 6 and not a Farthing 6! So I take it that the dies were prepared without the last two digits of the date, these being added as and when the need arouse?

Churchill Crown could not help reporting this one, £237.................... and graded at Nearly EF!

The whole coin

Obv legend "LUDW CHRIST LAUER NURNBERG MADE IN GERMANY" I think that solves it. As the others said a toy coin made by Lauer in Nurnberg Germany. Collectable but unfortunately not in that condition.

It is, high tide Freemans 148 or Gouby BP1897C I like the description "EXC GRADE COIN LUSTRE VINTAGE" What looks like a dot is going to turn out to be a fleck of dust but a high tide 1897 for £11 is also a result.

not a good pic but looks promising. Good luck. Post a better pic when it arrives.

thanks for that link Peter. Very timely as I am just beginning to branch out into British Empire coins and have been looking for something like this site to identify the silver content of empire coins. Lovely!

That's a nice 1934 Penny for 20p. Nice edges and toning.

It's a good sharp strike with all the details showing and minimal wear to the high points, so I would grade at GEF. For me personally, I would like to see some lustre though many collectors prefer attractive toning over patchy lustre. I think the price achieved was fair for the year and coin. Full lustre examples are going to be £200+, that was a nice 1863 penny and I am one of those collectors that likes nice attractive toning

You may have a few gaps but that is more than made up for by Quality of the coins and the photos. Agreed, we are all far too critical of our own collections

I started off with pennies as do most people. The book from Michael Freeman is probably considered the bible for collectors of bronze coinage as it does not just include pennies but also halfpennies and farthings too. However, the first book came out in 1970 with the second revised edition appearing in 1985. Spinks did do a reprint in 2006 and up until that point a second hand copy of the second edition would sell for around £50 plus. The Spink reprint was just that a reprint and does not have any updated information. Since 1985, 27 years ago there have been other discoveries, Die pairings, errors etc that are not in Freemans. As you can imagine in 1985 the standard of digital photography and printing were not up to todays standards and in my opinion for you as a beginner so to speak a much better buy would be Michael Goubys "The British Bronze Penny 1860-1970" although the print date of this is 1986 and the photos are black and white they are larger and easier to distinguish. He has recently bought out a new one, The Specialised Edition" which is up to date and has good quality photos in colour however it just covers pennies from 1860-1901 and this one cost £50. Freemans costs £35 and the old Gouby costs £22 all available directly from Micheal Gouby . I do have all three and use all of them regularly. If your budget stretches to it then I would get both Freemans and Goubys 1860-1970 and when you really get the bug and you will! invest in the Specialised Edition. Micheal Gouby also has s lot of useful info and picture on his site, just look at his sales list.

They did not "overstamp" existing coins but cut a new date into dies that were still good from previous years. In most cases the last digit of the date was altered as is the case of the 1865 over 3 penny, 1858 over 7 and so on. Dies were very costly to produce so this helped to keep costs down. Many Dies became damaged and letters and numbers were recut to increase the life of the Die. Another reason is a mistake when preparing a new Die ie the 1862 Penny where the 6 has been recut over an 8 which has been incorrectly cut during Die preparation.. I am sure there are other members on here who are more in the know when it comes to Die making.

Could have saved myself the trouble with my pics!! Forgot about Accumulator's homepage. Have a look here for good penny pics Pennies 1860-1869

There are 3 Obv for 1862, Freeman only lists 2. The other 2 obvs both have a signature on or beneath the bust and are extremely rare. If you are after an affordable decent grade 1862 penny then I can offer you this one PM me if your interested. My grade for this one is NEF

The pics a little hazy but I am almost sure its the common obv 6. Heres a close up of the major features on an obv 6 16 Leaves to the wreath, an extra leaf protrudes from the top of the fourth group numbered 13 in the pic. There is no signature on or under the bust and the elongated colon dot and die flaw.

I was watching that one as well, the price rapidly went up to above 300 a couple of days after it was listed. She still has a few nice pennies on ebay.

Excellent book that all Coin collectors/Dealers should have and abide by. I bought this book after collecting for over 20 years and still got useful information from it. Highly recommended ref book.

A friend asked me about some coins and to be honest I have no idea. Can anyone identify these types of coins? I will try to get some more info from him but he did say they are old greek and from Istrien. Istrien as far as I recall is in Croatia so that info may be incorrect. Any info would be appreciated, thanks, Gary.

Thanks to everyone for your time. Very informative. With the info supplied I now have enough for further research.