Gary D

I believe the last issue was 1970. I think you would be lucky to pick one up for £70 although you could have mine for that when the rumoured reprint arrives

Freeman doesn't say very much about this coin. You are right that its Obv 3 Rev B. According to Freeman there are two types, one in copper and the other in Cupro-nickel. The copper is rated as R17 whilst the Cupro-nickel is R18. R17 is defined as 16-50 existing, whereas R18 is 6-15. Otherwise nothing else. I don't have a copy of Peck at the moment, so can't say what it says about these coins. Peck just list them as 1868 Bronze Proof [R] and Copper-nickel Proof [ER]

You know I just cant resist it

I seem to remember something about the introduction of the new £1 coin was supposed to include a hologram to prevent forgeries. Obviously it didn't happen, the hologram bit that is. Gary

Off the top of my head there were no pennies for 1876, 1877-80, 1883-94, 1923-25, 1941-43 and 1955-60

Somebody either knows a good forger or a good website! The 1922 is genuine

But how can you ignore those prices? You have to ask yourself, who is a £20 1967 halfcrown or a £15 1966 penny aimed at? It can't be the likes of us, as you would hear us laughing all the way from the moon. So who, then? Gullible novices? I would have said London Coin Auctions were too reputable for that kind of scam. So who, then? It makes no sense, none at all. The more I think about this, the more baffled but also more annoyed I become. It's like they're either taking the mick, or trying to con someone as yet unidentified. I wish one of their representatives would come on here and give us the benefit of their thinking. I suspect that what you are paying for here is not the coin, but the plastic that surrounds it and the grade that it has been assigned. Here in the United States such nonsensical pricing logic has become the norm rather than the exception. Here's one of our more extreme examples... a penny for your thoughts Well I don't know much about US coins, but for such a modern coin, that does seem expensive. Don't forget it's not only us in the UK buying Uk coins. We may consider them commonplace but if you are sitting in the middle of johnnie foriegner land how else do you get coins for you UK coin collection.

Neat -- where did you 'find' it? In my collection.... I don't have the others, although I might have pics of them.... I'll check Here's 3 out of 4. I was offered a 1952 but it was not a good one and bit expensive so I declined it.

The wear on the reverse is consistant with the observe. Apart from the ear the observe is much flatter than the reverse side so doesn't show the wear so readily. Also the height of the rim can also determine how readily a side will wear Gary

Did anyone make it along to coinex this year. This was my first attendance and to be quite honest I was rather disapointed. 95% of the exhibitors where selling either hammered or gold or hammered gold, there was next to no 19th centry milled where my interests lay. I just managed to make it worthwhile by finding a 1902LT marked up as a HT so I did the right thing and gave them the full asking price, £25 I thought oh well I already have an UNC so I'll knock it out on ebay and it'll cover my day out. Then I looked a bit closer.......

OK, Gary, I give up. I see the double striking of the inner leg, but even with that the tide is well below the point the legs meet is it not ? Or am I missing something as usual..... Ok 1st clue. Colin Cooke

That's how I started out, collecting from change, 40 years ago.

Depends what you're talking about. What determines rarity is a combination of mintage, popularity, survival, etc. For example, Maundy sets are minted each year - around 1000 or so - which for a currency coin would be very rare. But because it's "only" Maundy, they fetch quite modest sums (there are many fewer collectors for them). The number of "undated error" 2008 20 pence pieces far exceeds Maundy, but look what they are selling for on eBay. A rough rule of thumb for modern currency coins would be that any mintage of less than a million makes it pretty scarce. But condition matters too : 1950s half crowns and florins were minted in large quantities but are often very hard to find in top grade, and can be worth up to £50 in mint condition, but nothing in ordinary worn condition. It's a more complicated subject than your question suggests. That means a Brittania made in 2007 is rare (only 700,000 exist)maybe a few 2 pounds Freeman considers 650,000- 1 million to be rare.

Here is my latest acquisition. I wonder if I have blown my A$0.54 plus A$6.00 postage. Sellers picture

It will make it something, I'm not sure it will be English as we know it Thanks all, translations pretty much as I worked out the gist, an appropriate post given this topic title " Three quid down the Swanee..." I'll just write this one off! I'll still keep buying from overseas sellers, I often get good stuff at reasonable prices, and I've had very little difficulty with either overseas payment or postage davidrj, I looked out a spare which I was going to send you but its turned out to be the 1915. Something interesting I did find though was that the 1915 recessed ear in my main collection only has the very tip of the tooth broken whereas the later 1915s and the 1916 have quite a large break.

I was the second bidder on the 1908 F164A, the next bid would have cost another £55, just could bring myself to do it. Hopefully I wont regret it. I was also 2nd on the 1915 resessed ear, just a minor upgrade and didn't have my heart in it as I was looking at the 1908. I did win the 1913 F176 which has taken my up a notch but again I wasn't going to fight over it.

Actually scott, the 1902 Low Tide penny has never been rare (not like the halfpenny). It is scarce only, compared to the normal variety, but because it came out first, paradoxically it got put aside more at the time, so survives in fairly high grades more often than you might expect. The 1919H is another example of a coin that's common in low grades, but the 1919H does get rare in high grade, much rarer than the 1902LT. I suppose the LT is an example of a variety that just 'caught on' and became popular, but out of all proportion to its rarity. Strangely no-one, but no-one, seems to collect the varieties of 1956 halfpenny. I have to say I have never even seen one of them, and would dearly love to own one. They just never 'caught on', which is a shame really. I have all four 1956 1/2d, in actual fact I sold a few to Chris recently. Also picked up a 1902 LT 1/2d in about GVF rev EF obv. off ebay for £0.99 a couple of weeks ago. Just getting a few other bits together before it goed back on. Gary

.........Not to mention scanning the lines of coins paraded in those "penny falls" machines in amusement halls, to see if there were any there worth trying to coax out (sad but extremely enthusiastic git that I am) On a saturday morning I would take my £1 2/6 paper round money and go into the Lloyds bank next to the paper shop and get £1 bags of 1d 1/2d etc until I could not make up the £1 any more Did you ever find any that were worth keeping, Gary ? (and have you still got any of them) Although my name's not Gary, I've only just caught up with the end of this convo. (By the way, I seem to remember those bank bags of pennies were 5/- not £1, I never had £1 spare in those days!). What pennies did I find? One 1953, two 1936 in EF, four 1946 mint dot, the usual hoard of 1922, 1926 (not ME!), and 1932, no end of Edw VII and Victoria Veiled Head, never more than AF, quite a few 1912H, a few 1919H, two not very good 1918KN, various nearly flat bun pennies ... nothing to disturb Glendinings over. I had slightly better luck with halfpennies : a 1938 BU, 1935 GEF with lustre, and 1909 GVF. I still have all the ones worth keeping, but have shed most of the dreck. Sorry I missed the question to me. I manage to build a significant part of my collection as I was only interested in date runs at time, no that I'm not still. I don't think I have any of the original collection left know as I have been exstensively upgrading in the past 3-4 years. Gary

[\quote] Don't know whether the above is tongue in cheek or not, but I'm pretty certain it's not low tide

I'm ok if it's a repeatable error like the 1946 dot but so many are just one off's that escaped quality control and should have gone in the scrap bin.

Do try to persuade ChrisP to include it in CCGB! I've tried but so far, no luck (oh well, time will tell...). I did persuade Spink to include it in the Standard Catalogue, so that's good at least. Peckris, Chris has a copy of my book and I am happy for him to include any of the varieties I have described, either in CCGB or the new 'Peck.' I guess its up to him what he wants to include. One issue through is what constitutes a 'genuine' variety and what has been accepted as one, even though its technically arisen as a flaw. It may be that Chris only wants to include those types which have arisen through design changes or where dies have been repaired following damage. Sure, but if "The Bible" sees fit to include it ... and after all, CCGB does feature the 1897 version of "the dot", so for consistency sake it could go in I'd have thought. Still, as you say, it's up to him. The problem with these coins with various dots etc, are they varieties or errors. They seem to come and go from favour over time. It's a bit lke the 1926 Halfcrown with the missing colons after OMN. It's now recognised as filled dies and comes in a whole variety of shades. I have a 1 colon missing but they also come in no upper stop, no lower stops , no stops after GRA etc. So it's gone out of fashion as a meaningfull variety.

The pounds I've spent on coins and they turn out to be not what they look to be. It's a real problem with ebay as once they have finished compressing the photos I'm suprised you can even tell which side of the coin you are looking at. And yes the single sided coin is a pet hate of mine also, along with the guys who show the date side along with a stock photo of the reverve. I've lost count of the rare 1965 6d I've seen because of the wrong photo. As to the original post you must remember the 1903 open 3 is an R7 and a very well known variety. To find one on ebay unattributed is like winning the lottery, twice in consecutive weeks. You have to go for it though as occassionally you come up with the goods. I have a coin on the way from Australia which I paid £20 single bid. I'm hoping it's a 1902 low tide with wide 2, an example is currently up to £350 on Colin Cooke. I'm fully expecting it t be a very poor 1902 high tide when it arrives, I live in hope.

BMC 2214. F 164A. Dies 1*+C. Near Fine, buckled. Rare - 17 bids and now up to £480 - anyone here ever seen one of these? Well its a fairly rare variety, although Freeman only classifies it as R5. The latest version of Freeman (2006) gives a price of £300 for one in fine condition, so allow a bit more for it now being 2009. However, would you pay £400+ for that coin in that state? I'm not even sure its as genuinely rare as is claimed for it, since Freeman R5 isn't exactly rare. There are probably a good many out there still in the boxes of unwanted well worn junk that nobody can be bothered to sort through. My recommendation would be for forum users to go through their boxes of junk - you never know. Are you sure it isn't that extra variety that Gouby records - the intermediate obverse? If so I understand it is VERY rare (Freeman R5 isn't really rare at all). I don't know but it's the 1st one I've ever seen for sale.

the easiest way to spot the reverses is to look at the wave below the shield on the right - if there are 3 ripples, it's Reverse B. Also you tend to find that Reverse A has hardly any rim at all and the teeth are disappearing off the edge, compared to Rev B. By far the easiest way to tell the reverses is to look at the 1st 1 in the date. Rev A to tooth and big teeth. Rev B 1 to space and more teeth and finer.

I couldn't decide if this is the correct place for this question but as it does involve a British coin here goes. I've just purchased an expensive coin from the USA. The seller has asked the question" do I want it insured for the full amount at his expense" Well I guess under insuring it could save my some import duty (15% VAT $300). So my question is, who's problem is it in the unlikely event that the coin should go missing, apart from me loosing the coin of course. Gary