1949threepence

100% agreed. If people are willing to pay, then you have a ready market. Given the opportunity, it would be foolish not to take full advantage.

I see you are from the States @Jester and I know that US collectors are into slabbing coins probably much more than we in the UK are. Nothing wrong with that, but I don't subscribe to the general view that the opinion of the grader at NGC (or wherever else for that matter) should be treated as infallible. They do make mistakes not only wityh grading, but also sometimes with the variety of the coin itself. Moreover, I think the extent of the mark up on slabbed coins over raw ones, is a bit silly, to be honest.

Interesting. One of those coins you'd want to see in hand before saying anything like definitive.

Correction it was £137.00 and a/UNC, February 2011 - I posted it in the Coin Acquisition of the Week thread at that time. Link to post here Photo still intact, but not very good. Here's a better one I took just now, for interest. Also out of interest, I just turned to the Cope & Rayner book, which Declan recommended, and it states the following rarity values for the four coins in question 1864 plain EF R2, AS R4 1864 crosslet EF R4, AS R6 1869 EF R3, AS R3 1875H EF R3, AS R4 1878 EF R, AS R2 Where AS = "As Struck" R = rare R2 = very rare R3 = very rare R4 = extremely rare R5 = extremely rare R6 = fewer than 10 pieces known (to our knowledge) The book was written in 1974 and published in 1975. So in fact they didn't have the 1878 that far behind the 1869. But with a very clear emphasis on the rarity of the 1864, as makes sense.

Re: emboldened sentence above. My point was that all three are extremely difficult to locate in top grade, but if you are going to rank all three, I'd say the most difficult is the 1864, and of the two types plain 4 and crosslet 4, contrary to popular belief, I'm going for the plain 4 as being the more difficult of the two to obtain in UNC with lustre. Next the 1869, and then the 1875H. With regard to your second sentence, I'd agree that the 1878 is most definitely a scarce date, but I obtained an UNC example in 2011 for just £138. I could not have bought an UNC1869 for that price. That should tell you all you need to know about the relative scarcity of the two dates.

Cope and Rayner book arrived today - excellent. Really interesting.

Sorry John and Pete. Principle is sound though - that's a very nice 1907, even with the slight fingerprint on the obverse.

That's a particularly nice example, Jon, as it shows none of the sometimes quite extreme die wear characteristic of the 1906 and 1907 reverses, even at UNC grade. Also clean and absolutely problem free. Here, for example, is mine, which, as you can see looks a lot more worn than yours on the reverse:-

Agreed - and is ridiculous, as you're buying a coin which could be sold anywhere, not furniture from IKEA or Oak Furnitureland.

Also, the same coins appear on different pages.

Yes - absolutely - the website is a muddle, rendering it impossible to view your chosen area in a sequential manner. Plus much of the stock seems unrealistically priced. and several with probable verd as you say, Bob.

Just received an e mail from Baldwins listing their current stock. Naturally clicked on the British bronze. Out of interest, what do others think of their prices? A link to the stock can be found here

The 1905 half crown is very easy to explain - low mintage, 166,008 only. In fact 1903 (274,840) and 1904 (709,6520 are also low mintage, and the respective values of all three linked (accordingly) with their mintages. The sixpence, to be honest, is not so obvious. I'll admit it's not my area of expertise, but at first glance, the mintages do not suggest unusual rarity. The Edward VII sixpence mintages are:- 1902: 6,367,378 1902: (matt proof) 15,123 1903: 5,410,096 1904: 4,487,098 1905: 4,235,556 1906: 7,641,146 1907: 8,733,673 1908: 6,739,491 1909: 6,584,017 1910: 12,490,724 Yet the 1904, especially, commands a high price, as does the 1908, which is higher in value than the 1905 you mention. Don't know. Obviously there must be a logical reason, but not sure what it is. It's possible that many of the coins attributed to 1904, for example, are actually dated 1903, but I don't think there would be any easy way of determining whether that was ever the case. Indeed, it may well not be. ETA: According to David Groom's book "The Identification of British 20th Century Silver coin varieties" (page 20), there aren't even any distinct varieties for this date run.

Yes, I had a 1990 one in my change once.

I think I'm correct in saying, David, that around a million 1953 pennies were minted, mainly for uncirculated sets, and that a fair percentage of those eventually found their way into circulation, such that prior to decimalisation, the odd one would very occasionally turn up in change. Although none were ever intended for general circulation.

Thanks for the heads up on that book, Declan. Sounds useful. I managed to locate a copy on Amazon and have ordered it. As far as rarity and condition, if I'm understanding Mick correctly, I'd say that it's quite possible to get even a really rare coin (>20 in existence) in high grade - see Richard's rare penny website. When I say "get", what I mean is that they are out there somewhere, but unlikely to be put up for sale anytime soon, and if they were, they'd be a hell of a price. Whilst I don't think Freeman took grade into account in determining rarity - he just appears to have gone on likely numbers still extant, irrespective of grade - Gouby does touch on the relative rarity of some coins according to grade. For example, the 1864, 1869 &1875H all relatively easy to obtain in grades below VF, but extremely difficult to obtain in high grade, EF+. Obviously the above concerns pennies. Not really much of a clue about relative grade rarity in other denominations.

But surely, even somebody with just half a brain would have already noted an even number each of 2016 and 2017 new pound coins handed to them - including the seller, either an idiot himself, or a scammer playing on the idiocy of others !!! I despair of the utter, staggering stupidity of some in our midst.

Beat me to it, Jon. That's exactly what I would have said.

Moreover, in numismatics, "vlogging" on the forum could have its uses. An uploaded video doesn't necessarily have to be in exactly the same format as John supplied. But it could on occasions help to more accurately describe the issues with a given coin, in a way that the written word doesn't always lend itself to. Especially when the topic under discussion is convoluted. I shall keep it under active consideration for when the occasion demands.

Welcome to the forum, John - nice pair of coins. Must say it's a neat idea shooting a video of your stuff and uploading it. What you said about e bay resonates. We have a thread dedicated to e bay and the crap that accompanies it. Do you collect American coins as well?

Cheers John. I'll look forward to it. Bad luck on not getting the 0%.

Collected it from the Post Office today John. Thanks for a very fair price. I know it's not the best F21 out there, by any stretch. There are some crackers on Richard's rare pennies site, but being such a rarity, it's certainly good enough for me. Now means I've got 11 of the 1861 Freeman varieties. Incidentally John, when is the Tennant's sale you mentioned in your e mail? There are still one or two others I'm interested in.

Which one did you deal with, Michael, or his son Rendell? Not keen on either of them. In my opinion, their stock is overpriced. Although I did get a nice F26 from them, about a year ago. That was a bit overpriced, but a very nice coin, so was willing to splash out on it.

...and probably many of those taken in, won't actually realise for years, sometimes decades..

Call it a type of instinct. I'm now so used to looking at bun pennies that I can detect the slightest difference between normal and fake. Just hits me in the eye immediately. I'd strongly guess that other penny collectors would be the same. I'd easily be taken in by other denominations, which I've little or no experience in.