1949threepence

It is, but I think my theory is a possibility. Although the raised dot is in a place that doesn't suggest it was put there intentionally, who knows? There may be all manner of reasons why. Anyway compare and contrast the dot with the colon dots on this 1897. They are identical:-

I think so Bob, yes. Bit of a foreign accent - we've spoken before. She was a bit sharp at first, but seemed much pleasanter towards the end of our conversation. I suspect it's just the way she is.

I've become increasingly interested in the possibility that the 1897 O . NE penny might have been a full stop punched in the wrong place. Same principle might apply to other dot pennies, but for the purposes of this exercise I'm concentrating on the F147. If you examine the dot it is of perfect circular symmetry and is (as far as I can tell) exactly the same size and structure as a full stop or colon dot on the obverse. It certainly wouldn't attract any comment in the same position as a colon dot. Ranged against this argument, of course, is the documented discovery of pennies with only a mark in this area, suggestive of gradual formation due to die flaw. In an article written for the October 1976 edition of Coin Monthly (The importance of FLAWS AND VARIETIES on modern bronze, pages 67 to 71) Michael Freeman states in this regard (page 71):- However, in the 43 years which have elapsed since Mr Freeman noticed this apparently early stage flaw specimen of the 1897 dot, how many others have been seen where the dot is in this early stage? Does anybody have a picture of one? Might this formation have been unconnected with the dot, and just co-incidentally be in the same place? Thoughts?

So anyway, I called LCA today and was told that the mechanics of how to join is shown on the FAQ of the LCGS website, but I'm buggered if I could find it, having already looked. If it is there, it's very well hidden. As I said above, it does point out the benefits of membership (and the £99 fee to join), but not how to join. I pointed out that I was unable to find it and she advised me to send an e mail to the info at London Coins e mail address, with my details and she'd get back to me.

At my old school we had a Mr Sharpe and a Mrs Blunt among the teaching staff.

Elsewhere there is Teresa Green and Justin Case....back in real life, I knew of someone with the double barreled surname "Winter-Snow"

True story - we used to have a colleague called Mike Hunt, causing ribald laughter in the office every time he was called by tannoy to go somewhere. For a short time they tried "Mick Hunt", which caused even greater laughter. Eventually they just settled for "Mr Michael Hunt".....no sense of humour some people

Doesn't ring a bell for me, but if you're trying to track him down, you could always look on "my e bay" -> "summary" -> "see orders from" (what year). It only goes back to the beginning of 2017, unfortunately. But if you bought from him then, his name will still be alongside your purchase and not greyed out - clickable. Actually, I wish it went back a lot further than just 2017. There can be all manner of reasons why you might want to look back on a historic purchase.

Me too, although there is another one at the same auction that attracts me slightly more, and I won't have the funds to compete for both. As you say this is very unusual. Most patterns have not seen circulation, or at any rate nowhere near the circulation that this one has seen. It's the very fact this has circulated for so long that makes it so attractive. Imagine how the finder felt when discovering this coin in change, or however it was picked up. Would have been one of those events of such positivity for a collector, that it's never forgotten. Wonder when it was discovered? Maybe late 1940's/early 50's judging by the wear. Also, where's it been since then? These are the type of questions you ponder when looking at rare but well worn coins. Yes, I remember you mentioning this once before, Terry. As you say, your Mum must have felt a bit sick when she realised the value of what she'd held and inadvertently let go. But then the vast majority would not appreciate the value at the time. If she'd picked it up- during the war, it must have seen at least 2 or 3 years circulation then.

Yes. What I meant in my original remark is surprise that it could circulate for that length of time without at least one collector noticing it and stashing it away.

It is, Chris, yes. It's the F74 from the Copthorne collection.

Love me, love my cat

That tilt to the right is also on my F73, F74 and very slightly on the F76. There is a slight difference between the feature on the F73 and F74. The F73 is like the photo of the one you show above. But on the F74, there is no gap - the R & E actually touch. Also, on the F73, as with yours, the base of the E is slightly above the base of the R. On the F74, it is level with it. Photo of F74 obv.

OK, thanks. I'll give it a go and report back.

That's probably it.

Having received Ingram's latest magazine today, I see that he has 2 more F41's for sale. Of course they might be specimens that are already on your site, but it's nonetheless indicative of the fact that they are much less rare than we thought even a couple of years ago.

Then never subsequently spending them, but rather, forgetting them completely. That is one additional possibility. It's interesting that there don't seem to be that many truly high grade 1914's around. As far as I can tell anyway.

Indeed it is. With specific regard to the 175's and 176's, clearly there are a few worn ones, as you would expect, but they are predominantly high grade. Just to expand slightly on my personal theory, I'd say that when coin collecting (strongly including pennies) really took off in the mid to late 1960's, these "sub" varieties (for want of a better word), were not known about. In fact, having bought one of those original small "Check your Change" booklets from the 1960's, off e bay, I note they only mentioned the well known varieties, such as the LT, H's and KN's, plus the 1926ME. Nothing else. I'd bet many novice collectors of that time were working off those booklets, and hence would overlook the varieties not mentioned. Hence their current rarity, as opposed to the many worn LT's, H's and KN's up for sale. Mind, the one I have is issue No 1, so maybe there were additions in the subsequent issues. Far from totally clear whether I'm correct or not, but I think the theory stacks up logically.

That's an interesting theory, because I'm sure that at some time or other, (earlier than we think), collectors did start collecting base metal coins. For example, note the relatively high number of a/UNC F175's and 176's on Richard's rarest pennies website. Both Freeman and Court estimated the pre withdrawal figures of those types to be well over 1 million and just under a million respectively. Given that the varieties are now so rare, I would say that they were not readily recognised by collectors, but some (a few) were collected by default at a very early stage in their lives. Not so with the open 3 1903, the F164A, and the F169 - all of which had a much lower mintage estimate, and which now are not seen in high grade. The obvious implication being that date examples collected from those years, soon after mintage, would be almost certainly have been the common varieties, owing to the much greater initial rarity.

Sent you a PM.

Well you can't beat a bit of nose when sniffing out bargains......

Just pure greed. I would have understood it more if there was never any reward.

I can't believe nobody noticed and collected this 1865 coronetted head pattern penny (F272) before about 80 years of wear. Incredible - link

A couple of Swann's cabinets being auctioned by DNW 12/13th February 2020 - link