Peckris

Here is a picture of an 1877 Davies 762 florin. On your example, the bottom edge of Victoria's dress is not very well defined and there is almost no discernible gap between the dress and the arc and trefoil border. My guess is that the WW has become obscured by the encroaching dress line. Is it possible to post the full picture Nick so we can see the cross on Viccies crown. In my very 1st 2 pictures you can quite clearly see the difference between the 2 rims to the trefoils, pic 1 has a gap whereas pic 2 has'nt Sure. Here it is. Ok from that picture i can see the full cross on the crown but not in my picture. Viccies bust is notably lower in mine whereas not in yours It's hazy and blurred - very difficult to tell where the bottom edge is.

Fairly common I'm afraid. But still, nice to have a 18thC copper, and no need to belittle it at all. Enjoy it, and if you have access to a camera or scanner, do upload pictures

Ah, but it does have the bust cutout where the initials would be. Is the WW incuse or raised on Gothic florins? It could be a filled or worn die, rather than a distinct and unknown variety.

You'd have to be 100% sure about the "No WW" for that to be unlisted.

Hey hey, welcome to the forums Ironically, it's called "coin alignment". The other alignment (the same way up transversely) is called "en medaille" (medal) and is how most modern coins are minted. Confusing? You bet! (It changed over in Britain in the 19th Century).

Rob's picture of those bun halfpennies illustrate the main omission from his otherwise excellent description. That is - although there should be a sharp dividing line between proofs and currency issues, that is not a "given". The complicating factors are : 1. Large issues of proofs (e.g. in 1953) can be much inferior to VIP proofs, i.e. where few examples were struck. This is less of an issue after 1980 when 'frosted proofs' were again adopted by the Mint after a long gap. 2. Early currency strikes. Even though these involve new rather than proof dies, they are much crisper, finer, and more collectable than where the dies have begun to sustain wear. It should be noted that in the USA, collectors attach a premium to these that place them (in value) much closer to proofs than we in Britain have done, traditionally. 3. The use of proof dies and even proof blanks for currency strikes. These produce much more prooflike strikes than regular dies would. And the use of special blanks are noted throughout the 50s up until the early 60s - the so-called "polished blanks" e.g. the 1961 halfcrown. In summary, it's not so easy to always tell a proof from a currency strike, and the collecting world - even in the UK - are waking up to the fact that a really crisp early currency strike is not only harder to tell apart from a proof, but should attract a premium far higher than a listed UNC.

The first one has 41 trefoils - that makes it Davies 764 The second one - 48 trefoils and no stop after date, which makes it Davies 762

Excellent! Wasn't there once a TV/TX movie called "Victor / Victoria" (or something similar?)

Dave, you've done what you can, pointed out to everyone in these forums what is 'afoot' on eBay, and they can act - or not - according to their inclinations. You can do no more. Except let it fester and that would do you no good. In fact, you could still be of service, drawing attention to a certain dealer's items without mentioning him by name, and stating that in your opinion the coin is cleaned, overgraded, and probably overpriced. But there is no onus on you to do so, and if you decided not to, no-one could criticise you, you've done your bit. But don't leave the hobby unless you're seriously pee'd off with coins (and I know you're not). Enjoy what you have, as others have pointed out - you'll only regret it if you sold in haste and lost what you've spent time and effort building up. And one parting shot - if you did sell up and quit, then "he" has won, not that that would cross his little mind for even one second.

It is a worry. Some dealers (e.g. Format Coins in Birmingham) have all but given up dealing in British coins because of the flood of fakes showing up, especially from places like China. And the fakes are getting better - but many are produced from genuine coins, so the fakes come complete with all the peculiarities and flaws of the original. However, few people have either the opportunity to study several pieces side by side, or to consult the - as yet non-existent - database of fakes. It is certainly a good idea to get provenance, though to say that a coin without it is therefore 'suspect' would be a minor disaster to the hobby (and I'm sure many would ignore that inference). It does mean, sadly, that slabbing services which guarantee the authenticity of a slabbed item, are going to become more and more popular. Caveat emptor.

Here is my prediction of the next Private Eye cover : Rupert Murdoch done up like Manuel from Fawlty Towers complete with black moustache. Speech bubble coming out of his head, "I know NOTHing"

You should investigate the penny mintages for the first few years of bronze (1860 -63) - they'll make your eyes water!

Where did you get it? Goldberg's Terner Sale of May, 2003. Hardly seems possible it was eight years ago. Marv ..or that your reply took 4 and a half years

I'll make sure your haggis is extra juicy. My mum once fed us haggis. She never did again. (To be fair - its worst fault was being over-salty.)

dont go near ebay then.....apparently theres a lot of shilling going on with pennies Lots of shilling going on with everything, even 1869 halfpennies, wreath crowns, pennies, the whole spectrum apart from hammered No, you're wrong Dave. Everyone who bids where there's shilling gets hammered.

Wish something would sweep mine - it hasn't had a good clearout for years

I'm sure I still have some of that kind of thing left over from my dealing days. I'd be happy to let them go just for postage costs. I'd need to look through it first, can't even remember what I've got.

The 1954? Add four zeroes! But if you mean 1854, it's all dependent on condition as I'm sure you know. Any pictures yet?

Apparently, a 168-year-old newspaper got shut down, someone dropped a mobile phone and someone else picked it up and broke into the voice mail on it, David Cameron & Ed Miliband & Nick Clegg got outraged in unison, somebody paid the police something for some reason or other, some ginger-haired tart resigned, and there's a decrepit Australian who's a bit pissed off by it all. Oh and the worst famine ever in Africa, and some European economies have gone bust with rioters on the streets. Bin Laden got found and terminated. Apart from that, I'm still looking for a 1903 open 3 penny.

You have lattes also in Scotland? Oh LATTERS. Are they like Tatties?

no-way, so they cut coins in halfs and quarters instead of making halves and quarter denominations, how lazy! lol as always thanks for the info. Just goes to show that the name "halfpenny" is literally true!

I think the seller would like the word 'commemorative' to be glossed over, otherwise why didn't he use the correct term "reproduction"?

The pictures you have of coins ranging from whole to precise halves and quarters, are a medieval silver penny / halfpenny / farthing, most likely from the reign of Edward I which is numerically the main suspect. Halfpennies were formed by cutting a penny in two along the lines of the reverse cross, and farthings ditto by cutting in 4. Fascinating coins to own though the commonest types are worth not a great deal.

Accidentally on purpose?? Who's defensive? Actually I really like farthings but can I sell one? Seriously though, pennies have been in the ascendency for many years now, I believe mainly because they were the most interesting coins for the 'Baby Boomer' generation to collect from change and the level of expertise in the field is unrivalled. As new, younger collectors come into the market and older collectors slowly vacate their perches, I think this dominance will fade away and we will have a much more level playing field. However, for many people, size matters and the larger silver denominations will always be worth a premium over smaller coins, whatever the metal (even gold if you take away the bullion value). I think this is true. Crowns, halfcrowns and pennies have usually been the most popular denominations for as long as I can remember. And of the denominations I looked through as a schoolkid in the 60s, it must have been one bag of pennies for all other denominations put together.

Welcome to the forums coinman! 1. looks like a late Roman bronze, but judging from the reverse it could as easily be an antoninianus (like a denarius only base metal, silver washed) 2. a late Roman bronze in decent nick, I think I can make out the name Crispus? Possibly a "follis" but need to know the size 3. unknown (token of some sort?) 4. a late George III shilling and sixpence in very ordinary condition (those aren't rare even in high grades) 5. 1723 George II "SSC" shilling, between Fine and VF (SSC denotes the origins of the silver used) - nice enough but not rare 6. A "Profile type" late Henry VII... can't say what without seeing the size! IF IT's GENUINE (and not a repro) then it's potentially very nice 7. 1673 either halfpenny or farthing (what's the diameter??) in VF condition. Pretty nice. 8. A hammered gold coin - hard to identify, quite worn, but gold prices are quite high now.