Peckris

That looks like a VERY interesting 1911. The rim looks thinner than you normally see on a Type A and the legend seems further from the teeth. In fact, those teeth look very small and well defined for that particular obverse. That's a good buy scott - a small date 1879 is not common, as you say.

Yes - I agree absolutely. When I was still actively dealing, I'd get my stock from two sources : 1. auctions 2. the Midlands Fair. You really could pick up some great bargains there. Stephen Lockett (who is no mug, let's face it) had trays at various prices, and I remember getting a 1750 halfpenny not far off VF from his £6 tray. And another dealer I picked up a 1944 silver 3d almost BU for £10. The best day though, was when a guy there had a HUGE tray of assorted coins for 25p each. I was picking around and he said "That's all unsorted - you might find some good stuff there." So I delved deep ... as well as several pre-1920 silver coins, I found an 1888 sixpence EF, and a 1951 brass 3d almost BU !!!

I agree about the 1915 and 1916 - those are two very difficult pennies in Unc. A good 1921 is harder than you'd think, but 1917 - 1920 with good lustre seem to come up quite often... well struck, though? (sharp intake of breath). I've tended to 'draw the varieties line' at the major ones (2mm LT H KN ME) but I wouldn't turn my nose up at an open 3, and I have a good 'recessed ear' 1915 and a BU 1940 single exergue line. Bun varieties are a different matter altogether - they need quite a high level of immersion, knowledge, enthusiasm, patience, and a bottomless wallet!

Nice! As for Coinex, any good milled (early or late), or Roman, or tokens, would have made it fine for me, but it sounds like a real dog.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/rare-1p-silver-look-...#ht_2535wt_1007 Isn't that some copper showing through on the bigger picture, lower down? Hm, how do we know this isn't a 1p that's just been silvered? Let's face it, a normal 1p doesn't go through some "mysterious coppering process", and is never silver at any stage of its life!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Two-shillings-coin-1...4#ht_500wt_1022 "two shillings coin 1966. Picture above is not of actual coin but is identical other than mine is dirtier and the date is different" What next, a picture of a 1933 penny to illustrate a 1936 penny??

Welcome to the forums si666 I've not seen one quite like that - it looks like a one-off minting error, perhaps a broken die? If so, it must have been spotted pretty quick or there would be lots out there! (But then, it would be quite easy to spot that particular fault).

It will make it something, I'm not sure it will be English as we know it

There's rather too much noise on the 200 setting (can't think why anyone would need that anyway), but the 60 setting is a real beaut - as close as any coin probably needs, and really nice quality. The 10x can be simulated using a scanner at high res, but I'd say that gizmo is worth it for getting up close and dirty at 60x, especially for varieties.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/rare-1926-modified-h...id=p3286.c0.m14 It's acceptable, for anyone who hasn't got one. They don't come up very often on eBay.

Now here's an oddity : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/A-very-high-grade-19...4#ht_500wt_1022 I've never seen such a discrepancy between obverse and reverse on that series - mind you, it's only £20 now, with 23 minutes to go, I guess no-one is too enthusiastic, though it would be worth displaying in a collection with the reverse side permanently facing upwards.

That's about standard on eBay mertax. Always makes me laugh : 99p to win a coin then £1.50 for P&P on top ...

There appears to be several differences. 1. The THI on the new coin are at a strange angle to each other, on the old one they are in line 2. The H of THIRD has a low crossbar on the old coin, but halfway on the new 3. The 8's have small inners on the new, but larger on the old due to thinner loops 4. The new coin has a small compressed F in FARTHING, but it's larger and thinner on the old 5. The wreath of oak is bigger on the new coin and almost touches the border I'm sure there could be more.

Cool! I found an 1875H in GF but with a scratch on the reverse, in a dealer's 50p tray some years ago. I was stupidly honest enough to point this out to him, and he let me have it for 50p anyway.

I hope Chris puts them up on the website! I'll buy one (I've looked for years and never seen any). You want to sell your LT halfpenny?

??? It's an ordinary commemorative coin. Here's one on eBay : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50-PENCE-COIN-2004-R...9#ht_500wt_1022

Mr Pain-In-The-Butt--Last-3-Seconds--Bidder must have taken the day off. It actually went for the £92 in the end!

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.

Yes, I thought the date looked kind of 'in between' a wide and narrow date, but not enough to make me bid a fortune on it. You're right about the madness of pennies on eBay though. I got outbid for a high grade 1866 by Mr Pain-In-The-Butt--Last-3-Seconds--Bidder the other night, but if only I'd increased it earlier as it went for "only" £26, which is actually quite sane compared to all the others since then.

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.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT It looks to me to be Obverse 9 which makes it the commonest variety. It's a GVF+ (Spink : £15 VF £80 EF) and it is sitting there at £92 the last few hours - still over 40 minutes to go. Anyone spot anything about it which might make it worth that much? I can't, for the life of me.

.........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.

It is listed here (the reference you want is 1932.999.719) : http://numismatics.org/collection/accnum/l...available=false It gives the metal as AE (bronze) so it may be gilded bronze. Apart from the details listed, there is not much further information given (except that it does mark the Coronation) so you may want to research this yourself, using that link as a starting point.

That's odd, I see it fine. Anyhow, I'm sure Red won't mind me pasting his reply : It sounds as though your finds are mostly of historical interest only (unless - as Red says - their condition is really really top notch).

Also, I believe that the 1946 dot penny differs from a filled die in one very important respect : it's a raised flaw in the field of the final coin, rather than part of the design disappearing. A classic example of the latter was the 1961 halfcrown "E.F. designer initials missing" - remember that one? Now that's really gone out of fashion in a big way.