Peckris

My 'Satin' is a yellow bound pamphlet, typed & duplicated rather than printed, and with hand-drawn illustrations - it definitely predates 2001. I wonder if it is a first strike or even a proof? Must be worth a bob or two!

And definitely not for Maundy sets either! (Though I've never understood the "your 1850s silver 3d is low value if it's Maundy, but name your price if it's not" - the Maundy 3d must be as rare if not rarer than the currency issues).

Spooky! He looks SO different facing the other way...

The easiest way is to put a standard headphone jack into your headphone socket on the computer, and the other end into the telly, (phono plugs?).

Very true! Though certain pennies like high grade 1861 1862 1863 , plus 1883 - 1893, come up often enough to make 'em strategic if you wanted to.

The fact is, Americans are much more interested in these sorts of things than the British. If you were to put it on eBay, make sure the sale is open to our transatlantic cousins too. It's obviously rare (unique, in fact), but as it's an accident, we in the UK don't get too excited for some reason. (I have a 1964 sixpence where the I in GRATIA is completely missing, but I'm told it's no more than curiosity value).

It's SUCH a tricky subject, this. To a date series collector of pennies, then the 1951 penny is rare, or any year when a million or less were minted. To a bun varieties collector, anything where there are over 1,000 around isn't rare - they're a small and very dedicated bunch of people who probably wouldn't get out of bed for a penny where there are more than 100 - 200 knocking around! It's all relative. But believe me, in the context of bun pennies (where any decent example of any date is scarce), then Freeman R9 isn't considered rare.

'Tis mainly for this reason that I have stayed out of them so far. The time is fast approaching though when I must get out my Freeman/Gouby etc, sit down and work out exactly what it is I am going to try to achieve with the series. I guess the ultimate goal, some way down the line is to 'do a Crocker' and auction them off. Maybe plod along for 20 years accumulating the best example of each year that I can find and then add a few 'funky' pieces towards the end to add spice/interest. Or maybe I'll get one of my kids interested, who knows. Lets see. 1860-1894 = 35 pieces. Average of £180 in UNC with lustre ? Maybe £200 = £7,000, that's not as bad as I thought. Mr Crocker did well accumulating all that lot in just 5 years didn't he, must have been at it nearly full time. Anyone have any alternative bun head collecting themes ? This would be my strategy : In AUnc or better : 1860 beaded border 1861 4+D 1862 or 1863 1874 (older portrait) 1876H any date between 1884 and 1893 in strict BU In genuine Fine to VF (depending on rarity) : 1864 (VF) 1865/3 (F-VF) 1869 (F) 1871 (VF) 1875H (F-VF) Having got those, you have the major types, plus the major rarities. Then you can concentrate on looking around for other dates in high grade, or other rare varieties in a condition you can afford, building up a nice collection as you go. That's how I'd do it, anyway. (Personally I'd avoid busting the bank for rarities in high grade, but I know there are plenty of collectors who'd "go for it".)

Take Freeman with a pinch of salt. Most collectors wouldn't rate his R9 or less as genuinely rare. He lists the 1926ME as R6 while Gouby rates it as S4 only. You have to look at rarity in context. Proof sets have a mintage of less than 100,000 often, but no-one would pretend that they are rare or ever will be. But if you had a currency coin with a mintage of less than 100,000, people would be selling specimens for "silly money" on eBay. The Britannia is not a currency coin.

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-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.

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.

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.

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.

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?