Beebman

In the late 60s my Dad had a shop and he would let me go through the till to see if I could find anything of interest. I found a number of Bun pennies. mostly very worn with the only decent one dated 1892. The oldest was dated 1860 but only the exergue wasn't completely worn. There were plenty of Old Head pennies but very few halfpennies although I did find two with dates of 1895 and 1897. The only pre-1920 silver I found was a 1919 shilling. (I still have all those coins.) Foreign coins would often crop up and I found a few oddities including examples from Singapore, NZ and the UAE. The oldest coins I found (and still have) are a 1906 US Indian Head Penny, an 1899 Argentinian 10 Centavos and an 1875 German 10 Pfennigs.

I also found about half a dozen bun penny washers in the late 1960s (which I still have), all but one with a readable date, the oldest being from 1860 which was completely worn flat apart from the exergue. I did however find an 1892 penny which I'd rate as Fair as all lettering was visible. My Dad owned a shop at the time and he let me look through the tills to find anything of interest which I could swap with my pocket money, and I possibly found some of those pennies there. However I don't remember finding much of interest. I was partcularly looking for pre-1920 silver but all I found was a 1919 shilling which again I still have. I do remember though that was lots of 1920s silver at the time including half-crowns, and many Old Head pennies but only the very occasional (and very worn) OH halfpenny.

There appears to be a missing colon after 'F:D' as far as I can see?

1871 narrow date??? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Victoria-Penny-1871-curious-piece-A060-/140557073222?pt=UK_Coins_BritishMilled_RL&hash=item20b9dabb46 Methinks the second 1 in the date looks a little strange...

From the condition of those offered for sale, it's absolutely clear that a fair few entered general circulation, so I did wonder if it was possible that some had been sent to banks in various parts of the country. Apparently not. Oh right. I've always assumed that a decent proportion of those million plus plastic sets got opened and raided. Funnily enough, the only penny from the 1950s I found a schoolboy 'bank bag checker' in the late 60s, was a solitary 1953 in AVF. I found a 1953 penny in GVF with lustre traces (which I still have) in the change from the milkman sometime circa 1969, so yes some did get into circulation.

I recall reading somewhere that in the 1950s there was an urgent need to supply the USA with silver bullion in order to repay the debt from WW2, so silver coins were quite rapidly withdrawn from currency to be melted down for this supply.

I've just done a little research and I've found that the 'famous' 1954 penny was sold in the USA in 1967 for about £10,000 and then again by Spinks in November 1991 for £23,100. Is the British Museum one a second example, or is it a proof one like the 1952 penny?

I was right at the front end working the till in my Dad's shop on the actual day. Lot of confused pensioners who just trusted what you gave them. Being young, it never really bothered me - I used to have more trouble with Quadruple Green Shield stamps My Dad had a shop too and he got the new bronze coins in advance from the bank to use as a float for change. He gave me 5 new pennies to pay in at school as part of my dinner money. When I gave them to the teacher he shook my hand and announced to the class that I was the first person to pay him in the new money!

Ever so slightly out-of-focus... 1858 penny

I agree, Peck. The actual price of copper might have a knock on effect with the bulk sale of low grade coins en masse, from any era. It would not explain the current craze for buns. However, apart from the very rare examples, like the 1869, 1875H, and to a lesser extent 1864 crosslet 4 and 1871, collectors are pushing strongly for the very high grades, which have a premium on them orders of magnitude greater than their pro rata value to lower grade examples would indicate. Maybe that's due to their increasing scarcity as more and more find their way into private collections and therefore permanently or semi permanently withdrawn from trade. You could argue that has always been the case, so maybe there is some other factor at work which we can only speculate on ~ or a combination of 2 factors only one of which we can readily indentify. That's a good point. I wonder if the same fever has extended to the commoner dates in high grade, i.e. 1887 - 1893 - anyone noticed? About 15 months ago I managed to win on eBay a 1893 penny with 90% lustre for £77. Recently one with about 20% lustre and some wear on high areas went for £141. Currently there's one with reasonably good lustre but a dark blotch on the obverse being offered for £165 and another similar one but this time with some verdigris spots on the reverse being offered for £225.

I see there's an interesting 1861 Penny on eBay tonight, it has a rather oddly spaced date although I'm sure the main interest is that it's an F24 (4+F), Freeman rarity R17 and Gouby rarity R8 (he suggests a value of £750 in F). 1861 F24 on eBay

I reckon there was a H there, light patches below and between the 8 and 7 where we all know the H should be, Here's another 1876 no-H with clearer pictures this time: 1876 Penny no-H

must have been happy then! Well here's my theory. I reckon that classic british coins is actually shill bidding as he knows people with deep pockets, hence the fact all his auctions are now private, why else would a coin with a value of only 850 be now at double book price, it makes no sense and isn't an ultra rare coin, just my theory anyway If you study Britannia's shield closely there appears to be nothing in the top left or bottom right quadrants - but is it just some sort of weak strike?

Brilliant exercise Declan! It's late in the evening for me so I will study this at greater leisure. But as you say, the number of 1904 halfcrowns, compared to 1906/08/10, is positively alarming. When I had a go at collecting a complete run of Edward VII Florins I found that the most difficult date to obtain in good quality was 1909 so that would correspond with this survey.

I've just checked the LCA website for Monday's auction and the 1882 no-H went for £9500!