Bernie

1922 Obverse 4 with Reverse C* (pattern)

No mention of this 1926 variety, Obverse 4 with this pattern reverse, not Rev B or C, or C*

Here's a few more

Picture 4

Picture 3

Picture 2

A few pictures of different open three pennies. If I recall, some 3's are not upright, some exergial lines are curved above 3, some are not. Some 3's are slightly different, noticeably the top left serif of the three.

There are at least three different reverse dies used in the production of the open three pennies. Each one is clearly recognisable as different.

I believe that this coin is probably similar to the metal content of the 1922 penny that sold in the James Workman auction 2 at Colin Cooke Coins. The coin had a high ferrous content because it was strongly attracted by a magnet. This 1922 penny sold for £400 + premium. I would be most surprised if this 1919KN fetched the enormous figure suggested. If it does secure a high price, it will prove the power of national newspapers.

Your coin is an absolute GEM. You would definately have made the right choice.

Define "heat" & "cool" I would have thought it went without saying that few would store their coins adjacent to extreme sources of heat. On the other hand many would quite reasonably store them in dry conditions at room temperature between 18C & 22C, say. The temperature that they are kept in does not gaurantee them their lustre. To ensure they are not affected by moisture, the temperature of the space they are kept in should idealy be about 4 degrees F above the surrounding space temperature. Moisure will not ingress into a higher temperature. If silica gel is placed with the coins, the crystals need regular monitoring. These crystals will saturate within a few hours in normal conditions. Silica gel comes in different forms. The older type silica gel is dark blue when perfectly dry and turns pink when saturated with moisture. The newer type is brown when dry and turns (blue I think) The crystals therefore need to be visible and not in cloth bags. Idealy the coin collection and tray of crystals should be kept in multiple sealed clear plastic bags, with the crystals visible. If silica gel crystals are used, they are only beneficial if kept in their dry state. Saturated crystals will be more harmful than none at all. Silica gel crystals can be dried out in a microwave oven. Sealed plastic bags do not stop 100% moisture. Another thing that affects bronze lustre is sulpher. Tobacco smoke contains substances that quickly degrades lustrous bronze coins.

I believe that there are two different Obverse dies used for coins that have the reverse N over N sideways. One die pair has a double struck A in Victoria and the other die pair has a normal A but the last T in britt and R,E,G are doubled. The R is most noticeable.

I think that it is most probably a Jetton, "a reckoning counter"

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? No, there is just the one, not in the british museum, but in a private collection in the UK.

Yes - if the 1926-reverse-1927 is EXACTLY the reverse used for 1927, rather than the 1922 ALMOST reverse, that would make sense. You can't get away with mentioning four varieties for 1926 and not telling more! Apart from Spink, I can find no reference to the third variety. And what is the fourth? The low mintage figures for 1926 mean I don't have that many pennies to look through What am I looking for? perhaps Bernie meant 4 dies? Unless, there's a non-ME obverse with a 1927-style reverse but dated 1926? Another experimental die? The two new 1926 varieties are Freeman obverse 4 with reverse D, same dies as for 1927 pennies, the second is Freeman 4 with completely different reverse, similar to reverse C but with much longer border teeth. I have pictures of these coins but when given them was asked not to share them. Placing value on these coins, including the 1922 rarities is almost impossible, so again, £2000-£5000 ??? When the 1863 die 5 in VG sold for £23,000 ?? My enthusiastic bid was £2750, so who knows!!, without two bidders, the coin could have sold for less than £2000. Just to add another dimension to this debate about the 1926 ME penny, I've just acquired a fair/fine specimen, which is slightly different from the normal type and I wonder where this fits into the picture. It's definitely an ME, so obverse 4 but Britannia has a distinctly shorter thumb and longer index finger which ends at least level with the top of the shield flag, so closer to the 1927 type than the earlier reverse. Going by the pictures on Tony Clayton's site, the standard ME has the thumb and finger about the same length and equidistant from the shield. Mine also shows a wider gap between the thumb and shield. The other difference is that the gaps between the teeth on the reverse seem to be wider than on the standrad type, suggesting that there might be fewer teeth or that theyu are thinner. Does anybody know how many teeth there should be on the standard ME reverse? 187, I believe

Standard 1895 penny in a nice VF Standard 1863 penny in what's getting towards VF especially the reverse (rather too much wear on the hair though) 1861 penny in Fine, but you will need the experts in 1861 to tell you what particular die combination it is. Was there anything particular you wanted to know? 1861 penny is Freeman 22, obverse 4 with reverse D

I saw a 1954 last year which had to be a changed date or something else iffy about it, but I have to confess I couldn't see anything wrong with it and nor could the person (a dealer) who showed it to me. It could easily have been genuine. How do we know that is taken from the known coin other than to accept the vendor's word? Can we be certain the 'only genuine' 1954 is actually so? Actually, when it comes to tin foil impressions of coins, Lindt do a very nice SFr5 amongst other things. Yummy. Not sure about that. Whilst there are apparently accurate mintage records available for every other year and denomination, we only ever read that as far as 1954 is concerned, there is "only one known". Not even sure why that was produced or where it is now ~ can somebody enlighten ? Same applies to the 1952, of course. A batch of 1954 pennies were struck to test the dies. It was decided that there was no requirement to produce them for circulation and the whole batch were supposively melted down. One escaped the melting pot. The single coin escaped out of the royal mint. It could have escaped with the later 1961 pennies?? these foil impressions are definately genuine, including the 1933 foils.

That makes more sense. I can sympathise with that even I don't outright approve. You will know when bids are bounced off the wall when.... You think that you have been outbid, but when paying for your lots are told that you have won five lots not the three that you thought that you won!! In these cases the Wall was the winning bidder but you get the lot at your underbid!!

One of the dealers who uses this forum has a 473 and 475 on his website. I believe that the F474 is extremely rare,

I haven't managed to find one. I phoned Spink earlier today, they don't have the book in stock, but I did manage to find an old thread on here which gives JJerrams address as: PO Box 63, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 5BU That's as far as I have got..... John cannot be contacted at that P.O. address anymore. Thank you for your offer but I have it already. I emailed him after the Christmas card was returned by the Post Office. I have his email address if you want it Bernie. Just drop me a PM and I'll pass it on.

I haven't managed to find one. I phoned Spink earlier today, they don't have the book in stock, but I did manage to find an old thread on here which gives JJerrams address as: PO Box 63, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 5BU That's as far as I have got..... John cannot be contacted at that P.O. address anymore.

There is more likely to be a die 1 somewhere!!

Yes - if the 1926-reverse-1927 is EXACTLY the reverse used for 1927, rather than the 1922 ALMOST reverse, that would make sense. You can't get away with mentioning four varieties for 1926 and not telling more! Apart from Spink, I can find no reference to the third variety. And what is the fourth? The low mintage figures for 1926 mean I don't have that many pennies to look through What am I looking for? perhaps Bernie meant 4 dies? Unless, there's a non-ME obverse with a 1927-style reverse but dated 1926? Another experimental die? The two new 1926 varieties are Freeman obverse 4 with reverse D, same dies as for 1927 pennies, the second is Freeman 4 with completely different reverse, similar to reverse C but with much longer border teeth. I have pictures of these coins but when given them was asked not to share them. Placing value on these coins, including the 1922 rarities is almost impossible, so again, £2000-£5000 ??? When the 1863 die 5 in VG sold for £23,000 ?? My enthusiastic bid was £2750, so who knows!!, without two bidders, the coin could have sold for less than £2000.