DaveG38

I agree that both the quantities struck and the problems of QC at the mint probably do mean that there will be many varieties of these coins. I've examined some 24 of these coins for 2016 so far and it is striking that there are variations in 23 of them. If I were to take say the 1967 penny, and examine just 24 of those from various sources, I doubt I would find any varieties let alone 23. Having said that, the variations I'm finding are not miniscule, at least not when set against some of the accepted predecimal varieties. For instance, the differentiators for some predecimal types often include the pointings of letters to beads or to spaces, and also the spacing of letters and colons etc. plus, sometimes, the number of border beads or the thickness of the rim. All of the distinguishing features found so far for the 2016 £1 coins are of the same general scale. On the obverse of the new coins, the truncation can intrude into the outer ring, it can touch the ring, it can have a small gap to the ring and it can have a large gap to the ring. Ditto, the diadem can intrude into the ring, touch the ring or leave a gap to the ring. Also, the spacing of the obverse lettering from the ring varies. What is curious though is that there seem to be 10 variations, so far, of combinations of these features. Usually, with varieties you find a set of factors which combine to produce 2 or maybe 3 variants, but here there are a much larger number in a very small sample. I don't think it makes any difference to the financial value of such coins. For the most part, they are worth £1 and that's all, but from a collecting point of view, it does mean there is quite a lot to look out for if you are a variety collector like myself.

So far I have found 6 edge types identified as follows: Edge 1 Milling to right and starts halfway right of centre of the shield Edge 2 Milling to right and starts slightly right of centre of the shield Edge 3 Milling to right and starts at centre of the shield Edge 4 Milling to right and starts halfway left of centre of the shield Edge 5 Milling to right and starts slightly left of centre of the shield Edge 6 Milling to left and starts slightly left of centre of the shield Apart from the fact that I have only found 1 coin out of 23 with the milling to the left of centre, thus making it rarer than the others, I have no feel for the relative scarcity of the different types.

Interestingly, I've studied each and every pound coin received so far. That's a total of 23 coins and the number of types found has been 23! In other words, every coin has been slightly different. This also doesn't include those types reported by other people. For example those where the main date of the coin is 2016 and the reverse dates around the rim are 2017.

Thanks for this. As you say, a useful book. I just wondered if I had somehow missed something regarding Charles II halfpennies, athough I guess if Peck didn't find anything then I'm not likely to have done.

The smaller coin (penny I guess) has WRL clearly on show, so nobody should be fooled. The larger coin is overlapped by the smaller making me suspicious about what is underneath the overlap. My money would be another WRL.

No, those lines across the obverse are not typical of mint wiping, but suggest some kind of cleaning post mint.

Its not a bad imitation, but the giveaway is the price. Nobody would sell one of those for $35 on a buy it now.

Apparently this is a 'nice coin'. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Great-Britain-Victoria-Halfpenny-1-2d-1866-nice-coin-R35573-/142416620926?hash=item2128b12d7e:g:rOQAAOSwYvFZHBsm

I hope so. Back in the mid 1980s, a friend of mine owned a sports car garage and to my disappoinment at the time sold a soft top Aston Martin V8 for around £17K. Fantastic car. A couple of years later he was moaning that if he'd held onto it he could have got £80k for it. Another few years on and prices had again dropped well back. Much the same has happened to classic car prices since the crash of 2008. My own Volvo P1800S has increased in value, but nothing like the increases seen for some more exotic (and not so exotic) types. I'm personally hoping for a price easing in the future so that I can obtain something a little more exotic than the Volvo. Probably not an Aston, but maybe a Jensen.

Ridiculous price - I dropped out at £600 and even that was too much in my view. One in much better grade went on ebay recently for around £500.

Your dad is quite right. I worked for J Lyons teashops in my school holidays and on occasions I was trusted to work the till at the end of the counter. Bun pennies, usually very worn (clear date) were easily found, as were widow head coins in around fine. I never once saw a Victorian halfpenny of any kind, and even Edward VII ones were rare and very worn. The best Victorian penny I ever found was a 1892 in GVF, which I still have. Otherwise, the only other notably decent coin was a 1866 one thirteenth of a shilling from Jersey in EF. The coin is absolutely jet black and has a commonwealth style bust, which is probably the reason it got spent - the owner I would guess thought he was fiddling me with a foreign coin by passing it on. Again, I still have it. It is probably the fact that interesting coins could be found in change which set me on the path of collecting. I put together an album in the late 1960s/early 70s, and was inspired to pick up the interest again in the early 1990s, and the rest as they say is history.

His website isn't active.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Queen-Elizabeth-I-silver-hammered-sixpence-1st-coin-/232341544915?hash=item3618a29fd3:g:tOAAAOSwlY1ZI0nu Here's another one - the classic 1562 sixpence. Reported for what it is worth.

May, and previous governments sold arms to a legitimate government, who were asked to aid another government against terrorist insurgents. Lets get a bit of honesty please. People may not like Saudi, but its position in this case is internationally sound, whether we like them or not.

Not William III, but the third design of bust used for strking. For what it is worth, I sold one a little poorer for wear, but with rather nastier scratches for £15 on ebay recently.

When I was a teenager (I can still vaguely remember this experience) I worked at a J Lyons teashop in Brighton, and occasionally relieved the cashier on the ground floor till. In those days a cup of tea was 6d, and one day a customer came along the counter with his tea and handed me a coin. I took one look and asked what it was, and was told a shilling. I'd never seen one like this before, but I took it anyway and gave him the change. I swapped the coin out for a shilling of mine and took the coin home, and some time later discovered that it was indeed a shilling of George IV dated 1826 and in GVF grade. Goodness knows why the customer had spent this coin, which was certainly worth a few pounds back then, but he did. How it came to be in such good grade I've no idea. Either way, It's still in my collection and although I could easily obtain a better grade example this one has special place because its the coin that started me off collecting. I've no intention of swapping it out.

There was one on ebay a few months back. I was all set to go for it and some barsteward made a preemptive offer for it, and it was taken of the site. So much for sticking to the rules!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1723-SHILLING-GEORGE-I-BRITISH-SILVER-COIN-/322515523260?hash=item4b176c56bc:g:cygAAOSwmgJY740Y A rather worn 1723 SSC Shilling, with French Arms at the date. Nothing special, if a little over priced in that grade for £50. The interesting bit is the description in the small print which reads 'My coin is very close to the condition in the picture' presumably meaning that it isn't the one shown. If so, that makes quite a difference to the price.

Good point. I'd forgotten about him. However, the description is an apt one.

Is he anybody's favourite guy? If so who is this idiot? There surely can't be more than one.

Or to put it another way, socialists are very good at spending other people's money.

Just checked mine again. None have the reeding to the left, but one has the reeding mostly to the right, but with 3 lines into the left hand side. This is paired with the reverse that has almost all of the thistle leaf in the brass ring and the legend touching the inner ring. i.e. appears to be struck slighly off centre.

I doubt that there's a whole batch of these errors. As has been suggested already, this is almost certainly a die clash, where the two punches struck each other without a blank between them, leading to elements of the two sides imprinted on the other. It seems to me that it wouldn't be very long before a customer of the Royal Mint went through the personal striking process, and then almost immediately examined their coin, discovered the apparently poor quality of the coin and drew this to the attention of the RM staff. RM staff would almost certainly then substitute the dies and striking could continue. If this scenario is correct then it is likely that there are very few of these misstrikes.

Don't see anything wrong with either of them.

Here's a question I don't recall anybody raising before. Does anybody know if there is a non abrasive way of removing enamel from a coin? By this I mean the colours applied to coins, often in Georgian or Victorian times for broaches etc. I guess it will always depend on what the coating consists of and how it was applied, but any ideas anyone?