Coinery

Man i’ve just got to join a club and touch base with experienced detectorists! I bought an xterra a couple of years ago and really struggled with its operation/set up and eventually gave up and sold it! Time to rethink that me thinks!

I’m very much back-tracking and going 100% with your XS legend, Richard...good work, you have presented credible evidence! As you may have picked up in various threads, I have never bought or investigated coins that are earlier than John, with my previous major collecting interest being Elizabethan, until my more recent commitment to the Plantagenets. So the Tealby’s are clearly on my radar, even though I have kept myself satisfied with the Edwards, H3 and John, thus far! It’s great to have a lively hammered section on this forum!

There are no doubt bargains to be had, Dave, and i’m very much into that, and congrats on your weedling them out! 😊 I think the stand out quality of the OP coin is its rarity on account of grade and eye-appeal, which is clearly exceptional, and clearly going to be the difference when/if the price collapses - I would expect/hope the values of top class coins to hang in there a little better??? I think we are seeing a migration towards quality over micro-varieties in recent years, especially in the milled markets, so hopefully that’ll save the wise collector from any catastrophic fall-outs?? All that being said, I was surprised to see this one breach the £200 mark, which is the safe place I would’ve happily gone with it. Hey ho! I have managed to buy equal grade pennies to the OP coin for just over £100, so swings and roundabouts I guess. We all now know where we’re selling our top grade duplicates, though, and it ain’t eBay, where i’ve just recently bumped into my first idiot in around 2000 sales at 100% - much safer buying than selling nowadays!

Superb, Declan, you’ve been putting in the miles! Well done, m’friend!

Having looked a little more closely, I concur with your point about the X and Tealby cross. I’ve only been able to find an S on the reverse so far but, as you know, they are notorious for being poorly made and badly struck.

It’ll be interesting to hear of the outcome, do let us know!

I placed a couple early on, just to keep it live in my emails! Nearly £400 with juice and tax now, I would sure love to have it, but too strong for me now! Good luck if you have top bid, a spectacular coin. 👍

The problem you have here Richard is that the coin has been entered into the dies a number of time, as well as upside down! The dotted shoulder armour is very much in the wrong place, relative to the hand! Also, what you perceive to be obverse legend (X and S) are actually sat inside the obverse inner circle, and I would personally say that the X is a Tealby cross from the reverse, where the coin has also been hammered upside down. I haven’t looked, but there is every chance you’ll find that S somewhere in the reverse legend too?

What a stunning coin! I was so disappointed to see this, one of the cheaper Ed I varieties, climb to nearly £400 gbp already...and the party may not be over yet? Really, what should you expect to pay for a non-rare top end ed? I mean, Canterbury isn’t rare either, so that shouldn’t account for any excessive premium, surely? It seems to me that a couple hundred quid or so will buy you one of the high-end coins, so what’s going on here? Maybe a collection nearing completion perhaps?? Worth an eye-candy share though!

Couldn’t see ‘em from ‘ere, Peck, but, by ‘eck I could smell ‘em!

If you know what I mean?

Not totally convinced about the underlying F in MAG, but my goodness what a series of misfits it is. Before reading your post properly I looked at the coin. I was thinking that the F (and I was going to ask the question) looked like the main body of the punch had been entered onto the coin as well, suggesting a very worn down (or filed down to repair???) F, a kind of shallow F on the punch, so to speak? I’ve never seen it before, so wondered whether that might also be another possibility?

Ah, I see, makes sense, a nice idea. So are you doing the copper/bronze issues too, or staying with silver in the reigns of say Victoria, Ed7 etc.? How are you handling the Plantagenets? I was thinking an example of every obverse class, and then finding the remaining missing mints on any class they happen to come on. So, effectively an example of each class and mint, on the smallest number of coins possible.

Any thoughts on the ‘corrosion/bubbles’ on the 3 o’clock arm of the reverse cross (and other localised places on the reverse)? Bad mix of the gold/poor flan? I wonder about this, as it would’ve been the most compressed of the gold, being forced into the devices? they are clearly minute, as this is a tiny coin...any thoughts? On silver hammered it’s clearly ground corrosion, acidity/alkalinity nibbling away at the contaminants in the silver mix...same so for gold?

Good point re the magnet! A modern 2p is magnetic, so i’m going for a bit of post mint fun plating! My son did something similar when visiting a comprehensive on an open day! Think I may even posted it on here?

@Descartes I absolutely love this coin, but I also really love the John in the same sale! I picked the govenor’s brains a while back about the Tealby, and i’m sure he won’t mind me sharing with you the Allen die pics, and info. etc. that he mailed me! I can only buy one or the other (John/H2) in light of my recent gold, though i’m resigned to moving that on, so your call, no point in us chasing each other up the tree! In all reality I can only go $700 on that lot, so if you fancy it more than that I’ll bid on the John instead and still be a very happy man! PM me your email If you want to touch base!

Maundy? 😮

Another detail to reveal is whether a cupronickel flan exactly matching a 2p actually exists, and whether such a mistake/error could then happen at the mint? It’s clearly a perfect 2p flan, so a bit of work ahead, unless some of the decimal chaps can offer information for you that suggests otherwise.

Your next challenge is to determine whether it’s silver-coloured to the core, or just a normal 2p that’s been plated? An accurate weight might be a starting point, otherwise you’re looking at lightly scoring the edge (on the actual outside edge, not the outer edge of the coin’s level facing surfaces) to determine whether the silver colour reveals a copper-coloured metal below. If you don’t fancy scoring, you’ll be looking at an expensive metallurgy test. I’d personally go for a teeny score and a look with a loupe. Good luck!

Tee hee! Keep up the good work Des, a fine collection in the making! 🙌

You could have one with a nice provenance if you like? £525 freepost

I feel your pain, Descartes, I can barely bring myself to look at my silver farthings! i’m very much a 2x2 coin flip fan, so if you find a solution please do post!

Thanks, Rob, much appreciated.

Yes a bit of gold fever I think. What’s the latest Spink 1501, I know it’s on your lap! Might give the NGC route a try and move it on! What’s your thoughts on the second offering? Getting there?

You see there are prettier, that’s the problem!