Sword

Yes, I remembered that well. Michael Fish so famously predicted that we would not be badly affected the night before. I woke up the next morning and was shocked to see that so many of the wooden garden fences and tress have fallen over. The wind blew off part of the school roof and the kids enjoyed an extended half term break.

I remember collecting those cards in PG Tips boxes when I was a kid. The two most memorable series were flags of the world and unsolved mysteries of the world. It is a shame that they have stopped these more than 20 years ago.

I don't think this will be an issue once contactless payment becomes the norm for all small amounts. The retailers will then simply factor the transaction fees into the retail prices. (Hopefully, fees will also be lower if there are more contactless transactions assuming the banks don't get too greedy) For example, a shop selling suits expect nearly everyone to pay with card, and so the retail prices have already factored in the card fees.

This mistake is actually quite common. You can find a number of examples if you Google. E.g. https://www.nhp.gov.in/hospital/scared-heart-hospital-delhi-north-delhi The sign in my photo wasn't altered by Photoshop. It was actually taken from the screenshot of a movie.

Bo Jo quite understandably would want everyone to handle the 50p commemorating his handiwork. 10 million sounds about right.

Should be "Sacred" of course. But then, who wouldn't be scared if you are having a heart operation?

Standard A reverse is shown below:

CGS /LC describes this as "1893LVI Davies Obverse 1 (T of VICTORIA points to a bead), Reverse streamer similar to Reverse A with a more levelled appearance, the date digits also closer together (listed by CGS as their variety 20 dies 1+G, unlisted elsewhere)"

I am sure the Royal Mint will continue to include the penny in year sets. It will have legal tender (but please don't spend status). Not much of a change since people hardly spend them now anyway. There will also be silver versions.

I have indeed mistaken one farthing for 0.25 new penny instead of 0.1 new penny. But I can still believe that a farthing had more purchasing power in the early 1960s (when it demonetised) than the purchasing power of a penny today. A farthing in 1960 could probably buy something like a cheap sweet, but absolutely nothing today costs as little as a penny. Gave it a check using an inflation calculator, 1 pound in 1961 is worth £22.43 today. So a farthing would be worth 2.3 pence.

The original design entry: It was then refined by the coin artist David Lawrence.

Bronze? You meant copper plated steel 😀! I would be surprised if that's not the case since the farthing has been demonetised for nearly 60 years now. "The Royal Mint had revealed 60% of 1 pence and 2 pence coins are only used once, while 8% of pennies are thrown away." This is so wasteful and it is just tradition keeping these coins alive.

Contactless payment doesn't necessarily mean a surveillance society. For examples, there are cities which use contactless stored value smart card that are anonymous. These card were originally used for transport payment but has grown to be used in convenience stores and supermarkets.

I find low denomination coins from 20p downwards fairly pointless these days. They worth little and have a habit of accumulating in the pocket or jar at home. I like contactless payment for low amounts just to avoid having to carry the weight of loose change. I would rather think it is a good idea to scrap the 5p, 2p, 1p coins.

£1 reverse. It was quite well advertised at the time that a 15 year boy's won the competition and we had a tread talking about it.

Let me guess, "How many different portraits of the Queen have appeared on UK coins?" 😀

I got to say the buyer was gutsy (or more likely just very rich) to pay a million for it considering it only sold for £516,000 in 2014.

Absolutely. If the Royal Mint can't be bothered with a design, then simply the words "Commemoration of Brexit" would be far more direct and unpretentious. It has been reported that they have all been melted down but I think it is rather likely that a few examples have been saved. I wouldn't be surprised if the odd examples will make it to auctions later on. The 1945 silver 3d comes to mind. Indeed. A £2 would be more appropriate. I still think some crown-size pieces would be nice if they can come up with a decent design.

One of the must have 2020 coin must be the Brexit 50p. Am I alone in thinking that the proposed design is just exceedingly poor. "Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations" is just some sort of incredibly lame and meaningless sentence. Surely, the Royal Mint could have produced a "British" design that is tasteful, encouraging and can be admired by both Brexiteers and former Remainers, Remainers etc. They really should leave out the date as well - that's not necessary in my view. My top choice would be a detailed engraving of the Parliament and the Thames. Something looking like: A crown size piece is needed to do it justice. One of my regrets is that we never made a cityscape coin. This would be the ideal time to make one. I did also thought about the merits of bringing back a classical design like the Gothic crown reverse. However, it is important to look forward and not back and so I think we should do something new. Any ideas on a design? (Let's not get heated discussions on the pros and cons of Brexit since it is definitely going to happen later in the month. And no more shooting in the foot design since we had seen them already. 😃 )

And considerably better struck than even a top currency I think.

I have some interest in silverware and am aware that it is not uncommon for silver pieces to lose value because the hallmarks have been blurred due to excessive polishing. The advice "be careful when polishing around hallmarks" is frequently given.

Eric's recent tread on the subject. The genuine 1928 proof is so much more impressive than the merely proof-like currency examples. http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/13508-heritage-nyinc-sale-1932-proof-wreath-i-think-not/?tab=comments#comment-188788

The George III crown were struck by a series of graduated blows even for the currency. They were indeed wrapped in paper before being delivered to the banks. ESC made the comment that it is almost impossible to distinguish a proof from a perfect ordinary specimen. Hence the proof is only included in ESC with "hesitancy" However, Eric has convinced me that proof Wreath crowns have superior strike and sharper edges compared to proof-like early struck examples.

Limited die use certainly, and I assumed that is the reason why the early struck examples are proof like. But I am not aware that the planchets themselves were specially prepared for the currency issues.

I think the Royal mint has been particularly unfair with regard to the old £2 pieces. They minted over 30 million such coins (over 8 million for 1986, 7 million, 5 million etc for other years) in total and it is hardly surprising that some got into circulation. I remember paying £4 as a teenager for a 1986 coin housed in the usual packaging thinking that it will always have an intrinsic value of £2. The Royal mint site currently states "The commemorative £2 coins were issued to mark special occasions rather than for use in general circulation. They are legal tender but contrary to popular belief this does not mean that banks and retailers automatically have to accept them. Indeed you will probably find that most banks and retailers refuse." My feeling is that every piece of junk the Royal Mint make these days is marking some special (or not so special) occasion or event or cartoon character. The mintage of some of the old £2 coins are so much higher than the so called circulating Kew garden 50p for example. I would be surprised if they had told anyone in the 80s that such coins are not for circulating and so will not be accepted in banks. Since the £2 coin is a current denomination, I think The Royal Mint should do the decent thing and ask banks to let people exchange the old pieces if they wish to. An episode of the Simpsons come to mind: Woman: Would you like to buy some Itchy and Scratchy Money? Homer: What's that? Woman: Well it's money that's made just for the park... And it works just like regular money, but it's, er..."fun". Bart: Do it, Dad. Homer: Well, OK, if it's fun... let's see, uh...I'll take $1100 worth. (gets the money and he walks in and sees all the signs that show places prohibiting Itchy and Scratchy Money) Awwwww!