secret santa

A lot of new specimens of some real rarities - I wonder whose collection it was ?

where do the photos come from Pete ?

I voted to leave but the biggest threat to us now is a Corbyn government rather than staying in the EU.

Boris could end up with the shortest tenure ever.

Boris or Jeremy ? The circus starts again today.

Unlike politicians, the teeth never lie - reverse A

My own 1877 F90 originally went up at 99p so I immediately contacted the vendor to tell him it was worth thousands and not to accept a tempting cash offer. Wound up driving up to Derby to inspect the coin before paying an arm and a leg for it !

Julie Etchingham - she's lovely. Reads our news at 10 on ITV quite often.

Shyster !!!!!!!!!!!!! I messaged them after they put up the first 1877 "narrow date" to correct them and, when they didn't, I threatened to message Ebay at which stage they replied that their (I don't know their gender) father had just died and they hadn't had time. This may be true but I suspect not.

Sadly, I have to locate, and put on, reading glasses to operate a mobile phone. This trend to do more and more with one's mobile phone drives me to distraction. I don't normally carry reading glasses around with me but soon I'll have to have them grafted to my face.

Talking of coins not being what they purport to be, I see our old friend Lukasz has come up with another rarity - he certainly finds more than his fair share. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Victoria-Penny-1862-Struck-In-Silver-RARE/333252930899?hash=item4d976c2d53:g:pFAAAOSwug5dGQJJ

Got it - thanks Mike.

I may have missed these - can anyone supply links ?

I'm deeply suspicious of this vendor. His photographs seem to be randomly taken on a leather sofa, in his hand etc etc but his feedback is 100%. Has anyone done business with Torcoins ?

It was passed yet again.

Continuing with this speculation, I recently bought a penny on Ebay advertised as a possible inverted V but which, on close inspection, had a very clear and sharp but thin bar to the A, especially when viewed at an angle. I was going to send it back because of this but then spent more time looking at it. In my view, the crossbar of the A is too clear and sharp for it to be the result of a partially filled die. In fact it reminded me of the residual date figures that have been overpunched, e.g F30 6 over 8 where the remains of the 8 are thin and sharp (see bottom picture). Could it be possible that someone set out to repair the A of VICTORIA on a working die (we know that specimens of F10 clearly show other attempts to repair the A - see right hand picture) on a die where the crossbar seemed to be strong enough for the repairer to use an inverted V punch to strengthen the legs, resulting in a thin residual crossbar ? The bar is hardly visible in the photo below but is clear and sharp at an angle under a magnifier and the left leg shows signs of repair (left hand picture). I'll leave it others to comment.

Just had a look at the Michael Cole collection and the lots seemed to be in a random order until I noticed they were in descending hammer price - not easy to find anything particular. Surely date within denomination would be more logical ?

Bob, I don't think I have yours - but take a look at the site and see if it's up there.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VICTORIA-1860-TB-BB-MULE-BRONZE-BUN-HEAD-PENNY-2-B-FREEMAN-9-EXTREMELY-RARE/283515298259?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 Thanks Blake - I've now added the F9 mule to my rare penny site - if anyone has additional examples, I'd be pleased to include them. Richard

Anyone got a link to the F9 ?

When I tried to get one a few years ago, Michael told me they were impossible to find.

or "sighted" ?😎

Sorry, I wasn't correcting/commenting on your statement - merely pointing out where people could get a better view. R