Michael-Roo

The better of two from my collection. Clear missing stop and a particularly nice reverse. Possibly also portrait one. Please see Colin Cooke's excellent notes on the 1694 varieties. All currency coins viewed during his research were portrait two apart from a single 'no stop after Maria' which was portrait one. Portrait one otherwise occurs for proofs BMC 623 and 624 only. The little differences mentioned in the notes and visible in photographs could suggest my coin is portrait one.

It is also worth noting the design and size of Britannia is different on this coin to that which usually appears on the reverse of most 1694 1/4ds.

All obverse stops omitted. Single exergue line. Rated extremely rare by Colin Cooke.

Ahoy! You're both correct. It's a strange thing. In the past I've seen varieties with a buy it now price languishing on ebay for months, even after the vendor has offered a reduction. Then along comes a lesser example, listed with a 99p starting price, and ends up selling for much more than the first coin. I suppose it must be bidders are either not searching as comprehensively as they should or are falling into a bidding frenzy as the end time approaches. I've sometimes found it worth asking a vendor if they are willing to take a reasonable offer on a buy it now, even if 'or best offer' isn't mentioned on the listing, particularly if the coin has been on there for some time. As they say; "If y'don't ask, y'don't get.'……..

Another from my collection. A nice example of this rare variety.

I think that's probably true. Always popular. Higher grades sometimes realise surprising prices.

My apologies. I see YOU are George Coins! I would think £79 is probably a fair price for your example.

I'm not really sure. The Spink price is £200 for fine. I suppose mine's a bit better that that. So yours might be fine? No records of a sale in recent years on the London Coins site. George Coins have one at £79 but its pretty worn (VG?). Lucky old us. I think this one is still holding up as a rare variety.

Again from my 1694 halfpennies. A pity the grade isn't better but another rare variety all the same.

Continuing my attempt to raise the profile of early milled copper on the forum….. Another from my collection. A rare variety. Not often seen.

Hi all. A rare variety which is mentioned in the Colin Cooke collection as never having been seen by him in a grade better than good fine. His own coin, which is pictured in the collection, has been graded as fine. Here's the better of two examples I own. Clearly much better than Mr. Cooke's but which I'd personally grade as fine too (or possibly a smidge better). Spink haven't recorded one as being sold above fine for many years. I'd be interested to know if any other forum members have one superior to mine.

I found record of a beautiful example sold by DNW in 2008 for £750. Surely the finest known? http://www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/special-collections/lot.php?specialcollection_id=147&specialcollectionpart_id=81&lot_id=95045

PS: You like your early copper varieties. I don't suppose you have a 1673 no stops farthing too, do you? I'm still hoping for other forum members to come forward with other examples.

You're quite right! Pre 1797 1/4d and 1/2d copper is a great series. Lots to look out for and still new things to be discovered. I'll dig out some of my own oddities and post on here as we go.

Believe me when I say I'm WILLING these to be missing N Scott. I love the William 1/2ds and find the varieties fascinating. What troubles me is how common it is to find coins from the series which display areas of strike so weak as to render portions of the design and legend all but non existent. Another thing to consider would be this: if the variety is as super rare as Peck and Nicholson say it is, how were you able to discover two new ones so easily? I'm not dissing your coins, just being level headed about them. If both are BRITA NIA I'll be as pleased as you.

http://www.colincooke.com/coinpages/nicholson_part2.html Coins 102 and 103 here described. 102 refers to the Peck example. 103 is unconfirmed. Unfortunately, neither photograph is clear enough to confirm as viewed on screen.

Its difficult to tell. The letter N does appear to be missing in each of the photos but then so too is Britannia's forearm, hand, and sprig. Nice finds if they do indeed turn out to be examples of the missing N variety though as very few are known.

Here are some (slightly) improved photos of my best 1673 'no stops' including a close up of the date. I'd go back to my original enquiry; do any other forum members own an example of this variety and, if yes, how does it grade? It would be interesting to see if we can better Mr. Cooke's research which found good fine as being the best known.

Looks a bit like a Nero. Looking at the photos I can't tell if it is genuine or repro. Very nice if genuine!

Thanks Copper 123. Can I quote you on that? Are you aware of any circulating in a grade superior to my best example?

Years ago (pre interweb) I bought a 1700 halfpenny from a postal dealer's list. Described as 'fine' the coin received was one of the worst washers I'd ever seen. Returned, of course. Thankfully, there have only been one or two further postal disasters since. These too were returned. Now, I'm not saying these dealers were using Photoshop to tweak their images, but I'll leave it to you to make up your own mind….

I hear you. Once bitten, twice shy, etc. etc.

Fascinating Rob. Thank you. I'll certainly chase up the information you mention. In the meantime, here's my other example for comparison (which, I think, grades the same as the Colin Cooke coin).

Are you sure Rob? Wouldn't that make this a mega rare unrecorded version of the no stops variety?

Tempted?….. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-1860-bun-head-penny-good-condition-/141429699515?pt=UK_Coins_BritishMilled_RL&hash=item20edddf3bb