jelida

The vendor is Shelly, who has featured on this forum several times before, and I am afraid is prone to misattribute , over grade and overprice, and whose coins often turn out to have been cleaned. Photography is not a strong point either. You can get a lot of spatial distortion when using some lenses, especially fisheye types on mobile cameras, and I suspect we have some of that here. My feeling is that we are looking at normal F10's, showing the results of differing die pressure and wear that Richard alludes to. Jerry

If it were not a blundered repair late in the life of a die, but a mistake in the actual preparation of a working die from new, is it not likely that there would be many more examples? The new 2/1 reverse does show at least three early die cracks, so it had clearly been in use for some time, and by 1862 most of the issues with premature die failure had been ironed out and a production of perhaps several tens of thousands of coins would have been expected. For this reason I personally prefer the likelihood that it was an erroneous repair quite late in the lifetime of the die, though I cannot see any other repaired letters or digits, the presence of which might be supportive of this. Scarcely proof either way. Jerry

I suppose in the case of 1865/3, as there are a number of different overstrikes of the 5 over 3, thus a number of re-used 1863 reverse dies, a 'good housekeeping' policy might be interpreted. The 1882/1 is somewhat similar, fewer different overstrikes but still a couple and used with earlier obverse dies. There are also a number of different 1893/2 dies. The others seem to be single die varieties, and perhaps therefore less likely the result of a mint 'good housekeeping' policy. But it has to be a question of probability, in the absence of contemporary records. Jerry

It is beautiful, and I'm pleased it was you that bought it (I had already spotted it on your site). The vendor, a regular for criticism on this forum, seems to have acquired some genuinely nice coins lately, but his initial pricing was way out of my league. So my 2/1 is relegated to the second best known. Ah, well. Jerry

And me.

It was pulled but he has relisted it, so reported again. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Charles-l-Civil-War-Hammered-Seige-Coin-/182763263841? Jerry

Hi Steve, I won one of your pennies tonight, for which many thanks. Jerry

The number of these is increasing steadily, this is at least the sixth, and the variety only became generally known in the last couple of years. But it is a nice variety, and quite easily spotted, so will be in demand and fetch good prices even with many possible future discoveries. I studiously check all 1862's I come across, as I suspect do many others, maybe will get lucky one day. Jerry

Yes, that is one! And in reasonable condition too! A valuable find; is it for sale?? Jerry

Mine was £50 from the Bay a couple of years ago, from the U.S. Will do, until a lustrous one comes along at a sensible price, I'm prepared to wait! Jerry

And me.

I agree entirely. I run my Explorer II with virtually no discrimination, and rely on the tones and crosshairs position as the indicator in digging, and have had many hammies to over a foot. The other machine I use (of the ten or so I have) regularly is a cheap Golden Mask 4, very sensitive indeed to the tiniest silver coins. These two are very complementary. Jerry

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/hammered-silver-coin-1562-Elizabeth-/132288678230?hash=item1ecd050956:g:Ic0AAOSwnsZZibRb Look at the effort that has gone into making this fake look good! Smoothing, scratching, toning, he deserves a prize! And only £200 bin! Please report it. Jerry

I will happily pay 5p for the coppers if you will pay postage. Do you take PayPal? I would pay 95p for the pound as there is a bit missing, same terms as above. If you try Ebay do be aware they take 10%. My offer could be to your advantage, unless of course you would rather spend them . Jerry

I am perfectly happy to see these, correctly advertised as replicas, on the bay because it should alert the idiots to the existence of these copies. I can then feel much less sorry for those tw*ts that do pay big money for similar from fraudsters. It is a small price to pay for personal peace of mind.? Jerry

Reported too.

They are not particularly rare and the price of lustrous examples seems to have settled at around £400 judging by recent auctions. No doubt a lot are freshly recognised. The one currently on EBay looks to be a nice and clear example, as much as one can be sure from the pics. There are undoubtedly a number of different overstruck dies. Gouby does cover this in detail. Some sellers seem to be referring back to Spink catalogues of 5-6 years ago, when the published prices were much higher. Spink do seem to be moving with the times on this one. Jerry

I am so sorry to hear this, life must feel so empty. Stay strong, don't be afraid to lean on family and friends, they will do likewise, this is how things should be at a time of great loss. I hope better times will come in time. Best wishes from Jerry and Libby

She appears to be taking a dump on Wales.......perhaps the designers in Llantrisant were making a pointed comment ?? Jerry

Beautiful, would have been a good price even for a standard F10! Jerry

Yes, but as a single coin and assuming less than uncirculated condition, scrap metal value only. If you had a large quantity, you might be able to get the Bank of England to redeem them at face value, but hardly worth the effort of a special trip. Jerry

These Nuremberg Jetton are actually quite common metal detecting finds in the U.K., but you were nonetheless lucky to spot it. It might improve with a gentle scrub with a soft brush in cold water. Jerry

Almost everything about it is subtly wrong, find some good on-line images of a genuine article and compare. As with your previous experiences, the key is knowing your field, but what really stands out glaringly to me is the engraving of the bodice, just so stylized and WRONG. It does also help to know that you can buy other dates struck from the same dies in China on Alibaba.com, and a lot of 1869 are appearing on Ebay , usually complete with a bunch of lies regarding provenance. Jerry

And here is another date of fake Victorian penny. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VICTORIA-PENNY-1875-H-/122581741896?hash=item1c8a70f148:g:WxcAAOSwcj5ZW8c9 Jerry

I have great difficulty buying from Rendel because of his pricing structure.....? Jerry