AardHawk

Peck lists all four variants as well.

These are all the details of proof mintages I could find. Royal Mint Report #102 1.4.1971 - 31.3.72 from CM May'73 page 25, states 69,000 proof sets dated 1970 were produced. Work of the Royal Mint 1972. CM Sept 1973 (Interim report?), states 700,320 Lsd Proof coins were produced. Royal Mint Report 1973 from CM July '74 page 73, states 2,537,288 Lsd Proof and 590,160 UK decimal Proof coins struck in 1973 were produced. Royal Mint Report #103 1.4.1972 - 31.3.1973 from CM Jan '75 page 48, states 79,415 1973 EEC 50p proof and 586,554 1970 Lsd sets produced. Royal Mint Report 1974 from CM July '75 page 1?, states 1,405,340 UK proof coins and 492,720 UK Lsd Proof coins produced. Royal Mint Report 104 1.4.1973 - 31.3.1974 from CM July '76 page 75, states 259,980 1973 EEC 50p proof, 74,293 1970 Lsd sets and 190,684 1971 decimal proof sets produced. Work of the Royal Mint 1975. CM Aug 1976 (Interim report?), states 22,158 UK decimal proof coins produced. Work of the Royal Mint 1976. CM July 1977 (Interim report?), states 1,660,636 UK decimal proof coins produced. Royal Mint Report #105 1.4.1974 - 31.3.1975 from CM Oct '77 page 33, states 12,791 1973 EEC 50p proof, 19,814 1970 Lsd sets and 146,701 1971 decimal proof sets produced. Royal Mint Report #106 1.4.1975 - 31.3.1976 from CM May '78 page 37, states 2,711 1973 EEC 50p proof, 52 1970 Lsd sets and 20,778 1971-75 decimal proof sets produced. Work of the Royal Mint 1977. CM July 1978 (Interim report?) page 81, states 2,051,000 UK Proof coins produced. Royal Mint Report #107 1.4.1976 - 31.3.1977 from CM June '79 page 37, states 1,719 1973 EEC 50p proofs and 257,854 1972-76 decimal proof sets produced. For some strange reason the various coin magazines stopped publishing the Royal Mint reports details after 1979. Perhaps the Mint didn't release the details.

The Royal Mint report #103 for 1.4.1972 - 31.3.1973 says for 1/2p Reported 274,800,000 struck between 1.4.1972 and 31.3.73, but not dated 1972. 1p Reported 130,000,000 struck between 1.4.1972 and 31.3.73, but not dated 1972. 10p Reported 116,050,000 struck between 1.4.1972 and 31.3.73, but not dated 1972. 50p Reported 5.036,000 struck between 1.4.1972 and 31.3.73, but not dated 1972. Also, 79,415 1973 EEC 50p proof and 586,554 1970 Lsd sets produced.

I can confirm your find. I had a look through my loose change and out of five 2005's found three with 1 of 10 to border bead and two to space.

Now that there are twenty-seven members the new 50p is going to be issued with a Gordian Knot of 27 hands

And before Davies they were published in 'A detailed study of design variations on shillings 1816-1966' by Ron Stafford in various issues of Coin Monthly (aka Coin) during 1980.

Its not just the baby set, they also issued a 1p-£1 Brilliant Uncirculated set. The really irritating thing about that set is , that the blub that came with it said that because the new designs were being produced for 2008 that it would be the only coins issued using the old design. Need less to say the Royal Mint didn't know its Bottom from its Elbow.

I think the 700,000 figure is for coins issued into circulation. If you look at the figures the Royal Mints quotes on its web site for other years where none were issued into circulation then they don't quote a figure even if a hundred thousand or more were issued in uncirculated sets. Anyway the rarest decimal coin issued into circulation is the 1992-3 Single Market 50p with just 109,000 coins. When available on ebay they trade for £15-20 each, so you don't want to be fooled by one out of an uncirculated set. I suppose its a rare case of a VF being worth more than a BU.

Me too, PM sent.

With regard to Braybrook's rounded inner edges on the 1941 threepence, I believe that he is referring to the inner angles. If you look at Gary's pictures above, you will see that they have decidedly sharp inner angles. When looking at the inner angles of several of the other years many of them have decidedly 'unsharp' inner angles. In fact when trying to find some of Gary's BR varieties I was finding it quite difficult to decide where the upright of the B was pointing because of this. If you look on ebay for examples of 1937 nickel brass threepences you will see a whole range of inner angle varieties. There also seem to be several types of the edge between the angles. Some are parallel and others 'cantilevered', that is thick in the middle and thinner at the ends. I think that there is a whole range of study for someone with a bit of time on there hands! Looking at the old literature there seems to have been very little brass threepence research. The thing that I find surprising is that no one had previously spotted the BR variety until Gary reported it a couple of years ago. Also, I personally find just looking at the BR difficult and find that the opposite M of IMP either straddling the corner or slightly further around a bit easier to pick out. Either way my hat is off to Gary D.

PM me your email unless you can tell me how I attach to a PM.

There are three articles in Coin Monthly Dec 75, Jan 76 & Feb 76 by D.Magnay detailing various coins and there varieties, but I dont see the name weyl anywhare. There is also a letter from D E Magnay FRNS in the June 1978 issue and a reply to it in the August 1978 issue. I can scan these and email them to you if these are of any help.

1939 southern rhodesia 6d, 200,000 Krause 1986, from $4 for VG through to $250 for UNC and $500 for the proof. 1/2 cent from straits settlement 1916, 3,000,000 Krause 1986 from 40c for VG through to $15 UNC and $275 for the proof.

Braybrook describes the as 1) Slightly rounded on outside edge; and, 2) Edges completely squared, slightly thicker.

The sharp cornered 1949 has long been known. A.J.Braybrook recorded it in his Coin Varieties article in the July 1971 article in Coin Monthly, and as been recorded by others subsequently, notably by Michael G Salzman in his handbook of Modern British Coins and Their Varieties 1797-1970. Braybrook also lists for 1941, a ) Rounded angles on the outside edge. b ) Sharp angles on the outside edge, with rounded angles in the inside edge; and c ) Sharp angles on the outside edge, with sharp angles in the inside edge. I have found a) and c) but are still looking for b ). Have you come across this one?

Peck also doesn't mention the two reverses. I took a look at my 1937 threepences. I have one each of the B pointing at, and to the right of the corner paired with the reverse that has the REE of THREE close to the edge. With the other reverse with REE further from the edge I only have the obverse with B to the right of the corner. Has anyone seen the forth pairing of REE further from the edge and B pointing to the corner?

There is a series of three articles covering farthing varieties for 1672 to 1956 in the Nov 1978 through Jan 1979 editions of Coin Monthly and a further varieties article by the same author David Shaw on Half farthings in the 11-24 Jan 1980 edition of Coin.

try Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?u...p;x=17&y=23 You want the 1985 edition or later.

David Sealy in his Coin Varieties column of Jan 1970 reports that a Mr J.R.Brittin contacted him saying that he had seen an add in Exchange and Mart a few months before for "Unique coin for sale : 1922 penny, fine, which bears the reverse side design which only appeared on pennies dated from 1927. . . " Mr Brittin himself also had one of these coins.Back to the 1909, It would be interesting to know the basis that Freeman used for his estimate. Perhaps if he reads this he'll let us know!

They are not mentioned by David Seaby in the 1972 Coins Annual which was written during the mid to latter part of 1971. Courts survey was published in August 1972. So I think that more or less pinpoints the discovery date. Does anyone have a copy of the 1970 Freeman. Peck dosn't show it in 1964.

V.R.Court carried out a survey of major penny varieties in the early 1970's when he checked 672,000 coins. Of these 1,693 were 1909 and of these 2 were Rev B, which suggests that proportionally 23,200 were minted. Court himself says that "these small levels of incidence provide very unreliable bases for calculating accurate estimated mintages. However they probably indicate that only one die of each of these particular varieties was in use, and actual mintage of each type was probably, though not necessarily, the production capacity of that die." So the actual figure could be as high as perhaps 100,000.

yes it is. I have received one in the change, after looking for the last year or so.

Yes although I consided myself a collector of varieties I wonder if a line should be draw between pointing which was done to identify dies to the mint workers and just plain natural variations in the die production process. As a result of the article I quoted Michael Freeman responded, that he had attempted to list all date variations on Victorian pennies but had given up as they were just too numerus as the practice in those days was to enter the date numbers by hand onto each working die and that he considered that variations of this type were of little interest. The author of the article responded that, that may well be the case and that date varieties were common among edwardian pennies but less so in later coinage and that at the time, when these coins were in circulation and commonly available that it gave collectors a point of interest in an otherwise varietyless series of coins. I concur with the latter view as date varieties on modern coins are few and far between, hence the great interest in the seven date varieties of the 1957 calm sea halfpenny or the open and closed 9 varieties of the 1955 halfpenny. They are certainly more obvious than the three varieties of the 1958 halfpenny or various recut flags and other features of the 1967 half penny of the recut visor on several of the 1960's pennies. I would think that being aware that these varieties exist is of interest, even if one dosnt specifically collect them or consider them to be of any particular value. As far as I am concerned, I dont think they are worth paying a premium for. A final point is that when all these original articles were being written in the sixties and seventies, these coins were still in, or had, very recently been in circulation. Prehaps this points the way that current day coin collection should really be going. That is the study of current decimal coinage, of which there are many interesting varieties to be found in your change, such as the two distinct reverses to the 1980 2p, namely the 'Left Leg of N in PENCE to bb' and 'Left Leg of N in PENCE to sp'.

Should read 'Variety, type of 9, tooth over which 0 centered, Shape of 2, Knee of 2 position, mintage' The table didnt come out quite as intended. If you copy it into note pat you may be able to tweek some sense out of it.

Ok I'll have a go at summerising the articles. The thirteen 1902 Low tide minor varieties are all date varieties and all concern the shape and placement of each of the 9, 0 & 2 date characters. The Noughts are all of the same shape but vary in their placement. There are two distinct twos. The 'thick two' which has a thick horizontal stroke and its serif is rather square cut. The 'thin two' has a more slender horizontal base stroke and a more rouned serif. The thin two serif also points further to the right. The low tide nine is considered to be a 'thick nine' and comes in three distinct stages of wear. that is the loop of the nine is open, closing or closed.The high tide nine is described as a 'thin nine'. When describing the placement of the characters the schema that is used, boarder tooth one is that which is directly beneath the figure one and the higher numbered boarder teeth are to its right when viewed from outside the coin. V.R.Court in another article estimated the mintage of LT pennies to be 1,212,600. The right hand figure is the estimated mintage of each variety. Variety type of 9. tooth over which Shape of 2. Knee of 2 position. Variety minbtage. 0 centered. 1 Open Right of 7 Thick 10 90,000 2 O R7 Tk 10 45,000 3 O R7 Tk L10 180,000 4 O R7 Thin 9/10 135,000 5 O 7/8 Tk L10 135,000 6 O 7/8 Tk 10 45,000 7 O 7/8 Tk R10 45,000 8 O 7/8 Tn R10 180,000 9 O L8 Tn 10/11 45,000 10 Closing 7/8 Tn 10 180,000 11 Cg 7/8 Tk 10 45,000 12 Cg 7/8 Tk L10 45,000 13 Closed R7 Tk 9/10 45,000 High tide pennies, 14 Closed 7/8 Tn R10 15 Closed 7/8 Tk R10 DaveG38, check my previous reply. I have already listed the source. I understand that you want to produce new book on varieties, I do however have misgivings, telling you where you can find this information. All of this work and research was carried out by enthusiastic amateurs and in many cases they were paid very little for publication of their work. Much of the information in these magazines may still be owned by the publishers. I trust that if you write your book you will fully ackowledge these people and their contribution. A new book on varieties is long overdue. One that includes high definition photographs and detailed line drawings would be most welcome.