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Had this arrive this morning - four quid or thereabouts- high 9? Or high 90?

Best deal of all time for me on ebay was this in 2005. An 1889/8 halfpenny for £3.56 delivered - from Australia. It ended up being culled in 2009 due to a surfeit of much better 17+S examples.

Found this strange tale in the London Chronicle 1813. Re the pigs, I think someone squealed on them.

The pennies are crap, but the pictures are bloody good.

I'd suffered a bad example of a 1948 3d for too many years - my 1946, 49, 50 and 51 were all better! - so when this UNC example turned up for (I think) £39 I just had to have it and my offer of £35 was accepted. It's actually better in hand than the pictures, being virtually BU.

I don't Imagine it will get nearly as many posts, although I'm not sure about the longevity. Of course the other one is 15 years old now, so whether this one will be in 2035 - who knows? Anyway, a best offering for me is actually very recent. It's a common enough date, being an 1855 PT penny, but it is in immaculate condition. Pretty much uncirculated with superb toning, and only £50. Bargain.

Blimey, well done, which one have you still to acquire? I have a few still to get, including the Workhouse one. I've just upgraded my St Martin's Church example:

Counterfeit eighteen-penny pieces, not pennies. i.e. BoE 1s6d tokens, of which there are many varieties.

I see that 4 different bidders got caught by that fake 1843, which sold for over £100. Like you say Mike, 'caveat emptor'.

Yes, quite average. I do like the English Lion and not the Scots one of this vintage shilling. Scots looking to be taking a dump or some such....

Peter, those are better pictures than I see any auction houses use...a new career beckons?

I have two pieces of evidence that the obverse WAS redesigned: 1. an illustration of the 3 silver obverses used *note that George's nose points between V and S pre-1920, but direct to S post-1920 2. A comparison of two halfcrowns done for an article I wrote for Coin News long ago, as a result of which Coincraft amended their catalogue preface to admit that there had been a new obverse: ......................................................................................................1915 1923 (1) Size of portrait from top of head to tip of truncation 24mm 25mm (2) Presence of serifs on ‘E’ of ‘DEI’ and ‘REX’ ................ yes no (3) ‘I’ of ‘DEI’ points to a border tooth........................... no yes (4) Hollow in the back of the neck............................ no yes (5) Large or small ‘A’ in ‘GRA’ ................................. large small (6) Distance of truncation tip from border............... 1mm 1.5mm

This appeared at the back end of 2003. The vendor had a reserve on it, which usually means unrealistic expectations. I put in a bid of 600 which I considered reasonable given the only other known example (VF) had sold for £2K a few years before, making this the second known. I picked it up for 500. The underbidder went to 151 hoping for a bargain.

The 1911 proofs are often very nicely toned, due, it is thought by many, to the materials in the box the set came in. Discussed and shown before, but here's mine - I think it's truly beautiful

F73 Pete?

1859 halfpenny

Latest purchase......this leaves just one in the Birmingham series to find. This piece is ex Jan collection

A little light reading for the lockdown.......