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oldcopper

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Posts posted by oldcopper


  1. A shilling bust on this pattern halfpenny coming up at Spink. Must be the only time a shilling bust has ever occurred on a pattern for the copper coinage, unless you count those Charles II pattern 1663 "halfpennies" which are probably pattern shillings in copper anyway.

    https://live.spink.com/lots/view/4-452X7J/victoria-1837-1901-pattern-halfpenny-1859-by-j-wyon-victoria-dei-gratia-no-stops-fille

    And anyone fancy the no less than 6 1967 pennies, some lustrous, also in that sale! I'm amazed Spink have listed them separately.


  2. 38 minutes ago, MichaelC62 said:

    Hello. I am look at buying an 1828 Half sovereign, but it has what looks like little pearls on the obverse around the King's head and especially around the date. Is it fake or some sort of damage? I would appreciate any advise.

    George IV Bare Head Obv.jpg

    George IV Reverse.jpg

    Bubbling can be a sign of a cast, caused by trapped air bubbles. if so this would be a forgery. I'm not an expert though, and you should see it in the hand. Also, are you buying it from a reputable source?


  3. 2 hours ago, 1949threepence said:

    Just looked at it Richard - thanks for the quote and your hard work !

    Finding one is going to be difficult. Finding a specimen in high grade is going to be extremely difficult, although hopefully not impossible.

     

    Funnily enough I was just looking at SNC June 1987 for something else, and there was an Almost EF one for £140 - so high grade ones do exist. They didn't notice the DFF, but you can see it in the photo.

    • Like 1

  4. 50 minutes ago, rpeddie said:

    Had to look this one up, Quite a lot of damage to that one i cannot justify it as a MS66 myself, maybe a 64 with the amount of damage on the rev would be a fair grade.
    Damage by the branch Britannia is holding and "big" dings by the date, along with a scratch across the fields on Britannia side too.

     

    Although saying that believe there is a 3 to 1 weight for the grading of the head side/obverse (lots more long flat areas for necks/cheeks being high points make it easier to grade circulation wear, good examples where rev hides wear due to design intricacies is Morgan dollar and jubilee 1/2 crown) 

    so maybe there is some justification using this weighting that it is a MS66 example as the portrait side is pretty much perfect and it must look amazing in hand(need a coins in motion video of this example)

     

    Yes, it's a fantastic example as they go, but as you say far too marked to justify that grade. It was the jackpot for someone!

    It would have been nice to get some background info on S. Burchall, whose 200-year-old collection this was. DNW didn't reveal his name when they originally auctioned his coins, so why now? I will ask them the next time I see them.


  5. 1 minute ago, Rob said:

    I remember being at the Baldwin's sale when he bought the P1236. He was sat in the middle, front row and I was by the window with Mick Martin behind. When he bid twice what we both thought was reasonable, we looked at each other and thought 'who is this geezer?' We both said at the time, we aren't going there. Rare coin though and the first time either of us had seen one.

    I think it went for £440 on checking my catalogue, and it went for £900 this time. I quite fancied it but dropped out at £800,  beautiful green toning and only one other known according to Martin's survey. Of course I didn't even give it a second glance at that Baldwins sale.


  6. 24 minutes ago, Rob said:

    Not sure about that. He only had 14 1797 pieces whereas Colin had 44 lots.

    With the gold penny you are at the mercy of when one appears.

    And Colin had all the patterns as well, very comprehensive. It may be that as Ian Sawden only collected the majority of this stuff in a 3 or 4 year window in general about 10 years ago, so he just got hold of as nice stuff as possible that (a) was available at the time, and (b) that he wasn't outbid on. So quite an achievement in that brief timespan.

    I'm surprised he got so much of his stuff from London Coins if he lived abroad, because they don't have online bidding, so he would have had to get someone to bid for him each time, unless he was temporarily living in the UK at the time. Still he certainly scored with those florin patterns, many bought from LC!

    One thing he did miss out on (unless he bought and sold it) was the lot immediately following the gilt twopence in the DNW 2010 sale. This was the lustrous currency 2d which went for £850 hammer. It then turned up at Heritage Auctions 6 months later slabbed as an MS66 RB (despite a noticeable depression in the field on the obverse) and fetched > $7000!

    Now why didn't I bid on that......

    • Like 2

  7. Fantastic stuff and curious why Ian Sawden limited his Soho collection to pre-1800, so no 1805 patterns or proofs etc of the 1806/7 issue. Was it personal preference? Excepting the 1780 Droz halfpennies and proofs of similar template  to currency pieces, there were few distinctive patterns either, especially pennies - just one helmeted Britannia and one large head 1797 cartwheel penny (and that a restrike) for instance. 

    The 1831 .W.W. went for nearly £1500 all in! One of the nicer ones of course, but still relatively marked compared to the better examples of the main varieties. Mine has an interesting raised die flaw above the last reverse colon, have seen it occasionally elsewhere. Here's LC's only photographed example of another one (not mine):

     

    img.php?a=149&l=2399&f=r&s=l


  8. 4 minutes ago, 1949threepence said:

    That may well have been the one we discussed. There's certainly no trace whatever of any underlying disturbance. 

    Another interesting question arising, is whether the no H pennies were produced at the London Mint. Or at the Heaton Mint and one or two errant dies minus the H were produced, but given the extreme rarity, quickly identified. Or maybe both for different reasons. One intentional, the other an accidental omission.

    Peck thought the RM produced them in December of that year, as the Mint had been closed for 10 months from Feb for reconstruction, as a small issue to "tide over till the following year".


  9. 16 hours ago, 1949threepence said:

    Definitely in that condition. Of course the great thing about it being in that mint state is that you know immediately the H hasn't been worn or tooled away.   

    Isn't it a unique die combination as well for an 1882 penny? Excuse my ignorance as I haven't got any coin book to hand.


  10. 11 hours ago, Peckris 2 said:

    Possibly because bronzing copper made more sense than bronzing bronze?

    Only to avoid confusing words! - it's strange how the term "bronzing" came to be used, as it looks nothing like bronze, and the coating presumably has nothing in common with bronze either (ie no tin or zinc, which would yellow it). Perhaps it could have been a more general term back then for adulterated copper?


  11. 8 hours ago, Rob said:

    That will be the Weyl patterns. As I wrote in the article about 10 years ago, I think they are mostly unique with the exception of the aluminium pieces documented in the Murdoch sale. There was also an 1887 (unspecified metal) penny listed in the bronze and copper section of the Cholmley sale in 1902 which I found after publication. This sale took place less than a month before Murdoch died, and it may or may not be the same as the one that was sold in the latter's sale. Whatever, it debunks the theory that the Weyl patterns were struck especially for Murdoch, as it is inconceivable he would have disposed of something produced uniquely for him whilst keeping the rest. 

    Freeman also omits those struck in tin.

    I downloaded your article sometime back - excellent and very comprehensive. No copyright fees I hope! And I see you're in the DNW Hall of Fame with several mentions in the Ian Sawden collection.

    Talking of which, that's a steep estimate for the Weyl copper milled edge penny. £3-4K. And the premium etc for this auction is effectively a third as there's import duty as well. So £4-5+K in reality. Fantastic looker though as are all of his Weyls.

    • Like 1

  12. On 9/24/2021 at 11:49 AM, Rob said:

    Both Taylor and Moore were producing bronzed pieces up to the mid-1880s. The process has to be the same as for medals, or for that matter, mint toned farthings and pennies. The colour differences will probably be down to the list of solution ingredients.

    Yes, Dolley quoted someone in a paper who referred to a "purple solution" that had been used at Soho to immerse the blanks in to produce this bronzed finish. It's surprising that no official bronzed proof coins have been made since the mid 19th century, given that that was the finish of choice for the first half of the 19th century. I wonder why they went off it?

    I've got a P1335 1806 penny which looks identical in appearance to Taylor's golden bronze finish - this series (KP33 or 34?) is also plain edge and  in a range of metals on rusted usually underweight blanks from over-polished dies. So some pointers to non-Soho restrikes perhaps, though the gilding on the gilt specimen in Gregory II was good quality, and the bronzed one in Gregory I (which I also have ex Alderney) is far more bronzed-looking (ie dark chocolate) in the traditional fashion though.

    • Like 1

  13. 40 minutes ago, secret santa said:

    Today, from nowhere, my browsers have virtually slowed to a halt. When typing from the keyboard, each character takes at least a second to appear on the screen.

    There is not a problem typing into a Word document. Similarly, it takes several seconds to open a new tab in either Chrome or Edge.

    The scroll wheel on the mouse is similarly delayed in action which makes the sizing of images on a web page impossible.

    A broadband check shows that speed is unaffected.

    The PC has become unusable.

    Any advice out there ?

    Have you checked it for bugs?


  14. 47 minutes ago, Peckris 2 said:

    Is that the finest known 1882 no H ? I've never seen one anywhere near that good.

    Look back in the thread. This one's a MS64BN, but Jackson's (Spink USA 2014) looked more lustrous and was MS64RB from memory. So comparable at least. I wonder if either of them is Noble's mint state  coin referred to by Peck, sold 1973.


  15. 1 hour ago, PWA 1967 said:

    Dont know if you have looked at the Ian Sawden collection for sale at DNW ,interesting collection 👍

    Yes, I was going to mention that as well! Looks like the Autumn sales are suddenly looking a lot better on the copper front, but I don't know how reasonable the prices will be - have to wait and see on that one. 


  16. 5 hours ago, PWA 1967 said:

    Yes your right Pete ,it isnt the Jackson coin.

    The picture i used was the grading companies photograph ,Baldwin have done there own picture and with the magnifier on the website will be much better to give a true picture.

    I think considering how difficult it has been to get stock for auctions of such rarity and high grade they have done a fantastic job putting such a good sale together.

    A couple of nice rare farthings and a realistically priced estimate 1860 copper penny also i believe. 

    Thanks Pete, sounds like they've got some nice coins there. I'll check it out.

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