1949threepence

Thought you might be going for that 1865 coroneted head penny, Blake. Did you?

and me, three or four times a week - usually oily fish like salmon, which is reputed to be good for you.

Absolutely.

Thanks Richard. I've been saving hard for this auction ever since it was first advertised, and still had to open a savings account. Been doing things round the house "on the cheap" recently, to economise, for that very reason. My F25. I definitely wanted this one, as F25's aren't that common anyway. Not many are sold, and only very rarely in grades above VF:-

Richard's must be penny acquisition of the year, but I'll just class my DNW wins as ordinary acquisitions of the week. The first is the F46, 1863 die No 3 under date. I've wanted a die No under date for a very long time. Didn't quite have enough dough for the die No 4 in the Waterbird collection. So when I saw this one, I just knew I had to have it. Well worth the cost:- (sorry, made a bit of a cock up uploading the images to start with)

Well done Richard. By a very long stretch the best F76 out there. Your photo is better than DNW's. The lighthouse looks a bit peculiar on theirs. The toning is superb, especially to the obverse. PS: you can get a new bathroom anytime, but an opportunity like this will NEVER arise again. Fact.

Other survivors will be a few very specialist niche shops, and also shops which have acquired a very strong local reputation. For example a butchers round here called Frank Parker. His meat is of the highest quality, all sourced locally and he has also branched off into really nice sausages, bacon and pork pies. In this "vegan" age, not everybody's cup of tea, but he is very popular locally and always has customers in his shop. I believe he also owns the premises, which helps.

Interestingly, in this town, the Saturday Market still thrives. The market traders do an enormous amount of selling. But the shops, as in the type of stores mentioned by Sword, not so.

It's the rise of internet shopping. I too feel for all those retail staff made redundant. But you can understand the mindset of customers - after all, why go to the inconvenience of shopping in town, when you can order exactly what you want in a few clicks, without having to leave your warm and cosy house? Soon the only things left in town and City Centres will be bars, cafes, estate agents, supermarkets (people will always shop direct for fresh food), stores for big ticket items like furniture/white goods/new kitchens/bathrooms/cars etc. Most retailers will reach a point where they will no longer break even, given diminishing footfall and sky high accommodation rental. Quite what will happen to all that building space I don't know. Still, it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, so maybe they can become a haven for the homeless. Bed for the night and a hot meal, maybe.

Looking forward to that Ian.

Nice one. Well done. Was that today? Have to say sound is far more useful than pictures. We don't need to see the auctioneer, but we do need to hear him speak. Ideally, it's good to have both, but sound is of way more benefit when bidding.

Thanks Ian. Yes they are sharp. Nobody seems to miss a trick these days. Did you get the 1847?

No worries - stick at it and you will be an expert. Just takes a bit of time, patience and study.

Because if you look at it Ian, the rim is unusually thick, which appears to be a hallmark of specimen/proof coins. Additionally, the detail is very sharp. They are the only characteristics which distinguish my F74 (bought as such with provenance) from a F73. I'm not saying I'm definitely correct. It might just be an ordinary F73, but it's general demeanour is suggestive of a specimen - in my opinion.

That's because it's no ordinary 1865 penny, but what's called a "pattern penny". Meaning the Queen's head is coroneted. The vast majority of Victoria pennies do not show the Queen with a crown on her head. So this one is special and extremely rare. What makes it even more unusual is that it was never actually intended for circulation, but obviously was circulated for maybe 80 odd years before someone noticed and saved it.