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alfnail

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Posts posted by alfnail


  1. On 3/17/2021 at 10:11 PM, alfnail said:

    Hi Mike, it's always painful to see part of your collection disappear, but I think my decision to place them on ebay was the right one. I chose pieces where I felt an auction house may not do them full justice in the event that my family sell them off one day when I'm not around. I'm thinking that the ones I may keep in my collection will be those where I can be sure that an auction house will get a decent price (i.e. easily recognised varieties) even if the person offering them for sale doesn't have much of a clue. 

    It's also nice to see who bought your coins and, in many cases, I know they will remain in good hands and be cherished. I have already had several positive feedbacks and people asking me if I will be doing this again.

    I will probably sell another nice group on ebay when the clocks go back, after they first go forward..........so you can see I'm not planning to depart this world just yet! 

    I have decided to get one more group on ebay tonight if I get time today..............it will be Victorian Bronze pennies again.

    • Like 2

  2. 2 hours ago, 1949threepence said:

    How did the sales go, Ian? I know there were bids for all of them, but I missed the final hammer, as it were. Now only the two buy it now's left. 

    Hi Mike, it's always painful to see part of your collection disappear, but I think my decision to place them on ebay was the right one. I chose pieces where I felt an auction house may not do them full justice in the event that my family sell them off one day when I'm not around. I'm thinking that the ones I may keep in my collection will be those where I can be sure that an auction house will get a decent price (i.e. easily recognised varieties) even if the person offering them for sale doesn't have much of a clue. 

    It's also nice to see who bought your coins and, in many cases, I know they will remain in good hands and be cherished. I have already had several positive feedbacks and people asking me if I will be doing this again.

    I will probably sell another nice group on ebay when the clocks go back, after they first go forward..........so you can see I'm not planning to depart this world just yet! 

    • Like 3

  3. I have decided to chance a dozen ‘bun head’ pennies from my collection on ebay; all but one will be on open auction starting between 8 and 9 p.m. this evening.

    I wanted to describe them myself as there are a few unusual ones, including 2 which are now in MG’s updated pages and one from Hiram Brown’s collection, and I wasn’t sure that an auction house would do them justice. Also, I’m thinking that with lack of BP then I may still get a decent price…….now hoping it’s a decision I won’t regret…………be an interesting exercise if nothing else!!

    It may be an opportunity for some members to add to their collections.

    • Like 1

  4. A bit more information around those 1843DFF figures Mike.

    My 5 year study of all ebay listings was between Sept 2007 and Sept 2012. There were 15 DFF's out of 130 listings of 1843's. 

    I think it likely that this is a fairly accurate reflection of true (minted) proportions, as I do not believe that many people were collecting Bramah variations at that time. For example, see Richard's comments where he got one by luck! The coin I have just sold you was the best example from those 15 on ebay during that period.

    If I were to repeat the study now (which I will NOT be doing) then there is no way that you would see the same proportion of DFF's as there were approx. 10 to 15 years ago. More collectors have been looking for Bramah varieties since then, and most are now tucked away in collections. This is reflected by the fact that you have unsuccessfully searched high and low for one yourself for over a year. 

    The same could be said for the 1844 DFF's, seen on both the 'Plain Tail' 4's and the 'Tails Up' 4's.

    I have done a breakdown of all the 1844's seen in the same 5 year period, and this is shown in the table below. Note that there were 60 examples of 1844 DFF's, highlighted in Yellow, so about 1 in 5 of 1844's had this 'feature' during my 5 year study. However, you have only seen 2 in the time you have been building your own collection of this series.

    Hope the table makes sense, and is clear enough to read; the first split is based on being able to see the numeral 4's clearly enough to determine type.

    Also note that the 'Tails Up' style of numeral 4 is clearly much more difficult than Plain 4, although there is a higher proportion of DFF's on 'Tails Up' numeral 4 type!!

    image.png.ae8e15f69aee25b4a6b8d0b04b3f2f1b.png

    It's not really an F of course!!

    1072117438_DEFF_E.jpg.efc870c9129f331b63700f09218ec653.jpg

     

    • Like 2

  5. 5 hours ago, PWA 1967 said:

    I remember a forum member telling me a few years ago " i will sell the coins myself before i go ,nobody will get as much as me " and if your reading this i believe you were right  👍

    Was it me Pete, sounds like the sort of thing I may have said!?

    You've reminded me that it's about time, but can I just keep back the best 10.....or maybe 100 please? It's so damned difficult to think about parting with one's collection........even when you know it makes sense. 

    • Like 2

  6. Well spotted Pete. I saw that piece on Heritage and would have liked to have bought, but still at least twice what I would have paid......even for the rarer GRATI.A variety.

    Same Obverse Italic 5 die as paired with the very difficult Plain Trident + Italic 5.

    • Like 1

  7. 14 hours ago, 1949threepence said:

    Peck noted that the majority of 1935 pennies were issued artificially toned (mint darkened) (EC), and that only a minority of those issued were untoned (with the usual mint lustre) (VR) (page 505). Freeman states at page 17 of his 1985 book: "The dark finish given to pennies from 1944-46 before issue, was achieved, in a similar way, by the use of 'hypo', as was that on pennies of 1934 and some of 1935". Alexander in the August 1977 edition of Coin Monthly (page 67) says of the 1935 penny, that "the great majority were issued mint darkened".

    Thanks for this Mike, also your pictures. Had a quick look through ebay and seems to me that most were the 'lustred' type rather than 'mint darkened', so not sure why Peck and Alexander should think the opposite!  My coin is still way darker than the mint darkened ones though, perhaps someone has painted it  lol 😁. It stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all the others of that era.


  8. Just going through a large pile of old pennies, with a view to scrap, and came across this one. I'm not good on post-Victorian pennies but thought it a little strange. It's almost black, similar to colour of Edward Farthings, although less black around rim (as if worn off) as can be seen.

    I gave it a gentle wash in distilled water and dried with tissue paper, but none of black colour came off as far as I could see. The bag of coins was given to me by an old school friend who had them since the early 70's; I'm sure that he wouldn't have done anything to this coin to make it  black as he would have had no interest. I know that there is an 1946 type sold as 'artificially darkened by the mint' but this seems a lot darker to me. Any thoughts please   

    1935 Black Coin.jpg


  9. Arthur is 85 years old. He's played golf every day since his retirement 20 years ago. One day, he arrives home looking downcast.

    "That's it...." he tells his wife, "I'm giving up golf. My eyesight has got so bad.”

    "Oh no!" she replied.

    Arthur then tells her, "Once I've hit the ball, I can't see where it went!"

    His wife sympathises. As they sit down, she has a suggestion: "Why don't you take my brother with you and give it one more try."

    "That's no good...." sighs Arthur, "George is 92. He can't help."

    "He may be 92...." says the wife, "but his eyesight is perfect."

    So the next day, Arthur heads off to the golf course with his brother-in-law.

    He tees up, takes an almighty swing and squints down the fairway.

    He turns to the brother-in-law. "Did you see the ball?"

    "Of course I did!", says the brother-in-law. "I have perfect eyesight."

    "And where did it go?" asks Arthur.

    “I Can't remember...”.😝

    • Like 1
    • Haha 6
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