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richtips86

1981 10p

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I’ve been doing some reading into the mintages  of some of the larger sized 10p pieces and know there has been debate on here previously. A quick glance of some mintages are as follows:

1984 - 158k / 1988 - 134k / 1990 - 102k / 1991 - 74k

and then there’s 1981 - 3.5m!!

However, currently there are 11 listings on eBay for 1991, 15 for 1990 and 0 for 1981 and that pattern has been ongoing for some time. I’ve read some conjecture that those minted in 1981 ended up going down as 1980 and that the true number is much fewer. 

Is there anyway therefore of identifying how many 1981 10p pieces there truly are? I’m guessing significantly fewer than 1991?! <10k?

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When I tried to get one a few years ago, Michael told me they were impossible to find.

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Thanks, yes it was seeing that that made me look into it

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The ones Michael has from a sealed bag i found only a few weeks ago ,if anyone reading this does want one i still have a few.

Pete.

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I had a spare (high grade) which I was in the midst of selling to Brian but he's disappeared off the radar. He had health issues, I hope he's ok.

I very much doubt the rumour about some being 1980. I read that from 1953 all mintage figures relate to the number actually dated the year in question. What seems more likely is that as 1981 was the last currency strike of the large 10p (all subsequent issues were 'sets only') maybe many of them were never issued but were later melted down? That might account for them being so scarce now.

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I wonder if the cessation of striking the currency 10p had anything to do with the continued use of the old florins? 1981 was just after the silver bubble, and although the silver price was still above face value, the collapse of prices in 1981 must have freed up a quantity of Cu-Ni pieces initially retained in the belief they were silver, not to mention bags of deposited florins previously obtained from the bank to sort through for silver. You still get predecimal Cu-Ni saved in the belief it is silver today, so not a lot has changed as far as the man in the street is concerned.

The same pattern exists for the 5p, with the next currency issue being in 1987. The 50p by contrast was issued approx every other year

Edited by Rob

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That's a sound theory Rob, though it doesn't account for where all those 3m 1981s went?

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9 minutes ago, Peckris 2 said:

That's a sound theory Rob, though it doesn't account for where all those 3m 1981s went?

They could have been held back and subsequently melted. So anyone with mint reports for subsequent years?

I don't have any evidence, but would suggest that with the silver price up tenfold in the prior year or two, every man and his dog was sifting 5p and 10p bags from the banks for silver. As far as the mint and banks were concerned there was every reason to expect demand would be reasonably stable, so the collapse of the silver price was a real spanner in the works. The demand would have melted away virtually overnight, and the unanticipated return of large numbers of shillings and florins would probably not have been foreseen by the mint which was essentially striking in anticipation, but was crucially one stage removed from the banking front line. It would have been compounded by an apparently strong demand for the two denominations as the silver price rose leading to an effective glut dated 1980 and to a lesser extent, 1979. 

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That's really interesting Rob - thanks for your thoughts.

Ps - I still need to make it to the club one time. Number 2 is on its way in the next month hopefully so it may be a good excuse to get away from the M-I-L when she's with us!!

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22 hours ago, Rob said:

They could have been held back and subsequently melted. So anyone with mint reports for subsequent years?

I don't have any evidence, but would suggest that with the silver price up tenfold in the prior year or two, every man and his dog was sifting 5p and 10p bags from the banks for silver. As far as the mint and banks were concerned there was every reason to expect demand would be reasonably stable, so the collapse of the silver price was a real spanner in the works. The demand would have melted away virtually overnight, and the unanticipated return of large numbers of shillings and florins would probably not have been foreseen by the mint which was essentially striking in anticipation, but was crucially one stage removed from the banking front line. It would have been compounded by an apparently strong demand for the two denominations as the silver price rose leading to an effective glut dated 1980 and to a lesser extent, 1979. 

My thoughts exactly. Melted by the Mint due to lack of demand seems the most likely explanation, especially as no more large 10p coins were issued outside sets after 1981. When you think that 1952 sixpences, 1959S shillings, even 1946 3d bits in average grade, are relatively plentiful (and they are all mintages of only 1m or even less), you'd expect a coin of 3m specimens to be even more common and they just aren’t.

Edited by Peckris 2

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i bought £60 worth of these old style 10ps a while ago and just checked through them, dont have any 1981 so they do seem illusive unless someone filtered it before me 

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