1926 Penny

[1949threepence 3,366]

Although my name's not Gary, I've only just caught up with the end of this convo. (By the way, I seem to remember those bank bags of pennies were 5/- not £1, I never had £1 spare in those days!).

What pennies did I find? One 1953, two 1936 in EF, four 1946 mint dot, the usual hoard of 1922, 1926 (not ME!), and 1932, no end of Edw VII and Victoria Veiled Head, never more than AF, quite a few 1912H, a few 1919H, two not very good 1918KN, various nearly flat bun pennies ... nothing to disturb Glendinings over.

I had slightly better luck with halfpennies : a 1938 BU, 1935 GEF with lustre, and 1909 GVF.

I still have all the ones worth keeping, but have shed most of the dreck.

Sorry I missed the question to me. I manage to build a significant part of my collection as I was only interested in date runs at time, no that I'm not still. I don't think I have any of the original collection left know as I have been exstensively upgrading in the past 3-4 years.

Gary

Thanks for that, chaps. Very interesting. Obviously it was difficult to find high grade older coins direct from change, as might be expected.

You just wonder where those older ones in high grade had actually been before being placed back in circulation by an individual with no numismatic interest or knowledge. Had they been at the corner of an uncleared drawer, in an old suit pocket undisturbed for decades, an old wallet or purse. Or even brought back into the country by foreigners, to spend, after their first visit many years previously ?

The only "free find" I ever had was an 1890 penny in about EF with some lustre remaining round the lettering, which was at the bottom of a Victorian grandmother clock I bought as recently as 2006. I made the discovery whilst shining a torch inside, checking for woodworm holes. It was slightly stuck to the floor for some reason, which I presume was why it hadn't previously been discovered, and has what I think are oil stains ~ but not too badly & I've still got it. It was a real thrill finding it though, and I speculated that it might well have been in the same spot for over 100 years

[1949threepence 3,366]

yea same with the collection i got, my great grandad saved em up in 67... sout of what? 200-250 coins majority was average grade, nothing special in there, some nice reverse 1908s (only fine those reverses)a fine grade 1900 but there was an 1860 and an 1861 and 1864 serif 4(all very worn, i might show you those.. well the 61 is unidentifiable but the 60 is maybe just about and the 64 is..well a 64).

So many of those older bun pennies still in circulation, were just worn away to a flat metal disc, with an unreadable date. Even so, it'd be interesting to see them if you have the time to upload, scott.

[scott 129]

[scott 129]

these are a few, not uploaded them all

if anyone can identfy these, the 1908 date spacing looks good though

Edited October 11, 2009 by scott

[1949threepence 3,366]

Thanks for your time and effort with those uploads, Scott. For the bun pennies, a testament to the amount of hammer they received in over 100 years of circulation. A quite remarkable innings if you think about it.

The 1908 date spacing question might be better addressed by someone with more specialist knowledge than me.

[scott 129]

yea, the date spacing isn't really a question, i think it just adds to the overall niceness of the piece

i think halfpennys got off worse though can get edward VII with as much wear as bun head penny and george V shillings too :/

some old head pennies

[scott 129]

some come out slightly better grades then others, still plenty to go at

[scott 129]

yet some come out very worn

[scott 129]

although this one is quite nice