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copper123

Did It Follow The Same Formula In The Sixties

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Watching bemused as the revelations in the press on the undated 20p and the low mintage rare kew gardens 50p i wonder did these announcements in the press always follow the same formula , say back in the mid sixties

ie, press announces to the public that 1949 and 1946 threepence coins are rare , hysteria among the general public follows with frantic change checking , leading to there being none of the coins in circulation in three months time.

i surpose there are a few old timers out there who might remember but i am a little too young (thank god for that really , i feel ancient!)

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I'm interested in the 20p dateless articles. Any links?

BTW You think the mint would have analysed the mistake down to the minute and therefore be able to estimate very precisely the total number of mules produced...Really how the hell did this happen in this day and age?!!

Edited by Nicholas

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In the sixties (yes I do remember them, God help me) there was a vague public awareness of KN pennies but not much else. Certainly no press interest. I can't even recall seeing wanted ads for pre 1920 silver until the early 70s.

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I don't recall any great hype about specific coins back then, although I was in my teens at the time. However, I was aware of the popular little book called 'Check Your Change' which was probably more popular then than coin magazines are now, and this, of course, pointed people towards what to look out for, including the H, KN pennies and the rarer dates. I suspect this publication had more to do with particular dates and denominations disappearing from circulation than anything in the press.

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From the 1968 'All Change', which was widely sold in bookstores:

CCF03052014_00000.jpg

Edited by Accumulator

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My Rotographic predecessor even had 'Check Your Change' in petrol stations, it was that popular! 1.75 million copies sold, or something along those lines. He was non-stop printing (on his own printing gear) thousands per day.

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So I would guess press manipulation of the public and their interests in numismatic circles is more a modern thing then , it's not as though the low mintage of the kew gardens 50p was a big secret or anything it's not , i must have picked around 12 or so from change at work over the years , funny enough since the press announcement i have seen none

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While building my 50p collection I bought a kew gardens 50p from eBay, that was about a year a go. It was listed as 'low mintage rare kew gardens 50p' and I was the winning bidder at £3.20. Now that press release came out and the hype has calmed a bit, they're £30 minimum.

It's just funny because the seller I bought from knew how many had been minted, as did I, and we both knew the comparable rarity. But because the news says it's rare, that makes it EVEN rarer? Just glad I got mine when I did so I didn't have to pay the 'press premium'.

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Not rarer, just more popular.

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These days communication and the selling/buying works a lot quicker doesn't it, and therefore people get in a tizzy. Things were slower in the 60s when coin collecting took off (people old enough to have been there may be able to verify), but it was the same principle, e.g. I think 1950 and 1951 pennies were comparatively more expensive back then than they are now. Some would say they are as a result of the 60s still too expensive! And I suppose in the last days of the old money there were a lot of potential 'rarities' over the past 100+ years and people knew that when the decimals came in there would be no opportunity to check for the slightly scarcer coins, so everyone kept them which probably made them harder to find.

As a result of that there are still tons of low grade 1912/18/19 H/KN pennies and they're probably more plentiful that the non H/KN, simply because everyone kept them and the rest got melted! I'm always surprised by the volume of pre 1947 silver coins that come out of the woodwork too, often untouched in sheds/attics for 40+ years until the person that originally put them to one side dies and the heirs discover them when clearing out. I think 90% of all the stuff I get offered (the low grade toot) was originally accumulated in the 60s. I've even heard on more than one occasion first hand, that bank managers were advising customers to keep sealed bags of 1967 pennies!

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These days communication and the selling/buying works a lot quicker doesn't it, and therefore people get in a tizzy. Things were slower in the 60s when coin collecting took off (people old enough to have been there may be able to verify), but it was the same principle, e.g. I think 1950 and 1951 pennies were comparatively more expensive back then than they are now. Some would say they are as a result of the 60s still too expensive! And I suppose in the last days of the old money there were a lot of potential 'rarities' over the past 100+ years and people knew that when the decimals came in there would be no opportunity to check for the slightly scarcer coins, so everyone kept them which probably made them harder to find.

As a result of that there are still tons of low grade 1912/18/19 H/KN pennies and they're probably more plentiful that the non H/KN, simply because everyone kept them and the rest got melted! I'm always surprised by the volume of pre 1947 silver coins that come out of the woodwork too, often untouched in sheds/attics for 40+ years until the person that originally put them to one side dies and the heirs discover them when clearing out. I think 90% of all the stuff I get offered (the low grade toot) was originally accumulated in the 60s. I've even heard on more than one occasion first hand, that bank managers were advising customers to keep sealed bags of 1967 pennies!

1951 English Pennies could be purchased, here in the USA for $10.00 in BU, in the early 1960's! There was a Dealer here that advertised them for 2 or 3 years, in all the coin papers. They were only released in the British Carribean (sp) Islands (Bermuda I think). They were much more plentiful here than in the UK. 1950 Pennies was another story...they were hard to find here for sale.

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Bob

A much hyped date.

Get one in F and it will be rare.

BTW sitting outside in beautiful sun.

England I love YOU.

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Bob

A much hyped date.

Get one in F and it will be rare.

BTW sitting outside in beautiful sun.

England I love YOU.

It's sunny and 75 here today...let the good times begin!

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Watching bemused as the revelations in the press on the undated 20p and the low mintage rare kew gardens 50p i wonder did these announcements in the press always follow the same formula , say back in the mid sixties

ie, press announces to the public that 1949 and 1946 threepence coins are rare , hysteria among the general public follows with frantic change checking , leading to there being none of the coins in circulation in three months time.

i surpose there are a few old timers out there who might remember but i am a little too young (thank god for that really , i feel ancient!)

Yes, there was certainly change checking fever in the 60s, though as a schoolboy in 1967 I came to the hobby right as the insane price rises began to occur. All the key dates, e.g. 1930 / 1925 halfcrowns, all the way down to 1926ME pennies etc, were well known by then, though how much to the general public I wouldn't like to say.

The classic 'emergences' of the 60s were the 1950 and 1951 pennies (see below) that were shipped back from the West Indies in quantity and sold as 'rarities' (you want 1? 10? 100? I kid you not..), then in the late 60s there was the discovery (from 1968 onwards) that certain 1950s cupro-nickel was hard to find, and the prices rose to quite absurd levels.

1951 English Pennies could be purchased, here in the USA for $10.00 in BU, in the early 1960's! There was a Dealer here that advertised them for 2 or 3 years, in all the coin papers. They were only released in the British Carribean (sp) Islands (Bermuda I think). They were much more plentiful here than in the UK. 1950 Pennies was another story...they were hard to find here for sale.

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there were a few colonials

wasnt the 1888 groat a colonial only issue?

i find 1912H to be always better in grade then the other dates from around that period by a good margain.

Edited by scott

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Curiously I found a 1951 penny in a job lot of several hundred pennies from GV-QEII. It must have slipped into circulation in Britain.

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Curiously I found a 1951 penny in a job lot of several hundred pennies from GV-QEII. It must have slipped into circulation in Britain.

I had a schoolfriend who found two 1950 pennies (separate occasions). Sadly I never had enough funds to buy his spare. Having said that, some years later I was able to use my civil service pension to buy an EF example, since upgraded. :)

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Not possible in Britain what with all the changes in coin sizes etc, but just last week I found the oldest coin ever in a coin roll search of coins from the bank - an 1858 Flying Eagle cent, well worn and a bit corroded - but 156 years old! The week previous I found two dimes in a coin machine reject slot at the bank - an 1898 and an 1899. It must have been great to get Victorian pennies in change back in the 1960s, but as evidenced - in the USA if you look enough like I do you will still find older coins hiding here and theres.

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Not possible in Britain what with all the changes in coin sizes etc, but just last week I found the oldest coin ever in a coin roll search of coins from the bank - an 1858 Flying Eagle cent, well worn and a bit corroded - but 156 years old! The week previous I found two dimes in a coin machine reject slot at the bank - an 1898 and an 1899. It must have been great to get Victorian pennies in change back in the 1960s, but as evidenced - in the USA if you look enough like I do you will still find older coins hiding here and theres.

The only bun pennies I found that weren't near flat discs, were the common-as-muck 1890/91/92 in VG (still a thrill to find though!). I was also convinced I had a Poor 1865/3 and spent hours poring over the date with a magnifying glass. Had I known then that the overdate is relatively difficult to see, I would have filed it as a definite. Sadly it went 'west' years ago, so I can't now confirm one way or the other.

It was also good (before 1992) to find the occasional piece of George VI silver in change, though by then all earlier silver had long been hoovered up. Now, unless you're a Kew Gardens or Aquatics or 2008 20p mule hunter, there's absolutely nothing to look for beyond the quite frequent tasteless 'cuds' on modern coins. :(

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Back in 1946 I started collecting pennies. I found H,KN, 50 and 51's all regulars in change. Unfortunately, being a lowly Aircraft Apprentice meant by the time of my graduation, I had spent the lot!!!

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Back in 1946 I started collecting pennies. I found H,KN, 50 and 51's all regulars in change. Unfortunately, being a lowly Aircraft Apprentice meant by the time of my graduation, I had spent the lot!!!

I found all dates of penny 1860 to 1953 in change except 1951 -still a gap in my collection, suppose I should get one someday

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Back in 1946 I started collecting pennies. I found H,KN, 50 and 51's all regulars in change. Unfortunately, being a lowly Aircraft Apprentice meant by the time of my graduation, I had spent the lot!!!

Bet those 50's and 51's were rare in 1946! :D

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Funny enough though the 2009 proof and unc sets are very common and would fetch more or less than issue price a few years ago they are now all the rage on ebay fetching big £££££.

It is actually the circulating 50p coins that are rare , the proofs and to a lesser extent the unc sets really common.

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I got my 50,51& 53 from the coin man on Bury market many years ago.

I bought the 51 and the following week he gave me a 50 & 53.

This was in the early 70's.

Happy days :)

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Back in 1946 I started collecting pennies. I found H,KN, 50 and 51's all regulars in change. Unfortunately, being a lowly Aircraft Apprentice meant by the time of my graduation, I had spent the lot!!!

Wow, your aircraft apprenticeship must have been with the TARDIS, then? :D

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