All Activity

The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins has been in print since 2009, initially as a colour hardback and then since 2014 as a black and white (greyscale) paperback. Some have criticised the black and white images over the years, and rightly so, but re-printing in colour was very costly and I always felt the price of the finished product was too high. But I always felt it deserved to be in colour again, so now, for the first time in about 13 years, a colour version of The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins is available. Price is £20.95 (£2 off the normal £22.95) and it can be pre-ordered here, with delivery later this month and free postage within the UK: https://coinpublications.com/product/the-standard-guide-to-grading-british-coins-colour/

I found my first 1946 ONE' penny today, in the rummage box at Dervaird Farm, Glenluce. It was obverse up on the bottom, looking like it might not have been looked at in years. One of those sublime moments. In view of your message above, I have to thank you for making it an even more desirable coin than it might otherwise have been😉

Update on the imminent next chapter; On other forums, I have received nothing but positive feedback about this coin from respected members whose judgment I value. In fact, to date, not a single person has challenged it. Across these platforms, potentially thousands of people have seen the coin by now, and no one has come forward with an alternative technical explanation to my theory—or even attempted to do so. Ultimately, individual opinions do not matter at this stage; the coin is now out of my hands. The entire matter is being approached objectively from both a historical and a scientific perspective.

In the last 24 days there was only a single post other than this thread in this section of the forum, imo this thread counts as numismatic research and all the information is relevant to the subject.

looks like someone was trying to make an undated one .......

Thank you for your help

Rare ? No chance there was about 60 million made

The problem is the banks no longer take them for exchange, so if impaired in any way, their value has actually reduced to the scrap cupro-nickel price. As with many commemoratives, they were hoarded, so there is no point in getting a worn one if you want it in decent grade. If I can get £3 for a really nice one, I'm happy. Most go in the rummage bin, or the big smelter in the sky.

Technically yes, but nothing out the ordinary. If a die is filled with grease (because they are stored that way before use to stop oxidation), then it won't compress when striking coins leading to weak or missing detail. This happens frequently as they use a lot of dies. If the flan is slightly thinner at one point, then it likely means it has been cut from the edge of a sheet, which depending on the amount of metal left for the last sheet say in the batch, could simply run out of metal to use. The sheets for making flans will be squeezed between 2 rollers to get the right thickness, which eventually must result in insufficient metal to fill the gap. It has curiosity value for many, but is a feature that's regularly seen. Someone might pay you a pound or two for it plus postage. For added zeros, put it on ebay and say the decimal point wasn't struck up. I'm sure someone will fall for it.

Hi sorry does that mean it’s a mint error

found in my change today 2025 by the way

Hiya - thanks guys. Rare in the sense that they are no longer in circulation and therefore not legal tender. I know many were made at the time though. yeah when I filtered eBay to items that had actually sold, it seems they don’t go for more than £3-£10 unfortunately. oh well….

Or to put it another way. Face value + (£1/ebay price).

It will either be the dies blocked with grease, or more likely given the weakness to both sides, a weak strike or a non-uniform/standard thickness flan. Weight?

If mint 'error' or just worn? I think it's probably been weakly struck with the result that some detail is not properly formed.

They aren't rare. I have no idea what crazy nonsense is on eBay for them, I suspect it's people asking silly prices, money laundering, the usual rubbish (but not actually genuine sales). We have that one valued at £1 in normal used condition in the Check Your Change app: https://www.checkyourchange.co.uk/the-app/

This could be for you, then? 26066 - Historical Documents, Autographs and Ephemera Pre-bidding begins: 28 August 2026 @ 17:00 Live bidding begins: 23 September 2026 @ 11:00 Lot #: 1016 Title: King Charles I in Oxford 1642 (19 Jan.) letter from Oxford signed at top "Charles R" to Sir Wil... Estimate: £1,500 - £2,000 Description: King Charles I in Oxford 1642 (19 Jan.) letter from Oxford signed at top "Charles R" to Sir William Pennyman reading "We doe hereby give you full power and authority for us and in our name without our county of Northampton, to search for, sieze upon, and take into our custodie all such money, plate, armes, amunicon and horses as you shall receive informacon or find to be remayning in the custody of any person or persons who have contributed any money, plate armes horss or other provision towards the maynteyning the war against us ... that you from tyme to tyme give us an exact account what you have seized, that so owee mai give speedy order for the disposall thereof ... ". An impressive document with dramatic contents illustrating the difficulties in raising funds for the Crown, and the fear that towns would fall to the Parliamentarians. Some usual edgewear otherwise fine. Notes: Pennyman had been a member of parliament for Richmond, Yorkshire, but on the outbreak of war raised a troop of horse and regiment of foot to join the King at Nottingham, fighting at Edgehill. In 1643 he was appointed Governor of Oxford, but died later in that same year. Subject to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium. For more information please view Terms and Conditions for Buyers. More information can be found here. https://live.spink.com/lots/view/4-ML0WY8 Download the SpinkLive app for yourself -- available from the iTunes App Store (null)

Hiya Could anyone give me any info on this rare 1973 50pence hands coin? I have been trying to get a legitimate value on it but am getting very varied results on eBay etc. Any ideas? In decent condition but not sure how to grade it properly? Many thanks 🙏🏻 ☺️

like wise, I will go off for a look see 👍

Just wondering if anyone can help trying to figure out of mint report or just worm

A pound, and better spent than hoarded given its condition. I assume it is genuine and not a copy?

Plenty, but I don't want to take over the thread and quite a few are shown elsewhere. I have approx 2 dozen in the collection with different reasons for the various errors as made.

Awesome faults , great to see these 👍 any others ?

Is this coin worth anything?