All Activity

If you're in Preview on a Mac, go into the Tools menu, then Adjust size...

OK - in the Phaidon series by Elizabeth Hallam as editor I find I also have "Chronicles of the Wars of the Roses" which covers Richard II in 1377 to Richard III in 1485. By Publisher Heinemann and collated by Anne Savage there is a great translation of "the Anglo Saxon Chronicles", which covers from the end of the Roman occupation to Henry II. I find this particularly useful as many TV documentaries quote the Anglo Saxon Chronicles in snippets, so it is good to be able to see them in full translation. (The chronicles were written by a series of monks over hundreds of years in old English, and were usually recorded withing only a few years of the actual events, so reasonably contemporaneous.)

Windows is covered above, but on Mac OS X the free bundled Preview will resize an image and let you know the file size in Kb.

Thanks everyone, I this is all now clear so I’m starting separate Vic Copper spreadsheets! Great forum. I’ll be back with more questions…

Oh LOL! Real forgery or Photoshop?

No its a penny with an Altered date.

thanks - although I meant the one in the photo PWA 1967 posted above…

Yes please - PM me.

Looking at the size of the legend characters I would say it's a farthing (though not so easy to tell from an angled picture) . A halfpenny is just a bit smaller than the later florin, the farthing is roughly the size of a 6d.

Definitely a halfpenny. The easy way to tell is to look at the size of the legend characters in relation to Victoria's bust - on the halfpenny they're proportionately much bigger than on the penny.

I see everyone laughing! But to be totally clear, please bear with me and help correct my Cu-era Vic coinage ignorance LOL - I presume that’s a ’38 halfpenny?

Indeed, thanks - see reply below explaining how I made the mistake 😞

Yes, I realise this now, thanks! Problem was two fold: 1. it’s not my usual era; 2. I was working from a photograph with no size reference of 10 coins I offered to check for someone. AND… I now need make some new Vic pre-1860 copper spreadsheets and check the coins from that era I that do have!

Not the best example but an unusual pairing. Withers 411 Bradford Workhouse counterstamp on a Samuel Fereday Bilston token.

Thank you very much @Paddy and @HistoricCoinage ! If anyone wants to add anything please, do keep 'em coming!

It's a farthing. You are probably being misled by the size which is only a bit bigger than decimal pennies today. Victorian copper pennies were huge!

If anyone is still after this let me know i have a digital copy you can have. Stu.

Yes, the legend spacing is quite different between pennies and halfpennies. See my websites below for pictures.

Yes your spot on Paddy, although what about this one 😂

Something is wrong here I think. There shouldn't be any 1838 pennies? Are you perhaps looking at a halfpenny instead? Both farthings and halfpennies for 1838 exist. (The changeover from Copper to Bronze means the copper halfpenny is larger than the corresponding bronze halfpenny, so an easy mistake to make.) Check the dimensions and weight of your coin.

I maintain spreadsheets for all my collection (specifically predecimal bronze and brass from 1860) but recently offered to look through some early Vic pennies, among which is one dated 1838. I keep the mintage figures in my spreadsheet, but cannot find a figure for the 1838 penny from my usual sources, although there appear to be a few examples around. Can anyone point me to an authoritative mintage figure for the English 1838 copper penny? Some other scarce dates in this batch of 10 seem to have overprinting (or have been tampered with) so I might come back with more queries.

I have more often had sellers who went "oops, I can't find the coin I sold you. I have X if you're interested in it instead". Nothing expensive (most recently a 1981 Bailiwick of Jersey "Square" Pound and offered a Guernsey Type set in it's place) but annoying nonetheless.

This happens more than you may think , i have had two since CHRISTMAS were the seller has sent me a different coin. I also purchased two from a major coin auction not long ago, paid my invoice to be told a couple of hours later i couldnt have them and my money refunded 😂. I believe they are nearly all caused by busy bodies telling sellers what they have who probably already have one. This one the seller was probably told ? as otherwise why would he just swap one coin that was the only one worth anything.One i bought the seller just said he used a stock picture and sent me one similar and the same year. The other a farthing he said he had mixed the two pictures up of both sides., which wasnt correct as the coin that arrived was nothing like the one pictured. I know longer expect to receive any that were not attributed untill they arrive, sad but as long as people keep telling sellers it will continue.