All Activity

I just received this 1775 Halfpenny coin included in a bulk purchase of pennies. Without any knowledge about this series it looks like it could be a contemporary Counterfeit? What do you think please a genuine coin or Counterfeit? It's the legends that made me think it's a counterfeit. It weighs 8 grams exactly. Thanks

Already in progress!

Sorry to hear of Andrew passing away. It was Jelida who mentioned him, I was replying by asking the question about the 3/2 Penny. Would it be worth contacting the school in the off chance the collection is at the school it would be interesting to see is the 1903/2 is present in the collection.

Cor blimey ! I think you done very well indeed. Sorry to hear this about Mike. If the house was broken into its probable the collection was stolen such a shame😟

Interesting you mention A R Alexander. I don't believe he published any books and we worked out a while ago that he was "Father Andrew Alexander" - a priest at the school I was at! I knew when I was there that he collected coins and his interest and advice on my measly collection helped me get started. I had no idea he was such an authority on pennies at the time. He passed away only a few years ago at the school. I have no idea what happened to his collection - it may have passed to relatives or still be in possession of the school.

Over many years of looking I have seen two 1890's with low 90 on ebay. One of these was low grade, which I couldn't bring my self to buy, so I informed a collecting colleague.......and he bought it. I found the one pictured below much more recently, and was pleased to acquire it for under £70. I think they are rare. By the way, I never did get any reply from Mike Hopkins relatives. The nearest relative was found by heir hunters to be living in Canada, and I asked the appointed Solicitor to pass on my contact details so that I could ask them if Mike's collection had formed part of the inheritance. This was because his house had been broken into after he passed away suddenly (in his house). Also, no one seemed to know if his collection was in safe custody, or in his house. I wonder whether we will ever get an answer to that; it was a fine collection!

The coin on the right is the LCA coin. The image of the other coin looks washed out its just the poor quality images and I think it would look much the same as the LCA coin. If you can find the scans great thanks !

Makes sense thank you for explaining this.

Yes, I would have to doubt the existence of a 1903/2 penny at present particularly as the author didn’t show a photograph. I’ll have to find the original article-it might have been an April Fool! Jerry

I was just looking at the 1893 3 over 2 Gouby BP1893B to try and learn what to look out for concerning the 1903 3 over 2 and I can't really see anything obvious concerning an underlying 2. Surely somebody would of come across something by now?

Don’t forget that with commission and postage the purchaser will have paid over £80. But these sort of scarcities rarely appear on the market attributed and most of us find them unattributed at coin fairs, Ebay etc when prices will tend to be lower. The LCA example is the only advertised example I can recall. The value is only what two interested buyers would offer on the day. Would I pay £80 for the LCA coin? Probably not, as a better one will turn up eventually. But £40? Maybe. The 1903 ‘open 3’ and 1911 ‘Gouby X’ are available in low grade much more freely now than twenty years ago, and the prices have fallen dramatically. But for VF and higher there will be a lot of competition; most of these C20th varieties are only really rare and valuable in the higher grades. Low grade ‘H’ and ‘KN’s are cheaper now than they were when I collected as a kid in the ‘70’s. I will try and scan the articles I mention. Jerry

If it's not too much trouble I would be interested to see any information. I appreciate that thank you very much. Did V R Court or A R Alexander write/publish any books? I will have a look see if I can find anything. That would be my single biggest purchse at £40 for the folder to obtain the BP1890Aa. Having already checked the 1881 H in the folder is not a 9+M Im not sure many other nice surprises could be found within. The reason I'm asking is because Im going by the example sold at LCA for £60 and I dont know if this value for that grade is high or low for the type I'm assuming high. As I say I have been searching for one for a while now without any success. Although I have not looked for an attributed example. Many thanks

Yes it would be rather interesting to know how it was calculated. I'm really sorry to hear that. I just posted to a post without looking at the date talking about the 1915 recessed ear which I beleive Mike Hopkins started and Paddy informed of his passing. RIP @1949threepence thanks.

These figures are taken from a series of articles published in ‘Coin Monthly’ in August, September and November 1972 and possibly other months as my photocopy only covers up to 1946; ‘Major Varieties of UK pennies 1902 - 1967 giving estimated mintages ‘ by V R Court. I probably have the originals in my workshop, and could check over the next few days. There are also articles in ‘Coin Monthly’ in 1976 and 1977 by A R Alexander which you may find interesting , though like the above mostly dealing with 20th century pennies. I also have a photocopy of an article by Mr Alexander where he discusses a 1903/2 penny he has recently acquired. Not heard of since, afaik. Again I am likely to have the original magazines in store and will see if I can find them. I would think that the 1890 penny is worth the money if it floats your boat. Jerry

I'd love to know how those figures were obtained. I got my 1890 'low 90' courtesy of a tip off from Mike Hopkins, a rather nice humorous gentleman ( "1949 Threepence" ) who frequented this site until we lost him a couple of years ago. I wish we'd met.

In another post on this forum I found the following information; 1903 open 3 37,300 1908 F164a 55,550 1909 F169 23,200 1911 Gouby X 188,000 1926 ME 107,750 1946 dot 384,200 In which book or source of information could I find these figures for all types if it even exists? Thanks

Penny 1890 with low 90 in date, 14 teeth date spacing, Gouby BP1890Aa VG/Near Fine, Rare I have seen this variety described as rare and or scarce. I found one BP1890Aa inside a lot as part of a whitman folder. I messaged the seller to ask for Obverse/Reverse images of the 1881 H from the folder to check to see if its a 9+M which obviously it wasnt.. I cant decide if the asking price for the folder is a resonable price given the only coin of interest in the folder is the BP1890Aa. I saw one low grade example of the BP1890Aa sold at LCA for £60. The seller is asking £40 for the album. How rare or scarce is the BP1890Aa please ? I have been searching for one for a while now without any luck.

I'm really sorry to hear that. RIP @1949threepence Once I receive the coins I will share images yes. Obviously the recessed ears stick out with the broken tooth and cant mistake the open 3. I wasnt sure afterall on the 1911 Gouby X, it looks good to me I have attached an image.

Well done! Will we see pictures? By the way, you have resurrected a very old thread and the last poster, back in January 2019, @1949threepence, has since passed away and is a much missed member of the forum.

Today I found and purchased three 1915 recessed ear coins and one 1903 open 3. To find the three I looked at probably 50 odd coins. And one 1911 Gouby X

The obverse is a bit messy in the legend, so it appears to be an overmark - Bell over E rather than a 5th issue marked die recycled. This due to double striking looking at the SINE part of the reading

Frankly, I couldn't give a damn. Value of a blocked die 5p to me? £1 or £2 if I had gone to the effort of putting it in a 2x2 and writing a label.

It may well have been Steve Lockett's. He collected sixpences and would likely have hoovered up the surplus from the frequent offerings of mint rolls that occur. I know Alex Anderson had a roll of 1905s. Beautiful coins, every single one and all came back with big numbers after slabbing.

interesting....a random guess,,, could it be by chance Western Ganga Dynasty? 1 Fanam... this would be gold....a ultra rare coin if correct , seeing the other side would be beneficial. 👍

Welcome to the forum! Difficult to say what that is from the picture you have posted. I think I see an owl, which might take us to ancient Greece, but I may be seeing things. Can you get better close up pictures of both sides? An accurate weight would also be useful