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My latest acquisition is a Freeman 17, which is in GEF with some residual lustre. Unfortunately there are some light but noticeable scratches, especially to the reverse, which do detract somewhat. But as it's scarce, otherwise very nice, and I got it for a reduced price, it was worth buying. Another notch on the 1860 and 1861 joint series project bedpost.

Hope you don't mind me rehashing this thread. I have literally in the past week and a half done a similar survey after emptying out my penny jar for the first time in about 2+ years. My findings almost mirror Dave's. For the 2008 I found out of 37 with Portcullis only 1 type 2 and for 2007 out of 46 there were 28 type 2 and 18 type 1, 1991 I didn't have many but out of 8 found 1 type 2. The others are almost exactly the same ratio's. I also found 1 coin which had no sign of rivets, this time a 2007 still with good lustre. I have attached an image below. I am at present trying to put together a full set of decimal pennies from the circulation issues with good lustre..........a lot harder than I thought!! So can we assume that the 2008 type 2 is actually quite a scarce variant?

I have decided to get a poppy lapel pin this year instead of wearing a paper one. (The paper version never survive long with me and I tend to be wearing just the stalk after half a day). The poppy shop has apparently been selling these rather special gold poppies since the summer http://www.poppyshop.org.uk/somme-1916-poppy-lapel-pin.html It's made from brass from shell fuses recovered from the Somme battlefields. The red enamel contains earth also from Somme. Very thoughtful. All proceeds go to the Royal British Legion. Luckily for me, mine arrived right on Remembrance Day. I think I will wear it for a week or two longer as it is discrete enough on the lapel. Then I will probably use it again in future years and just make a donation each time.

Just imagine this scenario: A fair F103 and a fair1877 narrow date are posted to e bay at the same time. Which one will attract the most attention, and the hottest bidding war?

Well according to Michael Gouby, there are 5 known F103's compared to 7 known F90's. As you say, Freeman has the F90 at R18, but classes the F103 at R19. Personally, I do think Gouby has a slight tendency to estimate the number of admittedly very rare coins, on the low side of actuality. As to whether you pay £5k for a fair example of a 103, well personally I wouldn't. The best known specimen is EF, and Gouby has that at £1200 (2009 values). A VF specimen of a 103 went at the Bamford auction in 2006, for £1000 - it can be seen here £5k might be in the ballpark for a fair 1877 narrow date F90, though, as it has a lot more cache than the F103.