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I haven't picked up any new pennies for quite a while, but this 1926 ME was a slight upgrade and cheap, so I bought it:

I was on an Army exercise in Australia's Shoal Water Bay, North of Brisbane in 1982 using HF radios. We kept getting other people cutting across our broadcasts - it took us a while to work out it was a US Army exercise in Texas! Unfortunately they couldn't hear us, so we had no conversation.

Widely known I am just a nut LOL

I'm pretty certain it is around 398 - that would be all of the 400 sovereigns struck on the day of Prince George's 1st birthday less the 2 that didn't sell (there was a maximum coin mintage of 400 with only 398 released). Hi Rob, from memory the appearance is most definitely proof ie highly polished blank on one side only which has been struck at least twice so I assume the different proof / non-proof strike is deliberate. What dies were used I've no idea. I say deliberate as I think this also took place on the double sovereigns of the same year and also on other sovereigns of recent years. Probably not a mule but that is what the grading companies and many dealers have labelled it (PCGS describe the coin as "mule - incorrect obverse die"). The Royal mint describe the coin as BU in the corresponding booklet. Hope this helps.

Yes HF propagation can amaze us. A few watts of ERP can be heard clearly over 1000s of Km. Not so easy at VHF as the radio waves penetrate the ionized layers surrounding the earth. Meter showers and solar storms can enhance the ionized layers to allow propagation over long distanced. When I was working for the Dept. of Aviation we had a troposcatter link between Point lookout in Northern NSW to Mt. Glorious to the West of Brisbane about 3 to 400 km. In this case a high power microwave transmitter was aimed at the troposphere to graze it. Sufficient power was received at the far end to complete the link. This link worked reliably for many years carrying radar and communications over the distance. From memory it operated at about 2 GHz using a Traveling Wave Tube (TWT) as the transmitter tube. As it happens I live in Brisbane at a place called Redcliffe which is on the shore of Morton Bay.

Its been about {way too many years} since I did anything that wild. But then that was USB on a Tristar 747, with a 400w burner, Sadelta base mic and hygain something 18ft antenna.....

All the 1953 pennies were struck for the sealed plastic set that you still see thousands for sale now.In the 1960s the ones taken out would of been very few due to plenty tatty ones from all the previous years being used instead due to little value.

The original fake copper pennies were easy to spot with their shiny surfaces but it appears they're being produced with a more "lifelike" finish which is harder to spot. The coin below has already attracted several bids (although the starting price should be a clue) but is a modern copy. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1843-Large-Penny-Queen-Victoria-UNC/174046700799?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160811114145%26meid%3De054dda566274366a6b0092fb5fbe2f0%26pid%3D100667%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D174046700799%26itm%3D174046700799%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2045573&_trksid=p2045573.c100667.m2042 If in doubt - count the teeth - 175 on the genuine obverse, 180 on the fake.

I'm not sure that at least a portion of the hairlines are die prep - I don't see them carrying over on to the devices or lettering. However, I do agree that they are very temperamental - or maybe worse. Some of their coins graded "62" need to be looked at as sometimes they are really nice!

The fields look photoshopped to me... And yeah, there seems to be a lot more leniency for high end coins or major rarities. You just need to flip through a Heritage auction catalog to see the sorts of things which PCGS or NGC will grade straight despite serious problems.

Agreed - Spink archive is a complete mystery to me. Never found a thing on it yet. ETA: just searched for an auction, found it in the list and clicked on it. Got this:- Not Found (#404) We couldn't find what you were looking for "New and improved" apparently......

£1100 hammer.......

Looks like someone made a hole and then plugged it.

Thanks Dave - if by some remote chance you have a spare first and second issue, from November and December 1966, plus the following:- From 1967 January, February, March, April, May, June, September From 1968 March, May, September. Once again thanks for any of the above you might hold as spares. ETA: if you do, let me know what you want for them.

Yes, first information may not have been duly recorded, or lost (with all the changes of ownership of the mint, etc.), and then gathering whatever left a problem. I think initially most info was reported to Krause, and then that seemed to stop. I am with you and would love to have such. The RM also difficult with information at times.