Leaderboard

Its funny a short while back I remember Mike showing us his new found f164 and saying just how hard it is to find one above EF , and I must admit I was thinking at the time that my own example was only about VF, then low a behold this turns up . A few bag marks , but for £23 .

You've told everyone now Jon. That one wont be cheap.

Not for me Mike, the penny lots at DNW soar way beyond both estimate and budget. And If I was, I'd not be telling everyone.

My F164a was on here posted some years back, it was better than my F164 until this latest find.

I have a bag of .500 and .925 silver coins weighing close to 1kg taken from circulation. I'm sure lots of other people have hoarded them.

I somehow doubt a reclamation rate of 90% too - from memory the British West African withdrawal rate was around 90% for two shillings coins (the highest rate for any denomination). I suppose some of the survivors would be too worn to identify (probably not a whole lot though - 60 years of circulation has left plenty of half-decent coins) and I suppose a fair few would have been sent overseas. I'm sure plenty of British pennies ended up in Australia and New Zealand at least and I think the average collector here in Australia isn't too bothered with Freeman numbers.

I think that the existing bronze population is diminishing daily. Going to melt. I've read a post from Rob, that he picks out the obvious ones, open 3's, 169's, etc. The rest are melted. Paddy advertised back in November, 43kg combined bronze, that , in the end went for melt. All the good stuff being put aside. As you know, I'll buy bulk via eBay, at slightly above melt price, hoping for something tasty. Generally to no avail. The rest go to melt. I'll not eBay them because I'll end up buying them back at some point, from an ebayer who's doing the same thing. However, on a positive note, all of the coins that I scrap are washers. Last year, a 275kg lot yielded a Gouby X. Recent lots, a Gouby X and a 164a. That's all. Even these were lower grade coins. Take the F98 I have listed at mo. Best I've found, but is it really of any interest. I doubt it. All the cream has been removed and is in the safe hands of collectors such as yourselves. I think that the available penny supply is reducing rapidly. 50 years of people sifting through coins and melting their rejects, to recoup their outlay, must have taken a huge toll on the remainder that the RM didn't recycle.

Don’t forget casual losses, judging by detecting finds, could easily amount to a few per cent, and unofficial melt post decimalisation could also account for many. As you say, the actual numbers available to collectors will be a fraction of many of those estimates. Jerry

Fortunatly not many people live in the area. Cyclones on the east coast are a different matter.

I love the fact that on yours the date is readable ! On my example (similar grade) it's too weakly struck to be clear. Think it was probably an afterthought by the engravers...or they just didn't leave enough space and then panicked because their punches were too large ??

Upgrade just landed