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That is true about the 1861/62 date positioning of the last digit', but some extremely interesting ones do turn up, and I think this to be one .

F114 obverse

With acknowledgements to the seller @oldcopper I'm very pleased to have won this superb 1882H Freeman 114. Surprisingly difficult to obtain - for example only two on LCA site over the past 17 odd years (the other three shown are 115's misattributed as 114's. I've been trying to get a decent one for a number of years. Not room on this post for both sides, so posting obverse on another post.

Excellent example Terry, and agree with you that this is extreme enough to be interesting and more desirable to collectors than most date width varieties. The 1889 Wide Date, pictured below, is another more extreme example. It is also rarer and more desirable than the 1889 Gouby B Narrow Date, which is itself quite sought after.

Meatloaf has recently married an accountant. A spokesman for the newlyweds stated, "She'll do anything for love, but she won't do VAT."

Latest purchase......this leaves just one in the Birmingham series to find. This piece is ex Jan collection

Absolutely essential !!!!

To be honest, there are too many to be interesting IMO. It's always the final digit in the date and nothing else, nothing. It would be like collecting every single variant of 1861 and 1862 pennies where the position, angle, space, slant, of the final digit varies with just about die used. Once you started you'd never stop. No disrespect intended to Michael Gouby but recording all these micro differences as distinct varieties doesn't seem to be a worthwhile exercise. That's my two pennorth anyway.

I have, and trust me, although it may be on the pricey side, it's well worth it. I consider it to be as much of a "bible" as Freeman's book. One of those I look at most days. Although some of his rarity estimates are now out of date, as well as prices. I've also got "The British Bronze coinage 1860 to 1869" by him. Another great source of info. Haven't got Dave Groom's 20th century bronze book yet. Have you found that useful?

Not even VAT Out Of Hell?

In practice I've never seen a forgery of one of those either, difficult with the corrosion and the copper plug, no-one sane would buy a unprovenanced "clean" example. I'd guess it would be much easier to make a quality forgery of e.g. an 18th century American cent or English civil war siege pieces, which in practice are issues you have to be careful with.

More like a couldn't care less strike

Is that what they call in the trade a mis-strike?

That last "1" is so high up it's dug into the exergue line.

If there is some better material among the 2000 pieces you could see if DNW were interested (perhaps split up by geographical period etc.), the fees will take a bite but they can achieve really good results with even mediocre bulk lots in my experience. George Jones in London normally buys bulk lots of coins of pretty much any quality for reasonable prices, although I doubt he's doing much business given COVID19, I can see if I have his business card somewhere if you want.

If anything, that's an understatement....

Talking about Michael Gouby's books - one I have wanted for a long time is "The British Bronze Penny 1860 to 1970", but unfortunately it's sold out on Michael's own website, and I can't find one anywhere else either (Amazon, e bay, other internet search). Will just have to be patient for a specimen to turn up at some point.

Yes, I think I'd soon lose the will to live studying long and short tailed 9's, Wayne. Varieties are interesting, but then there are varieties and varieties. As Chris @Peckris 2 rightly says, there is a limit beyond which the types become ever more random and relatively unimportant. I'm not sure I'd apply that principle to the distant 5 on the 1895, but I certainly would to the final digit "1" on an 1861 reverse G, for example.

That's a very interesting slant on the topic. I must admit spending five hours looking at the number 9 and trying to sort them into long tail and short tail variations on my 220 x Edward VII pennies was going a bit far 🤪 But I am interested in more obvious variations like ones that can be easily detected by the eye. Ultimately, I guess that there is something for everyone in the world of numismatics eh? Best wishes, Weaver (wayne)

Morning Mike, Thanks for your recommendation. Groom's book is handy as it's lightweight, inexpensive and comprehensive but none of the photos featured have useful arrows or other indicators to clearly point out what to look for. Also, all the photos are in black and white from the 2009 edition. All the best, Weaver (wayne)

Could happen anywhere. It's selfishness and stupidity, which isn't necessarily related to shopping habits.

I saw this on the BBC today and wanted to share it somewhere, so why not here as so many people are into photography as well as coins! New book out celebrating Jacques Henri Lartigue - a photographer in the early 20thC from an early age. Some lovely shots... https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-52373308

Sorry (again!) I meant that my 1895 penny is the variation BP1895Bb. Must concentrate harder...🤣 All the best, Weaver (wayne)

As John Cleese said on Monty Python "It makes me mad"

Maybe it was an 8 that was used on another coin that was in production at the same time in the mint for another country, and accidently found its way into the box of fonts used in the production of the British one penny ?

The one on the left is definitely an excellent read - I bought it around ten years ago...the section about the Soho mint's involvement in the Russian coinage is particularly fascinating.

Can't believe what I saw this morning. Drove down to ASDA to pick up some food, cat food and cat litter. Pulled out a trolley from the load, and guess what? - there was a used disposable face mask and a pair of those lightweight plastic gloves in there. Not only incredibly selfish, but whoever it was, unbelievably thick as well. Couldn't see a staff member , so shoved it right out on one side, and used another. Just glad I had one of those small bottles of Purell with me. On the plus side, there was no queue, shop was virtually empty and the shelves were fully stocked.