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Hello. This 1954 unique circulation penny was recently sold by Bernie Workman through Sovereign Auctions. In November 2024. I saw some speculation on this forum as to who the buyer might be who purchased this penny and a number of the other pennies at the same auction - and whether it may have been bought by an American investor. (I think it was someone called Secret Santa asking). Well i can put your mind at rest that i am neither American nor an investor - i am a private British collector who has specialised in primarily bronze circulation pennies for over 50 years (though i do now have quite a nice collection of copper pennies too). If you had designs on buying it you may actually have preferred an investor to have bought it, for as a collector i virtually never sell anything, and this penny will hopefully not be sold again or seen again, apart from being able to be viewed over the internet. I do believe that i have probably the finest collection of bronze pennies in the world (including the museums), though one or two of you may challenge that assertion, but my collection also includes one of the only 2 available 1933 circulation pennies and a host of other R19 and R20 pennies. Although i don't ever sell any of my coins as a rule, i am more than happy to share the collection with you through a link on here if anyone is interested in viewing it. Just let me know.

Well that’s some claim CPC and phenomenal to have you on here and in touch with us all! Wow, without being overbearingly starstruck, that’s quite something, and great news to hear these Great British coins are still gracing a UK collection. 🙏

Yes, further examination of coins reveals that, apart from a few (rare ?) 1889 F127 pennies with missing serifs, F127s plus 1890, 1891 and some 1892 pennies were all struck with obverse R* and then reverted partway through 1892 to obverse R which was then used until 1895 when the veiled head obverse was introduced.

All in with commissions, etc. was 2880 USD. I wonder what would be high or low for such a coin, and would it vary if sold at another venue such as in the UK.. Or is it an unloved series as I suspect. I would imagine that would be the case though I suspect that there could not be more than. a couple out there in total = RARE. This coin was not demonstrated to exist prior to this coin and no idea of the provenance.

Several days ago, Heritage USA had a sale and in it was a specimen of the 1962 halfcrown in proof. I was rather astonished and had assumed it might not exist in commercial channels as I had never seen one on the market before, nor seen one period. Perhaps such coins escape much interest as they certainly are not gold or even silver; also currency versions are easily had. Anyway, just wondering if anyone has seen or heard of such before?? How about any other proof half crowns from 1963 to 1967? Heritage Auction 3122: Lot 34640 Coin graded proof cameo 63. I will see if I can post pictures in thread to follow.

A little late to this (I had it noted to come back to) but well spotted - I am still amazed that after all this time, more varieties keep coming out of the wood-work. When obverse 2* was discovered a few years ago I was surprised and thought that surely had to be it.

I thought the early ones were 80% silver but possibly the later ones were devalued to 50%. They should all be silver I believe.