Chris Perkins

And the undated 20p's are not, and have bever been collected back by the Royal Mint. They were purchased by a private company that like to sound as if they have some affiliation with the Royal Mint!!! I have to tell people this a lot. The Royal mint confirmed that they had made the mistake, but they had no interest in calling them in.

What to sell? If so, I'll have it.

I don't think I pulled Steve apart, or anyone else. You're alright aren't you Steve? Actually, the other day I did seach on ebay for something and ordered it by highest price first. I was looking for a decorative (preferably original) London Street sign. Doing a normal search revealed tons of crud items, key rings, mugs and other junk for tourists. It was only when I ordered it by highest price first did I actually see some real street signs!

Oh, calm down....and welcome chocca. Chocca's on the block. I didn't tell him he was a fool....merely that he was making a fool of himself. No one can sue me for that! Even the most intelligent, smart and knowledgeable man can sometimes make a fool of himself. ;-) But what serious numismatist would bother contacting a man that has a green coin on ebay, uses not the very best pictures, has feedback of 43, has never sold anything for more than about £20 and starts it at a shade under £10m!? I certainly wouldn't, had I not got to know Steve a little in here first. I hope it was a free insertion day!

£10m!!!! Is he having a laugh? Are you having a laugh? Even if it is a '5', which is debatable, it could potentially be compared with the 1863 pennies with numbers below the dates, like the one with the '5' below the date, which sold for £18,000 and was properly verified etc. No British coin has ever been sold for that much and whoever looks at that listing will just laugh at you Steve and click on the back button straight away! In fact, if it is the real thing (which, again, is debatable) you may well of ruined your chances of ever selling it because people will think.....oh here comes the £10m joker, hide, quickly! Do the homework properly Steve, before you make a fool of yourself like that. Send it to Dr Kevin Clancy at the Royal Mint and see what he says. Or send it to this man http://www.coinauthentication.co.uk/ and tell him I sent you.

"The Provincial Token Coinage of the 18th Century" by Messrs Dalton and Hamer is the one to get. There are various imprints, many of them US publications. They show a rarity scale, no values, but it's pretty comprehensive. Or, "The Silver Token Coinage" for the rarer silver tokens, this one is by Dalton on his own. Or for something more up to date (as a rarity scale....again, no values) have a look here: http://www.unsogno.net/conders/bibliography.htm Search that page for 'Sriro'. That's Dr G Sriro, who is very up on those tokens! I used to sell his CD's before he paniced after one got put on ebay and then he pulled the plug. I don't know if that 2006 info is still current, or even if he's still selling it.

Please post pictures. And if selling, I'm buying!

Good points! I've checked and the 2009 edition still refers to the GEORGIUS being on the reverse! I'll check and see what was originally meant and will out that right for 2010.

I couldn't resist coining that term for the UNTO YO! Pleased it caught on at last.

And I don't suppose much hammered gets found in New Zealand!

I'll take it for £60 Russ.

They are all long gone now!

It's not something stuck on, definitely something incuse in the die.

Yours is a blob. Mine's definitely a '1'!

And don't overlook the 'E' for Edinburgh mint mark under the bust!

Lets hope others come to light after reading this so we can compare images.

It's very difficult to stick a raised number onto a coin after it's been struck! A raised device has to be in negative on the die.

It could be an iindiscriminate blob, I don't deny it! The fact it's raised and also that others have also reported a '1' in that position stacks the evidence slightly against it being a random blob. I'm sure I read somewhere that someone had been in touch with the RM and that they had admited there were 20p's from the very first batch with a '1' on them! Wish I could find it.

On the reverse at the bottom, right in the middle where the design part meets the blank rim. See image! It's a raised '1' which appears to have also caused a die crack running above and below it.

I think it was me that bought the coin with the '1'! It's probably rarer than the dateless coin, but that could be due to the fact that the dateless one is easy for the layperson to see. There may well be the same amount of '1' coins out there, but no one is looking for them. And, even if they were looking for them, a die number (if that's what it is) is much less spectacular than a mule. Did I not read something somewhere to the effect that the RM also acknowledged the 'number 1' 20p at about the same time as they acknowledged the dateless mule?? I'd be relunctant to send it off though. Did you send them high re pictures of it? As for the metal mix or finishing of the blanks, instinct tells me that a bad mix etc leading to an odd tone wouldn't really stir up much extra interest. Even with a letter from the mint, it's just a slight flaw leading to a differently toned coin. Worth a couple of quid as an oddity perhaps.

If it's a real 'off metal' strike (i.e. a 5p on the wrong blank) then it's more interesting that some other types or errors. It's worth more than 5p but unlikely to be worth more than a few pounds. Can you post pictures?

Assuming it was a cock up!

I'm pretty sure Germany is doing commemorative '20th aniversary of the Berlin Wall junk'......no doubt called something like Der Berlinermauerzwanzigstejahrestagscheisse, but I suppose it can also be seen as an event of international significance too, even if it had no effect whatsoever on the Isle of Man. At least plates can be used as plates! I bet, as usual, that none of the 1000 coins that they make (if they can find 1000 mugs to buy them) will have ever been on the Isle of Man! I get rather annoyed when people mistake this crud for some form of coin collecting or numismatic persuit.

Whoopee! I hate all of the modern IOM not circulation commemorative issues with a passion! That little country, in conjunction with the Pobjoy mint, churns out more commemorative rubbish than China....and look how big China is (and they churn out a lot of rubbish too)! In 2 or 3 years that palladium coin will be worth exactly the same as all the other IOM issues = Bullion value.

A small coin featuring a number 3 with a crown above it is a threepence! Usually worth about 20p for the silver content....being relative tidlers. Halfcrowns are much larger at about 32mm dia and much thicker.