Chris Perkins

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.

Yes, the 'Claim of Right' is scarcer, worth about £5 in perfect condition.

No they r not worth anything! Apart from face/metal value. Those are all common dates. In average normal circulated condition they are not significant and most of the country seem to have a stash of the exact same coins in the loft! :-S

Yes, I'll certainly look at the website and see if they work out cheaper than the small jiffy bags I currently use. If I were going to supply them, I'd also want to use them myself.

Coincraft have them? I didn't know they dealt in such valuable items! ;-)

I've heard it before and seen it on slabs and the like, so ner! I suppose it doesn't literally mean the coin is red, but it does basically indicate a high level of original lustre. They use the term 'brown' too for EF or even US AU coins that don't have lustre.

Yes, sorry, I ought to put something on rotographic.com. I'm delaying it slightly this year, probably until December as I have some of the 2009 edition that I'd like to at least partially sell out of first. I had too many printed after the success of the 2008 edition (with the free coins, which did very well).

And as for decimal coins, they were minted every year (apart from some that came later on and the half pence that ended!) but many of the 70/80s dates especially were just struck to go into year sets and not made for general circulation. So they exist, but can be hard to find.

Did he! He's never mentioned it to me. A very good Rotographic book customer.