Chris Perkins

100% a contemporary fake! Fakes from that era (1816 to 1820) are very common. Usually they are copper of brass coins covered with a thin silver wash.

Yes, you're right. £200 was an awful lot of money 50 years ago (when a new large saloon Austin A55 was £685... in 1958).

You think it's better than VF? I'm no hammered expert, but I would have thought it too worn.....willing to learn though.

In my 2002 Coins of Scotland, Ireland and the Islands book it says £250 Fine and £575 VF......Actually, looking again, it's £235 Fine and £525 VF because it has the revaluation stamp of 1578. You can't really call it VF (usually you never can with hammered!) and it does have some flan cracks. To be honest, even though I am no Scottish expert, I would tip that your grandfather had paid too much 50 years ago and that the value today is not much higher, perhaps even the same. What say thee 'Scottishmoney'? (a member here)

The standards are very high! Shockingly high for newbies. For grading British coins check out this book I publish: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0948964...ASIN=0948964839 It's also available on www.predecimal.com and you can see a picture of the cover at the top of the forum. I've sold 600 of these books in 3 months and they go down very well. Great value too for a hardback. Oh yes, if you want a signed one, let me know as the author has some signed copies available (same price).

I think technically the first prefix to see circulation was HC. They also made a special one which was HA so I suppose it's only logical that there was also an HB, even if it wasn't the first to appear. In Collector's Banknotes the HB is included because I think that book was printed later than CYC. Sorry MikeCoin, but I'm afraid you may as well spend it (especially in that condition even though it has clearly had it's serial rubbed).

I'd also tip 2008 as it looks like it's seen plenty of circulation (from the scratching) and I'm not sure if 2009 £1 coins are out there yet. I suppose it's interesting enough to be worth more than £1. I'd offer £5.00. Maybe someone else somewhere would offer more, it's often a bit hit and miss with errors.

I think it's a mint cock up. Struck with a blockage of grease, or not enough pressure, or both.

They are pretty common. I think (again from memory) there is a half lepta and a full lepta. Sounds like yours is the half as it's quite small. Usually they are just worth a couple of quid in average condition. But there may be scarcer dates. Anyone got a Krause (world coin book), mine is not to hand?

Yes, sounds about right. If it has Greek writing and Britannia then I think it hails from the Greek Ionian Islands (from memory).

It has a very weak 'I' too. But it's pretty worn so you may never know for sure what has gone on with the 'L'.

I think it's more likely someone has planed it down just for something to do! British error coins are usually pretty good value (even cheap) so it wouldn't really be worth the effort to try and create one.

Demand dictates price and not everything (not just coins) that is rare is in demand. It fascinating that the mule 20p hype caused so many people to suddenly think they wanted one that the prices went barmy! I see they are down around the £100 mark now. The old design 2008 50p is a nice thing to have, especially in BU if it's difficult to find, but I shouldn't think it will ever make waves. The next edition of Check Your Change will have massively overhauled decimal pricing in it. CCGB is not really about decimal and I must admit the decimal section has been neglected of late.

And don't the blanks already have the rims on them before they are struck with the images? I say that because I have a couple of blanks with rims.

700,000 is indeed very low for a circulating coin, but it's still plenty to go round as there are not 700,000 coin collectors in the UK! The only way it would be worth significantly more is if that so called London Mint outfit go on telly and offer people money for them! It's just like the 1988 £1 coins. A lower mintage, attractive coins....but 21 years later they are worth £1 in circulated condition.

Really. It works for me, I'm going to try after writing this. (And I wrote this using the Edit) What does it do exactly? Does it let you ammend text and then not submit it?

It only gives you 5 mins to prevent people changing what they have written at a later time. So it's all set in stone.

Post a picture. If it's only visible in certain lights then it may not be such a big deal.

Depends on the date/rarity of the sixpence and how the dent affects eye appeal. I would probably price it down (and mention it). By how much really depends how bad it is.

That could just be the light. But seriously, it is so easy to strip the copper off a steel coin. I used to do it as a kid in the early 90s when they first issued copper plated steel coins.

Historically we Brits don't seem to care much for mis-strikes do we! US errors are usually (but not always) expensive, but they also depend on the type of error, type of coin and severity of the error. A blocked die leads to some interesting 'features' but of all the error types I think it's probably one with the least value..... dependant on the coin type/age and severity. And of course, demand; it's basically all down to demand.

To be honest I don't think it's worth spending any money on it! Even as an off metal (genuine error) it may not be worth much more than £10 anyway. Does it look like steel, rather than a 10p which is cupro-nickel and more 'chromey'? It should be slightly magnetic. Do the letters and other details look slightly sharper than a normal one of the same date? If they are slightly sharper then it's an indication that they are missing their thin copper layer.

And is it 1994? If so then it's copper plated steel.....and that's what they look like when the copper has been chemically removed (not hard to do).

I've got a 66 florin which has the entire left hand side legend missing. The Queen is properly struck and the reverse is fine. It's bizaar.

Seen co-author Pam West's website? I don't think there's a forum but she does post news about new issues. http://www.britishnotes.co.uk/