blakeyboy

Mine is even better condition, and was a 1/10 of that price, and came with a certificate of authenticity signed by David Attenborough, in an oak presentation box made by Viscount Linley. Your turn Pete.

I'm sure someone mentioned they were looking for a BP1898B penny- the one with the different '8'... I think I have one to spare. Anyone needing one?

I was working at a Pro Audio dealer in London, and I told one of the Techs there that the power amp on my studio monitors sounded fast and clean and happy one day, then would sound slow and unresponsive for ages.... I told him that I'd found out that they had bipolar transistors. 0.000001% of the population get this joke, and 0.00003% of them find it funny........

I was the 'tech in the basement' most Saturdays.... I did the record cleaning on that Keith Monks machine. It made an indescribable difference.

I worked with West Midlands Audio in Worcester in the late 80's- early 90's, and the nice guy from the company was always in having coffee. We seemed the nearest dealer and we sold loads. Lovely sounding little amp. The only alternatives really were the Creek and the Nytech.

OMG keep me away.

Does this mean you have to be quite good at say, piano?

If I were fortunate enough to end up with this place, it would have a recording studio in in by the end of the month!!!!

I liked this boat on Mull, particularly because it was at the same set of colours as its surroundings....

A F76 like yours went on Flea Bay for £450 about six years ago- i missed it and I'm still annoyed....!

Yes Pete, 30! I had a feeling that all my big bids on the rare stuff might not work, so I left a pile on other stuff- consolation packet through the door. Cheap open 3 to stop me wanting a VF example.... Here's that F69 that was in a £16 lot a few years back... Sorry about the mark on Victoria's cheek - she was impatient while I was taking the pictures and got a bit lippy....

I bid on 30, and I got 6 of the cheap ones - the others Mike listed above were rather an indication that Pennies aren't dead yet....;) One day a nice F76 will fall out of a tin, like my nice F69 did.... Hopefully. Sorry about the gap - a pig flew in front of the lamp.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VICTORIA-1860-TB-BB-MULE-BRONZE-BUN-HEAD-PENNY-2-B-FREEMAN-9-EXTREMELY-RARE/283515298259?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 I couldn't believe the F76 price- way more than I was prepared to pay for one like that. I'll keep looking....!

I just emailed the seller. I told him how much enjoyment I had got from his listing. You know what? I don't think he will be pleased to hear that, for some reason. I HATE this shit. Ah well, a fool and his money......

I hadn't heard of the 'picaninny' quote, so I hadn't a clue what was meant, except perhaps "Picaninny Watermelon Smiles Letterbox" was either the name of some poor show cat that had hideously pretentious owners, or Jacob Rees-Moggs next child....

He's very good at sleeping, is Frank.... He came in the workshop recently, when I was really busy, him miaowing his head off as usual, pretending he was starving to death, so I quickly grabbed the pack of cat treats, poured some out under his nose, and he looked up like I was an idiot. I was. I'd poured him a neat pile of ground coffee......

Frank the old farm cat having a bit of a kip in the barn.

Wonderful Tenby.

I get that when i'm not helping them....:-)

Really? Are penny values ( poor examples and excellent examples ) really that depressed in real terms? If there is a lull, it surely will pick up again, I think in a few years, not a 'lifetime'... There are new young people collecting...there will always be a supply of the right sort of brain in each generation. Maybe there are people under 20 reading this.......:-)

Oh my God!! I've got loads of these just like in the picture!!! I'm rich, I tell you, rich!!!!! Aston Garage for me tomorrow.. That's 'Garage'----rhymes with 'Farage'........

Never enough...

Ahhh..... Penny Irving.......

Curiously parallel to my business, all this. I restore old studio recording consoles, all one make, British, from 1968 to 1980. I've collected all the parts and console bits I can find for 25+ years. The prices over the last five years have trebled, as people that can't find places to invest their cash join in the feeding frenzy, looking for investments. The good stuff rose first, followed a couple of years later, the average stuff. A nice console now can be £250K...... I'm happy, since my stock of consoles and console parts will give me a pension. However, for example, consider my stock of old audio transformers. What used to be £10 is now £250. Fantastic, you would assume, BUT I now control the world price. If I wanted to sell 300 to buy a really nice car, I would get £100 each, or less, since the _perceived_ rarity is what is keeping up the price. So- what if collectors of good rare pennies sensed that interest rates were going to rise, Swiss banks no longer charge negative interest rates......they'll sell, and all the rare stuff that has never been counted, like F169's all appear at once, and people find that there are actually 50 of them, and the new 30 are all EF+...... Either, collectors buy them up at a good price and flood the market with their old average ones, lowering the price of examples in Fine, or, the flood of EF examples lowers the price of the EF ones......... Maybe.

Yes Pete thanks for reminding me- same in everything- quality always holds up.