oldcopper

Thanks! Did he also say it was of similar rarity to the standard? I haven't got Bramah to hand at the moment and maybe my mind's playing tricks on me.

I don't think Peck really gave Bramah his due - perhaps subconscious rivalry? In the Spink Numismatic Circular of 1968 is a letter from a reader announcing a new discovery - A over N in the 1717 dump farthing. He also had a letter from Peck verifying this. But when you go to Bramah you'll see it's one of his main 1717 varieties, with the comment that it is of similar rarity to the standard non-overstrike. Peck died the same year (1968) so his faculties might have be lower than normal, but it seems that he wasn't or had never been aware of a major farthing variety in the only other 20th century book on copper coins.

The last 1860 pattern pennies I recall were in Spink auction Dec 2015, both bronzed beauties, one the Roman date in a curve. Fantastic coins.

It's the forgetting where you hid it that's the problem......

Wasn't something similar sold at auction (St James?) several years ago now?

I have to say the Wiener bust in not pretty, she looks a bit hard. I can't blame Victoria for rejecting it. The reverse would have been incidental as you say.

She dismissed the Wiener shilling bust(s) straightaway.

I don't know of any other bun head penny engravers, considering LCW is signed on both sides at some stage or another. The only other one that I know of was Minton for the rare coronet patterns. The legend and date varieties will have been down to the die sinkers.

You just rail away.

Talking of which, I wouldn't bid on their draped bust James II farthing, especially as its tie ribbons are long and hanging down, and you can see the other side of the cuirass. But apart from that.... Neither would I be tempted by their James II 1687/6 shilling though it's got good detail - it's the one from Sept 2013 DNW sale now brightly cleaned. I should know - I bought it back then, sold it a few years ago. As often happens nowadays, some people take a very reasonable appearance coin (dusky grey here) and turn it into something that might just have fallen out of a Christmas cracker.

Yes, it's funny the best 1918H pennies are also the worst!

It might be that these understrikes survive in relatively pristine condition as they were never issued for circulation. Alternatively someone got hold of a mint roll of these identically badly struck examples from the bank. Either way they all look closely related in terms of striking conditions as they are all similarly under-struck, with the same amount of trident, knee missing, weak bust etc so likely from the same batch. This suggests the striking pressure was under-par to exactly the same extent for a sequence of strikes, and must have been set wrongly, either as an economising experiment or just a simple mistake.

Interesting. I've just looked at the DNW archive and strangely all the BU or NBU ones (of which there are several) are weakly struck missing part of the shaft etc whereas the less lustrous or non lustrous ones are all much better struck. Which is the wrong way round! The best one of the properly struck ones does have a bit of lustre, but the rest are brown.: https://www.noonans.co.uk/auctions/archive/lot-archive/results/338608/?keywords=1918H+penny&x=0&y=0 I wonder if a batch of weakly struck examples failed Heaton's QC and were put away and forgotten about. And here they all are!

You can tell it's an H as well by the terrible strike. Half the trident has gone awol probably due to the severe ghosting. I've got one similar, but your colour is unbeatable! I find the 18/19 H's have paler lustre than the KN's which are deeper orange when still lustred, from the few I've seen.

I vaguely remember plastic facsimile coins when I was young. Forget how realistic they were and they went in the plastic cash till our grandparents had. Ting! Draw shoots open!

I note they've got a lower grade SD Large Rose estimate £4-500. Dave Craddock had one he called GF/NVF for £70, but I only saw his list yesterday and it had gone of course. Sounds comparable.

Do you know what it sold for this time round? Mark Rasmussen also sold this coin on List 9, though it only had "SOLD" next to it in the catalogue, no price. What a tease!

Baldwin's did a video on exactly that point. They don't wear gloves for any metal, which with expensive copper personally I would say is a bit risky. Still, risk/benefit of more likelihood of dropping it I suppose.

The variable rim outside the border is a giveaway. Exactly the same in both.

https://www.noonans.co.uk/auctions/archive/lot-archive/results/235221/?keywords=1953+VIP+proof+set&discipline=&category=&date_on=&date_start=&date_end=&lot_no= The farthing is described as "Freeman 1+A (not listed as a proof)". I think the George VI-type bordered penny was one of the main interests of this set. It went for £4200 hammer. But to pay £6500 for a set in 2021 from DNW described as having a superior finish but without any rare varieties and having the normal case shape would seem to be a big leap of faith.

Here's a nice 1673 one ex Noble Numismatics auction 3 or 4 years ago. They didn't notice it either.

One reason could be that there have been hardly any 17th century mis-spellings in even half-decent condition (ie as good as they come) on the market in the last 15 years. I can't speak so much for farthings, or transactions via less high-profile dealers but to the best of my knowledge here are the last appearances for the best halfpenny ones: 1699 TERTVS - 2006 (Gregory I) Peck Plate Coin. Best known 1696 TERTVS - 2012 (Lockdales, ex Nicholson) Peck Plate Coin. Best known 1699 GVILELMVS - 2004 (Nicholson). Best known 1700 GVLIEEMVS - ~2007/8 (Baldwins). VF -GVF, better condition than the other mispellings listed here. 1699 GVLIEMVS - 2004 (Nicholson). Best known The 1700 GVLIELMS variety generally turns up in similar condition but only ~ Fine or less - I've got one about 15 years ago not too inferior to the Peck Plate Coin for about £70. 1672 CRAOLVS - 2007 (DNW, not admitted as, but is the Peck Plate coin). Best known 1673 CRAOLVS - 2004 (Nicholson - perhaps not quite as good detail as the SNC 1994 one, but best sold since). Peck's 1699 GVLIEMVS Plate coin sat around for years in the Baldwins trays after it didn't sell at one of their Gregory auctions - it was very ropey though! Though I know much less about farthings, the 1697 GVLIELMS in lustrous, virtually mint state (DNW, 2010) though not struck up at the bottom of the bust or Brit's head due to an uneven flan) must be the finest known of all the 17th century copper mis-spellings, by a mile.

Thanks, the ones I was looking at were the October 2022 ones as these came up on the initial screen.

I must be a bit slow here but i can't find the 1839 halfcrowns in either Action 79 (British Collection part 3) or Auction 80/2 (the other British stuff).

Apparently the slabbers have only got 20 seconds to grade a coin these days, which is bound to lead to some flaws getting missed. As one coin man at a London auction house said, there's no way they can properly grade a coin in that timeframe.