Peckris 2

I agree about the bronze. Did you know that the 1p is worth less in real terms than the farthing was when demonetised?

Just a bit of cud. "Nothing to see here...."

I didn't see that, or hear about i. But it seemed a reasonable guess as why else would they have put that as an answer?

No! Who designed the £2 reverse?

I haven't got Freeman to hand, but if F328 refers to the wide date reverse then yours is definitely that.

Yes, those PFNNY and ONF varieties are extremely unexciting being die fills, not errors.

Yes, it's too good to be anything but a modern repro.

I got 6/6 on the associated quiz, though one was a guess!

Minnie the Minx?

Yes that looks like a kosher proof.

I'd bet my shirt that's not a proof!

They would be on the level of VIP Proof then, i.e. extremely rare. I'm sure what the TPG companies pass off as proofs very often aren’t.

But wreaths did have years and years! Here's a possible scenario for several examples: reasonably well-off uncle is shown a wreath crown by his bank and decides it would make the perfect gift for his favourite nephew. Said nephew is told to keep it 'as an heirloom' (or similar) and sticks it in his money box / pocket / wallet for years and takes it out fairly regularly and gives it a good rub "to keep it shiny". Never seeing one in change or in any shop, he probably believes he may not be able to spend it easily, so passes it on to his own kids. It's a sort-of circulation but not in the way we know it Jim.

As OldCopper points out, these were specially struck for collectors or as gifts, so they'd have had careful treatment compared to currency. I believe it may have been the same for Geo III crowns? I'm sure I once read that they were delivered to banks in special wrappings to protect them, which wouldn't have been the case for any other denomination, gold included.

I think many wreaths were struck to prooflike standards, on carefully prepared planchets, and with each die necessarily only getting limited use.

1. A year really isn't very long at all; the average coin would still be EF or better after just a year in circulation. The wreaths were struck between 1928 and 1936 and therefore potentially have had decades in pockets, wallets or wherever. 2. You're a collector. You have an inbuilt inhibition against rubbing coins - you can't say the same for a non-collector who acquired a wreath and who may have enthusiastically rubbed it clean over the years, not noticing the gradual wear. Only 30-35k were minted; let's say that as many as a fifth display extensive wear - that means around 6,000 'circulated' extensively enough to sustain the wear seen. I just can't see a mere 6,000 examples of a unique coin type being passed around unquestioned from shop to person to shop to bank to person to shop etc etc.

Could be a cleaned kosher?

1893 and 1897 are comparatively easy. The real difficult date is 1894.

I never saw one, but having said that they were clearly "25 PENCE" rather than "CROWN" so probably got accepted more.

I have the farthing equivalent of this.

In a way that doesn't matter. Looking at the 1982 prices gives you some idea of the relative scarcity, and you can then use the current values of the standard issue to calculate the value of the scarcer variety; possibly adding a slight premium to allow for the greater modern interest in rare varieties.

I wonder how when and why this came to be called "incuse curl"? It's actually two small raised hair strands.

"Dear, this old Coin is made of Brass" Stop calling me 'Dear'! Or are you saying £1:49 is dear for a fake like this? Oh, you're probably right.

As it's an unknown die pairing, could it be a Taylor restrike?