Sylvester

I've been looking for a slow worm for years but i've never seen one. I've resigned myself to the fact i'm not likely to see one up here.

I'd just give you £1.10 and you can owe me the ten pence. Or i'd give you ninety five pence and owe you five.

I'll get back to you on this.

You've totally lost me... run that one past me again in more simple terms... I see numbers and + signs and my brain shuts down. Maths was not my strong point. (Actually it was the subject i struggled with the most)

Alot of people don't like snakes, i don't mind them. Dogs on the other hand... well they terrify me. I'd rather be sat in a pit full of snakes any day.

Cool! (I like snakes) Talking of snakes my father has two cornsnakes, the two cornsnakes seemingly have also been in the woods. The female laid a number of eggs, two of them hatched yesterday. So that's two baby snakes wwe've got now! (And they are so small and cute). Last year only one baby snake hatched out, about 40 eggs and one hatched. This year we've had about 30 eggs and two have hatched. There's one more egg remaining (all the others had turned funny and collapsed in on themselves early on so we threw those), this remaining egg doesn't look very promising. I think it's going to be thrown out shortly.

I give you 37p for a pack of sweets marked up at 36p, i want my penny change. I say get rid of the 5p first! Then drop the 1p. Keep the 2p and do everything in 2's.

I'm seeing US State Quarters. This could be bad. I dunno Chris the £2 coin design was submitted by a member of the public and it looks good to me. To be honest i think we're ready for change, i won't shed too many tears over the redesigning of the 1p, 2p and 5p coins. The 10p and the 50p i always kinda liked. The lion looks regal, and Britannia, well it's Britannia. I think change could be good, but this line blew it for me; Clip art maps, or tons of coins looking like the 2005 sovereign with the new arty St. George... i shudder. Going with a building theme of something would not be my preferred approach, but i can't help thinking that the Houses of Parliament might look good. Or Westminster Abbey. But i'm seeing the London eye, the Millennium Dome and all that kibd of bland modern rubbish. Actually i think the Millennium Dome would make a good one with the words "MISTAKE" curving around the bottom, with 'BIGGEST' across the top.

Oh is it that way around? I always thought they put the edge onto the blanks first and then struck them. (This is how Charles II crowns were done).

Request; Keep your eyes peeled for any fakes that have the following; Wrong reverse for the date AND the wrong edge inscription for the reverse design. So basically if you get a dud 1994 £1 coin with an Irish cross on the reverse and the edge inscription PLEIDOL WYF I'M GWLAD. Then i want to buy it (for £1, or maybe £2 if i'm feeling generous!) I really think no decimal collection should be without one and i want the most spectacular messed up fake i can get my hands on! It couldn't be much wronger unless it was copper plated.

Wasn't it Mark Davidson? (one of the Coincraft people).

Sounds like a sixpence to me. Mintmark should be a long cross which should be visable directly above the Queen's head and also on the reverse at the beginning of the legend. The value varies greatly depending upon the condition, in the very worst you might get £5 for it, top grade specimens that look as good as the day they left the dies could be £100 or more. Creased specimens, or clipped specimens will be worth less.

Wow you have been busy!

I was thinking Chris perhaps the obverse changed during a year. Making a possible 4 varieties in a year. Or maybe the older less defined hair obverses might turn up accidentally later on (like the 'New Pence' reverse did). It might be worth keeping an eye out for them. How can this be you say when the date is on the obverse? Maybe they could have wiped the date a redid it?

It could be a number of things, a threepence, a sixpence or a shilling. A picture would be useful it possible, a picture would be needed to determine value as value is entirely based upon the condition the coin is in. Number 2 rule don't clean it. Lastly how big is the coin?

Is this just for the large 10ps? Or just the small or both?

This is before we get to the obverse changes. If anyone's ever noticed 1970s obverses are diffeent to 1980s obverses. Take a 1971 2p and a 1980 2p. The hair changes.

The ruff makes me think it's Spanish.

Or maybe Spain. If it's a Henry then it might be Henry IV of France. If it's Spain then the H in the legend might be part of HISP.

I don't think it's British. Does it say Henricus? (or something similar?) I've no idea what it is, but you might want to try France.

I'm gonna say i have seen 1992 20 pences many times, certainly much more than say 1988 £1 coins. So they can't be that rare. Although i never noticed the obverse change. Took 13 years and then only when someone pointed it out. Whichever issue is in the BU/Proof sets there's not much point hoarding that variety. Unless of course it's more complicated and both exist in BU/Proof sets (just that one is rarer), or perhaps one type is proof and the other is BU. Even if there is only one variety in the sets, there's no way of being able to tell which it is until you see a set. Generally you might be inclined to think the new version would be the one in the sets, however looking at usual mint practice it's usually the older variety, thinking of the bronze 1992 coins here. I have a feeling the small head variety is the one in the set (which presumably could also be the rarer of the two). Meaning the common varient is entirely in circulation and thus will be more common in circulated grades but very rare in UNC. (How confusing could that be?) This is exactly what's happening with the 1992 10p pieces. The type 1 with the wire edge predominates but none of them are in proof or mint sets. Whereas the uncommon type 3 variant is what's in all the sets. Type 4 and 5 are rare and in no sets. 1992 was one year of major change. Anything to report on the 5 pence piece, any varieties of that?

Ah well Chris you didn't actually tell me where you'd got the info from, so i just stuck in the usual, 'must have read it somewhere'. I must admit i've never actually heard of the guy, but then again i've never even seen a copy of Peck's book as it lacks a certain silvery quality to the contents.

Thanks to Chris for pointing this on out to me. Well i seem to be devoid of 1992 20ps. Chris asked if there were two varieties known of the 1992 20ps thinking he'd read it somewhere. So i took a look at the ones i have, unfortunately the only ones i could find were dated 1989, 1993 and 1995. Comparing the 1989 to the 1993/5 examples the obverse portrait on the latter specimens is clearly different (how had i not noticed this?) the obverse is bigger on the later ones. The Queen's crown is much nearer the inside edge of the pentagon. The question is when did the portrait change? I have a feeling it might be 1992 and this would back up Chris' initial question. I'm going to have to go looking for some 1992 20ps.

Seems half the forum has birthdays in the June-August months.

Happy Birthday!