Rob

Send an envelope full of crisp fivers to me and I will do it for you.

Looks like all the 1827 pennies got shipped to Smethwick. No wonder Spink price them so highly, there aren't any in London.

Yes. Thank you Rob. I see the Nicholson 172 is the same diameter. Mine is much more 'irregular' in shape though? Do you have anything to add regarding the no stops and E over B? Nothing that hasn't been discussed before. The point Stuart raises about damaged punches has some mileage in it because you see intermittent composite letters right up to George III. Although not on the scale seen during the 1695 recoinage, the mint employees would still be using the same stop-gap measures they used 20 years earlier, or as indeed you would do today if you didn't have the correct tool. It could be a B, but a high grade example would be better to confirm or dispel the idea. The existence of the no obverse stops is a moot point in my view. Nicholson 172 has very tiny pimples where the stops should be. The question is whether they are filled stops or whether they were lightly punched guides that were never bottomed. It is reasonable that guide points would be used to get the legend spacing correct just as you see wire line circles on hammered coins. This in my view makes it a legend with stops because you can see something there, but if they were never punched in to completion, does this make it a no stops variety? Because the coins used by Peck in the BM to categorise it as a variety are not in high grade, it makes the variety suspect and open to debate. Add wear and you can eliminate any detail, so ambiguous varieties such as this should really be confirmed with as struck coins rather than on a whim. My coin is only gVF and doesn't qualify. It doesn't please the variety collectors to hear of a reduction in numbers, as they need a continuous fix of established and unrecorded varieties to search for and expand their collections. As regards an irregular flan, this is an occupational hazard when you use a fly-press and no collar. In fact, I think it is surprising that no examples have crossed my path any larger than 27.5mm. Although production will have been a monotonous exercise, every so often you would expect that the person put more or less effort into the job, or you might find that the blanks were annealed softer than usual. All of these things can potentially lead to an inconsistent product. I used to have a G2 halfpenny (attached) which had a significantly spread flan. You can see the diameter of the die within the perimeter. Obviously the lack of detail to the high points is as a result of the metal filling the room rather than the die detail, because it was probably much as struck.

The biggest diameter piece I have is also 27.5. Although they are not supposed to have been struck in a collar, mine has remarkably sharp edges for one struck without restraint. Nicholson 172 applies in this case.

Why would anyone slab a VF coin in the first place? The difference between mint state and the faintest trace of friction is far more obvious than the same amount of wear to a vf coin.

Yes

Same for the halfpennies, but the proofs are always notably shallower than the currency pieces.

My numismatic library takes up the best part of two rooms. She doesn't like it when I encroach on the living room. She complains that my rubbish occupies every room in the house - a complete distortion of the truth as I refuse to store things in either the upstairs or downstairs loo - and the bathroom is devoid of books.

The security edge is usually in a deeper groove than that on a currency piece. Proofs have very shallow edges similar to that, but the rim/edge of your coin which would be nice and sharp says it isn't a proof. Your coin looks legitimate. An image of a proof edge is attached below.

Based on Tom's respose, I think I detect a preference for the relative beauty of red felt.

And the key to THAT is to have a lunatically high disposable income!! Or buy selectively, like Marvin. For me it depends on whether a coin is for research or the collection. For the collection, I don't want to go through the hassle of disposal, so will accumulate as many images of the target coin as I can get and then decide on a list of acceptable pieces. After that it is a case of waiting patiently. On the other hand, if I want to do a bit of research, then as many examples as can be obtained is the ideal situation which inevitably means a compromise on grade. Colin G must be in the same boat with his farthings, or Chingford with his coppers. After all, none of us have unlimited funds on tap 24/7.

Given the seller's other items, how can this be described as rare? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Scotish-Alexander-III-Silver-Penny-1249-1286-Hammered-Coin-/321582338686?pt=UK_Coins_BritishHammered_RL&hash=item4adfcd127e

The key is to buy things that you don't want to upgrade.

What would you do with the money if you sold all your coins? Put it in the bank and lose a guaranteed 1 or 2% a year? There are several people on here who say they have never sold a coin from their collection. It's the tracking down, acquiring and completing goals that drives collectors. Although money is a concern for all bar a handful of people, most seem to buy with a view to building a collection and as a consequence do not insist on everything costing 99p which can then be sold for a fiver. i.e. there is a fair amount of leeway in the price they will pay, and any profits are secondary.

I need a P1237 or P1238 too, but that one doesn't make it with the deposits seen. Many a coin has been ruined by lacquering and subsequent attempts at removal.

He's been doing it a long time, and unlike most people hasn't aimed to turn things round quickly for a profit. He's a collector first and foremost, with good taste.

They are all like this. The BM's has a crack as a bonus.

I know

I've just acquired this for someone. There are 3 others in private hands somewhere, so if anyone is hiding one, please PM me. I want one. Actually, I need one for the initial mark.

I don't think the use of the word patinated is anything to worry about, but the bottom one looks as if it was previously lacquered and someone has tried to dissolve it away.

Don't need one. Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole means you don't need a bargepole to not do the thing you have decided not to do.

Carry on using it until it either disintegrated or became obsolete.

I don't know for certain but would think not as you have a piece of machinery involved now which has to locate in the top and bottom of the fly-press. You see quite a lot of underlying detail on some hammered coins, but rarely see anything which could be rationalised to a previous die on the milled. Recut or overstruck corrrections to letters are common, but they usually involve the preceding or following letter in the legend, suggesting a misprunt.

There are at least two varieties of the large 0, one of which is over an undersized 0.

Generally speaking they have to be spectacular clips to be desirable as minor clipping occurs too frequently.