Rob

Die 10 will only refer to the reverse. The obverse die could have been made the day, week, month or year(s) before, though obviously within the time constraints that the obverse design was current. The profile of the underlying bust is different too which suggests it might be older. Does it match any other portrait styles? Postscript: Willie was let off without any action being taken.

Looks it bearing in mind you have three sizes of H for pennies, halfpennies and farthings. One of the 1876H halfpennies has a 6 over a farthing 6 and one 1856 halfpenny die has the 6 over a penny 6. I think these punch varieties are more common than people might assume with some taken for a displaced underlying letter rather than a larger one.

Yes. One is generally flat, the other is extremely flat.

Other than playing the part of an erotic car accessory, does she have any other public persona - porn star, royal correspondent, model? Sorry, I'm not familiar with her.

Only 7 weeks It would take me longer to establish I couldn't get out of Kelly Brooks bed. Am I missing something here? Link Just kidding. I'm sure I'd recognise her if I saw her again. In fact I'm sure I saw her sister today, and I'm sure the wife saw I saw her sister too.

It's worth breaking my rule not to get two coins of the same type if possible. I have a Cissbury last small cross as a Hobson's Choice piece because all bar one of 39(?) coins for the mint are of this type, but Warminster is sufficiently difficult as a mint to justify doubling up on the type.

Excellent, which sale?

Round here we have a rhyming word for spade, it's called.............. spade.

Is it for sale?

It seems to share quite a lot of the same characteristics as the fakes that were discussed last time. With this sort of suspicion associated with them, I would only consider buying one from a top auction house or reputable dealer. Or a verifiable provenance which pre-dates the appearance of these copies. There were few copies around prior to 2003 2004ish, and those there were tended to be quite recognisable, and crucially, documented.

True, the overhang from the Bole collection is going to influence the market for a while yet.

Don't be tempted. Things could get horribly expensive when it comes to siege issues. A decent Newark will set you back a couple grand, a Pontefract at least double that, a Carlisle at least seven or eight times and if you are seriously thinking about a Scarborough you might find you have a lot of friends.

Does anybody have a low tide halfpenny with the fingers well struck up? Never seen a good one, that's all. Mine also has no wear, loads of lustre but no fingers.

Collect both. You aren't going to be able to complete either denomination. Unless you win the lottery it will be a financial non-starter and you wouldn't be able to fill all the holes even if you had the money available due to the number of unique items, something that applies to all denominations.

You'll do well on eBay ;-) If your coin's as good as the one you've posted, I'll buy it! I rather suspect it isn't! Good luck with the collecting, you'll never come to the end of it! Here is an effort, hope it works, I think it is good and this has not been cleaned, any comment appreciated. Very nice, have you got a photo of the other side, and how much are you looking for? Not sure about this side, I forgot what size I made the last one here goes anyway. I dont know what I want I am open to offers, I only started a couple of weeks ago and I collect shillings this was in a pail of coins I got for the shillgs contained in it. I would not be offended at any offer. Dont think this is a good pic. If you only started a couple of weeks ago I'd be tempted to hang on to it. It's actually quite a nice example and suggest you will find worse before you find better. The reverse looks a bit weak but that may be due to the picture quality, the obverse however looks good - well struck and centred with no weak bits, bends, chips, digs or scrapes. Not bad for Carolean copper which can appear in fairly dire condition if dug.

Did we really have 30-40% deflation in the early 80s?

The marks vary in style depending on the size of the punch, though are reasonably consistent for a given size. Bear in mind that they were all individually engraved in the first place, so there is no mass produced consistency. Mint marks are usually referred to using the old Seaby references, so get yourself a copy of Spink's coins of England where there is a page dedicated to them. An old one would do just as well as the list hasn't changed for years, though some were added later. The numbering system will be incomprehensible as some of the marks are not in chronological order.

Most coin fairs cost a pound or two to get in. Exceptions are the big London ones on the first morning when they know big spenders will be in trying to get the most desirable pieces. York is free, Harrogate is a couple quid. Wakefield is this weekend at the Cedar Court hotel just off junction 39 of the M1, opens at 9:30. There are regulars who come from further away than you. Ditto for Birmingham at the National Motorcycle Museum which opens at 10. Both wind down by 2-2:30.

Yes it is.

Without wishing to proscribe how we should all collect, if you intend collecting back in time then doing so from the beginning alongside modern coins is not such a bad idea. It is easy to say I'll get the modern ones and finish them off before going backwards, but even in this area there are relatively expensive pieces to acquire. Go back a couple hundred years and identically graded pieces sell for an order or orders of magnitude more. We all suffer funding constraints, so if you are in for the long haul buy yourself a mixture of cheaper and more expensive pieces. If you get all the cheap things immediately (and there are a lot of them) you are likely to find that you have already spent a considerable sum making the acquisition of the next group a daunting task when you discover it will cost multiples of the first stage. Unless you intend restricting yourself to a finite and relatively narrow band, this problem will raise it's head earlier than you think. Very few people are fortunate or affluent enough in that order to even get close to completing an all encompassing denomination collection, short run oddballs such as quarter farthings excepted.

A VIP proof is one of a limited run struck for the chosen few. A regular proof is struck for the masses e.g. 1937, 1950, 1951 etc. They may be frosted or not depending on the issue and fill in the gaps between the common set dates.

sale 56

Laminating flan

I need an optician. Norweb did have a 1935 proof penny and halfpenny - as part of a full year set (Part 3, 19/11/1986 lot 1131, bought by Spink on commission for £1200). Doh. More importantly, your penny was from that set so you have a provenance confirmed by the fingermark and spot on the reverse. My halfpenny is from a different set though.

There wasn't one in the Adams and Parry collections either. Thinking out loud, I'm wondering if there are a few long sets tied up in private hands given the special crown issued that year in conjunction with George V's Silver Jubilee.