Rob

So how many die pairs for the 1860/59? If only the one, I doubt it is possible to infer much at all as you have no means of comparing possible variables.

Assuming a constant survival rate for all dies used, is there a percentage difference between ww and plain truncations when it comes to how well struck up the breast is on the reverse? The no initials master obverses will have been made to replace worn out ww below, hence the no initials (WW died in 1851), so any difference in the reliefs could be down to the engraver? After all, the breastplate does correspond to the highest point on the hair strands. The planarity of the fields might also come into the equation.

Have you tried matching with an image on Wildwinds?

I'd go for water damage too. Interesting that you collect 2ps. Based on the numbers I have sold over time, these are probably the least collected circulating decimal denomination. Why? They are the largest 'coppers' and size usually means more popular, though it's also fair to say that everything is dwarfed by 50ps and £2s which are the only decimals that have really caught the public imagination.

Dies are not necessarily swapped as pairs. Usually only the worn out/defective die will be replaced. That's how die links give the chronological sequence.

That's bizarre. Priceless.

I think it probably demonstrates how irregularly items held in museum storage are actually accessed. If things aren't on display they are out of sight and out of mind. i.e saved from rather than for the public.

Sorry, my mistake. 101A is 1880. I took it to be obverse 10 and didn't notice the date from the previous page. It looks like obv 10 to me as Freeman says the linear circle goes all the way under the bust whereas 9 doesn't in the picture, but then the tie is bent whereas the picture in Freeman shows 10 to be straight, so the tie would be in keeping with obv.9. Therefore, F97A? Maybe someone else can elaborate.

Penny F101A, Halfpenny, no proof listed in Freeman, though they do exist as I have Nicholson's Farthing F539

Yes, I'd go S1511 too. Ticks all the boxes - Annulet before EDWARD DEI GRA REX ANGL (no French title), Barred A in GLORIA, saltire stops. I think I can make out a lis in the central panel. The shape will be as on the shield, bottom right quarter bottom lis, rather than have looped side fleurs. A bit like a cactus. On the top image the initial cross is at 10 o'clock, then reads EXALTABITVR IN GLORIA. The top image makes it look horribly cleaned. These aren't rare, so go for a better one if it looks too rubbed.

No idea, but given he wrote it there's a good chance. I presume they were distributed via the RM.

Probably one of three London second reign pennies in lot 141, but the lot not illustrated.

Agreed. I picked up a few kgs of scrap Vicky pennies a week ago and the person I bought from was expecting to get about £3/kg for them. 10p either way won't affect the fundamentals.

Examples? Are they recently dug or from old collections?

Thanks, all. I didn't think I had a problem, but when the statistics came back with a score of 3/100, I assumed there might be issues not visible at this end. When Google said they were the main 3rd party offender slowing down access times, I did wonder if it was April 1st or just an attempt to blackmail me into paying them to advertise - or something? I think it is best ignored.

Possible problem with the website and somewhat confused, so if anyone can shed any light on the subject it would be appreciated. For a long time, something called Google Analytics has sent me a monthly report on how the site is apparently performing. Page loading speeds seemed to be reasonable and haven't changed appreciably over the past year, but this month Google's 'Lighthouse' report provided PageSpeed Insights which informed me that the site was scoring 23 out of 100 for mobile use and a depth plumbing 3 out of 100 for desktops. The former has more than halved in a couple of months and I have no idea what the other figure was as I've only just discovered it. Helpfully it breaks down the information into areas, one of which was 'Reduce the impact of third-party code - Third-party code blocked the main thread for 3,810 ms'. In an example of superb irony, it also informs me that the bulk of the impediment to speed and a good score is Google, with a contribution of 3346ms or almost 88% of the problem. Has anyone had any difficulty accessing pages? Or given the low traffic in the past couple of weeks has anyone actually looked? Does anyone look on a regular basis? So, the question is what to do? Obviously Google thinks the site is crap, but I can't block Google as it crawls the net at will and if it doesn't find my site, then it can't tell anyone else about it. Is there any way to partially block Google? Is it important, or just a red herring? Is it giving me a low ranking because I don't spend any money with them? i.e. blackmailing me? Anyone understand how these things work?

I'm not convinced it is genuine. The shape of the truncation is more akin to the penny, the weight is 0.4g below the 8g spec of the halfpenny, the tie ribbon area behind the bust doesn't match either penny or halfpenny very well, with the bottom curl detail as for a penny and the bit above reaching almost to the G, whereas on all the pictures I have available both are quite wispy. Compare with my halfpenny. Apologies for the scan and crap on the scanner.

I like the broccoli and bilberry toned ones best.

Maybe it is a woman in that case. Not sure it would stretch to 16 or 18 - it's managing all of 2 at the moment.

Why would anyone who claims to know nothing about coins find one in a slab lying around the house? You might find a loose coin here and there, even if the coin in question is stretching things a bit, but not a slab. I suspect he genuinely knows nothing about coins, or would have realised the incongruity of what he is saying.

The back end of 1983, I installed a piece of kit at the Bulgarian doping control labs in Sofia. Drugs in sport were already an issue, so needless to say opinions this end were given that they were looking for chemicals that didn't give a good response, or at least an ambiguous one. Weird place.

Maybe the buyer only uses ebay for whatever reason. I've sold things to a couple buyers on ebay who promptly disregarded the business card included with the order, preferring to pay at least 15% more for something available on the website. You can only do so much to direct them. There are many people who will only use ebay/facebook/preferred dealer etc for purchases. There is a distinct correlation between ease of purchase on ebay and a reluctance to explore beyond the site, and presumably the same applies to members of facebook. The buyer could of course be taking a punt on something rumoured to be valuable - just like the numerous invitations to buy I receive of rare 50ps. Never underestimate the herd mentality of the general populace. Andrex anyone?

Based on a mintage of 100K and a clear excess of demand over supply, it would place humans just below 20th in the British sheep populations by breed using industry statistics.

I'm going to hazard a guess and say nobody important in numismatic terms. 'Very Rare Ancient British Coin' suggests a person who doesn't know too much about coins given the numbers known even in the 19th century, though I suppose the individual die pair is probably relatively rare