argentumandcoins

Well, it is nice especially the rev but something just does not sit right with me on Georges head. It kind of looks like he has been carved out of a rock, cannot see the definition in his hair very clearly. I wouldn’t have bid any more on the sovereign myself, this nicer one sold for £850 this year at London Coins: http://www.londoncoins.co.uk/webcatalogue/128/L1770.JPG Nice to know we're in good company! I wouldn't mind a squint at the Royal collection I know that unlike King Farouk, old George didn't use cloths and polish on his coins!!! The Kings head is never well defined, especially on the earlier coinage of his reign, a fact that he used to complain about himself as an avid coin collector!A very nice Penny and other than the odd bag mark/rim nick difficult to see anything wrong with at all. I never realised that George V was a coin collector !! Thanks for that.

Well, it is nice especially the rev but something just does not sit right with me on Georges head. It kind of looks like he has been carved out of a rock, cannot see the definition in his hair very clearly. I wouldn’t have bid any more on the sovereign myself, this nicer one sold for £850 this year at London Coins: http://www.londoncoins.co.uk/webcatalogue/128/L1770.JPG The Kings head is never well defined, especially on the earlier coinage of his reign, a fact that he used to complain about himself as an avid coin collector! A very nice Penny and other than the odd bag mark/rim nick difficult to see anything wrong with at all.

You sure you're not talking about the farthing? There's a very rare 2+A proof farthing, but the 2+B is common. 1953 halfpennies have two obverses (neither of them rare) and one reverse. As for the penny, I assume you're talking about the experimental Type 1 (edge border toothed)? You can forget that! There is one example known - possibly two at the most - you can save yourself a lot of time looking for that one. No, I'm not talking about the Farthing. Freeman 465A is obverse 2 reverse B and rarity 14. That's the first in dozens of sets I've had/looked at. At rarity 14 it's scarcer than the 1956 4 + C, of which I have only seen one in 10 years. Thanks for mentioning the Farthing though, it's not something I've bothered with as we don't collect them. That's another 1953 proof coin to start checking (Freeman has it at rarity 9 and the 2 + B at rarity 6). As for the penny I'll keep checking, you just never know. Stranger things have turned up (1952 halfcrowns in change for example!).

Dear old Dad decided to check the bronze halfpennies this week. Being retired he has time to, put them on scales, under microscopes, let the cat sniff them for fishyness etc etc. Anyway, just this once after months of me banging on, he opened up the 1953 proof set and checked the 1/2d (I always check it and the 1d in any auction lots I find) only to find it was the elusive 2 + B rarity 14 in absolute FDC. Another scratched off the wants list, but now of course I'll have to find the commoner 2 + A (without splitting a set) that he thought we had! Anybody else had a similar experience?

I'm just a poor ex-copper Scott! I bought what I could with my pay and payouts from 2 nasty RTC's, sold some on and went on from there. You don't need a lot of money in this game, which is the beauty of the hobby, just a bit of luck, a good eye and a decent memory. What was the thread about again?

Difficult one that as the grade acts as quite a drag on the rarity premium. Presumably you are referring to lot 254 in Spink sale 172. I was offered that coin amongst other duplicates before they went into the sale. Obviously I declined, as at the time thought it wasn't worth spending £1600 when the best of the three known (but still pretty grim) was going to be auctioned later that year. I also remember your coin not selling on ebay post auction at around the £2700 mark. Given the low grade of all three known examples, the price is likely to be determined by that quoted in Spink's tome unless you can find two half crown collectors with deep pockets as has happened with the bun head pennies and play one off against the other. If someone came up with a VF or better example then the price for this would almost certainly run to 5 figures. Yes, that's the one. We tried to sell it on before deciding to go after halfcrowns and Pennies as the main areas in the collection. I was eventually offered £4250 by a collector in Australia just prior to removing it from sale. I suppose the fact that it isn't a variety would help it's value. If you want to complete a full date run where would you find one available now? It'll re-appear one day (I'll probably immortalise my dad after his passing by auctioning the Halfcrown and Penny collections).

An 1818 sovereign in GEF bought in auction 5 years ago for £350 and sold a week later for £2750. A 1667 halfcrown bought at Spinks in Fair for £2250 some years ago, not for sale but worth what??? My two boys, cost a fortune, but worth every penny

As I said, I was most interested in the 1860 penny prototype, effectively in the first couple of dozen or so of a run which extended to over 4 billion coins. Massive historical significance. I thought it was a snip at £2500. Cheese in my gasket Mr 400. Now I suspect you of over-indulging in the falling down water! Anyway 1887, can I welcome you to the mad house. What are your interests numismatic or otherwise? My old man thought that the 1860 F8b was a snip at £2500 as well. He was a little concerned about the curious note re the Bamford specimen. He received the coin through the post yesterday and was pleased to find the coin is as right as rain. I'll get some pictures next week if anybody is interested?

The 1/2d die numerals Penny is on the bottom.

No, the date numerals are the same size as those used on the halfpenny. Pics attached with the standard date numerals for comparison. The difference is much more obvious in the hand.

Caveat Emptor when dealing with Spink and Son. I had another couple of examples from last year regarding incorrect die attribution for Victorian Bronze, always making the coin rarer than it actually was!

Spinks grading standard has certainly worsened over the years. The London 1882 would grade as Poor by me and would have been graded as Poor by them 5 years ago! Two years ago I bought a GEF 1860 Freeman 1 Penny in one of their auctions that was actually a Freeman 6 and another lot containing 3 1845 Crowns, one of which was supposed to be the star stops variety. Imagine my excitement at acquiring a coin that does not exist........yes, that's right, all 3 were cinquefoil stops!!!!! At least these things even out over the years and you do find the odd sleeper which has been missed by the cataloguer. It was an 1863 open 3 Penny in VF last week