VickySilver

And I have looked at all of my 1887-1902 crowns and seen seemingly not just "either-or" but somewhat of a spectrum; some appear to have an empty mouth and others various amounts of, uhh, content and others full set of dental.

Well, if we remember that the "Ansell" coins were struck because of issues of gold alloy for the sovereign and that these were marked for RM followup and study (evidently) I would imagine none were carried over unless someone were to strike up some sport coins there at the midnight shift...

I agree that the obv. appears a bit less well struck than reverse but what is hard to tell is if there are any hairlines from wiping or cleaning. If so, 58 and if not IMO guess is 62.

Wow, only 39 quid also gets you an 1841 and 1843 AND 1848.

And 1843 a scarcer date. Quite attractive there!

Not my series but there certainly were many barbarous imitations of earlier "popular" coins....

Well, no "Tokyo A Collection" is a rather fabulous one - perhaps one of the finest collection of milled crowns EVER assembled. I have a couple but that particular collector, now deceased had a legendary collection; the family still holds some of the finest bits. Believe Steve Hill knows a bit about this collection.

That 1841 is quite a nice specimen. Is that the piece coming up in Heritage. I bought an EF many years ago from DNW and then certainly upgraded to a PCGS 63 specimen that has PL surfaces but overall perhaps not quite as nice as this piece. 12k quid a bit much as I was thinking maybe 10k - will watch. I think it quite rare and the 1843 on sale there is also very nice and likely much cheaper...I am quite shocked at what decent common variety 1839 2/6s in proof fetch these days. The "King" of all is of course the legit 1839 currency bits, the PCGS64 as their lone graded specimen perhaps one of the nicest currency Vick silvers out there.... PS - Rarity at this level very high, and as they say "must surely be amongst the finest known". I would estimate nicest you'd see in a decade. This coin is scarce at lower levels of preservation up to VF and then goes ballistic in rarity and value after that as you've seemingly surmised...

But that leek is thrusting on up there - "who's de man?". Overall an attractive design certainly.

Obverse style especially gives this one away. Looks like a couple of bidders contesting. I might have been in it for 20 quid.......

Yikes, nada for me....GO early hammered crew!

Looks a bit like a fouree (sp?). Base metal core with silver plating....

I've learned quite a lot about these half sovs lately so may be able to help out a bit. PM with pictures if that is any easier..

Post Independent Costa Rica (1839-1857) whilst under the reale/escudo system saw shortages of coin and foreign coins considered of good weight and metal content were stamped. This included GB sixpences and shillings - I think the shilling was considered the equivalent of 2 reales, or a quarter of the "piece of eight"/dollar/peso. See Baldwin Sale NYINC 7 January, 2015: Lots 1074 & 1075 for examples of 6d and shilling

A bargain at only 1200! Run, Forrest, run!

There are some Brit coins with Costa Rica lion ?? counterstamps - I have an 1843 shilling with one somewhere...

I have an PCGS AU50 that I would sell for reasonable, unfortunately to only the Left side of the Atlantic. I'd have to dig for it and will give the PCGS cert number if interested.

Some of the lettering and the Britannia device itself looks suspect, and would assume Pobjoy, INA, or some such...

Interesting piece, the caveat as always is that it is best seen in hand. I have seen similar that apparently were cleaned & thereby stripped down to raw copper alloy, then retoned in an envelope with then "retoning" on the high points of devices and rim. I still, however, can not totally rule out original surfaces with differential toning. Lustre is a tricky thing and does not IMO always appear stereotypically.

They use those tridents down in Louisiana to hunt bullfrogs...Think they call them "gigs" or something to that effect. Rob, I take it then that you are not in particular a Royalist? LOL

Hi Nick. Yes, you are right about the Skipton sale. Interestingly, the focus seems so much on the high grade pieces that sometimes rarities in just slightly lesser grade can be had in such sales at good prices. I think I bragged previously about picking up an 1889 small head shilling in "only" MS66 for the same price as the lesser bits because there were some MS67 pieces of common dates that drew bidders' interest. Oops, let that cat out of the bag...

I don't think it so bad. Actually, her visage is MUCH NICER than as she appeared on the reverse of the E7 florin - have you ever looked at that Britannia's face under magnification, say on the matte proof? Yikes, that's a mug!

Ugggh, near nil there...

Well, that is true about what I collect personally but just saying edge orientation doesn't fall in that category. Started with 20th C. crowns (pre-decimal, of course!) and did well except for the E8 of course...

No, just experience over the last 20 years. It looks to my eyes that this coin has a bit of "bagging" as opposed to wear, which I would expect in modest amounts at the high points (esp. Obv). Actually, this coin would probably have been EF in the "Grand Olde Dayes" of Glendining, et al. Based on photo alone, I wouldn't be surprised to see this in an AU58 holder...