Gary D

That looks like a VERY interesting 1911. The rim looks thinner than you normally see on a Type A and the legend seems further from the teeth. In fact, those teeth look very small and well defined for that particular obverse. That's a good buy scott - a small date 1879 is not common, as you say. The 1911 turned out to be the Goulby Obv X, I've put it back on ebay and we'll see if it was worth it when it finishes Sunday evening, looking a bit cheap at the moment. Here's my next one, took a chance but not expecting much this time eBayISAPI.dll.htm

Neat -- where did you 'find' it? In my collection.... I don't have the others, although I might have pics of them.... I'll check Here's 3 out of 4. I was offered a 1952 but it was not a good one and bit expensive so I declined it. Here's the 1952 that I was offered for A$100. I declined because I think it would need to be better for that amount of money.

This one realy did make me laugh A what!!!

Perhaps it's something you could add to your inventory Chris.

On several occassions I have received coins from the USA in a corrigated thing, searching for the proper desciption here. It's like a bit of sticky corrigated cardboard that stick when folded holding everything in place. Does anyone know what it is really called and can you get them in the UK Thanks Gary

I don't know so much. Looks like quite a good forgery and I would expect it to realise a decent price. Bidder 2 4 & 7 are Shilling....smell the coffee Now at £102.00 Went for £240, a bit more than I expected but it did look a good one to Bidder 2, Still think it was shilling? I've got a load of coins on there at the moment if anyone wants to shill them up a bit

Looks to be a very good example, I was thinking of having a punt myself if it does go too far. It could make £100 which is not too outrageous for a very well done altered date.

When I was researching varieties for my book on 20th C Bronze, I too tried to find any identifiers for these types, but I am afraid that only Peck seemed to make reference to them in any detail. A couple of other points that may help. Firstly there is also a sharp/rounded pair for 1949 - not mentioned by Peck. Secondly, all the sharp corner types are reported to have a slightly thinner rim than the rounded ones. However, on worn specimens this may not be easy to spot. The only other differentiator is for the 1941 where there are two minor varieties of the sharp corner type, one where the inside corner is sharp and the other where it is rounded. The amount of rounding is quite severe so would take a large amount of wear to obliterate a sharp edge example.

I believe the last issue was 1970. I think you would be lucky to pick one up for £70 although you could have mine for that when the rumoured reprint arrives

Freeman doesn't say very much about this coin. You are right that its Obv 3 Rev B. According to Freeman there are two types, one in copper and the other in Cupro-nickel. The copper is rated as R17 whilst the Cupro-nickel is R18. R17 is defined as 16-50 existing, whereas R18 is 6-15. Otherwise nothing else. I don't have a copy of Peck at the moment, so can't say what it says about these coins. Peck just list them as 1868 Bronze Proof [R] and Copper-nickel Proof [ER]

You know I just cant resist it

I seem to remember something about the introduction of the new £1 coin was supposed to include a hologram to prevent forgeries. Obviously it didn't happen, the hologram bit that is. Gary

Off the top of my head there were no pennies for 1876, 1877-80, 1883-94, 1923-25, 1941-43 and 1955-60

Somebody either knows a good forger or a good website! The 1922 is genuine

But how can you ignore those prices? You have to ask yourself, who is a £20 1967 halfcrown or a £15 1966 penny aimed at? It can't be the likes of us, as you would hear us laughing all the way from the moon. So who, then? Gullible novices? I would have said London Coin Auctions were too reputable for that kind of scam. So who, then? It makes no sense, none at all. The more I think about this, the more baffled but also more annoyed I become. It's like they're either taking the mick, or trying to con someone as yet unidentified. I wish one of their representatives would come on here and give us the benefit of their thinking. I suspect that what you are paying for here is not the coin, but the plastic that surrounds it and the grade that it has been assigned. Here in the United States such nonsensical pricing logic has become the norm rather than the exception. Here's one of our more extreme examples... a penny for your thoughts Well I don't know much about US coins, but for such a modern coin, that does seem expensive. Don't forget it's not only us in the UK buying Uk coins. We may consider them commonplace but if you are sitting in the middle of johnnie foriegner land how else do you get coins for you UK coin collection.

Neat -- where did you 'find' it? In my collection.... I don't have the others, although I might have pics of them.... I'll check Here's 3 out of 4. I was offered a 1952 but it was not a good one and bit expensive so I declined it.

The wear on the reverse is consistant with the observe. Apart from the ear the observe is much flatter than the reverse side so doesn't show the wear so readily. Also the height of the rim can also determine how readily a side will wear Gary

OK, Gary, I give up. I see the double striking of the inner leg, but even with that the tide is well below the point the legs meet is it not ? Or am I missing something as usual..... Ok 1st clue. Colin Cooke

That's how I started out, collecting from change, 40 years ago.

Depends what you're talking about. What determines rarity is a combination of mintage, popularity, survival, etc. For example, Maundy sets are minted each year - around 1000 or so - which for a currency coin would be very rare. But because it's "only" Maundy, they fetch quite modest sums (there are many fewer collectors for them). The number of "undated error" 2008 20 pence pieces far exceeds Maundy, but look what they are selling for on eBay. A rough rule of thumb for modern currency coins would be that any mintage of less than a million makes it pretty scarce. But condition matters too : 1950s half crowns and florins were minted in large quantities but are often very hard to find in top grade, and can be worth up to £50 in mint condition, but nothing in ordinary worn condition. It's a more complicated subject than your question suggests. That means a Brittania made in 2007 is rare (only 700,000 exist)maybe a few 2 pounds Freeman considers 650,000- 1 million to be rare.

Here is my latest acquisition. I wonder if I have blown my A$0.54 plus A$6.00 postage. Sellers picture

Did anyone make it along to coinex this year. This was my first attendance and to be quite honest I was rather disapointed. 95% of the exhibitors where selling either hammered or gold or hammered gold, there was next to no 19th centry milled where my interests lay. I just managed to make it worthwhile by finding a 1902LT marked up as a HT so I did the right thing and gave them the full asking price, £25 I thought oh well I already have an UNC so I'll knock it out on ebay and it'll cover my day out. Then I looked a bit closer.......

It will make it something, I'm not sure it will be English as we know it Thanks all, translations pretty much as I worked out the gist, an appropriate post given this topic title " Three quid down the Swanee..." I'll just write this one off! I'll still keep buying from overseas sellers, I often get good stuff at reasonable prices, and I've had very little difficulty with either overseas payment or postage davidrj, I looked out a spare which I was going to send you but its turned out to be the 1915. Something interesting I did find though was that the 1915 recessed ear in my main collection only has the very tip of the tooth broken whereas the later 1915s and the 1916 have quite a large break.

I was the second bidder on the 1908 F164A, the next bid would have cost another £55, just could bring myself to do it. Hopefully I wont regret it. I was also 2nd on the 1915 resessed ear, just a minor upgrade and didn't have my heart in it as I was looking at the 1908. I did win the 1913 F176 which has taken my up a notch but again I wasn't going to fight over it.

Actually scott, the 1902 Low Tide penny has never been rare (not like the halfpenny). It is scarce only, compared to the normal variety, but because it came out first, paradoxically it got put aside more at the time, so survives in fairly high grades more often than you might expect. The 1919H is another example of a coin that's common in low grades, but the 1919H does get rare in high grade, much rarer than the 1902LT. I suppose the LT is an example of a variety that just 'caught on' and became popular, but out of all proportion to its rarity. Strangely no-one, but no-one, seems to collect the varieties of 1956 halfpenny. I have to say I have never even seen one of them, and would dearly love to own one. They just never 'caught on', which is a shame really. I have all four 1956 1/2d, in actual fact I sold a few to Chris recently. Also picked up a 1902 LT 1/2d in about GVF rev EF obv. off ebay for £0.99 a couple of weeks ago. Just getting a few other bits together before it goed back on. Gary