1949threepence

Except there's an unexplained brown mark just under the left eye, in the South East corner of the picture. I'm assuming you didn't buy this direct from the Royal Mint.

It does Bob. Certainly the 8 is distinctly out of position. Never seen any other date oddities on an 1868.

Curious 1868, with a wonky final 8 if anyone's interested - link

This is why I say it's a massive shame that there isn't a limited currency issue - and also a very small number of additional gold and silver proof versions.

Yes, the gold has a limited edition number of 225, and the immediate selling price is £845. I'm thinking about placing an order for a gold version, simply because I really like the design. Plus you always retain bullion value.

270 to nil 5 stars would raise my suspicions immediately. That never happens so it's unrealistic. They'd be better introducing a few lower ratings to lend credibility. Most ratings on Amazon are totally genuine.

It's the extreme scarcity in high grade which marks them out as very collectable, Pete. In my opinion at least. As you said, Dave Craddock has seen only one UNC 1946 ONE ' in nearly 50 years. That tells you they're as rare as hen's teeth in that condition. Probably rarer.

Interesting that unlike the 147, Freeman doesn't ascribe them a separate number but instead a footnote, which reads: "Some specimens have a small elongated raised dot in the field above the E of ONE caused probably by damage to the die". Hence the fact that as in Bob's two, there will be differences in the appearance, as the die damage built up.

That's seriously scarce. By the way, thanks for the neat 1944, Pete. Arrived today.

The one I initially bought turned out, on inspection, to be an F217. Just had a further scan of e bay and easily managed to buy good quality versions of F219 and 221 - within 5 minutes. Whereas earlier I waded through......well, lost count........of 1940 pennies on advanced search, and after finding they were all double exergue, eventually lost the will to live with any more searching.

The Royal MInt letter is of almost as much interest as the coin, especially as it's written and signed by the very knowledgeable Graham Dyer.

But paradoxically, such a manifestly idiotic statement just reflects back on the intellect of the writer.

At least it's very easy to spot, Chris. I'm looking for a 1940 with a single exergual line. If I spot a couple of decent 1946 O N E ', types I'll let you know !

I must confess, slabbing is not my thing, and the slabbed coins I've bought have soon been liberated from their plastic incarceration. However, if I were sending one to NGC for slabbing, and it was a distinct variety, I would add that to the details I sent along with the coin, with accompanying technical explanation and provenance. I honestly wouldn't expect or trust an American company to do that for me with regards to a British coin. I'm not even sure it's really their job to do so - after all, they are following the customer's wishes to a large extent. Although I'd imagine they are a lot hotter on the technicalities/varieties of US coins. If you buy a slabbed coin and it's got an incorrect variety attribution, I'd say that's down to the buyer's carelessness in not checking the pics properly first. I start from the standpoint that everybody I deal with is an idiot/charlatan/has defective eyesight/is careless, until proven otherwise. It's safer that way. I'd also follow the same process with LCGS, although I would anticipate them being more knowledgeable (although still far from infallible) on British coins.

No Ian. I thought it was an interesting one to post, but I wasn't that keen personally.

Crikey Pete, I never realised

Thanks ! It's quite strange why it should be so elusive in good nick, considering the high mintage. Possibly Pete, although the same isn't true of 1961, where arguably there was a 12 year gap.

Great. Thanks Pete, could you send me a pic?

As I've now virtually completed the Edward VII and George V series of pennies (with one or two notable exceptions) I decided I would buy the entire series of George VI currency issue pennies, in one go if possible, and so scanned e bay for worthy candidates. Bought the lot bar one, apart from distinguishing between the three 1937, and two 1940 Freeman types. Can do that later. Of course, with George VI, the prices are much, much lower than with previous reigns, and there's a plethora to choose from. This means you can pretty much take your pick. So I decided my criteria would not necessarily be to relentlessly pursue BU full lustre in every case, but instead concentrate on eye appeal and most importantly, obtaining issue free specimens. I managed this successfully, including 1950 and 1951, with one exception, the 1944. To be sure, there were a large number of 1944's available, but the quality was slightly disappointing. Another day for that one, and the different Freeman types, but overall very pleased. Just got to wait for them to arrive now. Hope there's no hitches in that direction.

The entire argument is nonsensical. The majority of young people from working class areas voted to leave, whereas older voters from middle class areas often voted to remain. If every young person under say 25, had voted to remain, and every older person over 60 had voted to leave, then the argument would make more logical sense. I think the argument is based on London, which is different from everywhere else.

Interesting one here

I don't know. Possibly. Obviously if the coin continues in circulation and loses its lustre, then the fingerprints will vanish with the lustre.

Classic rip off. Utter disgrace

"'ole in the wall" as a pub name - love it ! Thanks Mick.

Really interesting topic. How were these produced Mick? I have seen something similar in a fairground, where the punter stamps their own in a machine. But were the examples you show produced like that, or were they handed to customers, maybe with or without a coin inside them.