1949threepence

Brilliant. Very neat capture Chris.

Thanks for the heads up Will. That looks an interesting read.

Pete - I had an e mail from Dave Craddock saying that it wasn't a single exergue line penny, and that there may have been some mix up. Never mind - one of those things. At least I do now have one, albeit only GF. But no other issues, so it will do very nicely.

They've got a 24 hour action line, Paddy. So it wouldn't do any harm to contact, explain the position, and see what their advice is. I find it difficult to believe they wouldn't be interested in actual instances of potential fraud, even if from an unaffected third party.

The best postage from the US is USPS (United States postal service) tracked. I Forget the exact cost, but it was very low. The item I got from Bob @RLC35 was posted on 16th July and arrived on 25th to be signed for by me. Could not fault it. Here's a screenshot of the latter part of the journey:-

Interestingly, under the heading George VI (1936 - 52), in relation to mint darkened coins, Freeman says this:- "Some pennies of other years also appear to have been treated with 'hypo' unofficially" ETA: With regard to 1944 undarkened, I found this - no idea how experienced or knowledgeable the guy is, but he sounds as though he knows his onions. Of course, the last paragraph takes me back to my thread on mint darkened 1935 pennies (or the possibility thereof).

I can only find one on the LCA site, and that went with a double exergue 1940, both UNC, for £120 hammer, in June 2016 - link to

Thanks Terry - useful info.

I have heard of non mint darkened specimens of 1944, 1945, and 1946 pennies - can anybody confirm? Or are they just showing variance in the extent/quality of the mint toning over the time involved?

Indeed, well spotted. As Chris says though, they are rare. I'd bet that less than 1 in 100 of 1940 pennies on e bay are the single exergue line F226, in any condition.

He always prices very fairly. I feel very fortunate to have dropped on a good quality one so relatively soon after starting to search. Never even thought about the possibility of Dave Craddock having a high grade one until this afternoon.

aUNC - 30% lustre. You did well to spot that other one Pete. I searched e bay repeatedly and missed it. ETA: It's not marked as one, so I probably went right past it without checking properly.

Actually Jon, I've got it on order. A few minutes after I bought the specimen above and made the post, I wondered if Dave had one. So on the off chance looked at his last list - and there it was. So I called him and he's sending it Tuesday.

Encased US coin here if anyone interested

You're right, it is a bugger to get. I searched all UK 1940's the other day, and then searched e bay Canada, Australia and USA - still no luck. Finally spotted one this morning - got to be probably the 200th (at least) I've looked at. That gives some indication of just how scarce they are. It's only about GF, but at least I've got one. Was cheap as well. Will do until (and IF) a better one comes along. Was going boggle eyed looking 1940 single exergue line

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.