1949threepence

Well I must say Bruce, together with the F16, you've bought three amazing examples. Well played.

Interesting sub variety of the 1854 PT is a dot just underneath the first I of VICTORIA. They are known about, but not overly common, so I was pleased to capture one a couple of days ago. Might show up better under greater magnification on the seller's e bay page - here

As a result of your thread, Bruce, I decided to buy a humidity monitor, and here is a photo of it, on top of my coin cabinet, showing a humidity of 49%, which from what I've read is perfectly OK for coin storage.

Interestingly, I did notice that most of the Tory MP's were wearing masks in the Commons today, when Rishi Sunak gave his budget address. You're absolutely right - as it applies to health, and we're all made from the same DNA, with the same capacity to spread/catch the virus, the rule should apply to all. Not just some. Keir Starmer's tested positive for covid. Hence why he wasn't there today.

Thanks, must give it a try.

I find the St Helen's goat's milk the best.

Don't know, it's perverse in the extreme. Surely, surely no-one would be so stupid....would they?

and cats can lick their arses........of course we can't do these things. .......Well maybe if you were a contortionist.....

I drink goat's milk, and have done since 1999. Does that count as a "dairy alternative"? Nothing to do with allergies or the environment, I just prefer the taste to cow's milk. Just so long as the current environmental hysteria doesn't spill over into ordering the public to change their eating habits. I'm all for the environment, and climate change initiatives, but there are some very weird and dogmatic individuals in the eco warrior lobby.

Now as luck would have it, I actually did come across another no colons 1854, last night, made an offer and got it for £20. It's no great shakes but it's better than the very worn specimen I've got now. I can make out the first colon - link to it Current no colons.

It does Pete. I just looked at it on my tablet and expanded the picture manually. It's the same as your other one.

Absolutely.

Yes indeed. I've tried to work out what went on, but predictably, found it impossible. If there were no trace of any colons on any "no colon" 1854's, then I think one could definitively say that the colons were inadvertently omitted. But why should the first colon appear at all, albeit faintly? Answers on a postcard please.

Just checked. Mine has too.

Interesting that the 1854 no colons fetched just £17.50, Ian. Yours is literally only the second one I've ever seen for sale. The first one was advertised by Colin Cooke in August 2020, and I bought it. I note that yours has the first colon quite weakly showing, whereas there's no trace of any colons on mine. It's quite difficult to believe that die fill would affect every colon at the same time, (bar the first in some cases). So maybe it was an accidental omission. Although that might make more sense if there were no traces of the first colon on any of the specimens.

You might also find this book useful:- Coin Preservation Handbook - Charles Frank I've not read it, needless to say, but it looks a good buy.

Interesting question. Been doing a bit of research and there are quite a few coin forum threads on the issue from other parts of the world with very high humidity, such as Florida. Found a really useful thread here

Thought I'd post two pennies here today. The first is an 1826 rev A plain saltire. Not the rarest, but this one is in absolutely superb condition. UNC where the red lustre has mostly faded to brown, but still showing through very brightly when the coin is turned. Really pleased with this one. The second is the 1827 I won from the recent DNW Ian Sawden collection. Again not the best, but these are extremely difficult (if not virtually impossible) to obtain in high grade. Most are worn and pitted. This shows very slight pitting. The story goes that the 1827 mintage was shipped to Australia and that whilst stored in the ship's hold, seawater got in and soaked the coins, thus causing the pitting - some much worse than others. Not seen any official corroboration, but it makes absolute sense, and is wholly believable. ETA: an uncirculated 1827 specimen fetched an eye watering £21k hammer at the December 2014 LCA.

Of course the other factor we don't know is whether either of the two main bidders for this coin actually requested (and received) better pics from the vendor which removed any doubt they had. Who knows.

Whenever you really need it, the zoom feature isn't on. Not brilliant photography anyway. Another feature of reverse F is that the rocks to the left of the lighthouse tail off before they reach the linear circle. Not sure whether that's the case with this one or not.......probably not actually. Given the amount bid, however, some are obviously convinced.

No, but would have done if I'd realised it was on offer. Nice condition and better than mine. Well worth the money.

In fairness I'm probably not strictly comparing like with like. If you include the late Soho and denominations other than pennies, it was a great collection, especially as it was assembled in just 15 years. I'd certainly be interested to know how he came to acquire the ex King Farouk gold penny. He perhaps used e mail bids and did well on them. I received my two won lots today and was pleasantly surprised to see Ian's original notes relating to provenance. That's never happened with any other purchases.

Good point. His pre 1800 early Soho rivalled that of Colin Adams, especially with the gold pieces. But as you say there was nothing in the penny department from 1805 to 1807. Yep, interesting die flaw on the last colon of your .W.W 1831. There are similar ones in the Victorian copper period, notably 1855 and 1859.

At the end of the day that's precisely it. If you want a coin badly enough you'll pay the extra.