1949threepence

Thanks Richard.

Yep, I know when I called RM about the coin that was delivered to another address, and then another tracked which was shoved through the door, the response I received was factual, but there was no attempt at an apology. In fact the agents I spoke to were quite offhand, I thought. Piss poor customer service. It is coming USPS, and it has got a tracking No. I will be keeping a very close day by day eye on it, and checking the parcelforce website as soon as it is shown as arriving in London. Hopefully it will make it that far.

It comes up when you click on "contact seller". You get the following range of queries:- Details about the item (2) Postage (6) Combined postage (0) Make an offer (1) Pay for the item (2) Returns (1) Other (1) If you then click on "make an offer", you get asked if you want to look for an "answer" - which then comes up with:- Make an offer: We found 1 answer(s) How do I make an offer? The seller hasn't enabled offers for this item. See if they'll consider — send a message with your best price. Although you could of course ignore the looking for an answer bit, and just go straight into sending a message to the seller.

Having read Michael Gouby's interesting article in the May 2010 edition of the Numismatic Circular, regarding the 1858/3, actually being an 1858/2, I'm intrigued to find that it's not necessarily an "either/or" here, as I'd previously thought, but possibly both, given that at least one dealer has both an 1858/2 and an 1858/3 on offer. The two (apparent) types can be seen, one underneath the other, in this link from KB Coins. Magnification of each is available. I'm not going to try and describe them, but suffice it to say I'm not sure either fit the classic description. Gouby's compelling argument is that an 1852 die was struck but never used for circulation (dated)1852 pennies. There is no dispute as to the fact that 236,424 pennies were struck in 1852, but none bearing that date were ever found. However, 236,424 is very much along the lines of average mintages in the 1840's and early 50's. So why wouldn't they have used the 1852 die for such a comparatively large mintage, if such a die existed? Is the jury still out, or has it already returned a definitive, or even unanimous verdict?

Looks like you were right, Paddy. Thanks for the tip. I made an offer of $300 on this coin The seller made a counter offer of $345, which I accepted. Met me in the middle. It's about in line with what a such a coin would trade at in the UK, and it's certainly a lot better than the current small date 1857 I've got which shows signs of old cleaning. At the original price it was one of their better priced coins. That'll have to be the last coin I buy this year, given what I've spent recently. Just hope it manages to reach here OK.

They'd have to be barking mad to try 😼

Hmm, you might be right there Paddy. Although I've never tried it before, I might make an offer on one of the coins which does look quite nice. Will keep this thread posted on developments. ETA: with that said, I do still think that a not inconsiderable premium is added for slabbing. If it was the bare coin I'm sure they wouldn't dare ask as much as they do.

Well yes, except there's no provision for a best offer on any of those coins. It's take it or leave it.

See this link I wouldn't dispute that they are all very nice coins. Top drawer in fact. But they are an object lesson in up to 100% + premium applied to choice items, merely by virtue of the fact they are slabbed. Not worth it.

Thanks Richard, that would be much appreciated. Look forward to reading it.

Has anybody got a spare one of these they are willing to sell? Alternatively is anyone able to send me a scan of Michael Gouby's article at pages 72 to 73 about the 1858/3 penny, actually being 1858/2? Thanks in advance.

preponderance of gold.

Hi Cliff - the top bar of the I in GRATIA is very thin, especially on the right hand side. So maybe the beginnings of infill. Actually the 4 is intact, and doesn't look like any work has been done on it. However, there is a tiny bit of dirt underneath and just to the side of the 4, which slightly distorts the appearance. There's also a slight rim nick underneath the date.

Yes, I think I will have to order it too. Tried printing but it didn't come out too well.

I wouldn't be able to afford to anyway. It's completely cleaned me out for several months to come. But there you go, I saw it, and I just had to buy it. Otherwise the chance of owning such a quality piece could have gone forever.

Yes, thanks Chris - from 287kb down to 55kb. I can crop using photoscape and really don't know why I didn't think of that. Done it before.

I regard this 1849 penny acquisition as the pièce de résistance of my pre 1860 Victoria copper collection. Even though it's meant shelling out a lot of money, it was worth it to get something as nice as this. Unfortunately I'm still having issues shrinking the pics, so obverse and reverse will have to go on separate pages as the lowest I can get each down to, is 287kb, and the max is 500.

You should have received a letter from your local delivery office advising you how to pay the customs charges. But like everything else these days, you've got to watch it like a hawk, checking, double checking and triple checking to make sure it doesn't mysteriously vanish (with or without trace). ETA: Also just remembered that the USPS tracking site also followed the item through to eventual delivery in my case. That shows up an inconsistency immediately, as it just stopped dead in yours - link It was the reference to "Parcelforce" on October 16th, which prompted me to then check their website.

It might be worth contacting Royal Mail/Parcelforce to see if they can cast any light on the issue. I say Royal Mail/Parcelforce as I've had two items from the States, both trackable first one on RM track and trace, second one on Parcelforce, both using the USPS tracking No, once they arrive at a Mail Centre here in the UK.

It definitely makes sense to do this with more expensive items, given the slightly more unreliable postal service during the pandemic. But I'd bet it's something that's not been considered by all dealers/collectors.

Up to £500 Richard?

Well, you say that, but the bit about enhancement for consequential loss is under the "Royal Mail" banner on the website. So it's not crystal clear, and customer confusion would be wholly understandable.