Peckris

If a coin has been 'improved' by a careful act of cleaning, then I see nothing wrong with that, in fact I would applaud it. There are a mix of positive actions, such as gentle washing, extremely brief dipping to remove ugly tarnish, the application of surgical spirit to remove surface grime, acetone, or the long term soaking in olive oil to remove corrosion, etc. They are all cleaning, but can be done with care and attention. However, if a coin LOOKS cleaned - polished, unnaturally toned by dipping, or covered with hairlines - then that's a Bad Thing and will negatively affect the coin's value.

"DINSDALE..."

Matilda

Don't forget "and stable".

LOL. I don't think there are too many coins valued at over £37k !!

I remember the same bit.

"Harro, gate"

Who remembers Marina from Romania?

Named for a drunk Japanese stumbling home and reaching his - or somebody's - garden.

You need a bigger picture ...

How can a coin in VF be thought of as AU, by any stretch of the imagination? I mean, it just isn't. Not even close.

Reported

Good point - would you see recut numerals all offset by exactly the same degree? You might if the whole date was on a single punch but as we know, they never were.

Interesting in that very many dies in this series have the dates and other parts of the legend recut / repunched, so it's a clear example of that. You won't find it listed as a variety though.

So a centipede is 1 year of the total time Jimmy Savile should have spent in jail?

Ah. Micro-variety land. I'll pass.

X is for Xcited! ( ... or a hasty Xit. I'll get me coat ... )

I believe the value of the metal used is now worth more than 2p, which is why the Mint switched to steel in the 90s. The problem would be finding a buyer who would be willing to pay - say - 2.1p so they could make a 0.4p profit.

Not sure why you say 'scarcer'? All George VI silver dated 1944-1946 - and even earlier - is very common even in top grades, due to general hoarding of genuine silver coins once CuNi came in. (This is also why high grade silver 1915 - 1918 is more common than post-1920 when they were debased to 50% silver).

B for Beatrix! (Actually, Boudicca would have been better than Bond - after all, she actually existed ... though she hasn't brought in as many £££ as Bond.)

Mackintosh is Scottish. And yes - the Loch Ness Monster DOES exist ... in the minds of the Tourist Board . J for Jubilee is pretty poor too - I can think of things like Jodrell Bank, J Arthur Rank, Joyce Grenfell, and I'm sure many others, that would have made a better choice. I suppose we mustn't forget that the Mint makes a fair old packet out of every Jubilee.

Along with F for Failed (in every football tournament since 1966), B for BNP, O for Oswald Mosley, N for Nigel Farridge, X for Xenophobia, you mean? By the way, it's British, not English.

My take is that it's NOT the same coin and you'd be justified in returning it on those grounds. There are many many signs that get my suspicions going, but here's just three: 1. the teeth on the right coin (from the V anti-clockwise to the left hand edge of the bust) are thin compared to the greater wear on the left hand coin 2. the totally different style of the JEB - particularly the E which is curved like a reversed 3 on the left, and a normal E on the right, sloping to the right 3. the upper knot on the pendant ribbon has a complete incuse line on the right, which can barely be seen at all on the left. Add to that the scratch on the last A of GRATIA (not present on the left), and a faint doubling of the ear lobe on the right, and I'd say you've been the victim of possible malpractice.

I don't regard Spinks and Davies 100% accurate on this (Spink probably took their information from Davies anyway). The fact is, all regular proofs between 1937 and 1953 come with or without frosting, and those that are frosted have variable levels of frosting, and some coins in sets are frosted while others aren't. You can't determine a VIP proof from frosting alone if there are no other differences.

Because there is also a normal proof set for 1953, you wouldn't see any difference between those and the VIP proofs. VIPs are usually for years when there are no regular proofs issued, hence their rarity. However, that rare 1953 penny on its own makes the set a very sought after commodity, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the buyer was only after the penny, for which a very high sum was paid.