Peckris

It's almost possible to comprehend why someone could confuse 'lustre' with 'polished'. Probably only 20 points off an IQ assessment for that. But to describe it as 'uncirculated'.....? ...rather than "Worn to f*@!"

Just a pity there isn't a cut-down version of the Standard Catalogue which we could buy for - say £10 - and download to our computers.

Commonly but incorrectly. Technically an evasion has some legend alteration so that it stands out from the official coinage,eg "GEORGE RULES" This is certainly a contemporary forgery halfpenny based on the mint dies. Well, a date of 1776 would certainly qualify as an evasion, then! Sounds more like an evacuation! Not so much evasion as exlaxasion

Commonly but incorrectly. Technically an evasion has some legend alteration so that it stands out from the official coinage,eg "GEORGE RULES" This is certainly a contemporary forgery halfpenny based on the mint dies. Well, a date of 1776 would certainly qualify as an evasion, then!

No. Spink make it quite clear in their catalogue that the prices quoted for UNC copper/bronze is "with full mint lustre". £150 for a BU 1895 halfpenny? Ye gods. Even Spink's £70 is going some. It's nowhere near as scarce as even the second issue penny.

Port and kippers? Euwww. Peck you should go for it.Everything cancels out for an afternoon lovefest.

£45 in F according to Spink 2005. It can't have gone up that much! That link doesn't work (Strangely, this Reply shows it beginning "http", but the actual post has some gunk in front of that, including "newtab". Weird, or what?) Wow, your edit must have gone through the instant I clicked Add Reply! Thanks, Paul! A damaged/spiked and nastily cleaned one too, a very lucky Monsieur would get £45 in 2012! Oh that's perfectly normal apparently

£45 in F according to Spink 2005. It can't have gone up that much! That link doesn't work (Strangely, this Reply shows it beginning "http", but the actual post has some gunk in front of that, including "newtab". Weird, or what?) Wow, your edit must have gone through the instant I clicked Add Reply!

One of our members, scott, is interested in foreign coins of all types, so he may run his eye over those, though they may be too modern for him. (I know little or nothing about them). The UK coins are not worth anything except face value really. The 2008 20p MAY (but probably not) be the undated 'mule' type - but if you already see it's 2008, then it isn't (if that doesn't sound Irish). Your worn coppers are most likely to be George III halfpennies - the date on the second will be 1775, the last year of mintage of that particular series. Of no value but historically interesting. If the first one that you can't read the date on, has the bust facing in the opposite direction to the second, then it's George II. Hope you rekindle an interest in coins. You will see from all the discussions here, it's a fascinating hobby Oh I almost forgot - gold prices are quite high now. Depending on grade, your 1913 half sov is worth AT LEAST bullion value, maybe more.

A reasonably high grade example (AEF): http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1915-LARGE-BRONZE-PENNY-King-GEORGE-V-GREAT-BRITAIN-/390474845484?pt=US_World_Coins&hash=item5aea1d4d2c#ht_3123wt_932

1926 halfcrowns suffered a similar fate with the No Colon variety, as I recall! Also 1961 halfcrowns "E.F. designer initials missing reverse" - I bought an example of this in 1978, but at no great premium, so I'm not downcast! However, there are clear cut 'no stop' varieties which aren't blocked dies - the 1787 shilling comes to mind.

I think you are on the right line, coincidentally the only other year that saw this number of overdates/reuse of dies was 1848, and the same numbers were in use as well 3, 6 and 7 Both Peck and Freeman assume that the bronze changeover was planned for 1860, but original Mint records relating to it may not have been available to either. Certainly the French had changed over by 1852. But it is significant that there was a massive mintage of pennies (compared to previous years) in 1854 and 1855. Was that to satisfy demand during the period of changeover? It's interesting that - compared with, say, 1971 bronzes - the first year's mintage of the new coinage (1860) was modest compared to the following 3 years. Scope for study, I'd say.

You've included several alloys there Rob - shouldn't the "Silver 0.500" be amended to show the various compositions of silver alloy used from 1920 to 1946 (and 1986)?

Despite it being such a common date, the sheer number of 1858 varieties rather points towards the introduction of bronze being delayed for a couple of years? It's almost as if they said, "Oh well, we're not going to meet the deadline, but there's still a demand for pennies, let's see what's lying around that can be over-dated." And having firmly decided to postpone, they would then have been ready for 1859 in good time, a date for which there are not a large number of varieties. (The 1859 penny is, I think, possible evidence that the 1858 effort wasn't simply using up older dies to save on cutting new dies before 1860.) The 1860 copper is invariably an overdate and rare, suggesting that the production of bronze coins for 1860 was either not quite on time, or didn't meet full demand. I think the former is more likely when you look at the comparatively modest mintage of 1860 bronze pennies compared with the massive mintages for 1861,62,63.

What are the 1863 varieties? I must check mine out. Dot under lighthouse Do you have any pictures? There was one in the colin cooke collection 2006- It is still on the website even 6 years after colins death - A fantastic tribute to him and probably there for good - even more useful than colin's site (sorry colin) I just had a look at Colin's site - despite being BU the picture isn't large enough to make it out unfortunately. What did you mean by the "other" Colin Cooke site? I only know his main one.

A breath of fresh air compared to some members here who think they've beaten odds of millions to one and found extremely rare varieties

Glenn Ogden is the biggest dealer in the SW. I think he has a website if you google, but is also a presence at one of the travelling group of fairs (PHoenix? Not sure - his website probably gives details). Just Googled for you : http://www.glennogdencoins.com/ and yes, he has a list of fairs in the region on the home page.

That's a good strong obverse strike, if you need a second opinion. (The seller's grading is sometimes eccentric - he's offering a 1797 penny VF but described as a twopence in GFine. At £25, no wonder it's already sold!) Several other rather weird grades, but usually UNDERgraded which is no bad thing.

What are the 1863 varieties? I must check mine out. Dot under lighthouse Do you have any pictures?

But get in early on the helium coins - the values keep rising

What are the 1863 varieties? I must check mine out.

Unfortunately, there are too many imponderables. One of the biggest is how well known the variety is, which in turn creates demand which is the all-important factor of course. You would have to rank a variety in terms of : 1. how long-standing is it? 2. how recognisable is it? 3. how much research and published material is there, e.g. a Freeman, Peck, ESC, Davies? 4. are there any auction values for it? Your example of the 1923 mule florin depends on how Davies arrived at his price and what changes in the market there have been since then. It's probably much rarer than the 1925 florin, but wouldn't match its price.

I think it's a major coin type from a notoriously brief reign, and will always be attractive from that point of view. Personally, I would rather own one of the few trial pieces with the different reverse. Those are also out of reach! So I'd be happy with a replica

I'd distinguish "dedicated buyers competing" from "sometimes naive, sometimes idiotic, sometimes conned buyers" though.

I only found 70, most of them rubbish. Of the 4 coins that were EF, two were polished. Of the remainder, only one even approached VF. (Completed Listings).