Peckris

Correction: each individual coin WAS worth between £100 and £200 - suddenly they are worth rather less! (If they make it to market, that is).

My view is that the damage was present at striking and the resulting coin either missed by inspectors or pocketed by one with an eye for a curio. Notice the weakness of the strike to the left of the split, compared to what looks like a normal strike to the right. I don't think it's a forgery.

..and most milled too, let's face it!

Fair comments - those pictures show quite a variety of 5 styles. The ones that look least like a normal 5 are the overdates, which lends credence to this being one of them. iPhone! You'll never achieve it though, thanks to the Microsoft tyranny of not allowing a lower case first letter followed by a capital letter.

Yes, but given that this would have been done to create a 5 from a 3, not the other way around, wouldn't you expect to see a downstroke to connect the top of the 5 to its loop? There doesn't seem any trace of it at all.

Wasn't there some kind of marking done during the Great Recoinage to allow hammered coins to be used for some purposes, e.g. taxation? I'm not sure exactly, but I seem to remember a thread on this.

You may or may not be aware that trays for slabbed coins are available even in the UK. I use SAFE trays, excellent quality. You can check: www.safealbums.co.uk/Zen/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=201_204_224&sort=20a&page=2. That's all very well, but if you already have excellent quality coin cabinets, getting something specially for slabs is not a big incentive.

Surely, Peter, you meant www.photobucket.com/WOW A dinner plate sized coin to eat my steak off sausages for me tonight unless Mrs Peter can get off the sofa and add some spice to my beans and peas No sausage for Mrs Peter?

Strangely enough, I'd had a high grade 1937 halfcrown for yonkeys, then examining it closely one day I was struck by the slight mirroring in the fields, but even more by the razor sharp rim. I've now provisionally reclassified it as a proof. However, I do accept that it must have come from a broken set, and as for being rare Having said all that, I think George VI proofs are the most difficult to tell apart from normal issues. They're not very good, let's face it. Why is that? My proof has a frosted effigy and is very different from the ordinary strike. Mine does too. Here's a piccy of my 1937 florin proof obverse. Yes, I should have qualified my remark by saying that some George VI proofs feature frosting, but many don't. That's what I meant about "not very good". You can see entire 37 or 50 or 51 proof sets that aren't frosted, ditto 1953. Others are "barely frosted". Treasure the frosted ones you find, - they should command a premium. There's a VIP 1951 crown on Mark Rasmussen's site that looks like a frosted normal example. But maybe the VIP quality is obvious in hand, but not in the picture.

It depends. If you grade purely by the amount of circulation wear (as many of us do) then that wouldn't alter by the presence of other damage or disfigurements. However, if you were selling such a coin, you would say "EF, minor stains obv/rev" (or "VF with EK" etc), then adjust the price accordingly. Similarly you could say "EF, sharp strike, superb toning" and adjust the price in the opposite direction. Some people might deduct a grade for damage, and grade a coin as VF when in fact it's EF with a bloody great scratch. But if they advertised it as VF that would confuse the buyer, who might prefer a genuine VF to a scratched EF. A full and honest description is far better.

Reminds me of that great sketch with Ronnie Corbett... ("it's frozen.." "..have you tried rebooting it?")

Secret dealers...........We KNOW your secrets Peter I've got a bath full of Baked beans and mushy peas to dive into later...Mrs Peter is on a leash. You're Roger Daltrey in disguise? WHO? My wife comes from the family Moon.I have a picture of one of the Moons who recently died, in his sixties. The picture was taken in his 20's, it's uncanny. You would say it was Keith. THE family Moon, or A family Moon ???

Yes it does resemble the 5 used on Charles II farthings, there are a few different dies that are recorded as 3/5, see items 712 & 713 http://www.colincooke.com/coinpages/ccc_charlesiicurrency.html Thanks, Colin! I tried to view the enlarged images on the site, using my I-phone, but the pop-up image kept jumping below the window of my phone browser, so will check them out tomorrow on the laptop. The back-sweeping top arm of the possible 5 is slightly raised above the level of the underlying raised 'numeral,' though it is not so clear on the photo! I should have tried photographing it with a different light angle...maybe tomorrow, if the overdate grows in possibility iPhone, dear boy, iPhone

Secret dealers...........We KNOW your secrets Peter I've got a bath full of Baked beans and mushy peas to dive into later...Mrs Peter is on a leash. You're Roger Daltrey in disguise?

Strangely enough, I'd had a high grade 1937 halfcrown for yonkeys, then examining it closely one day I was struck by the slight mirroring in the fields, but even more by the razor sharp rim. I've now provisionally reclassified it as a proof. However, I do accept that it must have come from a broken set, and as for being rare Having said all that, I think George VI proofs are the most difficult to tell apart from normal issues. They're not very good, let's face it.

Did you actually manage to sell it and make a profit? Mind you, at that rate all those 1967 pennies are beginning to look worthwhile!

Staining of some sort - certainly not natural toning. This is where you could try a gentle wash in warm water using pure soap. That may help, though you should dry it by dabbing with a towel, not wiping of course. If that doesn't work, you COULD try dipping... for NO MORE THAN 10 SECONDS!!! If that doesn't work, give it up as a bad job and live with what doesn't actually look disastrously disfiguring.

Most of them you will see the link in the signature, e.g. Derek's (Red Riley), or in their profile. Other safe bets are Colin Cooke, Michael Gouby, Mark Rasmussen, among others who other members may recommend.

Surely, Peter, you meant www.photobucket.com/WOW

Ah, but now you're back Chris, have you seen this brilliant scheme we've all joined? You buy silver bullion coins from them and if you then recruit others to do the same you get your coins for free!! We're all going to be millionnaires...!! Just sign here .... ...this time next year!

LOL the world's commonest coin! Still, if you like it, and you're happy to buy from a company that spells "wholly" as "wholey", who am I to criticise? Are you now enrolled in their £40 per month scam scheme?

I've not seen the Jubilee crowns, but I always likeed the currency obverse - it's punchy and fairly realistic too. My pet hate is the Maklouf portrait which I find is not only very shallow but also boring. It's the only portrait I don't like at all.

LOL the world's commonest coin! Still, if you like it, and you're happy to buy from a company that spells "wholly" as "wholey", who am I to criticise?

That explains things. Norton have become the archetypal "software from hell". When my Mac was in the repairers I was stuck using a little HP netbook running Windows 7; I got tired very quickly of all the Norton popups telling me my free trial (i.e. shipped with the computer) had come to an end and my machine was now unprotected. This seemed a constant intrusion and no way to turn it off. I'd be tempted to clean your machine of Norton and try McAfee or something similar to protect against viruses etc.

You don't explain it very well. The normal 1922 penny is slightly scarce in high grades, but not by much. However, there is a very rare reverse which is called the "1927 reverse" because it's very similar to the modified 1927 reverse used between 1927 and 1936. There's no such thing as a "British reverse" - all pennies from 1797 until 1967 feature Britannia on the reverse, perhaps that's what you mean? As azda says, you can post pictures up to 150k in each post. It isn't a lot, but if you reduce the size and resolution in an image editor, you should be able to post a picture of the reverse without problem.