Peckris

I don't need to make detailed checks. I can spot a Modified Effigy straight away, and that is SO not one. How the hell can they get away with such blatant misrepresentation?

Yeah well, I bid, but failed The winning bid was £40.00. Nice capture for the winner. Oh that's a shame - it was something of a bargain at that price, pity you weren't able to go higher

As promised ... If it was a nice chocolate brown I'd be thinking, "wow, a bronzed proof!", but this is just peculiar.

I generally love good toning, better than an untoned coin. Especially older silver, but bronze can tone nicely too. I'm not yet converted to streaky lustre though, and as for fingerprints ... While on this subject I will have to scan my 1855 penny for you - it's EF, but is a uniform dull dark grey colour all over, rather like tarnished pewter. It's distinctly odd looking, but not unattractive.

You are quite right, so it looks like a deliberately false image. I can't quite see why anybody would bother though. I mean, at best its a £5.99 sale, not a million!! I think the 'undated 20p' madness has infected the whole of eBay.

So... a 1935 penny with ghosting. Well I never! How much is that worth?

Nice one! You got a bit of a bargain there I'd say - good value for a normal Unc 1935 but you got ghosting thrown in for good measure. Thanks for posting it.

I will buy a pair of Gucci shoes after you have bribed me with a VF 1905 halfcrown. No? P*ss off then you benighted kerb-crawler.

Interesting replies guys. I must say, I had never seen it on 1919 pennies or earlier (but there it is...) and certainly not as late as 1953! (but there it is). I suppose the Mint could well have experimented with different bronze alloys from 1920, enthused by their efforts with the silver versions. Or maybe they simply changed the formula used to provide the lustre. There wasn't any darkening of pennies in the period afaik. The first was in 1934 I believe? Though they had certainly used it on farthings to great effect from 1897 to 1918. Scott, can you upload a scan of your 1935 ghosted reverse ? I've never seen George V ghosting post-modification - I'd be fascinated to see it.

Well it's not so far-fetched - when you consider that the total value of coins in circulation represent, year-on-year, an ever-shrinking portion of the money supply, then it really is a matter of decreasing priority. Today's £10 note probably equates to a 1930s halfcrown in real terms. As for commemoratives, I recently bought (via eBay) a 'fantasy' proof penny of 1798, which featured the Kuchler George III obverse, and a Britannia reverse closely based on the pattern pieces of the Boulton era, minted on a heavy dark bronze flan. I don't usually go for those fantasy pieces, but I fell in love with this as soon as I saw it. They can do some things right, it seems.

I expect many of you will already have noticed that the lustre on pennies between 1921 to 1926 is often very streaky, and can be a much paler colour too. Instead of wearing from the high points and then gradually disappearing until it lingers only in the legend, these pennies often show the lustre disappearing in streaks, totally unrelated to wear. The remaining lustre looks as though it's been applied with a paintbrush, with the streaks running in the same direction. Anyone ever heard an explanation of why this should be so? (It may be true of halfpennies too, but I don't see many with good lustre and those I do see don't seem to have this problem). This penny is fairly typical I think.

Oh don't worry. The person who is likely to pay several thousands for an undated 20p on eBay hasn't got a brain connected to their eyes, so it won't matter.

That joker is showing a scan of an obverse of a small proof 1993 10p and a large proof 10p reverse (date unknown). If you look at the border beads it should be clear enough. And the pictures are two different sizes anyway !! Sheesh. If you're going to be dishonest and rip everyone off, then at least do it properly ...

There aren't any gaming tokens featuring William III - they are mostly George III or Victoria, and made of brass. Misspellings are very common on these copper William III coins : there was a massive re-coinage taking place and coppers got a low priority - you don't see too many errors on the gold and large silver coins; they start appearing on shillings and sixpences, and there are lots on coppers.

If you check out his other coins they are top-whack and mostly over-graded. Eg: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1887-VICTORIA-SILVER...id=p3911.c0.m14 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1849-VICTORIA-SILVER...id=p3911.c0.m14 Are we talking at cross-purposes here? The nice 1912H is from mog461 not d-uk-e, and it's the latter who is being ... shall we say ... a bit optimistic.

That's a rather nice EF example - good luck with it. But I just had a look though morgan9red's listings, and I don't see either 1912H there. Weird. No, you're right. It was my error. The actual coin is here. The seller is d-uk-e. Don't know why I thought it was morgan9red. I did see his name, but it must have been another coin. I don't like that Unc example, not at that price. There's slight rubbing on both sides (A.Unc) and the lustre is patchy and uneven. For £299 I would be wanting a BU Gem. To be honest, in your position I would rather bid on other penny, which has a much more even and pleasing appearance (in my opinion.) It looks GEF to my eye.

Interesting reading. And a nice rarity you have there scott. I would ask Neil Paisley about its value - their site might even make an offer! (Unlisted rarities are incredibly difficult to value. It's all down to interest in the end. Compare the 1804 Bank of England dollar with the 1860 bun penny - both have varieties that go from 'common' to 'extremely rare', yet the rare 1804s aren't much different in value from the common ones. Not like the 1860 penny.)

That's a rather nice EF example - good luck with it. But I just had a look though morgan9red's listings, and I don't see either 1912H there. Weird.

Thank you David - I think it must be an error. It's not that 1886 is a 'deceptively difficult' date after all! I've got 3 or 4 of the damn things, all EF or better. I will have to tell Chris that in this instance, CCGB is wrong.

Hi I'm just pricing up some coins for sale, but the latest copy of CCGB I have is 2007. In the bronze farthing listings I see ...: 1884 F £1 VF £2 EF £4 UNC £15 BU £30 1885 F £1 VF £2 EF £4 UNC £15 BU £30 but .. 1886 F £1 VF £10 EF £30 UNC £75 BU £90 I feel this must be a typo, as 1886 farthings are equally common as 1885 in high grade, and possibly even commoner than 1884. Would someone be kind enough to check CCGB 2009 for me please, and check these prices?

Yes, you are right. It is just a case of wear on the rim. If you think about it, looking at the rim from the side is deceptive - when you look at a coin face on, you see how little it figures. Also, the 1942 6d is barely in Fine condition, the 1941 is VF which is a big difference. And when the rim wears, it loses a bit of metal, but also flattens it into the teeth, which makes it look wider from the front - you see that? So there will be very little difference in weight. It only really shows up if you look at it from the side, as you did.

Yes, you are right. It is just a case of wear on the rim. If you think about it, looking at the rim from the side is deceptive - when you look at a coin face on, you see how little it figures. The 1942 6d is barely in Fine condition, the 1941 is VF which is a big difference. And when the rim wears, it loses a bit of metal, but also flattens it into the teeth, which makes it look wider from the front - you see that? So there will be very little difference in weight. It only really shows up if you look at it from the side, as you did.

Magnificent, and at £725, a mere snip here is the page it's on Needless to say, I can't afford it !! And he has (HAD) a 1933 penny !!!! Well, the Lavrillier pattern, but hey, it's still a 1933... wonder how much it sold for? That 1918KN is beautifully struck, but the colour looks faded (it's the picture I think). He also has some rather nice 1912H but the prices for those are somewhat overrated for a coin with a mintage of 16,000,000. But I suppose the demand for them is high just so that people can say "I've got a BU H penny!" I always found that GVF KNs were the hardest to come by. They were the highest grade I could afford but do you think I could ever find one??

Not quite. Before 1947 they are silver (50%). So both yours should be silver. There was no other metal used except silver alloy, even during the war. You may have a fake, but the best thing is if you could scan it and upload pictures of it for us to see? (To be half the thickness but the same weight, it would have to be lead I would have thought!)

The fact is, I've never seen a 1912/18/19H that wasn't nearly black, and I've never seen a KN that wasn't red/brown. And, I've never seen an Unc KN in the flesh, but the few pictures I've seen show a very flattened portrait, i.e. not well struck up. Much like my 1919H, which if you look at the legend, shield, etc, appears to have no wear at all, but has the hair detail you would expect on a coin that is about Fine. (And the coin is already a dark colour - almost like a Mint darkened penny but without that gorgeous purple sheen you see on the farthings.)