davidrj

Doh! Senility setting in I can't see any difference other than sea level in either your examples, or Colin's on his site - probably both have same number of beads. My eyes are straining on my worn 1897 farthings to see a difference, the dark finish doesn't help - looks like these need upgrading But thanks Bob!

We recently discussed the 1897 High Tide penny and agreed the best pointer was P to a gap for the high tide as the actual sea level can be difficult to make out on circulated examples. Out of curiosity I decided to dig out my 1897 halfpennies to see if there was a similar indicator The P again is a good marker, but here the high tide has P to a bead Anybody got the farthing pair in decent condition to check?

The "normal" 8 over a bead (not listed by Gouby) appears to be scarcer

This looks a tad optimistic, as folk know I like my penny varieties - but £545 for an EF 1898??. The wider date variants of OH pennies are scarce but not rare, fun to seek & find, but not worth that sort of premium in my view

The 1882 cupronickel Jamaica penny is also catalogued as having a no H variant, but I've not seen a picture of a convincing one, except the exceedingly rare proof

Something like this?

Happy birthday Bob, have a good one!

Looking at Colin's farthing site, I'm thinking - large 8 over normal 8 and 5 over 3

I've never really bothered with farthings, they were out of circulation by the time I started collecting, but over the years I've accumulated some and thought it might be nice to complete a simple date set (most are pretty dire ex circulation) So help with this 1865 please The 8 looks fatter than the descriptions of fat 8 for 1865, is this an 8 over 8?? also something under the 5?

I've made that mistake a few times also Bernie, so I know where you are coming from. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt many times, I've just wasted £10 on a standard 1863 penny, that looked a little odd in the photo. I spend a lot of time looking at coins on Ebay trying to find varieties, many of which are never listed even by experienced sellers - how many listings do you see for 1913 die pairings? I'm still trying to find a decent 1+B F175. 1909 F169 and 1908 F164a are still on the radar. I take the view, if I've done the leg work, and I'm prepared to get it wrong more often than not, then interesting items I do manage to buy at a low price are fair game.

Good luck. I was watching this coin but it did not look like a open 3 to me. I might be wrong for you know what ebay pics are like. Sadly a perfectly formed standard 3,

Yes, that's the normal screen if you are not signed in, Upt to a week ago the site used to show threads I hadn't read after signing in, now I get "no new content found" irrespective of what is unread

I agree, P in Penny is the best guide, but only for 1897 Tide level is difficult to equate with folds, the level relative to the rock is easier to see - here's my montage of tide heights ">tides

Just taken a £10 punt on this 1863 - wishful thinking, I know. But the 3 looks odd, not normal but not the same as the open 3 I have. - probably a bog standard one when it arrives David

The "view new content" button tells me there is nothing even when i have 6 unread posts. I think it's a site glitch as it happens on both Firefox/Win10 & Safari/Ipad David

and from me!

1d NOT 1p please! Obv looks very concave - depressed ear??

Nice one Peck! We know you are lurking

Traditional enamel is coloured glass, most modern ones are not enamel but acrylic resin

New dies? Possibly

This got me thinking, I don't ever recall hearing of a fake or fasimile 1954. A quick search on Ebay, finds sites who will sell me a:- gothic 1847, jubillee 1887, 1937 Ed VIII, or 1952 1933 or a museum quality facsimile of an 1862 penny! but no 1954, so I widened my search to international sellers and found this extraordinary fabrication 24 sold but there are 5 left if you bid now

All 1954 coins have new obverse without BRITT OMN, so genuine

I'm no metallurgist, but I suspect either die degradation or metal flow rather than a font change

Mine appears to have straight bottomed E and normal die axis

I think we are talking worn die on these