davidrj

the three types of 1898 penny found so far the terminal 8s are all distinct has anyone here got a cache of lower grade old head pennies they want to dispose of? tended to chuck old heads back as boring when i was pulling buns out of circulation

you are right, it was the eights i was studying when I was distracted by the sea level, the left hand coin has the variant 8 (Gouby 1898B) My study of OH penny reverses is ongoing, the halfpennies are interesting too and largely ignored.

A nice coin ruined

Thanks all, think you are right - an optical illusion, looked very real in hand I agree there is a very slight difference with respect to alignment with border beads, see exergue line and sea behind Britannia - nowt of real significance though, possibly slight difference in overall size of britannia, suspect reduction processes produced slight variations

Not sure on this one - trying to image 1898 pennies with the variant final eights What do folk here think of the sea level on the right hand coin?

I put in a bid of $1.20 plus a snipe of $300 when it was newly listed at 99p with no mention of open 3 in the description. looked at it again at 15 minutes to go and it had a high bid at about $9.50 but noticed that the seller had added the open 3 description - then I watched as 4 bidders pushed it to $770 Very hard these days to pick up rarities without others spotting them too, But then the the low grade example I do have was just £5 on Ebay - just have to keep looking

that's an intriguing statement re a variety that has probably less than 20 examples documented! are they all freeman 6+G - (gouby J+g)?

I'm still not convinced it's not a botched 5/3

Yes! here's Gouby's pictures

Sorry, I think that's a standard 3 there are subtle varieties of the normal 3, the open 3 is quite distinct having a curved rather than straight downstroke

Sadly mine is very low grade, was well and truly outbid on the one in this thread My thoughts too Bob, I actually spotted the shield protrusion before I noticed the open 3, the seller only noted the open 3 and edited his listing a day after I i put my snipe in

There are serious collectors of these coins here best forum to ask questions before you purchase Health warning - they are obsessed with slabs

WTF???

You are in trouble when you can't get the name of the Boss's Son right

All we have is the seller's photo, so unless a forum member shelled out the $770 we'll never know

My snipe got blown out of the water on this one, Yes a nice grade open 3, but what's going on wiyh the shield protrusion opposite the lighthouse? The rocks look a little odd for reverse g too Doesn't look like a die clash

Two mules are possible for each of 2008 circulation coins with the exception of £2 which still has two rings of teeth/dots (I think). the 50p is least obvious as it's a change in orientation relative to the shape of the blank. Certainly worth an occasional glance at change

a really useful photo

Lots here and reference books

Hindsight is the only exact science

Thanks - interesting

David Groom has left and right pointing feathers for the 1975 2p! One wonders whether in 50 years time these will all be enthusiastically sought varieties, much as we now cherish the vagaries of bun pennies I totally ignored Elizabeth halfpennies whilst they were in circulation, modern rubbish I thought, and so I dont have examples of some of the scarcer varieties

1986 is the earliest I have found type 2 portcullis with incuse rivets. There are quite a few varieties in the reverses and obverses over the years if you compare the circulation issues, the BU set issues and the proof issues. Even though the pictures above show type 1 portcullis as having 110 beads and type 2 having 113 beads, it is not always the case, you can get the type 2 portcullis with the 110 bead reverse too. Here are the Portcullis types I have in my collection (1971 to 1981 I collected circulation and proof, 1982 and 1983 I collected BU set and proof issues and 1984 >2008 I collected circulation and BU set issues) 1971 to 1985 circulation, BU sets and Proof have type 1 1986 circulation has type 1, BU set issue has type 2 1987 circulation and BU set has type 1 1988, 1989 and 1990 circulation has type 1, BU set has type 2 1991 both circulation and BU set are type 1 1992 circulation has type 2 and BU set has type 1 1993 circulation has type 1 and BU set has type 2 1994 both circulation and BU set have types 2 1995 to 2006 circulation and BU set have type 2 2007 and 2008 circulation has type 1, BU set has type 2 Gollly! any similar discrepencies in the 2p series?

Thanks, much clearer picture! Are there any other varieties in the later decimal bronze we need to be on the lookout for?

came across this today - portcullis varieties The author states type 1 (left picture) 1971-94, 1997, 1998 Type 2 (right picture) 1992-7 No info as to whether these are normal currency, specimen sets or proofs how these relate to David Groom's reverses A to C unknown Never really looked at decimal bronze, maybe I should before all the non-magnetic stuff gets withdrawn & melted down