davidrj

It is, high tide Freemans 148 or Gouby BP1897C I like the description "EXC GRADE COIN LUSTRE VINTAGE" What looks like a dot is going to turn out to be a fleck of dust but a high tide 1897 for £11 is also a result. you are right! just shows we see what we want to see - I had a squint at it because it had attracted a couple of bids - convinced myself it was a O'NE which I haven't got an example of - never looked at the shield or sea level back on Ebay correctly described then, not as good as one I already have

In a similar vein to the original thread, have i just bought an 1897 O'NE penny ?? 7 bidders so I guess I wasn't the only one to suspect it was - need to wait for the postman David

The Canadian cent has now gone link

CGB are not shy with there prices are they! As a publisher and a reference souce, CGB is one of the best coin sites worldwide in my view, sadly their retail prices for coins are horrendous

Might be your best option, there are US collectors A revolution, napoleonic wars, franco-prussian war, WW1, WW2 - hard times - most will have ended in the melting pot, as I said above there are lots of coins where no or very few examples are known, new discoveries frequently appear in CGB's Numismatic bulletin Mint records in france are often unreliable, so all mintages should be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt Droulers gives far more useful info than Gadoury in my opinion, but horses for courses French collectors are different, die varieties are nowhere near as popular as here in the UK

A lot of French coins are rare, so assembling a complete date/mint run for most issues prior to the second Empire (Louis Napoleon 1952-1870) is unattainable even with deep pockets, thus most french collectors collect Royalissues by type

Oddly the 1897 F148 is still undervalued by comparison this one is one of the very few I've seen on Ebay far rarer than the books suggest

Which is why, as a very junior employee in that era, I stopped collecting coins once predecimal stuff couldn't be got from circulation, just too expensive for me then - and that was before mortgage and kids

Agree, here's mine again

I'm no expert on french silver, I only dabble in copper and bronze, but I do have a library of single country catalogues This is from "Repetoire general des monnaies de Louis XIII a Louis XVI" 5th ed 2012 edited by Frederic Droulers looks like your coin (ref 614 9) - the nine is inverted on this issue. "fn" = flan neuf (new flan); "rf" = refrappe (restrike on earlier issue) values are in Euros - note no value quoted for the 1693 9 - so maybe your coin is rare if genuine! or it may just be no record of recent sale - many French coins are only known from just 1 or 2 examples so difficult to price suggest you email the editor with a decent set of photos - frederic.droulers@free.fr Hope this helps, let us know if you find out more david

Interestingly the cupro nickel pennies for Jamaica were minted exclusively at the Royal Mint from 1869 to 1928, except for 1882 when pennies were minted at both the RM and Heaton, 1916 (Heaton only) and 1919 (Ottawa only) The 1882 London (no H) pennies are scarce, and I've yet to be convinced most of these are not due to wear or a filled die - considering the total recorded mintage for 1882 was just 48,000 then possibly RM strikings were also just trial strikings of penny coins in cupro nickel The 1882 Mauritius copper 5c exists only with the Heaton mintmark, but a proof no H, Cyprus 1881 and 1882 copper is all Heaton, with RM for all other years 1879-1900 No Straits or Hong Kong copper for 1882 but silver is exclusively Heaton for both, Canadian cents again just Heaton for 1882

Aussie 1930 pennies are rare and expensive, mintage about 1500, also a few proofs tons of alterred coins and modern copies exist

Odd yes, but not unknown but far rarer in the 19th century than fake silver or gold Gouby's catalogue illustrates two different forged bun pennies, both struck in bronze or copper, and both dated 1864 I have two examples of cast European bronze "pennies" an 1878 Spanish 10 Centimos in brass, and an 1882 Greek 10 lepta in a white metal plus my problematic 1894 S.African penny in nickel Anyone here seen any forged British bronze?

Michael O'Leary was walking down the road when he saw a pub with the sign "Draught Guiness €1.00 a pint" So in Michael went and ordered his pint "That'll be €1", says the barman ...................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................... "will you be wanting a glass with your Guiness, sir?" David

Interesting new addition - Straits Settlements 1862, forgery with a genuine coin for comparison looks like a cast copy, oddly the 8 of the date was entered later

Happy Birthday to both Scott and Debbie!

I see what you mean Bob, but it's probably the weakest (or from the mint's point of view, the most successful) that I've ever seen. I think I would want something far more visible before I shelled out £1,300 for an 1865 penny

Nor me, looks a standard 1865

I think most of the world these days use US grading standards

Guide to gradng Australian pennies David

Thanks Bob David

agreed in spades! Is there a good reference (post Freeman) on bronze Vicky halfpennies available? I seem to recall there was a Coin Monthly article, but i can't find the reference David

Happy Birthday to you both! :D

I've never really considered it but you make a good point. With modern day mint sets the situation could be worse I guess, but looking at some bulk bronze coins I have (most of which have at least some verdigris), it could be better. Also, I think Fiji, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands at least used to have bronze coins before switching to plated. The three classic coinage metals - gold, silver and now bronze are no longer used in circulating coinage, and I suspect that even those "nominal bronze" plated issues will not be around much longer - Finland refuses Euro copper, the Canadian cent has now gone......... ?how long for our penny or the US cent?

I've been browsing a CD of Krause World Coins 2011 edition covering all coins issued 2001-2010 Although I primarilary collect "penny" sized bronze, I have over the years built a considerable type collection of world-wide copper and bronze minors, a sideline interest culled from circulation, junk trays, bulk buys and holiday change. So always interested to see what types I haven't yet got an example of This Krause covers about 200 coin issuing territories (ignoring fanatsies like Andorra) Only 9 countries - Australia, China (Taiwan), Denmark, Papua New Guinea, Sweden, Switzerland, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, and the United Emirates have issued bronze coins The vast majority of nominally bronze issues are now copper plated steel - UK, Euro zone, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Cayman Is, Falkland Is, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Guyana, Jersey, Isle of Man, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, New Zealand, Niue, Oman, Phillipines, Romania, St Helena, Solomon Is, South Africa, Suriname, and Tristan da Cunha. Barbados, Fiji, Panama and The United States of America issue copper plated zinc coins This means that about 75% of issuing countries have turned their back on even a semblance of "coppers" in loose change - various brass alloys and brass clad steel seem to be the fashion One wonders how many of todays issues will escape corrosion for future collectors. David