davidrj

Now there's another gap in my collection!

this one £23.40 + PP - though there are lots of similar on Ebay (avoid Chinese sellers!!!) needed a bit of fiddling to work out how to work it, but quite happy for the price NB only useful for looking at detail, won't do a whole coin

Hi Debbie , in all there have been 26 countries and territories that made square coins and some of them made rather a lot ( India and the Netherlands ) The "coin" you have in the picture is however not a coin , it is a token from 1989 where on the one side you have a copy of a Dutch coin ( 1939) and on the other side you can get your name engraved . If you are or any other person is interested in square coins you should read world square coins 1900-2000 isbn 978-87-91472-01-05 any good bookshop / coinshop can order it for you , or you may even find it at your local library regards scm collection would get very expensive if you go back before 1900, all those wonderful Klippe coins of the German states, Swedish plate money, and not forgetting Newark siege pieces

Thanks Bob, I was totally unaware of that obverse variation - will try and get a better image of the A in my specimen played with my new toy - a cheap USB microscope, on my 1860JA details of the N over Z, the recut O of ONE (hard to spot on my coin), recut R of REG, and yes I agree an odd A in VICTORIA David

Not lathe lines but saw lines - blanks chopped off a brass bar - North Vietnam, crude 2 Dong produced by the Viet Minh forces fighting the French.

Thanks Bob, I was totally unaware of that obverse variation - will try and get a better image of the A in my specimen

Mine looks more like an inverted V http://i593.photobuc...fONEoverZ-1.jpg[/img} Maybe this was subsequently repaired

.... and the bloody staples (not swearing but accurate after the package I got last week! David

Every N over Z I have seen illustrated, including my own, has that die crack by the 1 of the date - certainly diagnostic! ......... unless anyone has one without? David

Hmm, possibly an illusion due to the knock on the upper loop of his 3? we need one of those clever overlays please David

link

looking again on the one on ebay - is that raised dot in the date real I wonder?? David

Anyone here get this one ? an 1863 open 3 penny in better nick than mine - I put in a £40 snipe when it was sitting at 99p, unfortunately others spotted it. my bid didn't even register: - £237! Hey ho, mine cost £5 David

try here

Photoscape is free and has a circular crop tool

There's a nice genuine 2mm here for comparison

A cautionary article for those contemplating investing in bullion - link David

I keep looking at 1863 pennies.................................................

Roughly about the same purchasing power! it would have bought a decent sized chocolate bar I got a 1939 Irish halfpenny (scarce coin) in my change last year, also had a 1954 farthing a couple of years ago

Indeed. And £200 for it. Bizarre!

Baldwin77 thanks to Google

Nice! :-) But a silly question - how do you differentiate between bronze and copper? weight? colour? David Not a silly question at all, and I guess the only 100% test would be a metallurgical analysis. Bronze is around 95% -97% copper, so the relative densities are almost identical, hence weight doesn't really help. I bought my coin from Mark Rasmussen who owned, and has handled, many other similar proofs. He assured me that the coloration of this coin, compared to the otherwise identical bronze proofs, was very evident. The same difference that exists between the 'yellow/brown olive' toned examples of pre 1860 copper pennies and the subsequent bronze coinage which doesn't exhibit the same toning. In hand it is very evident. Thanks! Circulated copper and bronze certainly have a different "feel" in hand, copper being softer. I've several jetons where I'm just not sure

Nice! :-) But a silly question - how do you differentiate between bronze and copper? weight? colour? David

Court's (1972) figures agree with Freeman 1+A 2434 1+B 296 2+A 162 2+B 8292 suggesting a mintage of 1.7M for 1+B However Sealy (1970) has 2+A rare, 1+B very rare; I have a nice 2+A but a decent 1+B is on my wants list too

Repetitive tasks get hard wired into the brain, so you can almost do them in your sleep your handwriting will be different to mine, even though we are both using the same tools (pens) and producing the same object (words) from the same base resource (letters)