Accumulator

We need a picture: From which you will observe the vast (and undeniably interesting) difference between the relative sea levels and the border teeth! And of course the position of 'P' in PENNY.

I have a few pennies too...

For what it's worth (extremely boring as both are very common ), you have an example of each of the two varieties of 1905 penny there. The first has the E of PENNY out of correct alignment - it's parallel to the N and angled away from the P - while the second has the three letters PEN in correct rotation to each other. As I say, it's the second most boring 20th Century variety, but I just thought I'd point it out... (Sorry, I just noticed Accumulator has already mentioned it ) To be fair, David mentioned it first Peck

1908 is up there. I've seen several incorrect attributions in auctions. The 1* obverse is the big rarity, though.

You've hit the nail on the head David, two different dies. Actually F-160 & F-161 though!

Well there's scope for getting it wrong but it's not that difficult nowadays to piece together a system of compatible components. One thing Windows did get right is support for the myriad hardware available - so long as you go with a known and trusted vendor I don't see too many problems. If you were looking at going down the Intel route you'd have probably only half a dozen motherboards to choose from for any given chipset. If you wanted a car, would you buy the engine, gearbox, chassis, body etc. from separate suppliers? Ok, some people would. You've probably seen their kit cars on trailers heading for the nearest garage. For most people a computer is a box they plug in, that just works. That's Apple's market.

Here's one to avoid. A perfectly ordinary 1862 6 + G penny, worth a few pounds, being listed as the rare 2 + G for £2.5k! The seller has been informed.

Precisely why I've built my own desktops over the years - it means I can have exactly what I want for less than a pre-built one. Yeah it's the best way to go about it and I run Windows as my core OS with other operating systems running as virtual machines. Unfortunately you can only develop Mac and iOS apps using a Mac machine so you pretty much have to go out and buy one of their products. I have a Mac Mini which represents the cheapest option given its intended usage. It's more difficult with laptops though where you can't pick-and-choose your monitor and case and in this area Apple excel, build quality is excellent. That said if you went to Dell for an ultrabook at the same price as a Macbook you could give them a run for their money. In the interests of balance Windows is a pain in the arse platform at the best of times and their latest monstrosity (8) is detrimental to... actually using the thing. Linux-based operating systems are wonderful until you realise that no one wrote the drivers for your sound card and half the software you want has to be compiled from source. I don't agree that building your own is the best way to go. Every component has it's own foibles and has quite possibly never been fully tested with every other component you're using, including the software. Basically you're building a bag of bits and hoping the whole thing will hang together. It never does, and crashes will happen. So, unless you're a techy geek and enjoy working out why various elements of your homemade super computer appear to be claiming the same memory space, and a dozen other problems, I would stick to tried and tested. That means buying a fully integrated system from a single supplier, which is where Apple comes into it's own. It's also the reason that, whereas thousands of viruses can affect PC's, virtually no virus exists that can affect a MAC. And why most computer technicians in the City are kept in such gainful employment on Windows systems, but go home to a MAC.

It's impossible to see from those photos. Is the small '3' to the right of the date properly formed, like the 1863 die number coins (where the 3 is below the date)?

Any picture would be good!

Nice if you are starting with a blank sheet, but I've got thousands of files which I would lose if I bought an apple. Letters, articles, databases, excel files, website, accounts. Redoing all this isn't an option.I had exactly the same but, with a couple of exceptions (sage accounts was one), all of my thousands of files transferred over to the iMac without a problem. I just ran a cable between the two machines and followed the on-screen prompts. That was 4 years ago and I've never looked back!

Welcome to the forum Rob. Not wishing to be a killjoy but, as suggested, if you knew your subject you'd already understand the supply chain and have ready access to the coins.

Unfortunately I don't know yet as I'm waiting for the coin to arrive from the US. I bought it only because it was a good strike and very different to my existing example. It's in an early PCGS slab (MS66BN), so hopefully I can see the edge clearly. Just wondering because there are certain things that look a bit similar to my 1807/6 proof halfpenny such as the partially cut beads on the reverse to the upper right, the obverse rim has been polished down to give a toothed effect - something Taylor did when refurbishing dies for his restrikes. The off-centre rim is another regular feature of his because the collar on his press would regularly open up leading to multiple strikes indicated by rotation. All little points which warrant a closer investigation. Finally, the 7 is misplaced. Check for a filled in 6 which might have traces in the image. I'm thinking along the lines of a trial for the restrike. Interesting, Rob. I see what you mean about the partially cut beads, though it's hard to be sure in the photo. The reverse also shows what appear to be stress lines, though these could be corrosion of the die? The enlarged photo below makes them clearer. The mis-placed '7' is the same as on my currency example. I'm going to have to wait for the coin to arrive to check it more carefully! The ship has one enormous flag! Thank you

Unfortunately I don't know yet as I'm waiting for the coin to arrive from the US. I bought it only because it was a good strike and very different to my existing example. It's in an early PCGS slab (MS66BN), so hopefully I can see the edge clearly.

Peck only lists two varieties of 1807 penny; currency and proof, with the proof being a later re-strike from a rusted die. I have an example of each and wasn't really looking further, until I found the coin below. The clear differences in the ship and the olive branch, from either of the other examples has caused me to wonder whether anyone has looked in more detail at the various dies used for this date?

Another lovely coin! I have the 1856 plain trident, but not the ornate trident. Your purchases make me realise how many gaps I still have to fill!

Lovely coin Bob!

Is that "TonyPlayMoney" ? That's the one!I didn't know that he finally published it... I'll.have get a copy.for reference.. Rogers was the reference to use but included much more than these model pennies... Just as Freeman supplanted Peck with the bronze issues, and Gouby expanded upon Freeman (at least with the pennies), I would expect Tony's book to supplant Rogers with the models... Without seeing it, I would still recommend it, and as I said before, will get a copy for myself.... After I sold my Model collection of 100 or so different varieties, Tonymade an offer on the rare varieties that I had kept... The penney error, a silver penny, and a silver half-penny ex-Norweb.. I wish him luck with the book Tony's book is very thorough and comprehensive indeed. He spent a great deal of time producing it, especially the hand drawings of the micro-varieties. Being hyper-critical, the scans would be better as photographs and he could have done with a grammar checker! Very much a labour of love though. I may possibly have your silver penny now? I recently bought an example, together with the two unique pennies (brass and nickel-plated) that Tony had.

I've been amazed at how many rarer coins are sold without any provenance, when a little basic research by the seller would have unearthed something significant. Several of my purchases, both from noted dealers and major auction houses have subsequently revealed a provenance of which the seller seemed blissfully unaware. I'm certainly not complaining though!

I know You bought it then Pies?

Is that "TonyPlayMoney" ? That's the one!

Ok, here's the book: http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/2204095-bimetallic-model-penny-and-halfpenny-by-anthony-ke

I'm not at home either, but the best reference book on these coins is by Tony Barter. I'll post more later.

Rob's the expert on this, but you could try searching mcsearch.info and invaluable.com to look for sales over the past few years.