DaveG38

I do have occasional contact with him, so I'll pass on your question if you like.

I've combined my numismatic interests with bullion collecting, with the result that I have date runs of sovereigns and half sovereigns back to 1900 (London Mint only). For the most part those coins were bought for well under the present price, although a few were slightly more costly when the price was around £1000 per ounce. I see these as a hedge against financial troubles in the world and a useful bargaining tool should the worst ever happen.

This is a UK coin - so it's just rain coming down!!

Presumably he wants to upgrade to a high spec beamer with the money.

Ok, now that Richard's quest for a dot to dot ten pence is out there, does anyone have a 1992 twenty pence with the smaller head? If so, I'm interested.

There are at least 13 types based around the '9' and the '7'. There are also closed and open '9s', so plenty to find and collect.

I do have a spare one somewhere, but from memory the condition is what I could only describe as 'average circulated.'

Thanks for trying, but as I said I'm not surprised. Finding the more difficult 1964 took me some time to achieve, but the 1965 is proving very hard.

A bit like buses?

I'd be grateful if you would, but I suspect you'll not find one, let alone two. The basic problem is that the 1965 sixpence is hardly a commercial coin, so a dealer will sell one in EF upwards for likely a pound or so, and be grateful he or she has got rid of one from their stock. The scarcer variety requires quite a bit of effort to look through their stock to find one, but even if they do, what's the market for it? A relatively few sixpence specialist collectors. As for price well it may have a premium over the normal type, but demand almost certainly means the premium will be small, say a fiver at best. I'm guessing, therefore, that dealers simply don't bother. One dealer local to me suggested that I shouldn't bother myself, so I'm guessing he wasn't interested either. To the best of my knowledge, I've never seen a dealer's list show one, nor have I found one in a dealer's tray in the past when dealers had shops, nor has one appeared on eBay. All of this means that although they may be more common than they appear, there's no easy way to find one. I've been reduced to grubbing through pots of old sixpences at boot fairs, but still I've failed. I was quite encouraged by the Catermole sixpence collection as that had one lot of QE II sixpences with two 1965s in it, and I naively thought my luck was in. No chance - they were both the same type, although why Mr Catermole wanted two sxpences of the same type with this common date in his collection I'm not sure. So if anybody has one, I'd be very pleased to buy it from you.

There are loads of gaps that need filling in all denominations, but one specific very basic mundane, ordinary but difficult to find variety would be nice, and that is a 1965 sixpence with the 'I' of 'REGINA' to a gap. You wouldn't believe how difficult to find this type is. I've got both types of 1964 but not 1965, and I have been looking for about 15 years, so this would be nice to find in 2016. And very likely inexpensive - I'm a very cheap tart to run. No gothics or Una and the Lions for me.

Would that be a coiniferous tree?

I agree, which makes the estimated price out by a factor of at least 10 and probably rather more.

So is it the consensus that Lockdales have it wrong (they have presumably examined it in hand) or is everyone on here just a little too optimistic?

That's because it is currently touring the UK and being held hostage by a supporter of Matilda. Drat, I saw one of those but I thought it was a crushed milk bottle top!! Nice for a Stephen coin.

Stayed recently down in Rye at the Mermaid. Strolling out from the hotel it was interesting to find myself outside a private house called 'The Mint' in a stretch of road called 'The Mint,' which I guess is a bit of a clue to the location of the Rye Mint. Kept my eyes peeled, but couldn't find any hammered pennies lying around, apart from the odd new pence lying in the road and presumably 'hammered' by passing traffic.

Plenty of small varieties, but not sure about the rarity.

As far as I can judge, there are three minor differences between the two reverses: 1. The top of the lighthouses appears different. 2. Small rock to the right of the lighthouse, up against the shield. This gives a small gap between the drapery and the sea on the normal 1967 coin. 3. The beads appear smaller on the 'specimen' coin. There may be different numbers of beads, but I haven't counted them.

Be very careful of this seller. He's the guy who pissed me about and lied through his teeth about his 1882 no-H penny, all because he didn't get the price he hoped for. Ebay suspended him for a while for trading against their rules, but obviously he's back. CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!!

I'm a bit betwixt and between on this one. On balance, it does look like the unconfirmed type 3. The short plume is at the back of the helmet, the '9' appears to be open though there seems to be some flattening which makes it appear as though it might be closed and the '4' is the 'thin' type with a wide spread.

Details of 1904 Pennies for your delectation: Closed ‘9’ where the loop of the ‘9’ narrows to a point and meets the down stroke. This type has a narrow ‘4’, particularly on the horizontal and diagonal strokes, tilted clockwise and low down in the exergue. The foot of the ‘4’ is over a border tooth (number 11, when counted from the tooth under the ‘1’), giving a narrow date. Closed ‘9’ with a narrow ‘4’, not tilted clockwise or low down in the exergue. The foot of the ‘4’ is over the space between teeth numbers 11 and 12. Closed ‘9’ with a narrow ‘4’, which is high in the exergue. The foot of the ‘4’ is over the right of border tooth 12, giving a wider date. Open ‘9’ where the loop of the ‘9’ is blunt and does not touch the down stroke. The ‘4’ is wider, closer to the exergue line and the whole coin is a dark colour. Open ‘9’ where the ‘4’ is again wider, but the whole coin is a light brown colour.There are also unconfirmed reports of three further types: A closed ‘9’ type paired with a thicker ‘4’. An open ‘9’ with a narrow ‘4’. An open ‘9’ type, with a wide ‘4’ but with a short plume to Britannia’s helmet.

I think this subject should be moved from 'ebay's worst offerings' to a new thread entitled 'ebay's most stupid offerings.'

There's also the degree of gain when buying cheaply. My example of a £100 coin for 50p is my good fortune and yes, I could have informed the seller and then paid a good deal more. However, the gap between purchase price and subsequent sale value can narrow so that what may appear as an unfair rip-off on my part becomes a canny purchase to make a profit. I once found a 1997 silver britannia set for sale for £30 and knew I could easily get £100 on ebay for it. I bought it and then sold it making around £70 profit. Should I have told the seller or was I wisely making a commercial transaction for my personal gain? As far as I'm concerned, I'm willing to pay what the seller asks and if he or she has it too cheap, well that's tough.

As far as I'm concerned it's the equivalent of caveat emptor but for sellers. If you want to sell a coin, you take the trouble to research it, and price it/describe it accordingly. If you are lazy and don't do this, and the coin goes too cheaply to somebody who has used their knowledge to spot a rarity then its caveat seller!! I bought my NF condition 1893 Jubilee head 6d from a general antiques dealer who had it in a box of well worn coins, and I can only assume that he just tossed it in as another worn coin. His mistake, but for 50p my gain. Do I feel guilty? No! Do I feel smug about it? Yep! Not nice I know but .........

Not very eye appealing.