copper123

I have a nice liverpool halfpenny with a sailing ship on it its in great grade too

at least three were far sighted successes one was a plaything of the rich and cost the taxpayer a fortune and the jury is out on the last

Introduced by tony benn 1. British stamp design. As Postmaster General from 1964-6, the republican Benn wanted to permit the introduction of "non-traditional" designs - of landscapes, portraits of composers and so on - without the Queen's head, but he faced resistance from Buckingham Palace. The compromise that resulted from his campaign - a small cameo silhouette in the corner of pictorial stamps - can still be seen to this day. 2. The postcode system. Since the late 1950s, the Post Office had been trialling a method of six-digit alphanumeric codes to sort mail in the Norwich area. In October 1965, under Benn's watch as Postmaster General, the Post Office announced it would extend the system to the rest of the country. Benn also oversaw the opening of the Post Office Tower, now the BT Tower. 3. BBC Radio 1. Benn introduced the 1967 Marine Broadcasting Offences Act that closed down the pirate radio stations which were transmitting offshore around the coast of Britain. The legislation made it almost impossible for the likes of Radio Caroline to keep going and paved the way for the launch of Radio 1 in September of the same year. 4. E in Concorde. As minister of technology from 1966-70, Benn was responsible for the development of the Anglo-French supersonic airliner. Others can take credit for designing and building it, but Benn successfully resisted Treasury efforts to cancel it because of spiralling costs. He also restored the letter "e" to the project's name, which had been removed by former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan after a falling out with Charles de Gaulle. "E stands for excellence, for England, for Europe and for the entente cordiale," Benn said. 5. The rucksack with a built-in seat. Long a keen amateur inventor - he bolted a chair onto the roof of a car for his 1970 election campaign - Benn proudly showed off his creation, the "frontbencher", at the age of 83. "I was carrying around a stool and a rucksack and thought it would better if I put them together," he said. Less successful than his other innovations, he offered Sir Richard Branson the opportunity to manufacture it, but the tycoon turned him down.

A knife in one hand and a thingy in a plastic bag in the other - CAUGHT RED HANDED LITERALLY.

With a knife?

My thingy is shaped like a thingy and not a turnip - well that's my opinion anyway.LOL By the way did anyone see that news story about the guy being found by the side of a road with his thingy removed- wwwioooo nasty

I like that, "change England for the better changing fro a rural wool based economy to one driven by inventors and chancers." and now the invertors have gone we are left with just the chances. Invertors? like upside down people LOL

17th cent tokens are very expensive now i remember back in the seventies they used to be quite cheap but are a very specialist area now with many rarities

Is the london coin company anything to do with the london mint office or any of their other rip off promotion sites?

Yep i had a long weekend break last weekend and was quite pleased to see many lambs out there. I think i saw a red kite feeding on a placenta in a field as well - not a pleasant site.

A sheep might be preferable LOL

Not a nice experience , waking up with baldrick

I like 18th cent tokens - they are very cheap for their age and show a window into a different time , it seems a lot of businesses back then used them as advertising tools. They also offer an insight into the industrial revolution and how rapid change was helping to change England for the better changing fro a rural wool based economy to one driven by inventors and chancers.

sold as the real thing price tag £15,000 as a fake £2

It might be "Blackadder" gold as made by Percy and featured as the "finest green". Then again it might be a fake that someone threw away knowing it was base metal - that would account for it being a detector find as well wouldn't it? Most normal people don't run around throwing bits of scrap gold all around the place, well not unless they want to be sectioned anyways

they scream "fake"

Forgive me but is there not an overdate on a early victorian proof set (1839) so the fact that it is an overdate on the copper pennies means very little, apart from thrift that is

1860 copper halfpence are the rarest arn't they?(of all the 1860 copper coins.) the penny being the most popular there are certainly a few around though i would say less than 50. It's a good job as well because there are a lot of penny collectors out there and they would fetch eye popping prices if they were as rare as the farthings or halfpence

surely 7 or 8 copper farthings would have only take 15 seconds or so to make.Do you think the rest were consigned to the melting pot? I dont think will ever know as the mint surely did not keep complete records untlil the 20th century

And by the way does not everyone remember colin's pattern 1821 farthing. that was found in well circulated condition , after somehow finding its way into circulation. Also you have the anne farthings as well - they are considered patterns but look more like currency after so many circulated if only for a short time , till the stories appeared in the papers saying they were worth £25 000 and only two had been made

And 1954 penny. I think quite a few were made until a decision to melt them down was made , with just the odd one or two escaping the melting pot . As these were not intended to be released i would class them the same as the 1860 copper coins. Their release is pure chance and it was not intended.

the 1860/59 circulated?maybe just a few got spent by mistake. surely that could happen as well

Does it not beggar belief that one pair of dies produces only 7 or 8 coins for circulation. Even the mule 20p produced at least 100, 000 coins

I somehow disagree that the 1860 copper farthing , halfpenny , penny are currency. The small number produced also points to them being a special issue for collectors done by the mint at the start of 1860 and sold/ given away to important people. Even the condition of these coins is outstanding - how often do you find 1859 farthings in similar grade to these surviveing coins? They were at least undoubtedly currency pieces

Yes of course you are right - I could always maybe get hold of a 1851 maybe an unidentified one in a rummage box that has been overlooked. The same cannot be said of an 1860 copper. By the way does anyone know the status of an 1860 copper farthing - surely it is considered a pattern / specilly minted coin and NOT a currency item