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Mr T

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Posts posted by Mr T

  1. I had never noticed this either but I read about it in one of Michael Gouby's books recently. I don't think the reason was given but the point he made was that pennies with the weight you'd expect were definitely tested (the so-called heavy flan pennies mentioned in Freeman) at some point to overcome whatever minting issues they were having at the time.

  2. The 1939 is comparatively low mintage and I think the 1893 (or somewhere in the early 1890s) is fairly low mintage too. I don't think the 1920 or 1921 are exceptionally expensive though.

    There are 60 or more different varieties of the 1862 of which some are quite rare.

  3. Is there anyone here with better legal knowledge on the current coins that actually are legal tender, because I'm quite sure the process is a fairly complicated one.

    The Coinage Act 1971 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/24) is heavy reading but section 3 (a), ( B) and © say that pretty much anything goes if the Queen says so. I don't know how that works in reality but I assume some committee agrees to what the Royal Mint suggests and the Queen just agrees with what the committee says.

    edit: ignore the previous post - the forum stripped off most of what I said.

  4. Those shown in "English Paper Money" only have 6 digits, but I suppose it's possible that they went over 1000000 with the serials. Unless it's 100,000? Be interesting to see a picture. Obviously if they only went up to 1m then started again with C40C then 7 digits is literally one in a million. I can ask Pam West if you like Mike? I was emailing her over the last week about something else.

    In Australia at least 1000000 were "one in a million" with all other notes having 6 digits. The 1000000 notes were created from an extra sheet with serial number 100000 which was guillotined and then each note had an extra zero added with a small manual press.

    The reason was so that there would be an even number of notes, and, when it came to bundling, the number of notes could quickly and easily be counted by looking at the serials of the first and last notes and subtracting.

    I assume a similar thing happened in England.

  5. 1. 60% surface preservation

    2. 15% strike

    3. 15% luster

    4. 10% eye appeal

    I'd be interested to know of those 4 components, what respective percentages would UK collectors assign?

    For me as an Australian collector strike is a huge factor - plenty of Perth Mint pennies and halfpennies have indistinct rim beads and ill-defined high points on the portrait. I know coins with such poor strike can be technically uncirculated, but I can't come to considering them uncirculated, let alone paying good money for them because PCGS doesn't mind terrible strike.

  6. Yes, looks like Beale, having gone through EPM for the other cashiers. I think the OP should speak to Pam West about it. Condition will obviously play a big part, but I really don't know what premium a 1000000 serial has over higher or lower, less round numbers.

    Do these notes normally have six digit serial numbers? 1000000 is seven digits which would surely make a bit more special than any other serial number (except maybe solid 0's).

  7. I saw the 1953 toothed/beaded penny which sold in the Dec 2015 Spink sale. I can say for sure that, that particular coin was not a Proof let alone a VIP proof.

    Do you have link to an image or listing? The search feature on the Spink site doesn't seem to work.

    Wait, never mind, see https://www.spink.com/files/catalogue/14007.pdf (p142). This seems to be BP 1953 L, not the seemingly more common F244.

    Here's the previous sale I was thinking of: http://www.londoncoins.co.uk/?page=Pastresults&auc=144&searchlot=386&searchtype=2

    Some more discussion at http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/9390-1953-penny-mule-rob-bernie/ with what looks like allusions to the second ??? in my list.

    Here you go mate https://www.spink.com/lot-description.aspx?id=14007000929 - Damn at my bid of £ 2550 I thought I was going to win it :(

    Ah thanks - much better image. It really does look like a currency piece.

  8. I have now had a chance to examine the 1953 BB/TB penny from the Spink 2014 auction. I now believe the coin is a currency striking and not a sandblasted coin/die (definitely not a proof)

    Hm, and the same die was then used for the proof sets.

    Anyone happen to have copy of Spink Numismatic Circular, Volume XCIV, Number 5, June 1986, p.148?

  9. I saw the 1953 toothed/beaded penny which sold in the Dec 2015 Spink sale. I can say for sure that, that particular coin was not a Proof let alone a VIP proof.

    Do you have link to an image or listing? The search feature on the Spink site doesn't seem to work.

    Wait, never mind, see https://www.spink.com/files/catalogue/14007.pdf (p142). This seems to be BP 1953 L, not the seemingly more common F244.

    Here's the previous sale I was thinking of: http://www.londoncoins.co.uk/?page=Pastresults&auc=144&searchlot=386&searchtype=2

    Some more discussion at http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/9390-1953-penny-mule-rob-bernie/ with what looks like allusions to the second ??? in my list.

  10. Yes, VIP sets are issued in very small numbers indeed and entirely separate from regular proof sets (though presumably indistinguishable under normal circumstances, e.g. 1937, 1950, 1951, except for case of issue).

    We should assume that F244 was not ONLY from a VIP set (though may have been in them?) but was a trial striking : maybe it was originally intended for issue, but then rejected, and therefore like F243A should be regarded as a pattern.

    As F244 is (now) a pattern mule, I would have thought it likely that BP 1953 L is also a pattern.

    It may be that F244 / BP 1953 L (is there any difference between them??) was intended for currency and therefore struck as proofs for the VIP set. Later it was decided that a further change was desirable and therefore the beaded reverse appeared, and was included in the regular proof and specimen sets.

    I would guess that BP 1953 N was experimental - i.e. a true pattern - and probably after the toothed reverse was rejected, i.e. probably between those and the beaded reverse.

    I see.

    Re F244 and BP 1953 L, the obverse dies apparently have a different number of rim beads (minor difference, but a difference nonetheless). I think Gouby mentioned an F244 from a VIP proof set but BP 1953 L just had a matte finish (or at least Gouby didn't call it a proof).

    Was there a proof set sold recently with a mule? I remember seeing a picture of one and the penny to me looked like a proof.

  11. I've been reading a bit lately about all the different types of 1953 penny and this is what I have come up with:

    1952 pattern: toothed border on obverse and reverse (F243A)

    ???: regular proof set obverse and toothed border on reverse (BP 1953 L)

    ???: beaded border on obverse and toothed border on reverse (F244), from VIP proof set (in all VIP proof sets or just some?)

    ???: beaded border on obverse and no beads on reverse (BP 1953 N)

    Specimen set coin: beaded border on obverse and reverse (F245)

    Regular proof set coin: beaded border on obverse and reverse but obverse is slightly different to specimen set (F246)

    Is that correct? Are the VIP proof sets a separate thing the regular proof sets or not? And where did BP 1953 L come from? Was it also in proof sets? And have I missed any?

  12. Anyone recommend a way to run Android apps on Win 7?

    There seem to be a few about (like BlueStacks?) but I'm not sure which are safe to download and will allow simple games to run.

    Cheers!

    .

    http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html contains the official Android emulator I believe but it looks to be mostly geared towards people making their own apps so you might need a bit of know-how to do what you want.

    Whoever replies may also have the key to how you run iOS apps in OS X ?

    There is an iOS emulator that comes with XCode I believe but I'm not sure if you can run apps that you haven't created yourself with it. Android apps are just files with the extension .apk and I think can be loaded in the Android emulator without too much trouble but iOS apps I think are an apparently meaningless collection of files that aren't conveniently bundled together and aren't really designed to be handled outside of iTunes. But I don't have a Mac so I'm not entirely sure.

  13. Interesting - do you remember what these 1902 and 1937 varieties are?

    I wouldn't have though there'd be any varieties either though I recall someone here saying a while back that the 1887 £5 (I think) dies struck on average 127 or so coins each (and I think that was for the currency coins too).

    For 1937 there are 10 (yes 10) obverse types:

    Good grief, looks like the Royal Mint didn't put any effort into improving the production of the poor old £5 coin. Fascinating all the same.

    I've been considering my library lately and how up to date the reference material is with regards to varieties.

    For post 1860 bronze Michael Freeman's books seem to be the standard.

    For post 1860 pennies it seems like Michael Gouby's books are the most comprehensive, though the Gouby X variety isn't in any of his books.

    For the silver Peter Davies' British Silver Coins Since 1816 seems to be the most comprehensive book.

    For the half sovereign and sovereign Michael Marsh's books seem to be the most comprehensive.

    For the two and five pound pieces I'm not sure of any books that cover them.

    Is what I have the best with regards to coverage of varieties? I think David Groome's books might have more varieties covered but I understand they're 20th century only.

    And are there any books that covers two and five pound pieces?

    Mr T,

    Going back to your original question. Your selection seems about right. I would add the dated but good '' English Silver Coinage' as a cross reference. It's History of milled coinage at the beginning is excellent. Incidentally Spink have advised it will soon be updated and reproduced.

    Mark

    Thanks Mark, I do have English Silver Coinage though it is a little out dated as you say. I suppose here is as good a place as any to hear about interesting new discoveries then?

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