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1847 Font Variation I am currently cataloguing an excellent Victoria ‘Young Head’ Penny collection for a colleague, about 150 coins in total. I have reached his 1847’s, and this has reminded me of something which I spotted in my own collection quite a few years ago, although my colleague does not have an example of his own. For the YH penny series Gouby has documented many date variations, particularly in the 1850’s. These include overdates and font types as well as date widths and repaired numerals. He has not, however, currently documented any 1847 date variations. To date I have found that 5 different obverse dies have been used in 1847, with date variations which include repaired 1’s and 4’s. The most interesting date feature, however, is that one of these obverse dies has a different fatter 7 font. This die is paired with the DEF Close Colon reverse, and it is easily identified by the die flaw after the 2nd A of GRATIA. Having checked past results at London Coin auctions I can see that, out of the 13 images of 1847 DEF Close Colons, there has been one other coin like this, sold by them in June 2018. A single example from 13 makes this quite a rare variety. Both my own piece and the one at LCA are high grade, so I am confident that the fatter numeral 7 is not due to ‘flattening’ through wear. This font can be seen below, alongside the normal 7 used in 1847 , and the LCA piece is also shown below for reference. I hope this is interesting for the Victorian penny collectors.

It's not that long since I emailed Michael, and he seemed perfectly fine then.

I put all the hammer prices into a spreadsheet as I was watching the auction Gary. Let me know if you want me to send a copy..... was just lot number and hammer £ in spreadsheet, as I didn't want to mark my catalogue with prices.

I would have bought them all too Richard, if I had a spare half million. 🤑 It almost felt like it's a different hobby today, watching top predators at the kill. Afraid I will have to continue scratching around looking for bargains elsewhere... ...which can of course still be fun though. Congrats to Bernie, but clearly not the end of his collecting as I see he's seeking a swap on his one unsold coin, the F32! 🤔

Both of the N/Z obverse dies develop flaws from the top leaf Richard, but slightly different positions. Please feel free to use these pictures if you wish!!

Yes, def smaller numerals, good find.

Thanks, your reply led me to the right occasion:-

Please can anyone help me by identifying the uniform on this 1996 Gambian commemorative piece? It is QEII inspecting the guard, but I would like to know in which country this type of uniform is worn. It does not look British, and is definitely not Gambian! The hats and shorts might give a clue. Most likely a Commonwealth Country, but I can't convince myself that is is Australia or Canada. Perhaps a member will recognise, thanks.

That sounds like quite a steal Jerry! Like you I have had 4, none were advertised as F763, from the days when the type was often missed...........one was in a Group sold by DNW (as was). I have sold all mine on to pay for other purchases.

Came across this 1859 penny with quite interesting repairs to all the reverse R's

A Geordie was told by his wife to go and buy a carpet........he came back with a Ford Fiesta.

A Scottish couple took in an 18-year-old girl as a lodger. On her first night she asked if she could have a bath, but the woman of the house told her they didn't have a bath, although she could use a tin bath in front of the fire. "Monday is the best night, because that’s when my husband goes out to darts," she said. The girl agreed to have a bath the following Monday. After her husband had gone to the pub for his darts match, the woman filled the tin bath and watched the girl get undressed………and was very surprised to see that the lass didn't have any pubic hair. Later that evening, she mentioned this to her husband when he got back home. He didn't believe his wife, so she said:- "Next Monday, when you go to darts, leave a little early and wait in the back garden. I'll leave a gap in the curtains so you can see for yourself." The following Monday, while the girl was again undressing, the wife asked "Do you shave?" "No," replied the girl. "I've just never grown any hair down there. Do you have hair?" "Oh, yes," said the woman, and she pulled up her nightdress and showed the girl that she was generously endowed in the hair department.....very generously indeed!! The girl finished her bath and went to bed. Later that night, when her husband came in, the wife asked him, "Did you see it?" "Yes," he said, "but why the hell did you have to show her yours." "Whyever are you worried about that?" she said. "You've seen it often enough before." "I know," he said, "but the darts team hasn't!"

Nice finds Pete, not easy ones. As you say, the extra (half) dot after FID does indeed seem to be a repaired colon i.e. was once a purposeful upper dot in the colon. One of these was sold by London Coins in June 2016, and their accompanying text said:- “1855 Ornamental Trident, with a small raised dot between the colon dots after FID giving the impression of a 3-dot colon” Personally, I do not think they should have used the words “giving the impression”. This is unlike the 1859 penny, which I believe I have seen sold as ‘having an extra colon dot after DEF’, when I am sure it is just a spurious roundish mark…….a bit like the 1855 dot on forehead. I attach close up pictures for reference. Sadly the ‘More Pennies’ thread seems to have far less activity since Mike Hopkins (1949threepence) is no longer adding his posts. I wonder if anyone knows why he dropped off the radar last September, after being such a useful and regular contributor.

Here is a date close up on a genuine coin, which shows spacing compared to the above coin. There are a few different date styles on 1849 pennies but, to my knowledge, all of them have a numeral 9 with a different font to that seen on the fakes. The top loop on the genuine coins are always more oval (elongated) shaped, whereas the fakes are circular. This is probably the easiest way to spot the fake. Also, on genuine coins I believe that the 1 is always over an underneath 1 (to a greater or lesser extent, as more than one die like that), and sometimes the 4 is over an underneath 4. The 4 itself is also different (but not so easy to spot) in that genuine coins still have a small part remaining of the tail pointing upwards. The attached picture demonstrates some of these features

I picked up this 1870 penny recently and, checking Michael Gouby’s book, I thought it was the missing date width Ad. On page 54 he references an Ac and an Ad, but not an Ad. Michael confirmed yesterday saying:- “I left the Ad reference free as I always considered that a 12 to 12.5 teeth gap would eventually be found….” and “I will keep your images for future reference……” I guess this coin might appear in future revised pages Apart from 1889’s I have not tried to collect all the different date widths, so I will be selling this coin at some point!

Buyers are clearly not recognising them Richard, I reckon this guy has made about £2000 in the last month, loads of co(I)ns. All of the crap he splurts out in some of his descriptions really 'take the biscuit'..... "private collection" etc....... unbelievable!!! 😱

.......and of course there are a number of possible different '9' fonts to add into the equation:-