secret santa

Nice one, Terry but why the different backgrounds to the photos ? If anyone else had put these pictures up on Ebay, I'd have smelt a rat !

Some lovely rare pennies sold at Sovereign Rarities this morning. Most of them have been on the market before with some increasing in price and some decreasing. The wonderful 1882 F112 BU sold for £12,250 which was cheaper than it realised in the Spink Gerald Jackson sale (June 2014 for £15,150)

What became of dear old Stanley U ?

On my varieties website, I picture a 1927 reverse which I postulate is a "special" proof reverse but it looks uncannily like the missing waves reverse that you picture above, with features like the longer teeth etc.

I can believe that more than one trial die was produced while they were considering the final design of the 1927 reverse and it's possible that several coins were struck from the new dies with strict instructions that they never leave the Mint - but they did !

Exciting news ! Terry Eagleton has just pointed out to me that a 1926 penny was sold at London Coin auction in 2025 described as a F195 Modified Effigy but is, in fact, only the second ever "recorded" instance of the rare Gouby D+d Mule, i.e a coin with the Modified Effigy obverse but the true 1927 reverse. Obviously it was not recorded by LCA, but it is indeed the second known example. The first example was discovered by Michael Freeman and bought by me. If anyone on the Forum bought this coin. I would love to know more. Auction 190, lot 2174.

It seems to be a relatively common occurrence in the 1870's - I have 1875 and 1877 pennies with the same flaw.

It's only the F103 that are really valuable - something the article failed to mention. People with F108 are going to think that they really have something special.

Yes, I'm suffering too.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/brits-urged-check-stash-now-37172309 I've got several 1881H pennies in Unc - I must be a millionaire !

Sadly, many of his quotes are taken from my penny websites which seem to be the source of his inspiration to "find" new mint errors/varieties/etc/etc.

This guy is flooding Ebay with spurious claims of "mint errors" on pennies - is there no way of stopping pr*ts like this ? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/358573465246?itmmeta=01KS2ZEPCZ3BQX2HE1YJJHDD10&hash=item537ca4de9e:g:QvAAAeSwrmVqDK5q&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA4GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xDF7DyabZ4AGLot8%2FojbB73V2nPfs0S1D9cmT2nf7JgYxvoQ5VSqT8C2wwMWfic1z4VtgvhpJ9sjwqv4sOHcVhJM83piKWybOUgm39aotAzEhkq1jEcShhASx9yEcSEOummOpRJhtt9XxNB8326Diqagv0fXMiBWyGJI67%2FPPx3sbwg724jQlwjHbynd%2FbtfEHtTD1drdtlro6uS2MuDnhE7MXglt2Lq1OI3OnN93oePq8xaMZGqap9Llvvc2P6HPBIREPgViBuXeBTqs7k4uCA|tkp%3ABk9SR-Lmut_IZw

Where did you find it, Terry ?

And yet another (this person needs the appropriate treatment) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/358558652610?itmmeta=01KRNYZFVFSVZCD2C7D3B07R5C&hash=item537bc2d8c2:g:1d0AAeSwnxZqBwHF&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA4GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xBitEe9RDa3sc7hUT9hX%2FCOfxQKyq%2Ffk9mvXOGbDczpUO9joLFvUS2WadpYmPIOnOAlf0YszrS2sdD8A1SJuELkDUqma1VpZnEy5q4ZXojfFHwyhdE%2BTCVfVAmS%2BC97DrbSX40H4RetRi4Gu7VpPOYPQ8N2Oho%2FSa9VEl8vLNcwB7paH1zB721WMloM8o9WVt59UTO1G1T%2BdwM36QfBsO4lddL5fyB5pBoVMFq2o7jay63EgK9cPpx%2FOTWHxhuG%2FVF5GY2mna9%2BULIMUbH1ZCiv|tkp%3ABk9SR4L-_b7FZw

And this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/358558834029?itmmeta=01KRNYZFVF1T51NR91QWTC8AGP&hash=item537bc59d6d:g:ODQAAeSwl5xqBxWl&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA4GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xBiu%2Bqm7HPctK6xcuhMAuQ1%2F7PFnhVwrJxQ7OcTIZRagdeVG9ww0A6GsDOGBC2h7lJvdFJVE2TS%2FyMY7Yet0qfGP2u0JoUbd3xcdheFLeB1qCEB%2B1ISyVRh34npbiyLSU3t7gMBmCXPKerHk4Y6rOAMwVNPo2JEbH7AK3Kr1LFB%2BWxOwHo9yt1HicrMG%2BLrCdtWPr5cpmaWrhRUIRCWI45LUoOmB0TJjitmwsyweas5cQUuhZpANl5TMG01bWRPZ0zmZ1GNyD0fNvtQR%2Fkmg%2BXY|tkp%3ABk9SR4D-_b7FZw

Not to mention this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/358558859859?itmmeta=01KRNYZFVFPYE66QWCFA3ZW1SK&hash=item537bc60253:g:eIcAAeSwauxqBxh7&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAAwGfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xBshv%2FwyMxPRzdtOQFFdHImpHNiw9nBoaJY5mqr1DLfZdLQiTwfamIdaGUh%2B07oaaK2QmVXao4gjOQZMKujz3BP82038HRb%2BAjM1k7P%2B1p6Xlr2eOBfALDeUOJV25k%2Bhoe%2FsxtWybR2h5vKskY6shFfvXUWljt27wEet9ziw00PXOzIR1Co3oVYiVm5ydfa2RcGZjw3GNxK%2FzSHm73GUND6FRorxTW94rXw2sMVN4X1UQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR4D-_b7FZw

Same person trying it on with this one too: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/358558890892?itmmeta=01KRNYZFVEXDJJJAVW06CPZJVV&hash=item537bc67b8c:g:~xkAAeSwWz1qBxvu&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAAwGfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xCC3fibdv6x%2FwSB3pJNwWmYkR4i9QVFdzzfAUIFEMnq8MGza0ozA%2FpPjvcBXVey%2B6iiUuDXGxFFCM1vF4npG5fdd8kPkCejVF6k7AriisAlkVB%2B6x3i7nBZMZhLMogjjDkV4fd0n2ZedXZiZl%2FT2LZ0AFMTMJiKnsUZcOwjcNDPm3b4jMdQTVNlbDyQSeu3It%2BC3p5UIjevV%2BgTFLraaxxMva7xtS42Rv7TVG%2Frd322xQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR4D-_b7FZw

There is a fraudulent offering of a "B over R" 1862 penny at the moment. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/358547749431?itmmeta=01KRG4XN5S967RPZAG8EF2K7GD&hash=item537b1c7a37:g:mUMAAeSwCctqAxfH&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA4GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xCEj7UbS%2FkFL8LDJtuLTQHr3hpjLEvYYVZ4LPosIgK58gPQm0wFsm5SIH4%2FYc%2Fm3KzMzAr%2BCqamt8G32zS5M6CEK%2FITx7LQOAkoMlg49ysMbtic31fuTUU%2BZulzkJsDbnyK%2BYPq%2BNazlScLTY8625dwwpf2AacCsPg25EqEbMCjXFUZihzMgOFXwYHkKojAojng%2B9ty8LH2z4CsCHk0JdpcWeD%2BNmmp%2FxpoTonNA0Xaex8A4%2FLk7w5X46fuXN7YHCQVc3GMrJgQ3X3YPTGxjf44|tkp%3ABk9SR5bT9oTEZw

There is a collection of pennies in the next London Coins auction with several rare examples that I don't have on my rare penny site. Does anyone know more details of the seller (assuming they don't want to remain anonymous) ?

what coin is it ?

Around the right hand side like this ?

Help me please - what exactly stood out ? I still can't see any significant differences in my own recessed and non-recessed coins.

I personally can never see much difference between recessed and non-recessed ear varieties.

For 1881H F108, Michael pictures 1881Ha and 1881 Hb - Ha with lower H and Hb with higher H, both with 11.5 teeth spacing. No mention of either of these being unusual, and no mention of rarity.

Rather than missing waves, I'd say that it's the exergual line that's (partially) missing, probably damaged post-mintage.