secret santa

I started to build a record of rare/scarce penny sales around 2000 and although I no longer record low grade F14's, I've just checked and I have logged 23 examples since then, only 2 of which were below Fine, and 1 NVF. I wonder whether the new bronze coinage was still enough of a novelty for the newspapers of the time to mention the signature under the foot ? As Jerry says, rather like the Kew gardens 50p.

September 2016 - looks like the same picture. With a halfpenny, sold for £240 + commission. Seems pricey to me. Looks like it's with the same halfpenny again ? Pete, do you not collect any more ?

Always open to (polite) suggestions.........

I have just worked through my penny websites adding a "return to top of page" function at the bottom of every page to save users scrolling all the way back to the top to get to the menu. Hopefully it will be useful.

There's wear on the queen's hair on the obverse, too.

Lot 1152 - slabbed as LCGS 78 - Uncirculated or Mint State 63-64. There's months of wear on that. Not even EF.

Would you say that this has been toned ? The other side is lustrous.

I posted this one last Thursday !

Another lot had a halfpenny with only the leaves on Victoria's head "double struck".

Yes, definitely a V with the incuse lines. It's a pity that Hiram didn't catalogue his coins in detail (I assume he didn't) as I'm sure that DNW could have made so much more from the sale(s). It would have paid them to get someone with a knowledge of pennies to go through them.

Last year I bought a couple of mixed lots of pennies (ex-Hiram Brown) in DNW's auctions. On first glance, there were lots of middle to high grade common varieties that made me wonder why Hiram had accumulated them but, on further examination, many of them had little quirks that made them interesting and, obviously to Hiram, collectable. Only yesterday I noticed that a nice 1863 penny had a small die clash near her head which looks rather like an extra tuft of hair (see below). If other Forum members bought similar mixed lots, there may be interesting quirks among your coins.

Yes, Michael just mailed me to say that the 2 previous sales had realised £80 and nearly £90 !!!! You got a bargain.

Well done Mike; Michael himself also bid for it as he has no copies left for himself !

On obverse C1 the 6th to 11th beads below the bust touch the bust whereas on C they do not.

What auction was that ?

I agree about the F77 - very hard to get lustrous examples, likewise F20/25, but my records show that F14 grows more plentiful with lustre all the time (at least 18 to date).

I've added a page to my rarest penny site called "Scarce Pennies" and included a few such as the 1863 open 3, F79, F98, F164A etc each with a single example. I'm interested to hear other suggested inclusions.

Brilliant - thanks Paddy - job done.

Any suggestions for a cheap and safe method to convert PDF files to JPeg ?

Yes, it's Ceri Davies' coin - it's a shame he doesn't share his collection.

I think it's Ceri's ? I'll use the James Workman example to avoid any issues of misuse.

Anyone got a photo of a lustrous one please ?

I've got a bit of time on my hands at the moment so I might create a page - it's simple to remove it from the menu if I find that it's common.