I have just noticed that my 1874H F73 has the E of REG tilted to the right. Not earth-shattering but interesting to the micro-variety fans. I haven't seen this on any other obverse 7 coins as yet.
Yes, it's been fascinating to watch the populations of these rarities increase over and above Michael Gouby's and John Jerrams' census figures. I wasn't sure whether the concept would work when I suggested building this site but it's been a very interesting exercise. It certainly has confirmed the real rarity of some of the varieties.
Regarding the 1913 high grade coins, could it be that they were released late in 1913 and then, with war breaking out in 1914, people began spending less and putting coins away ?
I think I've seen enough specimens of this variety to exclude it from my rarest penny site. Michael Gouby's book states "35+ known" making it Freeman R17 but my gut feel is that it's more like R16.
The 1953 proof sets that I've seen described as "VIP" are all highly polished and contain the very rare mule (beaded/toothed) penny, so there's definitely something different about their production.
http://www.londoncoins.co.uk/?page=Pastresults&searchterm=1953+VIP&searchtype=1
I've toyed with making the trip a number of times - was it worth it ? Did you visit the museum ? And is the "strike your own coin" a unique pressing or just another 2019 coin in a special folder ?
In the latest Royal Mint bulletin, they quote figures for "LEP" and MCM" for each coin but never explain what this means - it's obviously something to do with mintage but what exactly ?