Colin G.

This place has gone shilling mad lately, look what you have started Richard

Thanks for the input guys, it looks like the same contact from your thread on coin community that has approached me.

The sawdust on the box was pointed out and also gave me some concern about authenticity. But there was a raft of such material at this time, so they could well be genuine. I wondered whether anyone had just seen them as a set before, or had come across them in any reference literature. My literature on such material is almost non-existent. They were pointed out as being "shilling" size, but I have asked the contact for any more information they could provide. The planchet style/size look similar to some of the spade guinea/hanover tokens

A customer has sent through these images of some medallions? He is interested as to their authenticity and whether anyone can shed any light on them. Any help appreciated

I think it is too easy to become bogged down in the literal meaning of words when it comes to grading. Phrases such as mint state, uncirculated and dare I say it "very good" are all phrases that have the potential to create confusion and debate. I should imagine with hindsight many grading companies may have re-phrased their definitions but they are stuck with the system in place.

Very generous Garrett, there really is a great bunch of folks on this forum. On the subject of the farthing it is a difficult variety, but as pointed out the damage would massively detract. I agree you are probably talking gap filler and £10's of pounds would be more appropriate.

I bought them mainly to add to my collection but there will be a few duplicates, once they are sorted, I will drop you a PM

I agree entirely with Damian, the dark lustre on these means that any loss of lustre is seen as wear, which is often not the case. And I also agree with Peck regarding his grading although I would probably swap 2 and 3, although 3 does have some marks/scrapes. Regards the original post, good pictures are essential for these but I agree that it will be in the GVF ball park

Many happy returns!!

Firstly what were you doing browsing for Chas I farthings I have just acquired a nice little collection of these, which I have got to sort through. Comparatively these can be reasonably cheap when compared to the currency issues. Trying to find a decent currency issue for this period however is a challenge, whereas these are all specially prepared patterns so tend to be nicely struck. Plenty of varieties. I have to admit compared to other prices out there they are starting to look more appealing. This one appears to be BMC407 which appears to be the most common of the patterns, with the exception of BMC 492 which Peck believed to be a medalet rather than a pattern.

This is quite common on the farthings of the period, with the groove not always being full depth, and also in some cases varying in depth around the edge of the coin.

Bernie, it is quite easy with some free software called Gimp, it also allows you to transition the overlay so you can watch it blend in. I would be happy to do some for you if you don't want to have a go yourself

And if no collectors want it, you can always drop me an e-mail

A bit late to post on this one, the 1717 is a collectable date, so you wont have lost money at that price for the pair.

Many happy returns!!!

In the words my daughter at the age of 4, 'Hello friends, I am here!' Never the modest one and always melodramatic, she has turned out to be a balanced, well mannered and sensible member of society. Who would have thought that? Sorry Stuart, don't do take away pizzas. Coffee is another matter. Nor me - not one of them does my favourite: Seafood pizza. Yet when I phoned Pizza Hut to challenge them on this, they told me they did do them in their restaurants! Pfffft. And while we're at it: who the hell was it decided pineapple would be something to use as a topping? No one Italian I'd wager….. I love pineapple as a pizza topping

Rob there are definitely restrikes that have been graded, so it must be crossed wires somewhere.

On my phone, but it definitely looks like the 4 berries to me. It is a weird variety, because it is not a new design, but a berry that has been recut in a slightly different position. Surprises me that Peck included this one as a portrait type. There will be a die crack through the 7 in the date and a flaw (set of cracks) behind the bust. It is a nice example

I have to admit not an area I have yet focused on too much, so I can't be much help at the moment, I have loads of information but yet to even start collating it all.

Many happy returns to you both!!

Great result, think you would struggle to find better....sadly went out of my range

It is the side with Britannia (Reverse) which would have beaded borders on a mule. The Obverse shown has toothed borders, and is the later portrait commonly known as Obverse 3.

Awkward to tell from that image, it is the 6 in relation to the other digits that determines the type. On your example the end of the tail of the 6 is not very clear, to determine position, although the size of the loop would indicate it likely to be the Large 6 This is another variety that is still uncertain, the large 6 is not as obvious as other larger digits, and may well be the result of a recut digit making aspects of the digit look slightly enlarged.

Me too, very nice...in my watch list!!

I have not yet examined a clear enough example to be confident regarding the underlying letter. I can see what Peck is mentioning, but other images I have do not show this feature so it may just be this image. I can see why gets referred to as G/O, although it could just be a con-incidental flaw caused by a flake of metal breaking away from the die. Colin Cooke was convinced enough to refer to it as a G/O, so I will continue to classify it as such until I get to handle an example that allows me to study in more detail.