Martinminerva

April - or May - fool!! 😝

Incidentally, what is the best known specimen of the 1877 narrow date? And anyone got a picture?! 😄 None of the 14 (or 13, given that very worn, very suspect one at specimen 11 which for me has the first 7 too high and too tilted to match the definite ones...) on Richard's website would get above fine, for me. And if a fair one is going for anything between 4.5 and 7K, what price a VF or even EF one?? By the way, did anyone here get that one off eBay from the States recently and could post a better picture?

Someone offered to buy it now for £50 which I accepted. The F69 is still loitering at home - might put it on again later this spring...

Correct!

What's the point? They won't do anything that interferes with their profits. I know what you mean, but... I have successfully reported items before for other wrongdoing reasons and eBay have removed them. If sufficient numbers report, eBay can and do suspend sellers breaking their rules. The seller might get the message if a lot if items are removed, they cannot get away with what is essentially fraud. Whilst I guess the seller didn't twig that his picture was of a 1903 open 3 penny and so worth a bit, had PWA bought it, he would have received an item not as listed - the pictures form part of the listing and this is why eBay have the rule about it. I see this seller also has, for example, a picture of a lustrous Unc 1904 penny (or actually allegedly two of them!) when I am sure any buyer would receive one in far lower grade! It just annoys me that lazy sellers, or worse still deliberately misleading ones, can get by because of apathy either on the part of eBay or by much more knowledgable potential buyers... Rant over! 😊

Totally against eBay rules! He should be reported to eBay, but I can no longer see a suitable category for reporting this... If anyone knows what options to use to report the items, plural, he sells, with his small print that these are not actual pictures, please do so and tell us here how to do likewise!

Agreed. The interstices of numerals and letters on dies did have a habit of breaking away leaving thicker and filled digits/letters on the finished coins throughout the bronze series. As well as numerous filled 2's that Rob mentions for example, there is also the "double barred" 5 on a 1915 penny that springs to mind...

Definitely a modern pressure cast copy. Avoid it like the plague! Weight is no guarantee - the alloy used is pretty much the same density as silver and so the weight is likely to be in the "right" vicinity...

Novelty item - date skilfully removed by tooling post mint. I have an identical example!

In the notes I've left myself I have reverse G has lighthouse with two windows and one rock between lighthouse and shield, reverse I has lighthouse with no windows Not true! Reverse I lighthouse also has two windows as picture above shows, albeit masonry is a bit heavier (and akin to reverse F as Zo Arms says above).

I cannot easily make any judgements or spot any distinctive differences about the hair to shoulder for the two reverses - I'll leave that to you with two more photos, reverse G first, then I. The sea/rock line is the diagnostic for me. But you're right that reverse I is considerably rarer and quite an underestimated scarcity in my opinion. Happy to help! PS another diagnostic is that both arms of the H of Half point to spaces on Rev G and beads on Rev I...

Definitely reverse G. Easiest way to spot is the sea meeting rock level at the extreme left of the exergue. On Rev. G it rises up slightly and does not cross the linear circle. On Rev. I it is pretty much level and does cross the linear circle. See enlargements below...

See it just sold for £189. Way too little if genuine, way too much if a copy 😳. I know which way I'd tend to lean and think that someone isn't going to have such a merry Christmas... If anyone here bought it, and it turns out to be fine, happy to be proved wrong!

I am VERY suspicious of it. There are an awful lot of modern copies of this and other rare date coins out there these days and would always want proper provenance or a dealer's guarantee or willingness to take returns if I was not able to see the coin in hand. This seller, I see, won't take returns and that just doubles my suspicion. Coins like this really need to be seen in the flesh by experienced eyes - one cannot tell a thing for sure from photos and so personally I would avoid...

I have two specimens of 1874H Reverse I for sale on eBay, finishing this afternoon (Sunday 12th), if anyone's interested! One is a F69, 6+I and one a very worn but even rarer F76, 7+I. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?item=284552412594&hash=item4240a53db2%3Ag%3Ab44AAOSwRephqPIj&_ssn=1970kit&_sop=10 No bids yet!!

Bid £800 on Lot No 2148 - hammer price £800!!! I won two of my five bids at - guess what - my maximum bid price!!

I have just listed on eBay a few more pennies including a relatively good Freeman 69 and a very worn, but useful filler, Freeman 76 which members might find interesting... https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?item=284552412594&hash=item4240a53db2%3Ag%3Ab44AAOSwRephqPIj&_ssn=1970kit&_sop=10 The F.76 is very seldom seen, and although it is well gone, it genuinely is an example which might fill a gap!! Cheers!

Not necessarily... !

It looks like a 13*, let's see the reverse ! is it J, K* or L ? Definitely not 13* or 13# then - back of bun and TT in BRITT wrong (see Mal Lewenden's pic below). Also, don't think it can be 13 as the visible berries are the same size - markedly different on 13, but same size on 11 and 12 as was pointed out above. Colons a fair shout, though, and not sure I can explain, unless wear or re-entering could account? I'm still going to plump for 11...

Oh, that wasn't long, then... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255237698933?hash=item3b6d5a3575:g:5VYAAOSwyLZhf~do Oh, and yes, there's a lot more balderdash to go with it!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255221659808?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 The listing has been ended due to "an error in the listing" 😏 What, only the one?! Any bets as to how long it will be before it gets relisted along with some more cock and bull ?!

What is 13* and its reference? Not Mal Lewenden's 13# ?? (Now 2 known, I understand). The latter has the two Ts of BRITT touching. For me this is obverse 11, but willing to stand corrected with further info on 13*... I agree that the reverse and date would be good to see to help tie it down!

Yes - all the watchers will have received this "offer" of a 90% reduction!! But in her blurb she bangs on about not accepting £720, and her dad not accepting a £300 offer from a dealer originally etc etc. From an £8000 "bid", down to a £3000 Buy it now, down to a £300 offer.... All this proves that she knows that it's all a load of b****cks. I'm going to wait until she has dropped to £3 before making my purchase... About the scrap value of the silver and bronze in the pile 😏

Here's the latest addition to her balderdash... "I''ve been messed around once and cancled it the second time this is the last time I list them dad was offered 200 for them by a dealer he said no then 300 he still said no and was asked to leave them with him. That one he did refuse. Now the first time they hit 8000 By a bidder then the second time a freemans..1 bidded 720 and I cancled the order sorry I won't take 720 for them when the coins hit 8000 pound so im now listing them at a buy now price because dad suffers from PTSD it ain't doing him any good and the coins are a total pain in the seating area. and me and dad wish we didn't find" Apart from her poor use of English (and what on Earth does she mean by a freemans..1 ? Maybe an 1860 penny 😏), who does she think she's kidding? There's only one person who's messing around! "This is the last time I list them" - yes please! At least that'll be one fewer nonsense listing to wade through when looking for interesting stuff. Somehow, though, I don't think this will be the last time she lists...

She must be losing her touch. "Only" £720 this time, less than a tenth of the previous "sale".🙂 Any bets on if it will reappear yet again?!