New UNC Coins

[Rob]

On 3/17/2021 at 7:21 AM, PWA 1967 said:

Yes Chris its ones like you bought that are hard to find in BU as most will be circulated and the mintage figures/ prices in the books for the 10p dont seem right  3,487 ,000 and £1 - £4.

The £2 in UNC mentioned above at £60 in the books is more on the right mark with regards price as they are also really hard to find.

 

On 3/17/2021 at 11:40 AM, Peckris 2 said:

 

Here's my take on it: the mintage is low, but not nearly low enough to be rare - after all, the 1952 sixpence (a much lower mintage) is plentiful in lower grades compared to the 1981 currency 10p. I think (and this is simply educated guesswork) that the majority of the mintage was never issued, and quite probably melted down. Unusual? Yes certainly, but look at the context: no more large currency 10p's were ever issued. From 1982 to 1991 they only occur in BU sets, and then the small 10p arrived. So in 1981 - the last year of large currency 10p's - the Mint may have overestimated the demand for more coins.

 

 

Yet there hasn't been any media coverage of the 1981 10p, and even on eBay the sellers of generic 10 pences from circulation usually say 'pick your date' and then have a drop down menu that runs from 1968 to 1981 - I've never seen any of those have any stock dated 1981. So they must be pitifully hard to find in any grade?

(Having said that, there's one here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1981-Ten-Pence-Coin-Unused/373496292855?hash=item56f61d25f7:g:RvQAAOSw~kRgTMBg but I SUSPECT it's probably from the proof set?)

I wonder if they were restruck to produce another coinage? The RM has always done all sorts of non-currency strikes, which also offers a solution to the low numbers seen. And if you really want to speculate - how about the 1981 10ps being used as blanks for the uncirculated sets. Mintage of large 10ps for the period 1982 to 1992 is just over 1.9m. Add in another 955k or so for the proofs and you are left with approx. 0.5m. Does either total or both added together more accurately reflect the observed rarity? 

[Peckris 2]

22 hours ago, Rob said:

 

I wonder if they were restruck to produce another coinage? The RM has always done all sorts of non-currency strikes, which also offers a solution to the low numbers seen. And if you really want to speculate - how about the 1981 10ps being used as blanks for the uncirculated sets. Mintage of large 10ps for the period 1982 to 1992 is just over 1.9m. Add in another 955k or so for the proofs and you are left with approx. 0.5m. Does either total or both added together more accurately reflect the observed rarity? 

Yes, half a million makes much more sense than the stated mintage given what is actually out there. Add in the fact that a quantity will have been sucked up during the 1992 withdrawal, and you're left with quite a small number. Let's face it, the 1981 proofs seem easier to get hold of than the currency coins.

[richtips86]

But surely half a million +- the 1992 withdrawal doesn’t result in an absolute paucity of coins. Like has been said previously go on any eBay seller sites that have annual coins to choose from and there is never a 1981 coin. This is in context of being able to readily buy 1989 when there’s “only” 160k coins

[Peckris 2]

6 hours ago, richtips86 said:

But surely half a million +- the 1992 withdrawal doesn’t result in an absolute paucity of coins. Like has been said previously go on any eBay seller sites that have annual coins to choose from and there is never a 1981 coin. This is in context of being able to readily buy 1989 when there’s “only” 160k coins

You could be right. Certainly the only ones I've seen have turned out to be proofs. I mentioned the difference between 'scarce' and 'rare' to one eBayer and asked him to let me know if the designs looked "white" and dull compared to the blank areas. He must have thought his ship had come in because he replied "Yes!". I had to let him know that his was a proof and therefore only scarce, not rare.