1848/7 how rare?

[Mat]

I bought an F/gF 1848 half crown, when it arrived I spotted it is a clear 8 over 7 over date. Looked in Spink and the value is given as 'Extremely Rare', my jaw dropped! Then looked up previous 8/7 sales and my jaw dropped even more!

A couple of specimens at London coins sold for £240 and £280!

Thought I had something in the same value category as a 1933 penny, for about 3 milliseconds.

This is the third time now I have bought a coin that Spink gives a value of 'Extremely Rare' and its worth less than 1000 quid!

[VickySilver]

Mat, I think value hard to determine on that and suspect the earlier auction prices are about what your coin is worth. It might be quite interesting to see what an EF or better might fetch in a major auction however! I tnk as you peruse the posts on this forum that Spink values and assessments might be taken with a bit of salt. Also, rarity requires demand to fetch large amounts for a particular coin.

Still, nice find and think I would pay in the 250 range as well. I rather love the Victoria 2/6 series yet do not have one; I recall these coming up about 1-2 x per year in larger auctions. Rob P seems to have quite a storehouse of information and might contribute.

[Accumulator]

Hi Mat,

I recently posted about another coin (a Viccy sovereign) which Spink also have as "extremely rare". No one responded which, in a way, provided the answer: it's probably quite rare but not very sought after.

I may be going out on a limb here but it does seem that, for milled coins anyway, it's easier to find variety collectors for the lower denominations. I presume this is because they are generally cheaper and it is possible to amass a larger collection without too much outlay. Once the basic date runs have been obtained, the natural progression is to varieties.

I realise that pennies no longer fit this model though!

[Mat]

I certainly do take the guides with a pinch of salt, especially when it comes to the minor variations. Not at all surprised on the price but would not have expected Spink to put the 'Extremely Rare' mark on a coin that as you say does come up a couple of times a year.

I personally don’t consider these kind of over dates a particularly rare variation, however obviously the market dictates not me!

I find that sovereign pricing is extremely complex with many of the sales and collectors outside the UK, I have only touched the surface with them on the key dates but do not feel too comfortable with them. I had an 1874 in gF to aVF for sale, and in 2 months the best offer I had was barely half the book value for F at the time.

[Accumulator]

I though this thread needed a picture Not a halfcrown, but a nice example of 1848/7 so not too far off-topic...

[RLC35]

I though this thread needed a picture Not a halfcrown, but a nice example of 1848/7 so not too far off-topic...

Nice clear overdate!