1868 Proof penny - help with ticket

[Rob]

A bit more progress.

The blue inked number (1683) is the Peck number. I have half a dozen farthings with the various Peck numbers inked in on the tickets. Crucially they were all coins that Colin Cooke bought from Baldwins, ex-Johnstone in 1974, so there was no time for an interim ownership. It therefore seems more than likely that all(?) or certainly many of the Johnstone coppers had the Peck numbers added for easy reference and weren't added by CC because the style is wrong. Some of the farthings had prior ownership indicated, and all were bought in the late 30s and 40s, but which ended up with Johnstone and have the same handwriting. An example of the P147 tickets for comparison below. Whilst a sample size of half a dozen isn't conclusive, the consistency of provenance for coins with this style of ticket and no exceptions found makes it very likely that what I have described here is an indicator of prior Johnstone ownership.

Given the above and similarity between the writing on the back of the ticket and yours, it seems reasonably certain that your coin is ex-Johnstone and the acquisition details noted are in his hand.

The copper? may have been added by Ras. You could ask him.

Hi Rob, brilliant work yet again... Sherlock Holmes has nothing on you! It certainly looks convincing as a Johnstone coin based on the blue Peck numbers. Also the pencil sale details on the back of the ticket seem to be in the same hand as on your coin. The only question is, do you think the ink description on both tickets is in the same hand? I note that the 'ic' of victoria on my ticket is not linked, whereas the same letters in 'Richmond' on your ticket are. What do you think? Ras told me he didn't write 'copper?' on my ticket, so it must have been added by someone else.

Yes, I think they are the same hand on the basis that the t of Victoria and the t of pellets on the P147 ticket are similar, and very unusual in character. The crossbar on the t starts at the top and goes right whereas I'm sure that 90%+ of writers would have the t crossing the upright slightly below the top.

The Peck numbers also limit the writers to either Johnstone or Baldwins given the book didn't appear until 1960.

I have to admit the 't' is very distinctive. Also the auction dates on the reverse are clearly in the same hand, particularly the separating dots and the '4'. On mine the date is in pencil. How about yours? Also, mine is clearly Glendinings. Is yours "Brugge Salle". If so, presumably that refers to a Belgian auction?

Brigg sale. M A Brigg (North Country Collector) sold his gold and silver at Glens 23/5/1939 and his coppers on 12/7/1943. A quality collection with both sales containing lots of desirables.

I have a mixture of pencil and ink, but the handwriting is distinctive enough to say it is the same hand.