English 1/2 Penny Question

PuddlePirate

I just got a parcel of 25 1964 English half pennies in. They are lovely unc's but in looking them over I found TEN of the 25 were suffering from an obvious "die clash" on the obverse and incuse doubling on the date on the reverse.

On the Obverse the "reverse of the ship's bow, ratlines and foremast run up from the" II DEI " lettering on the coin rim into Elizabeth's chin and part of the mizzen mast appears behind her neck and runs up into her hair. There is some doubling which is incuse - faint but visible to the unaided eye, very plain under 10x of the DEI dot GRATIA with "GRATIA" being offset to the left so that the incuse G has the "dot" in its center.

On the reverse on the date 1964 the 964 all appear to be incused - it looks like 1996644 with the first 9 6 and 4 all lightly incused and the second number raised clean and bold.

Now my question is this - in US coinage this type of error is considered quite collectiable by some and commands a premium. Granted in this case these uncirculated peices are worth about 25-25 cents each but I don't know what the true value is because of the error. As I said I got 10 of these out of 25 and they are all Unc and obvious to the unaided eye. Should I give the seller a heads up and send them back? I don't want to rip him off, or was this error very common and so it doesn't make any measurable "value" difference?

I'd post a picture but don't have the technology yet. I'd be willing to mail one out if someone else wants to post it.

Your opinions please.

THANKS

wybrit

I haven't come across any errors on 1964s like you describe and none are catlogued. NEN sells errors on modern coins like this. You can check their site to see how their error coins are priced.

PuddlePirate

Wybritt - who is NEN?- I'm new to this forum and don't recognize the acronym... sorry.

spinaker2000

here ya go Pirate

PuddlePirate

Spinaker2000 Thanks for the link, I've got it added to my favorites list now. I went up and looked over their error listings for GB and they have nothing listed in 64 let alone what I have. Price wise it looks like these could be going for somewhere between $129 and $379 a peice based on the 1961 and 67 errors that are listed. All I wanted was a few "ships" to add to my collection and what I get is ten questions and a moral delima... gotta love this hobby

Shipcoin

BTW, did you know, PuddlePirate, that your famous colleague's ship is depicted on that coin?
That sail ship - is actually Sir F. Drake Galleon "Golden Hind" .

Lloyd

cosmicdebris

Hey Lloyd's back. Where you been hiding?

PuddlePirate

Shipcoin - When I was a little fellow years ago I built one of those Revel models of the Golden Hind, unfortunately it was destroyed when Hurricane Andrew wrecked my parents house and destroyed my square rigger collection. I like the english 1/2 penny reverse because the ship's lines looked so familar. It is nice to know its the same ship - that was something I did not know.

Lyoyd - thanks for responding. I have pretty much decided the fellow that sold me this lot had plenty of opportunity to catch the errors. He bought them from somewhere or pulled them from an inventory all the same, took pictures of the obverse, reverse and posted them and then packed them up again. So he had plenty of opportunity to catch the errors. I just feel a bit rotten paying a pound for the lot and getting this big a bonus. Although I guess from the seller's side he has a Yank paying him over the top money for Unc 1/2 pennies that are pretty much pocket change over there. He probably thinks I'm nuts and I'm sitting here feeling guilty because I might have a small "windfall" in the possible value of the coins he sold me.

So gents, should I send one of these off to ANAC to be enslabbed with their little "mint error" black label so I can let Numismatic News/Coin World and the like know there is another "offical" mint error out there? I just got my PCGS submission package yesterday and I don't know if they will "slab" this or not. I'm going to keep at least four of these and probably sell the rest.

1jester

I am absolutely NOT anywhere close to being an expert on British coins, but I've seen tons of errors of various types, including different doubling and tripling errors, on so many British coins from the past 150 years that I am doubtful that they are worth much if anything over the standard value of the coin, at least in today's market. I've been avidly looking for them and saving them in the hopes that one day they'll command the prices that US errors do. Good luck with those coins, though, Pirate! I'm happy you found them.

PuddlePirate

1jester - well then maybe its all in the "marketing" I could post these on Ebay with the whole "hype line"
ULTRA RARE MINT ERROR ONLY 10 KNOWN IN THE WORLD!!!!
and then babble on about how these only turned up out of a little old ladies collection in Birmingham Alabama or something along those lines. Its gotta be good for something don't ya think

1jester

Right on, Puddle!

But if you mention Birmingham, then everybody will know you bought them from Frank (FC57Coins).