Why is the 1947 British sixpence so in-demand?

A few months ago I purchased over 1,000 British sixpences (1947-67) in a lot from my local coin store, planning to resell them. I've noticed that the 1947 sells far better than any of the other dates. I can't keep them in stock. Krause doesn't show a low mintage or any particular value, so I'm wondering what the reason is that this coin is in such demand?

 

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The only thing I can think of is that 1947 was the first year of the cupro-nickel composition.

 

That's a pretty interesting observation. While it's common in absolute terms, it's the lower mintage date of that two year type. Perhaps that drives demand for it?

 

I've wondered the same - I know that it definitely isn't for the silver content. As you know, six pence coins struck after 1946 contained no silver content.

'67 was the last year of mass production (I believe there were some special proofs sets struck in 1970?) for the six pence.

Now, trying to get my hands on a reasonable, mint state '52 is another story...

Cheers

 

I was surprised I didn't find even one 52 in this lot. I found several silver coins and coins from a few other countries, but not that date. I know it's the key date but with that many coins I expected a few.

 

There are a lot of coins from 1947 that are in demand.....the Panamanian Balboa, the Philippine Peso, the US Walking Liberty. It's because it is the year I was born.

 

I guess they hadn't automated the minting process WAY back then, hence the rarity and demand:



Kidding - I'm not too far from you. Cheers!

 

The 1952 was only struck as proofs in Britain. There were just over 1 million business strikes produced only for the West Indies I believe so coming across them is a bit more challenging

 

Actually 1952 sixpences were struck in GB, and to the tune of just over a million pieces. They are fairly available except for true Uncirculated condition....

 

Oddly enough, I just checked my collection and 1947 is one of the last two dates I need to complete the run from 1928-1967.

 

Ahh...ancients.

 

I have several thousand tanners, from Vickie on up to the 1967. I'll hae to look someday an' see how many '47s there are in the bunch.

 

+1

 

Who is buying them? 1947 is one of my only gaps in that decade but 1952 was the only uncommon 20th century sixpence from memory.

 

There's quite a bunch of people on Numista with 1947 sixpence they're willing to swap. So, there may be a demand, but there's also a supply

Q

 

Who is buying them? Mostly people in the U.S. I can't really say anything about them beyond that.