Nice coins! The last one looks like it might just be worn, rather than a blank planchet. That's just a quick hunch, though. The others are definetely genuine clips, which happens when the punch that punches the coins out overlaps a different punch, or when a coin is on the corner of the coin metal strip. These are obviously genuine errors, as evidenced by the metal flow near the clips (known as the Blakesly effect). Again, nice finds!
Yer, the last one got me a bit, at first i thought worn but i can't see any evidence that it has ever had anything on it like i said, these are all in a matchbox my grandad showed me, this box ain't seen the light of day in years so i really suspect it came out blank, he said he got it in his change years ago and put them straight in the box - so looking at the dates of the other coins, for a modern penny to be worn this much naturally is unlikely, and there would be some evidence of grinding patterns on it if it was manually done. but all i see is scratches could a coin dealer tell me if it is blank or not?
Well, I guess you're in the UK, so I'm not sure. Most of the dealers in my area don't have a clue about error coins, but they might know more there. However, unless you're planning to sell the coin, there's really no need to authenticate it, since you know it's authentic. Since you don't see any evidence of a design, wear points or lathe marks, I would say it's probably an authentic blank planchet. Very cool stuff! This is off-topic, but I was just curious if that coin with the lion on it is the size of a U.S. quarter. I would love to find one of those in a roll of coins! Very nice designs. Oh, and one more thing, do collectors in the UK like our designs like we like theirs, or do they find them as ugly as we do?
I really like the US designs, mainly the older coins though The Washington quarters, the design looks too busy as do some of the state quarters, and i don't really care for the other designs in circulation now, the ones i really like are the indian head coins, Morgan dollars, Lincoln wheat cents - they are my faves as well as quite a few of the state quarters. But unlike americans finding their designs ugly, i don't find british ones ugly one little bit, the coins designs are steeped in hitstory, and although american coins are it doesn't seem to have the same sort of effect, maybe its patriotism but if you take for example the Presidential dollars and state quarters the designs are prety simple as are the ideas. Whereas nearly every 50 pence and £2 coin now has some different design on it for some aniversary.
