I have this 1940 British penny in excellent condition. How do you tell if a British penny is a proof coin?
No not proof. Proofs were only issued in 1937,1950,1951 and 1952(unique) I would say the coin pictured is EF. In the UK Proof is not a grade or condition but a process of minting. Proof coins have been struck using specially prepared dies and blanks, and the minting process has been carried out usually twice with extra pressure to ensure the die is filled. Normally the fields are highly polished.
The highest grade 1940 Penny in the UK is "Uncirculated" and today`s catalog value is £25, approx $39. Yours in EF is £8 approx $12.45
I think Krause priceguide shows "proof like" years for some of their series. I'm not sure which, but I remember seeing these. Most likely it's not a proof, but maybe it came from an early state die (which is how their proof like coins came to being?). It does seem to have very distinct features, especially the head. Even xfs and higher coins I've seen don't look that nice. But what do I know
Krause does show "Proof" issues for just about every Penny struck in the 1930`s & 40s but it is a mistake, any of the British coin books, Spink, Coin World,Coin News, Coin Yearbook only show the ones I mentioned earlier 1937,1950,1951 Royal Mint did not issue Proof Like either, this coin is dated 1940 we were at war, no time for issuing coins for collectors. It is EF. When my camera has charged I will show an EF and a Proof from my collection..............late4r.
wow great pics. The 1951 has a mintage, of what, 540k or something? That's a great coin and year. At first I couldn't see that much of a difference, mostly after looking at the fields of the coins. But when you look at the head and hair details, you really see the proof quality. I could imagine though beginning collectors not noticing the difference.
No the 1950 business strike was 240k. They were only issued to British colonies. They are not rare as dealers quickly realized this and were quickly taken out of circulation. The 1950 is infact harder to get uncirculated as dealers didn't realize straight away. They were vastly overpriced in the 60's and early 70's and haven't proved a good investment.
Oh crap, you are right. I've thought all along it was 540. I'm just looking at my Krause book now. Sorry about that
I picked up the 1950 large penny in Vf/xf in a dealers raw world coins he sells by the pound. I never knew these coins had such appealing mintages, and apparently not a lot of others do either as it was overlooked for sometime. My favorite coins are probably world coins in the 1900s, both first and second halves, base metal and silver. I think the demand is so low and good deals abound. Low mintages are widespread as we'll.
As I collect 'small head' George V pennies, I'm currently researching this question, and the impression I've gained so far is that bronze proof pennies were produced by the Royal Mint nearly every year, but in very small quantities. I don't think that these were placed on the market; they were - and are still - pretty expensive. For the reign of George V, Kosinki's Coins of Great Britain, 1901-2014, lists proofs for every year from 1926 to 1936 inclusive. The existence of these coins can be confirmed from auction sales. A 1936 proof penny graded by PCGS was sold by Stack's & Bowers last year (2014) for $1645, for example. http://www.stacksbowers.com/browseauctions/lotdetail.aspx?AuctionID=6014&Lot=1070 Stack's & Bowers also sold a 1931 proof penny for a bit over $1000 this January last. http://www.stacksbowers.com/archivedetail.aspx?productid=2990066 There were several years in the last two reigns for which proof pennies were produced in relatively largely numbers for a mass market; fortunately, these are still quite affordable and can be picked up quite easily on Ebay.
