BRITISH COINS Victoria, Copper Half-Farthing, 1853 (SC 55). Toned to light chocolate, but with a few dark patches on obverse, some die cracks, characteristic of the series on the reverse, scarce, rare in high grades (£60-80)

An underrated date. SC notes, pertinently as usual, that “several of the grades are so rare in top condition as to be almost unobtainable and their rarity is probably underestimated in most catalogues” and goes on to point out Bramah’s contention that the that Half-Farthings of 1844, the date usually met with, is between ten and twenty times more common than almost all the other dates. The last observation, though not entirely supported by mintage figures, does indeed seem to be the case.