Help needed - undated Penny

Hello Gents.
 
Recently acquired this George VI Penny which as you can see appears to be undated.
 
Can't say I have seen anything like this before and it does strike me as a little unusual particularly for this type of penny.
 
Could anyone help shed some light as to is rarity and subsequent value?
 
 

 
Thanks in advance

Wow.

It's definitely circulated so you can rule out a modern fantasy piece. Can't see any evidence that the date was removed post mint. I think you might really have something there my friend.

There is a rather famous release of 20p pieces with no date which have a rather substantial value. Hopefully yours will have a similar desirability.

From what I'm told, modern dies are composite affairs with each component engraved separately then combined into a master die from which the production dies are made. The date field is one of those areas. This makes sense as it wouldn't make sense to throw out the entire 1941 die on Jan 1st 1942 when you could merely swap the final number.

The only other explanation is photoshopping the date out but you say you have the coin in hand?

Wow. Thanks for the detailed reply.

Please attached with coin scanned next to a newspaper cutting to prove its completely genuine. I have it in hand as we speak

Are you intending to sell it or keep it?

I'd be very interested to know what type of a response you get from somewhere like Heritage Auctions. They have an online submission form on their website where you can have your coin reviewed by a series expert. Replies can take well over a month but you would get a much better idea of it's value than by taking it to a coin dealer who will lowball you shamelessly.

Or maybe an auction house which specializes in error coins. Can't name one because I don't collect them but I'm sure they are out there.

I've never seen such a coin before so it might be very hard for even an expert to come up with anything better than an educated guess.

Please do keep us informed, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is interested in this coin.

very interesting indeed and it looks genuine

looks like the date has been scratched away?

Ah yes, I see it now.

Good catch but what a pity :(

Hi. Thanks for the replies guys. Here is an extreme close up of the date area.
 
Hope this helps confirm wether it really is the genuine article or not
 
Thank you

Hey GaryH,

Yes, it looks like it has been scratched away. However, it has (on the most part) been removed with some skill I would say. Please could you post a picture of the coin where the light is hitting the coin at an angle on the date field?

Thanks

You can see some scratches in the area where the date should be. But remove the date with no more damage then we can see here, that is amazing craftmanship and hard to believe.

Hi Bam777.

Thanks for the reply. I will see if I get  a better photo tomorrow.

Hi Essor Prof.

It is fantastic condition isn't it?

When I first saw it in hand that's what hit me. It would be have to be some job to rub the date and cause so little other damage to the coin like that.

I just blew up the image as a negative print which reveals significant scratch/wear/rub marks where the date should be, it doesn't match the rest of the coins finish as in almost mint with smooth blending of shades which reveal no scratch damage anywhere else.

The undated 20p is a mule, this coin has the correct obverse and reverse, so it cant be that.

A Dremel multi tool could easily be used to buff off the date without damaging the rest of the coin.

This is how I have come to my conclusion.



You can clearly see several horizontal scratch lines where the date should be, where as the rest of the coins finish is uniformed with no other abnormalities. (The shading is smooth with colour blending on the rest of the coin)





I could be wrong and I hope I am, but the scratch lines seem to kill its credibility unfortunately.

If it was genuine then the tone in the date area would match the rest of the coin.