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Conder Collectors - Post Your Images
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606 posts in this topic

 

 

 

They just arrived in the mail today and tried the best I can to show them off to you.

 

 

William Till, Silver Halfpenny, 1794, obv lion rampant to left.

Not mentioned in the auction but if you see it in hand you will agree this is a proof. So the rarity started out as very rare as it is silver.....The toning is so beautiful.....a sky blue with some peach and yellows in it.

 

His mane is yellow so it looks like he is blonde!

Two pics of each to try and show it off.

 

j7zwjr.jpg

2s76oap.jpg

 

 

2j0au50.jpg

oqgl8o.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skidmore, Copper Halfpenny, 1793, obv man hanging on a gibbet, church in the distance, END OF PAIN around, rev open book inscribed THE WRONGS OF MAN. JANY. 21 : 1793, edge plain D&H 834

 

 

All I can say about this rare halfpenny.....is WOW!!

Its toned, mostly red and just unbelievably reflective fields in hand.

If I didn't know better I would say its a proof...but its not,

 

 

 

dw2yqp.jpg

 

o6jrrr.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

Skidmore, Copper Farthing mule, 1796, obv female seated holding a harp,

Dublin, D&H 404

 

While not very rare as its scarce its a nice example.

 

 

 

2dkzk9.jpg

 

2dl87ew.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last but not least is just about the nicest Wild Man I have seen thus far.

Well struck as the teeth, nose, shin and hair are fully struck. The reverse is just a tad weak on the cipher but very nice.

Color is not dark with some red showing.....usually they are on the darker side.

 

 

Very rare and even rarer struck nice and high mint state. D&H 906

Richard Summers, Copper Halfpenny, 1797, obv head of a wild man

 

 

 

 

 

 

necjg0.jpg

 

15fokmv.jpg

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I agree, thanks Cyber.

 

I like factory/foundry scenes on Conders, here is one below. Bought in 2012 and finally got it imaged.

 

From Wikipedia:

 

John "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson (1728–14 July 1808) was an English industrialist who pioneered the manufacture of cast iron and the use of cast-iron goods during the Industrial Revolution. He was the inventor of a precision boring machine that could bore cast iron cylinders, such as those used in steam engines of James Watt. His boring machine has been called the first machine tool. He also developed a blowing device for blast furnaces that allowed higher temperatures, increasing their efficiency.

 

Best, HT

 

Warwickshire.353.NGC.MS65.HAL_zpstbxgtkxb.jpg

Edited by Hard Times
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Another fine example, Hard Times ... thanks for sharing

 

I think this particular token (Warwickshire 353) is documented to have been struck in 1789, not in 1787 as the date indicates. While John Gregory Hancock, an engraver for Matthew Boulton, is credited for the early Wilkinson Forge tokens (later copied by Rambert Dumarest) this one is not thought to have been pressed at the Soho Mint. Although the copper might have been rolled and blanked at Soho, the location of the hand presses used are thought to have been in either Holywell or Birmingham .... do you have any idea of what mints might have been in use at the time?

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No but I will ask Gary Groll about this at FUN when I see him. That is a great question, so the Watt refinements to steam engines for coin presses were not ready in 1789? Or was it only Soho that had them?

 

best, NT

 

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While rotary steam engines had been in existence since the early 1780's no one else had put them to press coins before Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint, and it remained that way thru at least his 1798 minting of royal coinage. The secret was not the engine itself but how to connect it, and since Boulton was always watchful for industrial espionage no one else was successful in duplicating it for many years. (Of course the economics in minting limited numbers of tokens was a big factor ... royal coinage was necessary to make it viable.) For 8 years (1789-1797) Soho was the only producer of Conder tokens (and a few foreign tokens/coins) by steam-driven presses until at least after the 1797 "regal" issues were made(there is a story here too, but I digress.)

 

When Boulton set up his second mint in 1798-99 he sold his "sun and planet" (rotary) engines to another mint in Birmingham, but I don't know if he also sold the original catchment system which operated the press action ....I seriously doubt he would have done so. Boulton kept the original Soho presses to use in his new mint but instead of a steam-driven mechanical catchment the presses were now operated by pistons and cylinders attached to a vacuum or "spirit" tube.

 

In 1802 a former engraver at Soho, Jean-Pierre Droz, set up his own steam-driven system for the French Mint claiming it was originally was his idea. After Matthew Boulton's death in 1809, his son decided to sell mint equipment, starting with the Royal Mint in 1810, and only grudgingly minted from that time onward.

Edited by CyberspaceVoid
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HT, great token. Are you sold on the abilities of PCGS to grade Conders? I have seen far too many misses to trust them yet...

 

I missed your post back in April, but I really like the 2 posted tokens above! (thumbs u

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To their credit they seem so far to be conservative. I would prefer to have all of my tokens in NGC holders but some are coming in PCGS.... I suppose I could do the crossover game. I have maybe 6-7 out of 150 or so in PCGS.

 

Best, HT

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Is that your typo on the Glamorganshire or theirs? There is no D&H 14, should be D&H 4. Are they getting the attributions correct, including the edge variations?

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Is that your typo on the Glamorganshire or theirs? There is no D&H 14, should be D&H 4. Are they getting the attributions correct, including the edge variations?

 

Good catch, my typo, I will correct it......

 

Best, HT

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Doesn't instill very much faith when (to this day) PCGS still lists Conders on their pop report page as "Condors" -- apparently some big-bird tokens...

 

PCGS_site_condOr_tokens_red_circle_zps6148e333.jpg

 

hm

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