It’s that time of year again for Hungerford’s famous Christmas lights to be switched on! 

The person doing the honors this year was award winning author, Robert Harris. Hungerford Town Band played and children from Hungerford Primary School provided carols.

It wouldn’t be quite the same without a small technical hitch – the tree remained dark for the first couple of minutes after everything else had been turned on!  Just a minor hiccup!

All in all a great start to the festive season in Hungerford!

I am willing to bet that nobody reading this blog will ever have seen a coin like this one before.  The reason I am so sure is that to my knowledge, there are only 7 others like it in existence.  This is an extremely rare two pence piece struck mistakenly in cupro-nickel (a copper nickel alloy) in 1971.  The most likely scenario for it being struck in the incorrect metal at the royal mint is that a nickel blank was left in the machine when they started to strike the two pence coins.

Why 7 others?  While doing some reading I learned that they strike coins in lots of 8 at the mint so it is unlikely that the wrong blanks were used more than once.  At least 2 of these coins have been found and sold at auction in the past few years and it is incredible to think that a coin which is still legal tender can make upwards of 50000 times its face value! The highest price I have found is over £1300 and sold at auction in England in 2014.

The one I have here is owned by a friend of mine who acquired it while working at a newsagents in 1971.  He was stocking the till with change when he noticed a glint of silver in amongst the copper coins.  He thought it looked interesting enough so he changed it for a normal 2p from his pocket and took it home.  A few years later he sent it off to the Royal Mint to see if they could tell him any more about it.  They replied with a signed letter confirming its authenticity as a genuine 2p coin struck in cupro-nickel.

My friend then allowed the coin to sit safely in a cupboard for more than 40 years, along with the letters from the Mint.  When he heard about the recent discoveries and auctions he thought it was about time to sell the coin, which is exactly what he plans to do.  The coin will be going to auction this year and I think he is guaranteed a profit on the investment he made 46 years ago! 

Winter Exhibition

Sue and daughter Claire Acworth welcome you to come to their exhibition of pastel drawings and handmade jewellery

Little Hidden Farm

Hungerford, Berkshire. RG17 0PN

10am to 6pm
on
10th, 11th & 12th November

Welcome to bring family & friends

Sue Acworth – Pastel drawings

Sue has a life-long interest in the countryside to which many of her pictures are related. She captures the ebb and flow of the seasons with her colourful depictions of woodlands, animals and landscapes. Sue works with pastels on sandpaper and is developing techniques that almost add a third dimension to her pictures.

t: 01488 683253
e: sueacworth@gmail.com

Claire Acworth – Jewellery

Claire is a designer and maker of contemporary jewellery, working in silver and occasionally gold. Her work is organic and sculptural. Textured with hammer marks or imprinted with the delicate veins of a leaf, each piece is unique. She uses semi-precious stones as well as simple found objects such as pebbles or sea glass which are transformed into elegant new forms.

t: 07765 251531
e: claireacworthjewellery@gmail.com

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