High priced 1931 drop 1 London Penny?

[Yurist]

Hi Fred
The original penny was a 1929 Indian as the 4th bead (pearl) on the leading edge of the crown is slightly larger than the others (rules out 1924 and 1927 which was chipped) and for obvious reasons a 1930 penny isn't profitable to turn into a 1931. And as Eric pointed out the '31 is FBL.

Dear Neal, thank you for that very valuable observation about the 4th pearl.  The 1924, 1927 are indeed ruled out.  But I note that the 1929 is also ruled out due to the distance between the 1 and 9 in the date.  The distance is bigger in the 1929 than in the Unicorn Penny.  Also, the leftmost 1 has a pointy nose in the 1929 penny, whereas the counterpart 1 in the Unicorn Penny has a blunt nose.  See https://sites.google.com/view/1931dropped1indianpennyvariety/home

Cheers!

[Yurist]

I guess with any questionable coin a close examination of the actual coin in hand and under the microscope to see if the 3 and 1 are glued on is the only was to be sure!
Fascinating coin and worth discussion.
Fred.

Yeah,certainly an interesting Coin.
A few Red flags with the original Ebay listing,Pictures for a $15,000 Coin are a joke,the depression under the '31' and the inability to ID the dot after 'S' ,all are warning signs.
I'll state the obvious,the easiest way to fake one of these is to  manipulate/adjust the '1' on an aligned Indian 31,the 'person' responsible for this one has gone to a lot of trouble with the donor Coin.
All that is assuming it is indeed a altered date coin and all the evidence so far seems to confirm that.

Hi Basil, The only problem with that reasoning is the presence of curlicue lettering in the legend of the 1931 Unicorn Penny.  See https://sites.google.com/view/1931dropped1indianpennyvariety/home

Since the 1931 aligned Indian penny has straight-based lettering, one would have to manipulate/adjust almost every letter in the reverse legend to create the Unicorn Penny.  Considerably more trouble than you suggest!  

But the obvious question is why go to the trouble of using a donor coin with straight-base lettering (the 1931 aligned Indian) to create the 1931 D1 Indian penny (which also features straight-based lettering) by altering the legend to feature curved-base lettering.  Simply doesn't add up.

[Mister T]

One on ebay right now: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1931-Dropped-1-Indian-Die-Penny-Diagnostic-Die-Flaw-Visible/113852223024?hash=item1a821f0e30:g:H9EAAOSwTsNdUopN&frcectupt=true

[Basil]

One on ebay right now: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1931-Dropped-1-Indian-Die-Penny-Diagnostic-Die-Flaw-Visible/113852223024?hash=item1a821f0e30:g:H9EAAOSwTsNdUopN&frcectupt=true

Yeah,i think Echinda has more than 1 of them,doesn't seem to Post here much anymore which is a shame as his knowledge is going to waste.

[Mister T]

There's one in good condition for auction right now: https://www.smallsauctions.com/auction-lot/australia-1931-penny-indian-obverse-w-dropped-dat_21b47d986d?catalogRedirectURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smallsauctions.com%2Fauction-catalog%2FBest-of-the-Best-Australian-Pre-decimal-Coins_7YIA6WIRJI