1923 Half-Penny (King George V) - Grade & Value?

I'd have to call it at least VF - maybe gVF. CV (Macca's 14th) is $6000 for VF; I'd guesstimate somewhere in the $6000-$7000 range for it.

Where's that coin coming from?

For anyone not "in the know" about Australian coins, the 1923 halfpenny is one of the "key dates" of the Australian series, and the scarcest halfpenny. If the 1930 penny is "king", then the '23 half is "crown prince".

I've got a couple of old catalogues; here's what some of them say for a VF coin:

Seven Seas Guide (1978): $450
Prior's pocketbook (1994): $1000
Renniks (2004): $4500
Maccas 13th (2005): $6500

Long term: steady upward trend.
Short term: subject to fluctuation.

Macca's CV has dipped a bit in lower grades for this coin since last edition; prices for Unc specimens are unchanged at $60,000. Perhaps the high prices have brought more coins "out of the woodwork", raising supply. Maybe it's just fad 'n' fashion, with all the big money moving to florins rather than scarcer bronzes. Not sure.

6 clear pearls, the other 2 are kinda ok. I'd say VF+. Current CV 6-10k. No idea of likely short term gains. I wouldn't buy it for CV, more like CV-30%. At this price I guess long term they should do ok, after all noone will be making any more of these.

This one went on ebay and I'd call it aVF or F+ for $2k A(which is F type money).

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Very-Rare-19...nd_W0QQitemZ320069169499QQihZ011QQcategoryZ39393QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Consider this item

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/VERY-RARE-GE...NY_W0QQitemZ300071771065QQihZ020QQcategoryZ39394QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Monetarium listed this at F money and graded it VF/aVF. Hence I wouldn't be paying anywhere near VF money for the 1923 1/2d.

Here's something else for your consideration:

http://www.jaggards.com.au/shop/vie...ategoryid=12

Cool, KJC coins have a page that list a number of investment coins and how they have appreciated over the years. The 1923 half penny in VF is there for $4500 in 2006.

Out of my price range unfortunately.

Snooba, you never trust a real estate agent who tells you the house they're trying to sell you is a good investment. The same goes for coin dealers. Do your research. Grab old auction catalogues from ten years ago, with the realisations (not forgetting the comm.) and compare it to how much coins are selling today. Look at old catalogues, old Coin Reviews. There's a useful tool on the Noble's website where you can look into their archive of sold coins. This is very useful for researching purposes.
As for whether the 1923 ½d is a good investment? It definitely has a proven track record, but the coin is very common in absolute terms. Demand for it, however, is high, so the prices rise accordingly. If you want to invest in coins, you MUST diversify. You can't just buy one coin and say "I've got a numismatic investment", because it's like buying a share from company XXX, and saying "I've got a share investment". There's absolutely no way that you or anyone can guess which rarity dealers are going to push next. You MUST spread out your numismatic investment into the different areas: banknotes, Commonwealth proofs, gold proofs, colonial coins, rare date coins (such as the 1930 penny and the 1923 half), and patterns. Personally, I would not buy a 1923 penny in any grade less than EF, because they are simply too common. For $5000 you can buy a very rare 1918P half sov - IF YOU CAN FIND ONE! For $5000, you can get the very underrated 1931 dropped 1 Indian die, of which there is said to be less than 50 pieces around. For $5000 you can buy a decimal star note. There's a lot to do with $5000. If you really want to buy a 1923 half penny though, do your research and then buy it from auction. BUT BE CAREFUL, if you haven't researched it, you can get very burned.
Eric

Sellers with genuine pre decimal rarities don't use ebay to sell them normally