Leaderboard

Found an interesting article by M. Mapleton in the February 1971 edition of Coin Monthly, on the general topic of die No's under dates. Specifically mentioned at points in the article are the die numbers under 1863 pennies and die letters on 1862 halfpennies. These remain as big a mystery today as they were nearly 50 years ago. According to the article, the Royal Mint kept no records as to why the die numbers were used, and we are just left with the theories of either experimentation to test die wear or a means of identifying an individual operative. Anyway, here is the article in its entirety for anyone interested. They're not brilliant photos, so apologies for that, but they are readable:-

It is anyone's guess whether they will have live bidding though.

I was at a loose end...

Maurice Bull's "English Silver Coinage" is also more detailed on varieties than Spink and provides rarity ratings for everything, of variable accuracy. Also covers the pattern silver coinage for Victoria in reasonable detail, if that's of any interest.

That was taken with my Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 bridge camera (20MP) in aperture priority mode and max zoom (400mm equivalent). Also in burst mode. I gave up on multi lens SLRs when film died but I've recently acquired a Canon EOS 700D DSLR with an 18 to 200mm lens that seems to function well. I must save up for some more lenses but find that the Panasonic is a lot more convenient. Lugging around bags full of lenses still doesn't really appeal. I've been into photography since school days but only recently joined the local photographic society to see if I could learn anything new. As far as composition goes there are a lot of intriguing ideas about and at least I'm not now relying on the camera doing all the work in auto so joining has helped a bit. I had thought of digging out one of these museum pieces cluttering up the garage. 😕

I think the 1898 bisect is interesting because it is intentional. Although why one eight would be altered and not the other, is a mystery. Possibly built that way by a mint member of staff without proper regard to the usual eight, when the 1898 dies were built. Then (maybe) noticed later on and scrapped. Or was it just one or two dies that were either never noticed, or noticed and the difference regarded as so minor that it was ignored? Incidentally, I'd also include 1864 in the final numeral discrepancies of 1861 to 63. The crosslet 4 is often seen well to the right, and badly struck (faint).

True, but the 1898 Old Head is probably worthy of a bit more discussion as the final 8 is sometimes seen with the 'bisect' font which was NEVER used on any other OH year, and ALWAYS used on Victorian BUN Head pennies...……..so to see multiple 'bisect' dies, i.e. Gouby's 1898B, and the suggested new type 1898Ba (both with this much rarer font) I think is of interest. Also, MG thought that date width variations warranted more general recording in his 2009 book, and many collectors now use that as their main point of reference.

Concomitant crudities...

Oh what...! Yes yes yes - attender- agent noun from the verb 'to attend'.....you are right! So obvious now. So why 'attendee' ???.... I never thought about 'electrocution'....except when the Mother in Law was visiting. Been a bit difficult this week where she is concerned. It was her funeral on Wednesday, and she found out.....

Another newbie, type 3a3, ex Bull