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Henry v 1413-22 Quarter Noble Spink 1757Var. 1.71g Obverse: HENRIC REX ANGL FRANC within treasure of arches, stops of various shapes. Trefoil to left and mullet to right. Reverse: EXCVLTABTUR IN GLORIA (“He shall be exalted in glory”). Cross with lions in angles: lis in centre. Mullet to the right was to distinguish the kings new mint master Lewis John. Henry v’s first mint master. Appointed to the role on 14th April 1413. The trefoil was used as a periodic privy mark to identify a specific minting window die variation or administrative shift within the tower mint. The Annulets (small circles) placed around the arches served the exact same high-utility purpose as the ones next to the central shield or to top. They acted as a subtle internal code to identify the exact sub-series, die variation, and specific mint run. The “1757 Var” Designation: in British numismatics “1757” refers to the ID in the Spink standard catalogue of British coins. The “Var” (variety) means it features a distinct die error or sub type -specifically, a spelling variation, in the reverse Latin legend that reads EXCVLTABTVR instead of the standard EXALTABITVR, (“He shall be exalted in glory”).

Hello, I am in the midst of writing a relatively large article on the 1887 Jubilee Coinage - estimated to be about 600pgs in total. In the process of such research, I spent about a week at the Royal Mint studying about ~200 tools relevant to the coinage and a similiar number of coins. Unfortunately, it seems that the Mint did not retain the original plaster models designed by Boehm. It often had seemed to be suggested that the relevant item(s) had been destroyed - a fact that I could not bear to hear! Hopefully, continuing the research into plaster models, with some vague hope of finding something, I did come across a 2010 Baldwin's sale, auction 68, which sure enough had a plaster model of the Jubilee Head! Well, I contacted Steve Hill of Sovereign Rarities, who worked at Baldwin's who confirmed that the piece sold to a bidder in Australia, and was since resold in auction 100 of Noble Numismatics (an Australian based auction house) after failing to sell in auction 99. I am now trying to contact the owner of such a piece, though I am having difficultly identifying who may own it. Should anyone have an idea of who may own it, it would be greatly appreciated for this to be shared with me. To my knowledge, it is likely an Australian collector, perhaps someone with a focus on the Jubilee coinage. Similiarly, if anyone has any high quality images of the copper electrotype described in BNJ 1984 by Graham Dyer, please would you be able to share it with me! Kind regards, -Ashley

He would have said something like "I remember the old mismatics under Obama - they were rubbish, fake."

It's not actually a denarius as you'd think but a drachm. Here's a similar one...https://en.numista.com/235578 The legends are the giveaway with it.

I am very well acquainted with him! In fact, I worked with Sovereign Rarities on his auction last year, and have since remained in close contact with him! He did almost purchase the plaster model in 2010, but alas decided against it!

I always like to see them, and have got better at Identifying them, but I have resisted collecting them. That is one huge rabbit hole to go down!

I think I can see the remains of "IMP TRAIAN ..." on the obverse, so Trajan? Reverse legend seems to have some Greek letters, so possibly Roman provincial.

https://ebay.io/m/Bvd8Q6 😬

Spot on. It could in theory be a class 1a2, 1a5, 1b1, 1b2 or 1c, but 1a2 is immediately ruled out because there is no square C or E and 1a5 because there is no stop after LVND. The others rely on observing a stop between S and R on the obverse (present on 1b1 and 1b2, but omitted on 1c). The round C and the R are clear enough, but is the gap between the two letters big enough for a stop? I'm not sure. In the end it doesn't really matter, because the coin is pretty much toast, but I enjoy getting as far as possible with these hopeless cases.

MS is MS, MS 60 is an un-circulated coin. Higher grades are more subjective with MS61 and higher attention is paid to strike, bag knocks, luster. toning etc. Wear and poor strike being very difficult to distinguish when it is slight. Also attention should be paid to the condition of the milling of the coin edge The whole point of TPG is consistency for valuation and comparing coins. The subject coin from the photo shows slight wear on the higher points and more correctly graded AU 55 - 58 or EF IMO. Personally I prefer the Sheldon as it gets rid of the abt. nearly + etc that are much more subjective. However it must be applied accurately to be of use. Having said that the book The Standard Guide to Grading British Coins is a good guide

My thoughts on the German forgery is that I reckon they had bigger fish to fry in 1945, than to bother themselves with bronze pennies

@SohoMint did you try Jim Noble to see if he would contact the owner on your behalf?

ah...! 🤔 it was a surf of the Google Trajan brought up "Reverse: COS V P P SPQR OPTIMO PRINC. Arabia shelf on the left, carrying branch and cinnamon sticks, at your camel feet" it didn't make much sense to me but hey, who am I to over think these things 🤷🏻‍♂️, Stuart and Paddy have been of great help to me as always, incorrectly its been referred to as a Denarius almost everywhere, Numista (many thanks Stuart) has been a great help, they have it as a Uncertain Arabian Roman city... Script in Greek....as recognised by Paddy, from the year 112. it seem to be quite high as a rarity and Silver, Its very useful to learn these things and write all this down so I can put this away and rediscover without fear of thinking what the Heck is that?? Greatly indebted to you all, so once again many thanks 🙏🏻

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I am already in regular contact with SohoMint. I nearly bought the lot but just dipped out at the last.

a bit of looking around armed with the Trajan name....Ive found it turns out to be a Trajan Denarius, 110 A.D. on the reverse Arabia Shelf waving a branch and carrying cinnamon sticks, Camel to the left. still looking around but 110 A.D. wow! 😲 many thanks all for the imput i'd never been able to found this out with out the help 🙏🏻👍

You want to talk to @1887jubilee who knows more about the 1887 JH coinage than anyone I've ever met.

Ashley, this sounds phenomenal, I reckon there will be members on here that will be able to help you. The very best of luck in your search, please stay in touch with us all, we love things like this…very exciting! 🙏

It has the denomination half-crown on the reverse does it?

Has anyone come across the half penny having six strings to the harp. I believe it should only have five, the strings are also very thick possibly a double strike but looking at the rest of the harp I’m not so sure.

Agreed. It's the only forum on here i take a real interest in. Posts are few and far between on here so happy to see people still posting stuff as it gets neglected abit.

Stuart. For your own sanity, stay calm. Jackson - Kent spent 10 years analysing the string numbers on W3 coin harps only to conclude at the end of it that there was no significance. Personally, it makes more sense for the stops to be personal privy marks as an engraver id, as there are a number of types used, but thick string or thin string in varying quantities is never going to fly given die degradation. Stops however, are rarely confused.

As you say, this is a short-cross London penny of Henry II…minted by PIERES ON LVND

I remember being shown that coin. I told the person who sent the email pics that it was a mangled sixpence: "It looks like damage to me. Who knows what caused it and how much circulation it went through after the damage. Some damage can be hard to fathom. Maybe someone was trying to cover the SIX PENCE in order to pass it off as something else. It's possible I suppose that it did suffer some kind of defect when made and then someone made it worse, but either way, it's a bit of a mess. I really can't imagine anyone would be willing to pay more than the silver value for it. " Also here: https://britnumsoc.blog/2025/11/11/an-1834-william-iv-sixpence-with-a-laboratory-confirmed-multi-strike-error-from-the-steam-press-era-a-ikraam/https://britnumsoc.blog/2025/11/11/an-1834-william-iv-sixpence-with-a-laboratory-confirmed-multi-strike-error-from-the-steam-press-era-a-ikraam/ Erm, ok.

I see your point. The designs of modern coinage, including pre-decimal QE2 as here, are low relief to prolong the die life, almost 2-D with negligible depth, and thus it might not need much acid dunking to erode any shallow raised detail, if it were treated so. As the adjacent field would also be dissolving that may produce the expanded effect as shown, almost like a ghost image, but that's just thinking of a theory and probably doesn't make sense. The marks aren't acid marks either, they're loads of small cuts, perhaps kept in a tin with other coins for many years.

The visible lettering is too crude and close to the rim IMO. It looks more like an abused attempt at a cast copy to me. Any attempts at acid cleaning will thin the letters and reduce dimensions on all 3 axes if there is total immersion. The weight of a cast would obviously depend on the amount of metal poured into the mould, so I think not relevant in this instance.

What is the American MS64 - our GVF?

Hello Paddy... unless already spotted historically I bought blindly any coins (way back pre computers day) that looked old enough to be a important find, I think the seller claimed it was Roman and I cant remember how much it was but knowing me it was under a £1, 30 odd years ago...... Paddy, many thanks for all of your time taken in dealing with my challenges. all the very best "H"