Coinery

So, I can confirm that all the S’s are serpentine and belonging to 9b with no star on breast. There is no perforation of the flan, and the rust on the reverse was not part of the coin, and has for the most part flicked off. North did not identify any ANL errors for Class 9, though Wither’s, as Coys pointed out, has recorded a London 9a piece, but also a 9b1 (which this coin is) for York (but not London). Therefore, to the best of my knowledge, this is an unrecorded obverse for London. Interestingly it arrived with a Spink ticket with 9b on it, but no mention of the legend error! Only a phone image for now!

No, sadly not! Just plain old Coinery, me!

I 100% understand your point, though I have to say the fine ‘lines’ on the right-hand example look very different, and very suspect to me. Commendable that you’re embracing numismatics at this level, especially for someone of your age. Excellent stuff 🙏

If the coin to the right is the shiny version you speak of, you can’t rule out polishing or cleaning of some description? Your photos highlights hairlines running in multiple directions, seems odd for a museum coin, which was presumably taken into its collection straight from the press?

I was just taking a look at this man’s Public Works on the drop-down on Wikipedia…this man was prolific, what a sculptor he was! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Edgar_Boehm

Stunning! I LOVE that! 🙌

Well, if you can find it on Amazon, I would highly recommend it! It’s looked at impartially, investigating both its positives AND downsides, with some unexpected discoveries/findings!

I watched it on my phone 😉

This will blow your mind, Rob, if you haven’t watched it already? Really worth a watch for everyone…a Netflix documentary!

Because the ‘rust’ is so localised I feel it may not be part of the coin’s alloy at all? My gut instinct is that it’s been historically impaled by something iron, and that the impaling object has long-since corroded away…a bit like you see in old wood, sometimes, where old nails have become nothing but a crumbled orange deposit in a char-like blackened hole - which is testament to the endurance of wood over iron, that’s for sure!

Many thanks for your thoughts, Coys, much appreciated! You may be absolutely right on all counts…it would be easy to see how just the slightest flattening of that bead/pellet could convince anyone that it is indeed a pellet! The jury is out for me at the moment. The little fishtail serifs on the reverse S do suggest to me that we’d be looking at a mule if the obverse S is top-tilted? There are a few different possibilities in the SCBI 39, and the coin should be in-hand shortly to verify. It was a throwaway coin in a small bulk lot, so the pictures are not great.

I may have jumped the gun, labelling this an imitation sterling! I’ve since discovered there’s actually a known class 9a coin with an ANL error and pellet on the breast, which is footnoted as extremely rare. I’d need to get a look at it in-hand…I’d be hoping that the S is top-tilted (it currently looks like it could be a mix of serifs)! We’ll see

Definitely some date-widths (or differing tooth numbers on the entire obverse itself) going on there…clear differences imho! One caveat, however, my knowledge is seriously lacking in this area! Narrow-date top, wide-date bottom? Or is that too hopeful, too exciting?

Or is it simply a class 9 legend error? It does look as though that rust has gone right through the flan?