George V sixpences - reverse lions and their noses!

[Descartes 149]

Hello,

Now I can afford to upgrade some of my coins I'm finding it hard to find certain dates in the George V sixpence series in what I would consider UNC (1919,1920,1921, 1922 & 1917). Some dealers are listing their coins as UNC/BU when the lions on the reverses have worn noses. Is this just the way the coins were minted for these years?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Rob 3,228]

Strikes were a bit iffy at the changeover from 0.925 to 0.500 silver. It was probably 1923 when they started producing sharp detail again on a regular basis. During WW1 they ran the minting presses using less force to prolong the life of the die, so from 1915 to 1922 it is fairly unusual to see a fully struck nose.

[Descartes 149]

1 hour ago, Rob said:

Strikes were a bit iffy at the changeover from 0.925 to 0.500 silver. It was probably 1923 when they started producing sharp detail again on a regular basis. During WW1 they ran the minting presses using less force to prolong the life of the die, so from 1915 to 1922 it is fairly unusual to see a fully struck nose.

Thanks Rob, I appreciate the information.

[jaggy 528]

In addition to Rob's comment, all the George V lions have a nose that look rather flat so I can see how they may appear to be worn. I think it is just the design. Good UNC examples exist for all the years you cite. I know, I have them. 

I did compare my lions noses for those dates with those for other dates in similar UNC grades and really didn't notice much of a difference although after 1923 is better than before.

Edit: there is a difference for 1911 and Davies notes two reverse varieties for that year. Lion with small face and lion with broad face.

Edited January 22, 2016 by jaggy

[Paulus 1,980]

This is my best 1911 sixpence lion's face / nose - I was unaware of the small vs broad face @jaggy, which one is this, do you know?

Edit: although I have Davies, just looking it up, sorry for being lazy!

Edited January 23, 2016 by Paulus

[jaggy 528]

Per Davies .......

Reverse A: Colon of FID to bead. Lion has small face.

Reverse B: Colon of FID to space. Lion has broad face

Your looks like it might be broad face but would want to know where the colon points to.

[Paulus 1,980]

Thanks Jaggy, Reverse B, so a broad face then (but much narrower nose than many I have seen!)

Edited January 23, 2016 by Paulus

[Descartes 149]

7 hours ago, Paulus said:

This is my best 1911 sixpence lion's face / nose - I was unaware of the small vs broad face @jaggy, which one is this, do you know?

Edit: although I have Davies, just looking it up, sorry for being lazy!

Paulus's beautiful 1911 sixpence reverse lion is a good example of the perfect nose compared with the 1921 sixpence below which is also UNC. Is this 1921 sixpence the flat nose soft striking process mentioned earlier in the thread? I justed wanted to check with you guys before I go and buy a bunch of upgrades for my collection. Thanks. Darren

[Rob 3,228]

You should also check the other obvious points of wear such as orb, lion's tail, fleur, paws etc. Coins are not necessarily worn in one place consistently.

The one above looks dipped to me.

[ozjohn 683]

Every coin seems to be dipped?? A die crack over the lion or ghosting perhaps. Who knows but that is how the coin was made? 

[ozjohn 683]

This coin has been in my collection for the best part of 30 years and has never been dipped in that time. I am sure there are many people out therewho will think it has been dipped. Moral to the story if you cannot fid something nice to say don't

[ozjohn 683]

find

[PWA 1967 2,268]

The comments are about a coin and thats all.

Without experts such as Rob giving an opinion i would never learn anything.

Comments should be made and not taken personally ,if i posted a picture of a coin and someone thought it was enhanced i would prefer to know.

Better to find out by someone giving opinions on pictures and that way we all learn 

Alternatively if someone disagrees it really is not a big issue.

[Descartes 149]

4 hours ago, Rob said:

You should also check the other obvious points of wear such as orb, lion's tail, fleur, paws etc. Coins are not necessarily worn in one place consistently.

The one above looks dipped to me.

Thanks Rob. As all the other places (i.e. orb, tail, paws) are not worn, I will assume it's UNC with just a weak face striking

[jaggy 528]

5 hours ago, Descartes said:

Paulus's beautiful 1911 sixpence reverse lion is a good example of the perfect nose compared with the 1921 sixpence below which is also UNC. Is this 1921 sixpence the flat nose soft striking process mentioned earlier in the thread? I justed wanted to check with you guys before I go and buy a bunch of upgrades for my collection. Thanks. Darren

That is not dissimilar to my own 1921. I really think the 'flat nose' is a mint issue rather than a wear one. I notice a marked 'nasal improvement' once you get past 1923. For example:

Also, pre-war, for example:

 

[jaggy 528]

Actually, I'm going to contradict my own post above. You can get good 'nasal' examples during the war years. Witness this 1918:

[Paulus 1,980]

Yes, I think Rob's point is that they are harder to find, here's my 1916:

[ozjohn 683]

I've had this coin for a while and was brought graded as VF for $12.00. After looking at this thread I took it out of the cardboard coin holder to compare it with the other posts and noticed that the milling was almost pristine with very sharp edges. (Hard to show using a scanner). However it does show how poorly some of these coins of this period were minted. On the whole I think the reverse is a better strike. Although it doesn't show on the scan the coin has good luster.

than the obverse

[Nonmortuus 927]

I need to take a better picture of the 1911 Sixpence I have but, as per some of the other examples, mine has a nose that implies he has done 12 rounds with Tyson Fury.

[Nonmortuus 927]

Ok so re took the pictures of the 1911 above:

[Paulus 1,980]

8 minutes ago, Nonmortuus said:

Ok so re took the pictures of the 1911 above:

I imagine that I'm not the only one thinking that that is a vastly superior pair of pics!

[Coinery 1,254]

G5 is a fabulous reign for coins, I love it!