1806 Halfpenny

[Hussulo 6]

What grade would you give this coin? It looks like there isn't much ware if any to the bust and Britania but the writng isn't clear is it wear or just bad dies or a bad strike?

Also I heard somewhere that to distinguish a proof of this year from a regular strike you should look at Britania's trident. The proof has a ball near the top?

Edited September 11, 2006 by Hussulo

[Rob 3,152]

What grade would you give this coin? It looks like there isn't much ware if any to the bust and Britania but the writng isn't clear is it wear or just bad dies or a bad strike?

Also I heard somewhere that to distinguish a proof of this year from a regular strike you should look at Britania's trident. The proof has a ball near the top?

Hi Hus. The coin looks to be nearly EF based on the amount of wear to Britannia's left bust. The wear to the laurel leaf is difficult to assess.

The statement by Peck on page 375 in note 3 to the reverses that the ball below the trident prongs is an infallible means of identifying proofs I have shown to be wrong with the piece I listed in the unrecorded varieties section where there is a currency piece with the ball in the appropriate place. Also, the two proof types KH42 and KH43 were struck from current dies (the latter having two long flaws on the reverse) and so are also mising this feature. The same applies to the restrikes by Taylor, but these have a plain edge. To distinguish proofs from currency pieces you usually only need to look at the die axis because the proofs are en-medaille (same way up) whilst the currency pieces have an inverted die axis ie if you turn the coin over sideways, the reverse is inverted. The exceptions to this are as above. Picture of current 1806 halfpenny attached together with a P1364 and one of the current pieces with a similar ball. You will see from the images that the proof letters are of much higher quality. The weakness in the legend on currency pieces is common to the extent of almost being normal.

[Hussulo 6]

Thanks Rob, once again you astound me with your knowledge. I'm sure glad we have people like you on this forum to better our knowledge.