Farthing enquiry

[Master Jmd 89]

i have just recieved about 41 different farthings from 1806 - 1956, and i need help identifeing what i have...

can someone tell me what these mean for farthings, and how i can tell if mine is:

1853 ww inc

1853 w.w. raised

1860 Proof

1860 RB

1860 TB/RB (mule)

1860 TB

1918 black finish

1919 bright finish

...thanks...

(and sorry, still no spink )

[Sylvester 15]

i have just recieved about 41 different farthings from 1806 - 1956, and i need help identifeing what i have...

can someone tell me what these mean for farthings, and how i can tell if mine is:

1853 ww inc

1853 w.w. raised

1860 Proof

1860 RB

1860 TB/RB (mule)

1860 TB

1918 black finish

1919 bright finish

...thanks...

(and sorry, still no spink )

Right well (i'll let someone else supply the prices) but...

The WW refers to the initials right at the bottom of Victoria's neck... you may, or may not see WW.

If the WW is incuse it i'll look like someone has carved the WW in, basically the WW will be indented.

If the WW is in relief or raised, it means it will stand out, the lettering around the edge of the coin is in relief, i.e it stands out above the field. Incuse is the opposite, it would be sunk into the field.

w.w. means that dots are present in those places on the coin.

TB i imagine stands for toothed borded, the obverse of George VI coins have a toothed border. RB should be the dotted border, like Elizabeth II coins, have a look at a penny out of your change to see what i mean.

A mule is basically one side has the toothed, the other side has the dotted border.

Black finish means the coin is darker than usual due to artificial toning done to prevent confusion with half sovereigns, bright is a coin that wasn't artificially darkened).

A proof is a proof, and i believe this has been discussed before.

(I think i got all that right, but having never collected farthings or actively read up on any copper/bronze coinage, i can only comment upon what i've seen whilst passing through those areas in coin catalogues).

[Master Jmd 89]

thanks, that is all i needed to know...

[Emperor Oli 0]

Coincraft have quite an extensive online glossary that explains those terms too. BTW, all Edward VII farthings have a nice dark finish on them; this was to avoid confusion with half sovereigns. There's a picture below in which one can see it is very different from the others.

[Chris Perkins 228]

I have a nice little glosary too, have you seen it?

http://www.predecimal.com/dictionary.htm

[Emperor Oli 0]

Although not as extensive, Chris' is better because he actually uses pictures & descriptions whereas Coincraft just uses descriptions.

[Chris Perkins 228]

I decided to Omit some specialist terms in the hope of providing a general list.

Right, I'm going to start a new topic for additions.....

[Sylvester 15]

i must admit Oli i'm not fussed on the artificially darkened ones, i like the bright lustrous ones!

[Emperor Oli 0]

The bright lustrous one are fantastic no doubt but the blackened ones have a certain...mystique about them, wouldn't you say?

[Chris Perkins 228]

I like a nice BU dark Edward VII farthing with that wonderful tone. Very pretty, but you really have to have a perfect one in your hand. They don't scan at all well.

[Sylvester 15]

i like my copper/bronze bright full lustre without a spec of toning. This is probably the reason i don't collect copper, can you imagine if i collected bun head halfpennies? They'd all have to have full uninterupted lustre.

Don't mind some toning on silver as long as it's not colourful, i.e i like grey.

But you can't beat blast white coins.

[Master Jmd 89]

can edward Vii's farthings have lustre then?

[Sylvester 15]

can edward Vii's farthings have lustre then?

Well i've never had one, (well the only Edward farthing i ever had was pretty low grade) i should imagine the lustre shines underneath the black surface, which is translucent.

[Master Jmd 89]

its just that i have tonnes (about 30) edward vii farthings, and i have graded them as fine because of their black non-lustre surface...

[Chris Perkins 228]

Yes they are very difficult to grade, use the reverse too and look for hair.

[Sylvester 15]

Yes they are very difficult to grade, use the reverse too and look for hair.

i avoid Edward VII coins on that principle, i really just can't grade them. Either that or i grade them F, sometimes GF!

[Emperor Oli 0]

Chris is right, look for hair. The BU ones have hair on his head, very faint sideburns and a full beard.

[Sylvester 15]

The really high grades aren't a problem, neither are the really low grades, it's anything between GF and AEF i struggle with.

[Emperor Oli 0]

Congratulations to chris on his 1000 post!

[Chris Perkins 228]

Oh yes, thanks, well I did start it!

For a good 3 months I was mostly talking to myself, and although I am still a big contributor it's nice to know that me only makes up around a quarter of the total posts thus far.

[Sylvester 15]

i'm not too far behind.

[mint_mark 9]

its just that i have tonnes (about 30) edward vii farthings, and i have graded them as fine because of their black non-lustre surface...

Hmmm, I think you should think more about lustre and wear. I used to assume that full lustre implies unc, but it doesn't. And certainly unc doesn't require lustre.

For dark farthings, any wear shows up as lighter patches... usually pretty easy to spot. Check Britannia's hand holding the trident, her helmet and thigh. For the obverse look for hair, eyebrow and top of the ear. And for George V the end of his moustache...

I find these easier to grade from a picture than the bright farthings. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a streak in the lustre and a scratch or wear. Also, an unc dark farthing has a wonderful sheen... either that or it's been dipped in oil :/

[Master Jmd 89]

I have just got myself the Spink Coins Of England & The United Kingdombut i was wondering about the 1806 farthing, there are two types...:

K. on tr.

incuse dot on tr.

...what do they mean?

[Sylvester 15]

I have just got myself the Spink Coins Of England & The United Kingdombut i was wondering about the 1806 farthing, there are two types...:

K. on tr.

incuse dot on tr.

...what do they mean?

well i never actually knew that! I've just been and picked up my battered 1806 Halfpenny and it has K on the trunction.

Tr = trunction, bascially the base of the neck or bust, depending on the coin you've got.

A Jubilee head one would be a bust, likewise for a George II one (unless it was gold), but a Victoria Young head would be neck. Follow?

[Master Jmd 89]

umm...mine has no k. or no dot...what now? is there a normal (just 1806) farthing?