George's head ?

[Guest knowsnowt]

Hi All

New member i have being lurking and learning.

My first post is can anyone explain why I can see George's head on this coin please?

(hope you can see the photo ok)

[Peckris 579]

Hi All

New member i have being lurking and learning.

My first post is can anyone explain why I can see George's head on this coin please?

(hope you can see the photo ok)

Welcome to the forum knowsnowt

What you've got there is a classic example of George V 'reverse ghosting'. This was a major problem on pennies, but could also be seen on halfpennies, shillings, and to a lesser extent on sixpences too. The problem existed hugely between 1911 and 1920. An obverse change in 1921 (shallower design) improved it but only a little. It had to wait for the Modified Effigy in 1926 for the problem to be (more or less) cured.

The problem was caused by the large relief on the obverse (compared with Edward VII which used the same reverses but where the obverse was a much shallower design). The high relief - and the very small rim on the reverse - caused the metal to be 'sucked out' during the strike, a sort of displacement which caused a 'ghost' impression of the obverse portrait to appear on the reverse. A very unbalanced design, in other words. The halfcrown, by contrast, had a high relief reverse also, which prevented this from happening. The farthings and threepences were too small and had good reverse rims anyway.

[azda 979]

Hello and welcome. This is whats commonly known as ghosting.

Edited June 26, 2011 by azda

[Guest knowsnowt]

Many thanks you learn something new every day:)