InforaPenny

The bronze recoinage of 1860 was intended to replace the large copper coins then in circulation with smaller and much more durable bronze, modeled on the success of French bronze coinage introduced in 1852, with the copper coinage being demonetized at the end of 1869. Until demonetization, the mint paid a two per cent premium on the copper to encourage its rapid withdrawal from circulation, as the two coinages were not compatible. My two cents worth... Best Regards, InforaPenny

This phenomena begins with a circular ring of rust at the surface of a steel die formed due to corrosion at the edge of a tiny circular water droplet on the die. As this progresses it results in a circular ‘dot’ of rust on the surface of the die, which is pulverized and lost as the die is used in the coining press leaving a round pit. This shows up on the coin as a circular raised dot. The process has been documented in an article by Paul M. Holland in the Journal of the Numismatic Association of Australia, volume 27, 2016, pages 1-6.

I’d like to point out that an article on 1860 ‘early obverse’ beaded border bronze pennies published in the British Numismatic Journal is now available online (free PDF download) at: https://www.britnumsoc.org/images/PDFs/BNJ_2017/14_Holland_1843.pdf Wishing you a Happy New Year! Best Regards, InforaPenny

I have an original copy of Montagu's 1893 book, and I'm sorry to say that he makes not mention of date types for 1839 to 1860 copper pennies. Best Regards, InforaPenny

Also shows up in my1968 3rd edition (footnote at bottom of page 93). Since the reign of Edward VII began on January 22, 1901 it seems possible that this was produced during testing of the new obverse die sometime in 1901, then escaped the Royal Mint and eventually ended up in circulation... Best Regards, InforaPenny

Diaconis, You are correct in that it is not Freeman Obv 1. It is instead a rare 'early obverse' pattern type that was rejected by Queen Victoria on 4 July 1860, but had already been used in some trial coining runs at the Royal Mint. Fortunately for us bronze penny variety collectors, these were not destroyed but were later released for circulation. Best Regards, InforaPenny

It's 1** + C from a known pairing of working dies (British Numismatic Journal vol. 87, page 197)... Best Regards, InforaPenny

Rob, This is an impressive piece of numismatic detective work! Congratulations! Best Regards, InforaPenny

In my opinion, this variety is from multiple dies that were produced using a puncheon (or hub) with a chipped tooth. It doesn't seem plausible to me that this could be due to a filled die... Best Regards, InforaPenny

I acquired one of the very worn ex-Freeman examples of F-19 in a Croydon Coin auction lot with some other pennies many years ago for a few pounds. The late Laurie Bamford told me that he had obtained this F-19 (?) with other worn pennies from Freeman’s survey collection. He did not believe it was F-19, and I agree… while it is clearly Obverse 2 the reverse appears to be D not F in my opinion. This seems to be confirmed by the apparent position of the final date numeral (only partly visible) that matches that of one of the F-18 (2+D) pennies in my reference collection. I should still have this coin somewhere along with the coin flip with F-19 (?) written on it by Laurie, but I’m not sure where. Hope this helps… Best Regards, InforaPenny

This 1922 trident dot variety is both interesting and unusual. However, it should be pointed out that the likely origin of the raised dot on this coin is rust on the die. Such rust can lead to a circular pit in the hardened steel die, resulting in a round dot when the coin is struck. This has recently been studied in some detail, and below is a link to this article in the Journal of the Numismatic Association of Australia. http://www.numismatics.org.au/pdfjournal/Vol27/vol-27-article-1.pdf Best Regards, InforaPenny

I knew Hiram through Laurie Bamford, another great old-timer in the world of pennies. Visited his shop in Edinburgh on West Crosscauseway (a hike up from the train station) in December 2004, and met up with him for coffee at Coinex in 2007. As Rob implied …lots of stories, he was quite a character… R.I.P. Hiram InforaPenny

Thanks secret santa! That is exactly what I needed. I won't use these values directly in my article, but want to mention the magnitude of the premium for the 'with dot' variety. Best Regards, InforaPenny

I have been working on an article on the raised dots occasionally seen on predecimal bronze coinage and hoped to updated one of my references from an earlier version of the Spink catalogue, to the 2016 catalogue (published late last year). What I need is updated catalogue values for the 1897 bronze penny, both the ordinary 1897 type and the 1897 O’NE flawed (with dot) in VF, EF and UNC. I also need the catalogue page number where this is listed. Your help will be much appreciated… Best Regards, InforaPenny

Long and careful study of his 1981 edition of World Coins is what led me to focus on collecting on British bronze pennies... and later on to some other British Commonwealth series. I remain grateful to him and his work.