Jump to content
British Coin Forum - Predecimal.com

50 Years of RotographicCoinpublications.com A Rotographic Imprint. Price guide reference book publishers since 1959. Lots of books on coins, banknotes and medals. Please visit and like Coin Publications on Facebook for offers and updates.

Coin Publications on Facebook

   Rotographic    

The current range of books. Click the image above to see them on Amazon (printed and Kindle format). More info on coinpublications.com

predecimal.comPredecimal.com. One of the most popular websites on British pre-decimal coins, with hundreds of coins for sale, advice for beginners and interesting information.

Sign in to follow this  
Mr T

young head threepence obverses 1 and 2

Recommended Posts

I've got a fairly worn 1860 threepence and I'm trying to work out which Davies obverse it has.

It looks like an obverse 1 as the G in D:G: looks like it has a big right serif and not much of a left serif. The Queen's ear is completely worn away so I can't use that, and the serif on the G seems a little shaky as a diagnostic (prone to die fill or damage I would think).

Anyone got any other way of telling the two obverses? I have pretty much no young head threepences to compare with.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, Mr T said:

I've got a fairly worn 1860 threepence and I'm trying to work out which Davies obverse it has.

It looks like an obverse 1 as the G in D:G: looks like it has a big right serif and not much of a left serif. The Queen's ear is completely worn away so I can't use that, and the serif on the G seems a little shaky as a diagnostic (prone to die fill or damage I would think).

Anyone got any other way of telling the two obverses? I have pretty much no young head threepences to compare with.

The top of Victoria's ear is the easiest way to tell them apart, but the serif on the G does seem to be diagnostic.  It's possible that the waves in Victoria's hair are slightly different, but you'd need high grade examples to verify that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I found some decent images of both (never easy):

Obverse 1: https://www.gbclassiccoins.co.uk/shop/silver-threepences/1838-queen-victoria-young-head-silver-threepence-scarce/

Obverse 2: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Victoria-1863-Threepence-/361979845871

So it looks like besides the G and the hair above the ear, the obverse 2 R serifs seem to flick up more, and the : at the end of the F:D: seems to cut into the D on obverse 2.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×