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  
ozjohn

120 Sixpence in .925 Silver

Recommended Posts

I've just received a CGS 70 .925 1920 silver sixpence. I do not normally collect sixpences but this one is different as it is .925 Silver not .500 silver.

Does anyone know why these were produced? I've seen many 1920 florins and halfcrowns and some seem more like like silver than others.

but verifying the metal content of a coin is difficult at home.

Were any of the higher value coins minted in .925 blanks left over from 1919?

001.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's just a quirk of timing.  Some 1920 sixpences and threepences were minted just before the change to 50% silver was made.  I'm not aware of any other denominations being produced in sterling silver, but it is, of course, possible.

Differentiating .500 and .925 is easy in raw form (based on ring), but impossible if slabbed.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am not aware of any and this is right up my alley as I like metal OMS strikes and variants. In halfcrowns the weight of 0.500 and 0.925 are both 14.14 gms.

When circulated the difference is obvious as the later coins have a kind of dirty yellowish and unpleasant colour even when oxidized. Also, some of the blanks on the 0.500 coins through 1922 were pickled in acid to make the surface technically of higher silver than the "under" deeper layers, so appearance on minty specimens can be deceiving.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just noticed the typo in the title of this post. My apologies.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 11/15/2021 at 9:29 AM, Nick said:

It's just a quirk of timing.  Some 1920 sixpences and threepences were minted just before the change to 50% silver was made.  I'm not aware of any other denominations being produced in sterling silver, but it is, of course, possible.

Differentiating .500 and .925 is easy in raw form (based on ring), but impossible if slabbed.

This got me thinking - was it just Davies' observation of both types of threepence and sixpence or had only threepence and sixpence production started when the alloy was changed?

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  

×