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  
yaaseen

Decimal Five Pence Varieties

Recommended Posts

Aside from collecting pre-decimal currency I collect decimal currency. So, I went to the bank and withdrew some money in five penny coins (about £1000) and went through it all. I was looking for 2008-2020 Dent Five Penny coins which were interesting. I wrote up my findings and sent it to a journal. The journal were really interested in my article however they rejected it due to my structure being all over the place and my reluctance to go the whole hog and produce a list of die numbers with the designs of five penny coins. They were willing to accept it if I made the necessary corrections. I could not be bothered to do this so have not. It seems a shame for my research not to be out there so I am putting it on here (my rant on why academic places being exclusionary and not fit for the future can be left until another time!)

I am sure many of you will say that these are not varieties but many will say they are. This post is not debating the meaning of the word but rather what five penny coin variations are there. 

So here we are...

Die cud on the left of the off-centre line, three straight lines of blobs of metal. Dates: 2010

Harp on the bottom left has an extra line running above it and the fur of the lion is not frayed, instead it is in clumps and matte like it has not been combed. Dates: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

Due to die wear some coins have a nice finish while others are 'grainy'. A loupe is needed to see this. The graininess is most apparent around the lettering. Due to this being because of die wear means that some coins are a little grainy while others are very grainy. If you would like to collect these I will suggest the following: one coin which is a clean strike, one which is a little grainy and one that is very very grainy. Of course the amount of graininess is subjective. However, there will be so few collectors that I do not think it will matter. 

Due to die wear some coins have a nice finish while others are 'grainy'. This graininess can produce stops between the letters FIVE PENCE. These prodice the varieties 'FIVE .PENCE', 'FIVE P.ENCE', 'FIVE PENCE.'

V of FIVE is half filled

V of FIVE is fully filled to produce a smooth triangle

V of FIVE is over-filled

A line running through 'ENCE' OF 'PENCE' 

Due to a die die there is a die cud on the back of the C of 'PENCE'. This produces the following 1. a double backed C         2. a thick backed C        3. a filled C, so an O, giving PENOE.     Dates: 2013, 2015 5th head, 2017, 2019, 2020

N of 'PENCE' filled in

Bottom bar of 'E' of PENCE filled in

'P' of 'PENCE' filled in

'P' of 'PENCE' is over-filled with metal sticking out

 

I may have only mentioned about ten different varieties but most of them can be found from 2008 to 2020. So that could be 120 coins to collect across those years. A lot of work! 

I hope you enjoyed this read and it shows that decimals are not very boring (but still a little bit boring - I am sticking with pre-decimal!! ;))

 

Needless to say there are many more...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by yaaseen

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Impressive research!

My conclusion would be that you could generate more interest if you were able to separate true varieties from Mint sloppiness (cuds, graininess, wearing dies). I feel collectors would more interested in the former than the latter (which as you've recgnised yourself, there are very few disciples of),

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I do concur FWIW. Honestly, I have some OMS (off metal strikes) of 20th C. coins that are just that - significant and interesting to me but not deserving of being enumerated amongst the basic types.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You’ve clearly gone to quite considerable efforts - £1k worth of 5p pieces equates to sampling in the region of 20k coins!

I appreciate they’ve asked for some refinement, but surely in the scheme of the amount of work you’ve done, is it not worth doing to get it over the line?

No criticism at all, just a reflection 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 5/14/2022 at 11:40 AM, richtips86 said:

You’ve clearly gone to quite considerable efforts - £1k worth of 5p pieces equates to sampling in the region of 20k coins!

I appreciate they’ve asked for some refinement, but surely in the scheme of the amount of work you’ve done, is it not worth doing to get it over the line?

I agree. It doesn't float my boat, but the amount of work you've done deserves to be published.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Did you come across these different types for 2017? The one in the middle is the normal type, the two either side have a nice satin finish. The reverses can be different as well and you can find combinations of both. 

7532046D-3F1F-4562-8BD2-66EFD9D0B96F.jpeg

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  

×