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DrLarry

Legend Errors in Bronze Currency coinage from 1860 to 1901

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I felt that I contributed too much detail on the thread on Half pennies showing all the overstamps and errors I had found in my own collection collected in the last 6 years.  Every coin has come from eBay and I have never attended an auction and I have enjoyed the challenge of finding errors already discovered and covered comprehensively by M Goulby in the specialised edition Bronze Pennies from 1860 to 1901 and others mentioned in numerous excellent websites created and administered by long time members of this forum and others who I am unsure if members.    I wanted to photograph and record all my examples for my own catalogue in readiness for donation to the Trust I hope then it will be used after my demise to help them sell off my collection.  I may replicate examples in other places with this in mind.  I will use the prefixes used by Goulby and so that I can start to remember them the Freeman nomenclature.  

 

I find errors surprisingly interesting, Perhaps because of the turmoil in the transition to Bronze from Copper they illustrate a somewhat chaotic time at the mint.  In previous discussions others have explained some of the problems there is an interesting back story which involves a lot of politics and a great deal of personal intrigue in the life of L C Wyon the designer of the new reverse and obverse.  The royal mint seems to have been undergoing a lot of changes which may contribute to some of the story and sadly most f the records for this period are lost because of a fire in the records office of the Royal mint in the 19th C.  

 

If you feel you would rather this be included in some other thread then just let me know and I will stop and relocate. It takes a lot of time to photograph and record these errors.  More than anything else I would be eternally grateful for your own examples that will help verify any previously unlisted.  This goes for the half pennies in particular which do not get the same limelight as the penny.  So please add your own 

 

Thanks 

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1860   I am sure like many it is going to take me a bit of time to get my head around the numerous numbers and classification of the the 1860's penny.  This is labelled Penny A  I will cross reference with Goulby but if you experts can let me know your eyes are much faster than my novice ones.  This toothed has most interestingly a rotated T over T but also is part of a die with the broken "comma" colon after BRITT .  It has a V over V; C over C,  an intriguing B over numerous B's and R over R and D over D.   The colon after D G is also a halfish colon    On the reverse the E and the N of PENNY both have laws running through them and the date is separated by a crack 

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Edited by DrLarry

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here is a better resolution on the whole things

CM221116-214642015 (715x800).jpg

Edited by DrLarry

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obv 

CM221116-214652016 (650x800).jpg

Edited by DrLarry

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It is no wonder that collecting coins is so confusing for people starting out.  One moment a coin with a broken F is given special status and someone decides it is a variety called  an ONF.  But then so many others seem to get no reference to them at all.  It sometimes seems as fickle as the art market , unless someone says so most errors are unworthy even of note.  The next minute they are as "rare" as hen's teeth....I am afraid I will never understand 

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1 hour ago, secret santa said:

Collectability is in the eye of the beholder 😉

LOL   yes indeed 

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4 hours ago, DrLarry said:

It is no wonder that collecting coins is so confusing for people starting out.  One moment a coin with a broken F is given special status and someone decides it is a variety called  an ONF.  But then so many others seem to get no reference to them at all.  It sometimes seems as fickle as the art market , unless someone says so most errors are unworthy even of note.  The next minute they are as "rare" as hen's teeth....I am afraid I will never understand 

The classic example (for me) was the 1961 halfcrown "designer initials omitted" which appeared as such in several price guides. But then some people found intermediate examples where the initials were partly or faintly there, and it was downgraded to a filled die and most people lost interest. you won't see it even mentioned now.

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1 hour ago, Peckris 2 said:

The classic example (for me) was the 1961 halfcrown "designer initials omitted" which appeared as such in several price guides. But then some people found intermediate examples where the initials were partly or faintly there, and it was downgraded to a filled die and most people lost interest. you won't see it even mentioned now.

oh OK  

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Coin A1 is a member of my "comma Colon Group" a die which has an irregular colon after BRITT.  It shows a couple of quite interesting legend errors  along with some other feature which I have seen now in two other specimens.  It appears as if a third Colon was struck after F:D: and a flaw begins to form .  It may be that the error was somehow "erased " by polishing the die which leads to a weakness.  I have seen some on the forum talk about "half moons"  additions of metal I am not sure if they are related.  The I ;C and A of VICTORIA are restruck 

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CM221117-092459010 (289x500).jpgCM221117-093324019 (360x500).jpg this is the 2nd example 

Edited by DrLarry

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Coin B again of the Colon group  is restruck in the I ;C A;D and G then multiple strikes in the B;T;R;and again the triple colon flaw after DG in this one the die run begins to encircle the marks area  running through the O of HONI SO 

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Edited by DrLarry

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I have a couple of these within my "comma Colon" pennies, I think to think of them as ATYPICAL N over Z's.  they both have a scar which is (perhaps by pure chance) in the exact space that the additional metal is on the the N over Z ( the more typical one).  The obverse features are consistent with the N over Z notably the C T O R and A of victoria. The restamp of the C and A  being the most typical of the N over Z pairing.  Of course there is no addition of the foot of the "Z"   but there has been repair to the inner circle ,  so I wonder and this is only an idea if this is a repaired version  Is is possible the need for dies was so great that a die would be ground down  and repolished to remove the error?  I am just thinking here out loud most likely talking utter rubbish please feel free to tell me I dont always think much these days .  This obverse has a broken colon above D:G: 

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Edited by DrLarry

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1 hour ago, Iannich48 said:

They certainly got their money's worth out of those early 1860's dies.

yeah that's very true .....if you had wanted to make a good impression you could count yourself lucky that ennies only went to the poor people that didn't have glasses and lets face it didn't care  if it were 3 B's or 3 F's   LLOL

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Coin D  has a further host of over strikes  C over C;  I over I and  A/A and  G G  B over B  and the R .  I know many have remarked on my preoccupation of what I call the "old CURLY BASED letters" but I think it is important and yes of course they could draw on a number of sets of stamps.  But it is obviously something important enough for Wyon to mention the stamps and the process of hardening them .  So from an historic point of view I think they deserve some attention.  In this coin the old curlies are overstruck by a set of stamps that are completely different a more Robust solid flat based set.  I have to then ask what was wrong with the curly ones?  Perhaps this is part of the "failure" if the Legend keeps failing , breaking and blocking it must have put pressure on the dies keep overstamping .  I would imagine that irregular bases have a much greater potential to stick as the pressure needed to release would have perhaps been fractionally slower than a simple even straight base.    So historically I think any information we can collect the better .  

 

On the reverse the 8 as is common in a lot of these has a lump on the side and the Y is over a Y 

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Edited by DrLarry

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Coin E shows a number of broken serifs and missing colons on D.G : and F D , the Y is blocked on the reserse.  One interesting feature is an extension of raised metal on the obverse in the area of the V of VICTORIA.  I have been trying to explain this as a die clash feature a raised area where the corner below the exergue on the reverse imposed  . 

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CM221117-094904045 (400x346).jpgCM221117-094939046 (400x354).jpg

Edited by DrLarry

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Coin F the obverse shows well the curly letters style most of the bases show this flourish ,  I am not sure of the significance but the signature is set clear between the bust and the teeth , however clearly above it is the previous remnants of the signature set higher on the bust.  Perhaps this is nothing unusual but I would appreciate your opinions.  I am assuming an obverse F .  Could you tell me was the signature applied with a re cut stamp separate to the main design ?  if so this is likely just a repeat strike error done by the die setter.    I do not understand why the garter  HONI SO decoration is so badly cut the engraving seems so "amature" and the undercut of the portrait seems to be an after thought.  In this example this area is significantly "lower" looking as if it has been ground to remove something and this seems to have weakened the die leading to a die fracture.    nice die clash I have just noticed back of the portrait. 

 

Once again these curly letters are replaced often overstruck by the square more robust legend stamps.  I am sure this offers us no additional chronology of the use of these dies as I am ure older dies that survived would have just been refashioned at later times in this initial phase  

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Edited by DrLarry

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reverse of Coin F  also has an 8 over an 8 

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Edited by DrLarry

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Coin E raised area to the left of the portrait 

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Edited by DrLarry

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Coin G  V over V   interesting ( for me !) a second V is partially struck way into the field .  I suppose it is hard to know where to start when laying in a legend . this coin is another of the "comma colon group"  and there is a filled colon after F D . There are multiple attempts to put in the inner circle broken and repaired in several places.  On the reverse the first 1 in the date is an  overstrike 

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Edited by DrLarry

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