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Martinminerva

1898 Sixpence with SMALL date / small font digits

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In Peter Davies' British Silver Coins book, he declares that all 1898 Victorian sixpences have the date in larger figures than all the other veiled head years.

Indeed, until now all those I had ever come across had the larger figures, though I do vaguely remember reading somewhere that at long last a specimen with small figures had turned up (anyone remember where that was?)

Well, another one has turned up - please see the images. Interestingly, as well as the smaller digits, the 1 of the date is over a bead, rather than a space as is usual on the larger figured specimens.

Worth recording?

post-928-049666400 1327785836_thumb.jpg

post-928-000946400 1327786005_thumb.jpg

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I'm sure Rob will be interested as he plans on updating Davies at some point.

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In Peter Davies' British Silver Coins book, he declares that all 1898 Victorian sixpences have the date in larger figures than all the other veiled head years.

Indeed, until now all those I had ever come across had the larger figures, though I do vaguely remember reading somewhere that at long last a specimen with small figures had turned up (anyone remember where that was?)

Well, another one has turned up - please see the images. Interestingly, as well as the smaller digits, the 1 of the date is over a bead, rather than a space as is usual on the larger figured specimens.

Worth recording?

London Coins Auction 128 (Jul 2010) Lot 1738.

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In Peter Davies' British Silver Coins book, he declares that all 1898 Victorian sixpences have the date in larger figures than all the other veiled head years.

Indeed, until now all those I had ever come across had the larger figures, though I do vaguely remember reading somewhere that at long last a specimen with small figures had turned up (anyone remember where that was?)

Well, another one has turned up - please see the images. Interestingly, as well as the smaller digits, the 1 of the date is over a bead, rather than a space as is usual on the larger figured specimens.

Worth recording?

London Coins Auction 128 (Jul 2010) Lot 1738.

Thanks for that info, Nick! £140 hammer price for the Unc specimen there sounds like quite a bargain someone got!

Anyone got another??

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I have finally found an 1898 Sixpence with Davies reverse B, smaller date figures. It has taken me longer than I thought it would to get one.

post-5660-0-31959600-1440317265_thumb.jp

post-5660-0-61941000-1440317276_thumb.jp

post-5660-0-35900900-1440317286_thumb.jp

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Nice coin! Do you mean it took you longer than expected to find one in that grade? Did you see many others along the way?

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Nice coin! Do you mean it took you longer than expected to find one in that grade? Did you see many others along the way?

Thanks, this is the only example I have found in almost 3 years of looking. Just very lucky it came in the grade it did, I would have settled for any grade to fill the gap in the collection. It was on eBay item number 351476105264.

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Nice coin! Do you mean it took you longer than expected to find one in that grade? Did you see many others along the way?

Thanks, this is the only example I have found in almost 3 years of looking. Just very lucky it came in the grade it did, I would have settled for any grade to fill the gap in the collection. It was on eBay item number 351476105264.
Wow, very rare, then! Goodness, what a steal too! Were you brave enough to make an offer, or did you snap it straight up, rather than risk losing it? :)

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I offered £35 and it was refused, she responded with £40 which I accepted. It was listed for 10 days and it only had 2 days left when I noticed it, I was away on holiday, so I took a gamble on the offer. If it was newly listed when I seen it I would have bought it straight away.

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Nice find! Prompted me to check my own 1898 sixpences. Unfortunately, they all have the larger date :(

Edit: it looks like the ribbon above the date is slightly different too on the small date variety

Edited by jaggy

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Thank you. Yeah the ribbon does seem slightly different. The distance between the leaves and acorns with the border teeth are slightly different too. It was probably the reverse design increased in size ever so slightly, similar to what they done with the Jubilee head issue reverses. You can see the difference comparing the 1897 and 1899.

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What is it about the ribbon that seems different? I can see the different distance between the rim and design and the different alignment of the digits.

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I had both types in my collection that I sold last year.  Here's a picture of both reverses (scarcer small date on right):

 

1898-6d.jpg

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Oh I see - I remember the unlisted coins in your auction @Nick - I didn't realise the different dates corresponded to different reverse dies too.

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