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OK, get ready for a collective yawn, but this looks like a minor variety of the 1935 threepence.

As far as I can judge, the left hand coin has:

1. Smaller acorn cups.

2. Slightly narrower acorn heads.

3. A thinner acorn tip.

4. A larger gap between the tip and the border beads.

5. A larger gap between the acorn cup and the oak leaves.

6. A larger gap on the other side of the acorn cup, between the cup and the twig.

7. The lettering further from the rim compared to the right hand coin.

As far as I can judge, earlier threepences have the same reverse as on the left, and the 1936 has the right hand reverse, meaning that the change took place during the 1935 striking.

post-692-0-81675600-1401296252_thumb.jpg

Edited by DaveG38

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Clearly a new die was employed.

I will have to go and check mine.If everyone does this like wise and monitor Ebay maybe the rarer type can be established.

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A statistically insignificant sample size of 3 gives 2 large and 1 small.

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ebay needs to be monitored over a longish period and I should imagine a significant proportion of the forum have at least 1.

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ebay needs to be monitored over a longish period and I should imagine a significant proportion of the forum have at least 1.

I've got several of the little b*ggers but do you think I could put my hands on them? Not a hope.

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I've just had a check on my sixpences with the same basic design. The 1936 sixpence is definitely different from the 1934, so there was clearly a design change in this series. However, my 1935 is of the same design as the 1934, and as its the only one I have, I can't tell if there's any chance of a design changeover in 1935 or not. Anybody got a few to check and see?

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I've just had a check on my sixpences with the same basic design. The 1936 sixpence is definitely different from the 1934, so there was clearly a design change in this series. However, my 1935 is of the same design as the 1934, and as its the only one I have, I can't tell if there's any chance of a design changeover in 1935 or not. Anybody got a few to check and see?

I thought I had answered that in the post above. I have had 2 large and 1 small all dated 1935.

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I've just had a check on my sixpences with the same basic design. The 1936 sixpence is definitely different from the 1934, so there was clearly a design change in this series. However, my 1935 is of the same design as the 1934, and as its the only one I have, I can't tell if there's any chance of a design changeover in 1935 or not. Anybody got a few to check and see?

I thought I had answered that in the post above. I have had 2 large and 1 small all dated 1935.

My original post referred to threepences, not sixpences, so which denomination were your 2 large and 1 small describing?

Edited by DaveG38

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I've just had a check on my sixpences with the same basic design. The 1936 sixpence is definitely different from the 1934, so there was clearly a design change in this series. However, my 1935 is of the same design as the 1934, and as its the only one I have, I can't tell if there's any chance of a design changeover in 1935 or not. Anybody got a few to check and see?

I thought I had answered that in the post above. I have had 2 large and 1 small all dated 1935.

My original post referred to threepences, not sixpences, so which denomination were your 2 large and 1 small describing?

Sorry, hadn't registered the changeover from threepences. Better do some more digging.

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It's clearly a larger leaf/acorn design, putting the leaves right up against the legend and date! Good major variety find, Dave! :);

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Bad news. They are all over the show. large ones for 1935, small before and after, but some 1936s have a larger 9 than others and the acorns point differently across the dates. Do you want half a dozen images?

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Bad news. They are all over the show. large ones for 1935, small before and after, but some 1936s have a larger 9 than others and the acorns point differently across the dates. Do you want half a dozen images?

It would be good to establish exactly what types there are and which years they occur in, particularly where there are two (or more) types in any one year. And to do so for both sixpences and threepences. Pics would be good.

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I'll dig out all the last issue 3d and 6d images I can find and send the lot. You can then decide what you want.

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I'll dig out all the last issue 3d and 6d images I can find and send the lot. You can then decide what you want.

Rob,

Many thanks for the pics - I'll see if I can figure out what's what.

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I can't help you with sixpences - I have a BU 1934 and that's where I stopped as a type collector. If I manage to excavate the threepences I will check them as best I can and give you a run down on quantities of each type.

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Not really paying much attention but due to other factors such as letter thickness etc couldn't the variation be caused by differing striking pressures.

Kind regards

Dave

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Not really paying much attention but due to other factors such as letter thickness etc couldn't the variation be caused by differing striking pressures.

Kind regards

Dave

Davies lists two varieties for the 1935 sixpence. His description sounds very much like what is being seen here. He suggests that the fault was with the hubbing process. I assume not enough pressure was used to get a good transfer into the die.

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Not really paying much attention but due to other factors such as letter thickness etc couldn't the variation be caused by differing striking pressures.

Kind regards

Dave

Davies lists two varieties for the 1935 sixpence. His description sounds very much like what is being seen here. He suggests that the fault was with the hubbing process. I assume not enough pressure was used to get a good transfer into the die.

Really? My edition doesn't list ANY varieties for the 'acorn threepences'. P91 - are you looking at the same edition?

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lol there seems to be huge mix-ups between tanners and joeys here ... Gary is referring to the sixpence Peck :P

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For the avoidance of doubt, as they say, my initial post concerned two clearly distinctive types of 1935 threepence, the existence of which are not mentioned by Davies. I subsequently queried whether a similar pair of varieties existed in the sixpence series. Gary is quite right that Davies mentions two types for 1935, although from Davies' description I'm not convinced that the characteristics for the new threepence types are the same as those shown by.the already known sixpence types. Hence my query.

In principle, I can't see any reason why the sixpence would show similar varities to the threepence, since the design, though broadly similar in style, is actually different in content. But given the vagaries of the Royal Mint, who's to say that some elements of the threepence design weren't directly copied over into the sixpence.

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For the avoidance of doubt, as they say, my initial post concerned two clearly distinctive types of 1935 threepence, the existence of which are not mentioned by Davies. I subsequently queried whether a similar pair of varieties existed in the sixpence series. Gary is quite right that Davies mentions two types for 1935, although from Davies' description I'm not convinced that the characteristics for the new threepence types are the same as those shown by.the already known sixpence types. Hence my query.

In principle, I can't see any reason why the sixpence would show similar varities to the threepence, since the design, though broadly similar in style, is actually different in content. But given the vagaries of the Royal Mint, who's to say that some elements of the threepence design weren't directly copied over into the sixpence.

The point I was trying to make is that the differences between the 6ds was attributed to the process of forming the die. This same process would have also been used on the 3d and all other coins for that matter. If when the die is being produced from the hub too little pressure is used the resulting coins from that die will tend to show thinner features with boarder fields just as described in the original post and Davies example of the 6d.

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.

Gone in a Flash, so to speak.

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For the avoidance of doubt, as they say, my initial post concerned two clearly distinctive types of 1935 threepence, the existence of which are not mentioned by Davies. I subsequently queried whether a similar pair of varieties existed in the sixpence series. Gary is quite right that Davies mentions two types for 1935, although from Davies' description I'm not convinced that the characteristics for the new threepence types are the same as those shown by.the already known sixpence types. Hence my query.

In principle, I can't see any reason why the sixpence would show similar varities to the threepence, since the design, though broadly similar in style, is actually different in content. But given the vagaries of the Royal Mint, who's to say that some elements of the threepence design weren't directly copied over into the sixpence.

The point I was trying to make is that the differences between the 6ds was attributed to the process of forming the die. This same process would have also been used on the 3d and all other coins for that matter. If when the die is being produced from the hub too little pressure is used the resulting coins from that die will tend to show thinner features with boarder fields just as described in the original post and Davies example of the 6d.

Looking again at the two coins I used to start this thread, it does seem to me that pretty much the whole design is a little smaller than the other one. For instance the oak leaves are slightly shrunken. Presumably this would be in line with Davies' observation about the 6d and your comment about the 3d?

If so then it's interesting that the 'hubbing error' if I can call it that, only shows for 1935 in the 6d, since there's a different reverse (Rev G) for 1936, whereas for the 3d, the second die used for the 1935 seems to have carried over to 1936. I'm guessing this is simply a reflection of the quantities struck. There were around 14 million 1935 6d struck followed by 24 million 1936, whereas for the 3d there were just 7 million 1935 followed by 3million or so 1936.

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Did anyone ever get to the bottom of this? I don't have any British threepences to hand but from the image I could find it looked like the 1934 and 1936 are the same - maybe it's a strike thing?

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