1853 farthing - inverted Vs?

[mrbadexample]

Greetings all.

I was picking up a few small purchases from ebay the other day, when I noticed one of the seller's other items was an 1853 copper farthing. Bit early for me, but since I'm broadening my horizons I thought I'd have a second glance. 

In CCGB there is a variety listed with inverted Vs for As in BRITANNIAR, £150 in VF. This is what it appeared to be, so I took a punt and it arrived this morning. I can't see any evidence of a bar to the As. So, have I got what I think?

 

 

[mrbadexample]

[Charlie]

What's the overall grade of the coin? The bars in the A's for these copper farthings were very prone to die fill. I'd be dubious with lower grade examples. 

[mrbadexample]

Seller reckoned EF but nearer VF for me. Interesting what you say about the die fill, as most of the others I've looked at since don't seem to have the bar either, but I haven't got those in hand and under magnification.

[mrbadexample]

The As on the obverse are clear enough:

[Charlie]

It seems to be a common flaw for the series, I've seen it for quite a few years. Hopefully someone with a bit more experience may be able to give a second opinion. 

The obverse A's do look very clear, but could be a newer die?

It's a nice example by the way. 

[Colin G.]

On the whole I don't include these unless I get to see a high grade example where you can be 100% certain there is no trace of the horizontal bar. Many are either very faint, or you can see a bulge where the bar was connected. Then we end up in a position where we would be recording coins at varying stages in the process of the bar on the die becoming filled.

It is definitely an area that requires further study...if anyone wants to volunteer  

[mrbadexample]

3 minutes ago, Colin G. said:

On the whole I don't include these unless I get to see a high grade example where you can be 100% certain there is no trace of the horizontal bar. Many are either very faint, or you can see a bulge where the bar was connected. Then we end up in a position where we would be recording coins at varying stages in the process of the bar on the die becoming filled.

It is definitely an area that requires further study...if anyone wants to volunteer  

Thanks Colin. I thought this was just a normal date, looked it up in CCGB for an approximate value and saw that the variety was listed. It appeared to fit the bill. After I'd bought it, I started looking at others and couldn't see very many that did appear to have the bar.

I could do with getting the muck out of the As.