Leo Posted October 25, 2016 Posted October 25, 2016 (edited) Hi all. I have a couple of pieces with an unusual look (and not in a good way) that I would like to share. I would love to have your opinion. First of all, this bun head penny that has a strange 'spotted' or marbled lustre. Is this normal? It appears to have a very weak strike too. Second, this halfpenny that has lustre covering one third (from 12 o'clock to 4:00) and the rest is dark. I was on the understanding that lustre fades out with wear, and logically this happens uniformly and first to the fields and exposed areas. However the pattern shown by this piece suggests some sort of partial dipping. Any ideas, apart from having been partially exposed to the elements? Edited October 25, 2016 by Leo Quote
bagerap Posted October 25, 2016 Posted October 25, 2016 The halfpenny appears to have been partially covered by another coin for a long while. The darker part of the coin was exposed to light and the lustrous part was hidden. Quote
IanB Posted October 25, 2016 Posted October 25, 2016 31 minutes ago, bagerap said: The halfpenny appears to have been partially covered by another coin for a long while. The darker part of the coin was exposed to light and the lustrous part was hidden. If that is the case it's interesting to think how long they were left undisturbed. The coin looks to be a good grade. It might have just been left and then rediscovered several years later. Quote
bagerap Posted October 25, 2016 Posted October 25, 2016 I have a halfcrown with similar marking. It was found partially covered by a florin on a roof beam. Probably undisturbed for decades. Quote
1949threepence Posted October 25, 2016 Posted October 25, 2016 Lustre is affected in all manner of different ways, dependent upon what comes into contact with the coin and the coin's reaction to the atmosphere around it. You get mottled lustre as shown on the 1889 penny above, streaky lustre, lustre on one side of the coin only, and lustre on different parts of the obverse and reverse, just randomly distributed. Sometimes you'll get a virtually uncirculated coin which has toned to the extent that the lustre has vanished, and other times you'll get a coin which has worn down to just VF, still with traces of lustre. Typically, of course, lustre lasts for longest in the lettering where it is most protected from contact with hands and surfaces, rather than on the field. Often difficult to pin down the precise reasons for a given lustre distribution in each case. 2 Quote
1949threepence Posted October 25, 2016 Posted October 25, 2016 3 hours ago, bagerap said: The halfpenny appears to have been partially covered by another coin for a long while. The darker part of the coin was exposed to light and the lustrous part was hidden. Yes. It would be interesting to know what the reverse of the halfpenny looks like. Quote
Leo Posted October 27, 2016 Author Posted October 27, 2016 Thank you for your opinions, I wouldn't imagine that exposure to light could do such a thing. Quote It would be interesting to know what the reverse of the halfpenny looks like. Not like the obverse! Uniformly lustrous, with a good few carbon spots Quote
bagerap Posted October 28, 2016 Posted October 28, 2016 Thank you for your opinions, I wouldn't imagine that exposure to light could do such a thing. It surely can. I once made the mistake of leaving two proof shillings in capsules near a south facing window for two weeks. One overlapped the other by a small margin, and when I came back from holiday there was a clearly defined area of tarnish. 1 Quote
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