1698/7 William III Halfcrown?

[declan03]

Hi.

Can any of you guys tell me if this is a 1698/7 William III Halfcrown overdate? Decimus edge.

[Rob]

Looks like it.

[declan03]

Hi Rob and thanks for your reply. I wish i knew about this forum before now.

This is a coin i sold about 2 years ago as a1698/7 overdate. The buyer was in a bit of a dispute with me, which we sorted, with him stating that it should be a Septimus edge and not a Decimus edge. It is an overdate as you say and listed as extremely rare. I have another on sale which is listed at DNW auctions next month, which they valued by pictures, giving me an estimate of between £800-£1200. But on inspection, again it was a Decimus edge. So the value went down down to between £300-£400 because of this. I.m still happy with the price as i picked it up at bargain basement price. They are both the same overdates and both extremely rare, do you think the price difference  has something to do with mintage numbers?

[Rob]

I'm not sure why anyone would say it should be a SEPTIMO edge because that would equate to the year ending 13th Feb 1695/6. The existence of the OCTAVO edge on a 1698 dated coin is therefore a case of the wrong collar used because up to 13th Feb 1697/8 should be NONO and 1698 DECIMO or UNDECIMO. The edge is always likely to be DECIMO, though the overdate could have the UNDECIMO edge if the reverse die was used during the 6 weeks after 13th Feb 1698/9. This is unknown, but not impossible, as old dies were brought out of retirement and repaired/recut.

William ascended the throne on 13th February 1688/9, so that only leaves a 6 week period for the later edge to be used for any date, hence the book price differential for 1698 Decimo  (VF £225) and 1698 Undecimo (VF £1000).

Looking at the coin, I cannot see any reason for an estimate as high as 800-1200. I would have put the estimate at no more than 200-250.

[declan03]

Thanks for the info Rob. Very interesting . I learn something new ever day. You seem very well versed on the subject and i will keep this facts for future reference. 

[Rob]

Not so well versed as you might imagine - I had to write down the dates to get the regnal years correct.   Should be able to recite those just as you would the times tables or mental arithmetic.

The edge is the regnal year, i.e. the twelve month period following accession to the crown and every subsequent anniversary. So in the case of William III, PRIMO will be 12 months from 13th Feb 1688/9 to the 1st anniversary in 1689/90; SECUNDO the following year to 13th Feb 1690/1, etc. Don't forget the years are old style, with New Year's Day falling on March 25th, hence the use of 1688/9 etc