1671 Halfcrown

[Cliff]

I've started to have a look at halfcrown coins and realize that I'm at the bottom of a long steep learning curve if I'm going to continue.  I recently purchased a 1671 VICESIMO TERTIO which I thought was ESC 468 (old).

The more recent ESC 6th edition now classes this as ESC 457 and describes it as "No stop after HIB (7 - 10 strings)".  My Irish Harp only has five strings, is this common or a variant?

Your comments would be much appreciated.

Cliff   

[Rob]

The number of strings varies as they were entered separately. This is one of the pitfalls of references when they go into detail because the assumption of many is that it provides a true and full picture - something they manifestly do not. I don't know whether this is a common variant or not, so can only suggest locating as many images of the coin you can and work out the answer yourself. 

The old ESC was full of holes, and the new one has expanded on this considerably, but the number of holes has also increased to take account of this extra information. At the end of the day, you have to take what is written on board, but always keep an open mind so that when you spot an inconsistency you investigate and customise your reference to reflect the updated information.

[Rob]

If it is any help. Jackson Kent did a 10 year study of the early milled coinage in the 1950s & 60s in an effort to establish whether the number of harp strings had any relevance - his conclusion was nothing to learn from them. i.e. they were random in number with no patterns apparent, from which you can reasonably expect a deviation around the most commonly occurring number. That isn't to say there is no relevance, just that none has been established to date.

[Cliff]

Thanks Rob, much obliged.