1655 sixpence

[kildonan]

I'm trying to find pictures of Commonwealth 1655 sixpences, partly to prove / disprove that my own collection coin is or is not really of this date (unclear final digit).

I have only a handful of pictures (below) - does anyone have any others that they could share?

- DNW, Bole collection Pt 1 lot 1641; same coin later as Bole pt 5 lot 1444

- Bonhams Clarendon collection pt 2 (2006) lot 1557; same coin also Spink 55 lot 73; Lockett lot 2612 and ex-Carlyon-Britton

- Spink 154 (Manville 2001) lot 50

- Spink 18004 (2018) lot 433

 

[Coys55]

[kildonan]

Thanks - the image seems to have disappeared since I saw it last night? This is (or was) the Clarendon piece, lovely image :-)

Interestingly, this is the one that I believe I have a reverse die duplicate of. I'll get a photo of my coin and post it shortly.

[kildonan]

Here's the reverse of my coin. When I bought it, I was happy it was really 1655 rather than 1653 or an artefact of the double striking at the date, but wanted to locate a die duplicate on a definite 1655 to be sure. Although I had pictures of the coin posted by Coys55 from the earlier sales catalogues, I'd discounted mine as a die duplicate (partly because those images were much lower quality than that just posted, but also because of perceived differences).

Lots of similarities, such as the die defect to lower left of the LH shield cross centre; the 2 spots in the field above that cross, positioning and shape of most letters... What had put me off previously was the position of the 'W' relative to RH shield base. But now I think this is an artefact of the double striking evident on Coys' coin at the shield base? It often strikes me as odd how some parts of the design are unmoved whilst others show a shift during double striking, in a way that can be hard to understand.

If my coin is the same die I think it possibly is a later strike where additional die damage has occurred such as within LH shield upper left quadrant?

Any thoughts?

Edited October 16, 2019 by kildonan
add photo

[Rob]

I think they are the same dies. Same number of inner circle beads on the RHS from the top right point of the shield to the D (this section not double struck on either coin), same distance of the lettering relative to the inner circle where not double struck), additional small flaw RHS of the St. George's cross horizontal bar and the same sharply cut off point on the centre of the top of the Irish shield.

[kildonan]

Thanks both - this has settled it for me - a real 1655 :-)