1860 Farthing F496 - two different die cracks.

[Paddy 1,543]

Sorting through the rest of the farthings I bought on Monday I noticed that I now have two 1860 F496 farthings with very different die cracks. Just thought I would post them for interest:

 

[Paddy 1,543]

... and the second:

 

[Peckris 2 2,044]

probably two different dies but from the same punch.

[Paddy 1,543]

Yes - I assumed that at first, but with both pictures up I can see that the colon after F:D is  1 1/2 dots on the first one, but 2 full dots on the second.

[Peckris 2 2,044]

On 10/26/2023 at 8:13 AM, Paddy said:

Yes - I assumed that at first, but with both pictures up I can see that the colon after F:D is  1 1/2 dots on the first one, but 2 full dots on the second.

I see what you mean, but given the big difference in condition I don't think you can say definitively that it's enough to establish a separate variety (it would only be a micro variety anyway).

[Paddy 1,543]

I agree - I wasn't searching for a new variety. In any case, with the aboutfarthings.co.uk site frozen I'm not sure who or where new farthing varieties are being logged now.

[copper123 1,352]

I am afraid that many 1860 BB farthings show die cracks in fact its rarer to find an 1860 bb without a die crack. these progress till the dle becomes unuseable , that is why the format was discontinued in 1860 for the far better TB

[Paddy 1,543]

It was not the die crack that led to the discussion about another micro-variety but the difference in the colon after F:D

 

[Peckris 2 2,044]

12 hours ago, Paddy said:

It was not the die crack that led to the discussion about another micro-variety but the difference in the colon after F:D

 

That's where the vast difference in condition comes into play.

[Paddy 1,543]

I am not the slightest bothered if anyone wants to declare another micro-variety on this. I would point out though that of the two I posted, the one that differs from the standard as posted on the aboutfarthings.co.uk website, is the first one, for which the condition is pretty good.