Is this Edward Penny class 8 or 9?

[JTerry3]

Hi everyone. Picked up this nice looking Edward penny recently. It was sold to me as class 8b but thinking it might be 9a1 though as do not see an apostrophe like contractive mark after the H of HYB and I also am unsure if the H has a notched tail or not?

Hopefully someone out there could confirm either way! Thank you. 

Joe

[JTerry3]

Image of reverse

[Coinery]

It’s an 8a or 8b with the S being the deciding factor, whether it’s a top-tilted S or not?

If it were mine I’d be looking for a die-match to decide, once and for all, which S’s they are, though there may be some here with sharper/more honed eyes than mine, who can say which S that is?

re the apostrophes, they don’t all have them.

[Coinery]

Here are the notches on my 8a and 8c with clear contraction marks but, as I mentioned, it’s well documented that they don’t all have them.

Edited September 26, 2024 by Coinery

[JTerry3]

Thanks for this! Right I see, so contraction mark after the H isn't always a given for an 8b. Important to note as what I had read seemed to suggest this was a defining feature of that sub-class.

And just so I'm clear, you feel it's unlikely to be class 9?

I have been staring at both S' for a while and they feel almost indecipherable as lost all detail but I would lean towards top-titled on the obverse. The reverse looks less like a top-tilted one though. 

 

[Coinery]

53 minutes ago, JTerry3 said:

Thanks for this! Right I see, so contraction mark after the H isn't always a given for an 8b. Important to note as what I had read seemed to suggest this was a defining feature of that sub-class.

And just so I'm clear, you feel it's unlikely to be class 9?

I have been staring at both S' for a while and they feel almost indecipherable as lost all detail but I would lean towards top-titled on the obverse. The reverse looks less like a top-tilted one though. 

 

It’s definitely not a class 9, different bust and eyes entirely, plus the legend is much less ‘chunky’ on the 9a1 - you only have to decide which S you have, and then you can decide whether it’s an 8a or 8b

I have to be honest and say I’m not exposed to enough of these coins to make a call either way on what S you have, you’ll probably need to find an identical coin/die, with hopefully the S undamaged. I’m reliably informed that class 8 is a rarer class and a difficult group to collect in better grades, so you might have some searching to do!

[JTerry3]

Thanks so much for the clarification! I am okay with not knowing for sure it's sub-class but I did want to make sure the dating was correct and fortunately both 8a & 8b are dated 1294 - 99. Nice to learn class 8 is rarer as well. 😀

Edited September 26, 2024 by JTerry3

[Coinery]

Here’s another example of a no-contraction class 8 (this one’s 8a)! I only took a closer look because I wondered whether it was a die-match for yours…sadly it’s not, so the 8a 8b saga continues.

[JTerry3]

Well thanks anyway for your continued efforts, much appreciated!! 😃