1878 Penny Larger Letters I and T??

[dmw2602]

Hi all,

 

Can anyone shed any light on what causes this? The I and T seem much larger, and I can't see any other examples, sure it's a common thing but would be keen to know what it is. 

Thanks in advance

[secret santa]

Very interesting - could you post full obverse and reverse pics please.

[dmw2602]

26 minutes ago, secret santa said:

Very interesting - could you post full obverse and reverse pics please.

[jelida]

It is unlikely that the issue would be with the master die, but it is possible that a working die was repaired either with fractionally larger ‘I’ and ‘T’ punches though I think die repairs with correct punches very slightly misplaced could have a similar effect.

Jerry

[secret santa]

These are very low resolution pics, of necessity, I know.

Any chance you could email me higher res pics if I send you my email address ?

Cheers

Richard

[terrysoldpennies]

One possible explanation could be that the letters in question have been re punched to hard , which would result in a deeper indentation into the die resulting in a bigger wider and longer letter . I have seen this on the date digits on some of the Victorian pennies.  Im sure I have a picture some where , I'll see if I can find it .   

Note the 9 in the two date examples below

Edited May 18 by terrysoldpennies

[jelida]

3 hours ago, terrysoldpennies said:

One possible explanation could be that the letters in question have been re punched to hard , which would result in a deeper indentation into the die resulting in a bigger wider and longer letter . I have seen this on the date digits on some of the Victorian pennies.  Im sure I have a picture some where , I'll see if I can find it .   

Note the 9 in the two date examples below

That sounds a good possibility. You quite often see 1866 pennies with the final 6 appearing larger.

Jerry

[dmw2602]

On 5/17/2025 at 5:24 PM, secret santa said:

These are very low resolution pics, of necessity, I know.

Any chance you could email me higher res pics if I send you my email address ?

Cheers

Richard

Hi, send me your email and will send over today.

Thanks

Dean

[dmw2602]

Just noticed your email on your site so have sent over. 

[dmw2602]

Hi, I’m planning to let this one go any thoughts on how something like this affects value? I’ve checked as many as I’ve been able to see and haven’t seen anything like it.
Thanks as always

D

[Martinminerva]

1 hour ago, dmw2602 said:

any thoughts on how something like this affects value?

As ever, something is only worth what somebody else is prepared to pay, but precedent suggests varying thicknesses of individual characters is not of any additional interest to many, so would imagine little or no premium. Much more significant is the overall condition. Just bung it on and see what it makes!

[secret santa]

I'm afraid that the higher res photos didn't really shed any light, so I would echo Martin's comments.

[dmw2602]

47 minutes ago, Martinminerva said:

As ever, something is only worth what somebody else is prepared to pay, but precedent suggests varying thicknesses of individual characters is not of any additional interest to many, so would imagine little or no premium. Much more significant is the overall condition. Just bung it on and see what it makes!

Great advice, thanks Martin, let's see how it does

[dmw2602]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/277253252101