Halfpenny Obverse 5 die flaw

[absence of uniformity]

17 minutes ago, Peckris 2 said:

"During the Victorian era, coining presses were entirely mechanical. " Really? I thought that around 1882 they changed over to electrical, which is why virtually the entire 1882 penny mintage was done by Heatons while they were converting?

Im pleased to own one of the few that was made in London for 1882!

Taken from the RM website:

In 1810, we left the Tower of London and moved to a new purpose-built facility at nearby Tower Hill which could better accommodate steam-powered machinery. Eight massive presses stood in the Coining Press Room, each capable of striking about 60 coins a minute. In the 1880s, the factory buildings were reconstructed and smaller, faster and quieter machines replaced the presses.

At the turn of the twentieth century, steam power gave way to electrification and master tools were increasingly produced using reducing machines. Instead of engraving by hand, at size in steel, an artist could prepare a larger plaster model. A mould was then taken and electroplated with nickel and copper, yielding a reproduction known as an electrotype that could be mounted on an engraving machine and scanned. These movements were communicated to a rotating cutter, which copied them at coin size into a block of steel.

Edited 1 hour ago by absence of uniformity