Cupro-Nickle 1949 Farthing?

[Jon Hill]

Hi,

A friend of mine has two apparently cupro-nickle 1949 George VI farthings, the type with a wren on the reverse. The coins don't appear to be plated. I can't find them in my spink guide can anyone help ID them?

Thanks,

Jon

[scottishmoney]

Picture is worth a thousand words, it might be possible that they were struck on tanner blanks.

[Teg]

Hi,

Interesting! The Norweb sale had a 1951 cupro-nickel farthing 'probably from a sixpence blank'.

So although I don't have a record of a 1949, it is possible. If (very big IF) genuine then worth a

few hundred pounds.

Teg

[Rob]

Hi,

Interesting! The Norweb sale had a 1951 cupro-nickel farthing 'probably from a sixpence blank'.

So although I don't have a record of a 1949, it is possible. If (very big IF) genuine then worth a

few hundred pounds.

Teg

The Norweb piece was lot 1908 and sold for £280 hammer. Whilst it is possible that any number could have been produced, the fact that this person has two makes me suspicious given it should be due to the random accidental inclusion of the wrong blanks. To have two errors like this owned by one person is like winning the lottery - twice.

[Jon Hill]

Hi,

He has had them since he was a kid when he used to collect a few coins. He can't rememeber exactly where they came from.

He' is bringing them into to work tonight so I'll scan them and upload the pics so you can see them for yourself and make your own minds up as I'm no expert.

Regards

Jon

[Jon Hill]

Hi,

Here they are what do you reckon?

One weighs 2.84g the other 2.76 if that helps.

Jon

[Rob]

Hi,

Here they are what do you reckon?

One weighs 2.84g the other 2.76 if that helps.

Jon

They look alright for design and don't seem to show any signs of plating - picture notwithstanding. The weight is not very helpful because a quick weighing of 50 random KG6 farthings gave a couple of outliers at both extremes weighing 2.64g & 2.66g at the low end and 2.94g & 2.95g at the high end whilst the majority were in the 2.80-2.85 range. The two 1949s in the sample both weighed 2.88g. The variation in weights is therefore greater than the difference in densities between Cu-Ni, Bronze or Ni, so no conclusion can be drawn. You could check to see if they are pure nickel or a plated ferrous base as this would be magnetic, but this property is lost once it is alloyed with a certain %age of other metals. I can't remember what this percentage is, but think it is around the 10% level (?) and so your normal Cu-Ni coinage is not magnetic.

Not very helpful I know, but you really need to see them in the hand.

[Teg]

Hi Jon,

The diameter could be the key. 6d is 19mm, farthing is 20mm.

Held together the difference is obvious. I would expect the rim to

look slightly thinner than it does - if it was on a 6d blank.

Tricky.

Teg

[Jon Hill]

Hi,

They measure 20.19mm & 20.20mm.

I don't have a ordinary farthing to compare them to.

Looking for a magnet now

Jon