How could this happen?

[Boomstick]

Surely Unc is the easiest grade to classify? It'll have no wear at all, after which bag marks etc are just nitpicking in my opinion! As mentioned by Rob, it gets a bit tricky in the WW1 area when the strikes are weak - does anyone have any advice on how to tell a weak strike from normal wear?

[Rob]

Surely Unc is the easiest grade to classify? It'll have no wear at all, after which bag marks etc are just nitpicking in my opinion! As mentioned by Rob, it gets a bit tricky in the WW1 area when the strikes are weak - does anyone have any advice on how to tell a weak strike from normal wear?

As far as the reverse is concerned, look at all the other bits such as the jewels on the crown, the lis, the lion's tail, the orb, his front paws. Look at this, the nose is incredibly flat, but there is minimal wear in reality with the relief on the tail almost intact and the paws barely worn.

For weak strikes the detail will be weak overall. I had a halfcrowm a while back which had no better than VF detail, but struggled to find any wear. I can't find the picture at the moment but will post when I do.

Edited December 10, 2011 by Rob

[Peckris]

From what you've said, it should be deep = SV... but what about the (slight!) difference in rarity?

Exactly. The small disparity in prices makes it seem like the rare variety (older deeper portrait) is not that much scarcer than the later portrait. But it is! Maybe Spink have priced on the basis of it being not a hugely well-known variety? But it's getting known and I think the value in Fine should be around 10 times the normal type. In Unc, less of a difference (2x ?), as all 1921s are quite rare in top grade.

For weak strikes the detail will be weak overall. I had a halfcrowm a while back which had no better than VF detail, but struggled to find any wear. I can't find the picture at the moment but will post when I do.

It depends on how you define a "weak strike" - I'm sure many people would class 'weak strike' and 'worn die' together as the effect would be comparable. If it's a genuine weak strike, what you say is quite true. But I think - especially in the age of machinery - they are actually quite rare, and what we often refer to as weak strike is actually a wearing die. And on those, the points of wear are indeed uneven; as witness the 1918/19 H and KN pennies which more often than not occur with very blurry hair details but other details still crisp.

Then there are the 'weak areas of design' caused by imbalances between obverse and reverse. The classic example is Britannia's face and chest on pennies and halfpennies between 1911 and 1921; I'm sure if you looked at the die involved, it would show good detail, but because of metal being 'sucked out' for the obverse, that area of the reverse often shows detail that looks very worn, even in BU state.