Help with 1863 Half Penny

[coppercop]

I have an 1863 Half Penny I have 2 questions about. First is the "dots"..I see an MS63 coin of the same year online I used as a comparison coin, as the details are very nice....as one would expect, there are 2 dots after G, in D:G: obverse....MY Penny only has ONE Dot, and, does not look like a struck-through error, but, a Mint issue..is this something of interest I need to know about? 2nd question is on reverse, there seems to be minor notching on the H, in HALF, and, the NN's, in PENNY, and, I am curious if this year has a known Doubled Die? First Pic is my Penny, 2nd is the reverse, 3rd the "normal" MS63 Half Penny.

Thanks

Calvin

[Rob]

I have an 1863 Half Penny I have 2 questions about. First is the "dots"..I see an MS63 coin of the same year online I used as a comparison coin, as the details are very nice....as one would expect, there are 2 dots after G, in D:G: obverse....MY Penny only has ONE Dot, and, does not look like a struck-through error, but, a Mint issue..is this something of interest I need to know about? 2nd question is on reverse, there seems to be minor notching on the H, in HALF, and, the NN's, in PENNY, and, I am curious if this year has a known Doubled Die? First Pic is my Penny, 2nd is the reverse, 3rd the "normal" MS63 Half Penny.

Thanks

Calvin

The loss of colon stops is a common occurence due to die fill. Examples can be found in various states of fill and so nothing exceptional.

When you say notching, I'm not sure what you refer to, but if the letters appear slightly fishtailed, this is due either to metal flow or the use of a different font punch. Again, not something to get overly excited about. A better picture would confirm this. The whole series is littered with double cut lettering due to the desire to extract as much life out of the die as possible. Again, nothing to get carried away over, but a leter cut over a different letter would be of interest. There are two types of 3 seen on the halfpenny, a small and a tall one, with a 3rd intermediate type found on the proof. On yours it appears that the 3 has a small upper section.

[declanwmagee]

I have an 1863 Half Penny I have 2 questions about. First is the "dots"..I see an MS63 coin of the same year online I used as a comparison coin, as the details are very nice....as one would expect, there are 2 dots after G, in D:G: obverse....MY Penny only has ONE Dot, and, does not look like a struck-through error, but, a Mint issue..is this something of interest I need to know about? 2nd question is on reverse, there seems to be minor notching on the H, in HALF, and, the NN's, in PENNY, and, I am curious if this year has a known Doubled Die? First Pic is my Penny, 2nd is the reverse, 3rd the "normal" MS63 Half Penny.

Thanks

Calvin

Hi Calvin

Doubled letters are very common on coins from this era. The missing dot is probably a filled die, where some gunk has filled up the recessed dot. In the farthing series, they can be indicative of specific die pairings, some of which are scarcer than others, but I'm not aware of any recognised varieties along the same lines for the 1863 halfpenny. There are a couple of different kinds of 3 to look out for though.

hope that helps

Declan

[declanwmagee]

I have an 1863 Half Penny I have 2 questions about. First is the "dots"..I see an MS63 coin of the same year online I used as a comparison coin, as the details are very nice....as one would expect, there are 2 dots after G, in D:G: obverse....MY Penny only has ONE Dot, and, does not look like a struck-through error, but, a Mint issue..is this something of interest I need to know about? 2nd question is on reverse, there seems to be minor notching on the H, in HALF, and, the NN's, in PENNY, and, I am curious if this year has a known Doubled Die? First Pic is my Penny, 2nd is the reverse, 3rd the "normal" MS63 Half Penny.

Thanks

Calvin

The loss of colon stops is a common occurence due to die fill. Examples can be found in various states of fill and so nothing exceptional.

When you say notching, I'm not sure what you refer to, but if the letters appear slightly fishtailed, this is due either to metal flow or the use of a different font punch. Again, not something to get overly excited about. A better picture would confirm this. The whole series is littered with double cut lettering due to the desire to extract as much life out of the die as possible. Again, nothing to get carried away over, but a leter cut over a different letter would be of interest. There are two types of 3 seen on the halfpenny, a small and a tall one, with a 3rd intermediate type found on the proof. On yours it appears that the 3 has a small upper section.

beat me to it, Rob!

Luckily I said the same as you. Phew.

Rob is the recognised authority round here, Calvin!

[coppercop]

I have an 1863 Half Penny I have 2 questions about. First is the "dots"..I see an MS63 coin of the same year online I used as a comparison coin, as the details are very nice....as one would expect, there are 2 dots after G, in D:G: obverse....MY Penny only has ONE Dot, and, does not look like a struck-through error, but, a Mint issue..is this something of interest I need to know about? 2nd question is on reverse, there seems to be minor notching on the H, in HALF, and, the NN's, in PENNY, and, I am curious if this year has a known Doubled Die? First Pic is my Penny, 2nd is the reverse, 3rd the "normal" MS63 Half Penny.

Thanks

Calvin

The loss of colon stops is a common occurence due to die fill. Examples can be found in various states of fill and so nothing exceptional.

When you say notching, I'm not sure what you refer to, but if the letters appear slightly fishtailed, this is due either to metal flow or the use of a different font punch. Again, not something to get overly excited about. A better picture would confirm this. The whole series is littered with double cut lettering due to the desire to extract as much life out of the die as possible. Again, nothing to get carried away over, but a leter cut over a different letter would be of interest. There are two types of 3 seen on the halfpenny, a small and a tall one, with a 3rd intermediate type found on the proof. On yours it appears that the 3 has a small upper section.

beat me to it, Rob!

Luckily I said the same as you. Phew.

Rob is the recognised authority round here, Calvin!

Thanks Rob, and all of you..I appreciate the help..as stated, I am new to coins of the UK, and find them fascinating..a nice change from the USA coins...lots to learn, so, I'll be hanging around, if you don't mind, pestering with questions!