Am I seeing things?

[Debbie]

Afternoon all. Here are two pictures of two 1834 shillings ( both presently on ebay) – do you think that they look different to you? I realise one is a far better grade and seems to photographed at a slight angle, but the hair at the top, the shape of the forehead and the shape of the ear look different to me. Were there two different portraits for that year? Perhaps its just me

[Rob]

I think it is just an optical illusion. The hair curl at the top of the forehead is just present in the angled photo. It is possible one of the dies was polished to remove rust as either could easily have been made in 1831, then stored in less than ideal conditions. Any resulting rust removal on the die would give a slightly modified portrait.

[Debbie]

Thanks Rob another interesting thing to consider and I see that Davies notes that there may have been some struck in 1830 (anyone got one? ). Actually I think that angled photo may have been stretched slightly and I notice that the lettering is double struck in places. Must stop giving myself headaches from staring at coins for long periods of time!

[pies]

I straightened up the second one and it looks fine so i think its just the pics

[Peckris]

I think it is just an optical illusion. The hair curl at the top of the forehead is just present in the angled photo. It is possible one of the dies was polished to remove rust as either could easily have been made in 1831, then stored in less than ideal conditions. Any resulting rust removal on the die would give a slightly modified portrait.

I straightened up the second one and it looks fine so i think its just the pics

Yes, I agree. The only feature that looks odd on the angled shot is the big dent in the forehead, but that may be just a result of the angle (it's not only sloping top to bottom, but also left to right a little, which would make things look quite peculiar.)