1861 Half Penny Error

[RLC35]

Here is something I picked up today at a coin show. It is a 1861 Half Penny, with what appears to be a upside down "F" in the word "Penny." It is not a broken "E", sice you can see from the close up, it never had the tope horizontal bar! Has anyone ever seen one like this? Too bad it isn't a better example. A second pic will follow.

[RLC35]

Sorry...didn't attach pic!

[RLC35]

Here is second pic...

[Nick]

Sorry...didn't attach pic!

It can't be an upside down F. The horizontal parts would be on the other side of the vertical if it were.

[Coinery]

Sorry...didn't attach pic!

It can't be an upside down F. The horizontal parts would be on the other side of the vertical if it were.

Nice bit of logic! Leaving a broken E, an unlikely blocked die, of a piece of workmanship of the quality of John's 'naked Britannia' penny, posted last year? Certainly intriguing, Bob!

[RLC35]

Sorry...didn't attach pic!

It can't be an upside down F. The horizontal parts would be on the other side of the vertical if it were.

Right Nick. It is a mirror image of a F...not a F itself. I don't know how it could come about though, because it appears that there never was a horizontal line at the top, which it would take to would make it an E.

[RLC35]

I should have looked on Mal Lewandon's Half Penny Disk of varieties first...he already has this coin listed, as a F289 (MJL 2005), a 1862 Half Penny, with a missing top horizontal on the "E". BTW...this coin is a 1862, not a 1861, as I have it listed on the header! I really need to start using some of the documentation that I have! Ha,Ha!