Berries

[emex]

hi everyone,

being new to coin collecting and having settled on collecting farthings and halfpennies for now I'm having a bit of trouble with some of the terms used.

I've managed to figure out toothed, beaded and 'H' types. But I'll be dammed if I can figure out this three, four and five berries thing with the farthings.

Come on guys, put me out of my misery, its driving me nuts !

Guess I'll have to forgo a few coins and buy myself a decent book.

[Emperor Oli]

Berries - this stumped me for a while. On the reverse of Victorian bun-head coins, Victoria is sporting a wreath. On this, there are berries. THe number simply refers to the number of berries present on it!

[Chris Perkins]

But he means Obverse because the head side is always obverse.

[Sylvester]

Did Oli just commit the number 1 sin there by calling obverse the reverse?

You see Oli may hate to see poor grammar and get picky with spelling. My extreme dislike is when people show St. George and the Dragon for instance and say it's the obverse. It really niggles me.

Imagine flipping a coins, hmm heads or tails? The 2p lands plume up hmmm must be heads... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Emperor Oli]

I was flicking through the Spink bun head pages to make sure I'd got the side of the coin correct and I typed the wrong one

[emex]

thanks Oli,

Thought it was something to do with that but could'nt see clearly enough even on high res pictures.

Guess I'll have to buy a magnifying glass too.

[Chris Perkins]

Well this is ideal for counting berries, I use it myself:

http://www.predecimal.com/collectors/shop/9849lens.htm