Weird Sixpence...

[CartwheelTwopence]

Hello all,

I have recently found a very weird sixpence. The coin, see the picture, is only half of the usual height. I also weighed them both and found out that the thin one is 1.77g, and the normal one is 2.78g.

At first I thought this could be due to circulation wear, however I now realise this cannot be because: A, The coin is still very detailed, particularly on the obverse and B, coin in 1967 were only used for a few more years until decimalization, so virtually all remain around EF to UNC.

I can only think that this could be a mint error, getting the blanks wrong? But then again, no coin is of the sixpence size yet much thinner...

Please help!!!

[Colin G.]

It does look like it was struck on a different blank, remember that it is likely that the blank could be for currency from a different country/contract.

[jaggy]

You do get errors ... I have a couple of George VI sixpence errors one which is only struck on one side of the coin and one which is struck on a split planchet. And they did mint 240 million 1967 sixpences so the odd error is not surprising.

[CartwheelTwopence]

Thanks.

[Bernie]

I have seen this phenomena before on bronze coins. coins can be reduced in size and weight and still retaining much detail by immersing in acid. The giveaway on your sixpence is the week and extended toothed border. The acid uniformly digests the coins but the edges take the most loss

[VickySilver]

Had to think about this one, and in balance suppose that I agree although nickel a bit harder to attack with acid than mainly copper planchets - also interesting that the relief appears better preserved and "deeper" in some areas and would have predicted it more even. Also elements such as the denticles will also elongate with a smaller diameter flans but slightly different in my experience than the acid-dipped bronzes.

[Peckris]

It doesn't look to me like a 'classic acid attack'. For one thing, there's a huge disparity between different elements of the design : the legend and date appear virtually intact, as does the small shamrock; yet the large shamrock is almost gone, while the rose and leek have intermediate damage. A classic acid attack is not entirely uniform either yet it generally looks much more even than that.

[VickySilver]

Precisely & what I was trying to say. Might have a bit to do with relief opposing on obverse?

[Peckris]

Precisely & what I was trying to say. Might have a bit to do with relief opposing on obverse?

Good point - the worst damage seems to be roughly where the bust would be in highest relief.