Date: 1555 Description: Philip and Mary, Silver Shilling 1555, i.m. portcullis on reverse only, busts vis-à-vis under a crown, date below. This is a variety, with the obverse legend reading “RIGINA AN” instead of the normal “REGINA . ANG:” Weight: 8.73 g Base coinage: 0.250 fine silver References: D&F 233; S. 6500 Well struck…
Introduction: This post is a continuation of the research work done by Derek Young and Prof. G.F. Mitchell – first published in the Irish Numismatics magazine. Sadly, this excellent magazine is no longer available and quite difficult to source. The information in this post relates to ‘minting errors’ on Irish pre-decimal florins. According to a…
Introduction In 1911, the National Insurance Act, introduced on July 1st, created created an unusually large demand for bronze and silver coins. The Royal Mint could not meet this demand, so some of its production was sub-contracted to a private mint – The Heaton Mint, Birmingham. A massive 16,800,000 pennies were minted here in 1912…
The ‘chickless’ variety is probably a die flaw caused by normal ‘wear and tear’ on the dies during the minting process. This variety has become very popular with collectors over the past decade and some claim to have evidence of “progressive wear across several examples of 1968 pennies” leading to a chickless coin. The most…
The 1961 ‘mule’ halfcrown was struck in error (or, possibly deliberately) from a reverse die from the 1928-37 type. In 1938 the halfcrown reverse – the side with the horse on it – had been redesigned to improve the striking characteristics of the coin. A single example of the 1938 trial of the new die…
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