Pattern 1926 Great Britain Threepence - Derwent Wood

7Jaguars

Bet y’all haven’t seen this one - not sure the Royal Mint even has this. It is the Derwent Wood designed pattern executed by Humphrey Paget, and was originally part of the six coin set created as his proposal for the upcoming silver coin revision of 1927. These were all reverse patterns with “MODEL” obverses in place of the George V effigy & legend.
Obviously exceedingly rare. Notoriously, the TPGs IMHO miss the grading and designations so these must be taken with a grain of salt for reasons that can be discussed if there is interest:

coinkat

Wow... never seen one. Quite an unusual design.

The grade might be controversial based on the MODEL side- there is simply nothing in the fields so the slightest handling will be magnified. And this is why I like magnification and use a powerful loupe. While powerful loupes are not for grading, it helps with expectations as to exactly what it is that you are buying.

7Jaguars

Follow up: one of the designers who submitted designs was Eric Gill - his were not accepted either. These were unusual in that they used a monogram design somewhat reminescent of Alfred the Great. Has anyone seen these? I will see if I can find them.

Rexford

I will guess it is in a 61 or 62 holder - looks quite hairlined.

7Jaguars

Yes, a common misconception - these are indeed seen on the putative obverse and are mostly planchet prep lines/imperfections that do not strike out all the way. The reverse thistle design itself is relatively free of such.
But that is really besides the point as the coin is EXTREMELY rare and designated as such in Bull/ESC as R7.

Rexford

@7Jaguars said:
Yes, a common misconception - these are indeed seen on the putative obverse and are mostly planchet prep lines/imperfections that do not strike out all the way. The reverse thistle design itself is relatively free of such.
But that is really besides the point as the coin is EXTREMELY rare and designated as such in Bull/ESC as R7.

I don’t see them that way, they wouldn’t shine like that as planchet lines and it’s unlikely that planchet prep lines would show in the fields, since that part of the coin experiences the most metal movement and any such lines should be struck out. If they are deep enough to show in the fields then they should show very dramatically on the devices.

I searched through the pop reports for better photos of the coin and they are clearly hairlines (and it is in a 62 holder):

Now, it may be that these hairlines are mint-made, similar to the mint-made cleaning of coins from the 1902 matte proof sets post-strike, but they are hairlines. It does look less like that though than like the brown toning was attempted to be wiped off at some point later, with splotchiness remaining and the one larger area of toning on the right side of the Model side not appearing to exhibit significant hairlines.

The rarity of the coin is not very relevant. A coin can be rare and low grade (and frequently that is the case). However, I congratulate you for the acquisition as such - it is an interesting and unusual type.

7Jaguars

Sorry to say that I do not agree with your assessment. If you will notice, and classically so, the "hairlines" DO NOT cross the obverse legend "MODEL" and those seen (above and between the letters) appear to be either in relief or partially struck out. While at it, check the rims on the obverse. The same is also true of the reverse thistle and legend.

As those that know would know, this is not a fully finished die and was used only to roughly struck up a proposed design and by nature not cleanly engraved.

As another note, this is NOT my coin.

Rexford

@7Jaguars said:
Sorry to say that I do not agree with your assessment. If you will notice, and classically so, the "hairlines" DO NOT cross the obverse legend "MODEL" and those seen (above and between the letters) appear to be either in relief or partially struck out. While at it, check the rims on the obverse. The same is also true of the reverse thistle and legend.

As those that know would know, this is not a fully finished die and was used only to roughly struck up a proposed design and by nature not cleanly engraved.

As another note, this is NOT my coin.

They do cross MODEL, that’s why the characters shine white in the photo. And the areas of the field directly bordering MODEL and the other devices are noticeably darker, because the wiping couldn’t get to them.

Anyway, if they didn’t cross the devices, that would make them potentially raised die polish lines - NOT planchet lines. Planchet lines would show up to a greater degree on the devices than in the fields for the reasons previously stated - they would be struck out in the fields. Die polish lines would show up to a greater degree in the fields, because that’s the high prt of the die and the part that is most easily polishable. But they are clearly incuse and not die lines, and to my eye they do cross the devices. They’re pretty straightforward, normal-looking hairlines.

Rexford

Also, trying to whether hairlines cross the devices or not from a photo like this is not a great strategy, as that often will not be visible in a photo except as the “shine” that I mentioned. And it’s not really something I need to look at in general - the way the lines in the fields present themselves is enough to tell.