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Interesting post regarding Irish Proof Pennies

I have been corresponding with John Stafford-Langan and thought that this part of a mail that he wrote might interest a few here.

John's website can be found here.

The 1968 proof penny is an odd coin as there are several categories of 1968 proof pennies.

The original proofs produced by the Royal Mint are very rare - they have fully mirror surfaces and heavily frosted devices and are quite distinctive.

There was a run of 1968 pennies discovefed in England which were supposedly produced by an independent mint as examples for a proposed 'last of the LSD' set which was never completed. I'm really dubious as to whether the examples were actually produced by the independent mint (I need to look up its name) or whether they were Royal Mint produced specimens provided to the independant mint. These coins look more like polished die specimens that the original proofs - they don't have miirror fields or frosted devices, but they have a much finer surface that a normal currency striking.

And there are quite a few 1968 pennies which are proof-like in appearance but don't have quite the same depth of strike and quality as the original proofs - these are generally called early strikes and they are taken to be the products of the first use of a new pair of dies before the micro fracturing occurs which gives the bloom normally associated with the normal mint production. It has been suggested that these coins may be a result of the proof dies being used for normal circulation pieces after the proof run was finished. The proof run would be different from a production run in that the machines are run much more slowly and with higher pressure and with regular polishing of the dies - so use of proof dies in a normal run produces pieces which are proof-like but nor quite a strong as the original proofs. Clearly after a short period the dies degrade to the normal circulation quality.

It's only when you see all of the types laid out alongside some very high quality UNC examples of the normal strikes that the differences are really obvious.
The meaning of life ? I don't know but I am sure that coins have something to do with it.

Zar's Ebay

Comments

  • MrEurekaMrEureka Posts: 23,891 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Interesting. Apparently, I've never seen an "original proof" 1968.
    Andy Lustig

    Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.

    Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
  • TwoKopeikiTwoKopeiki Posts: 9,528 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Great information, Marcel! Do you happen to have any images to help illustrate the differences?
  • MSD61MSD61 Posts: 3,382
    John has put in a lot of time and hard work on his site and for most Irish collectors is the up most expert and his information is used as a basis for all Irish collectors. I've had the pleasure corresponding
    with John on many topics. John will state that "original proofs" of many Irish strikes are hard to get or find. Most have ended up in the hands of private collectors. John also used to host a Ebay group on Irish coin collecting which I was a part of however, a lack of interest made John take down the group. John is a wealth of information on Irish coinage and a really neat guy.

    I have a few examples of 1968 pennies but no proofs my favorite of the series is the 1968 "chick-less" strike where one of the chicks at the hen's feet is missing. If you click on my omnicoin page link I have one up there.

    Cheers,
    Micheál
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