Question regarding 1879 British Penny with Raised Lines

au58

Are the raised lines in the shield or in the wreath?
I have one source that says shield and one that says wreath.
Thank you.

MrEureka

I don't see how anyone using only KM is supposed to know what they're talking about!

Anyway, according to "The Bronze Coinage of Great Britain" by Michael J. Freeman, two obverse dies were used in 1879. (Obverse 8 & 9.) Obverse 9 is by far the more common of the two, so what KM calls "Raised Lines" must be Freeman's Obverse 8. According to Freeman, "Obverse 9 is similar to Obverse 8, but the die has been touched up. Incuse lines sharpen the design on the mantle and outline some of the leaves and the hair, which shows, above and to the left of the ear, more individual strands. Double incuse lines depict the veins on the wreath leaves." From that description, it sounds like KM would have been better off referring to the more common variety as "Incuse Lines" and not made any comments on the rare variety. At least as I understand it.

BTW, according to Freeman, the rarest business strike variety of the year is a muling of the common obverse 9 with a different reverse die. I guess the point is that if you're interested in the series, it's best to ignore KM and get yourself a copy of Freeman. Although this was once a difficult and expensive book to buy, it was reprinted a couple of years ago and is now easily found.

lordmarcovan

I guess you're right, Mr. E.

Krause-Mishler is indispensable and indisposable as a GENERAL guide for the whole enchilada, but when it comes to specializing in the coinage of one country, let alone single denominations, it does fall short. I myself am fairly ignorant of a lot of these British varieties from an over-reliance on the KM catalog, but at least I have a copy of Spink to supplement, when it comes to the Brit coins. I've long been a "general practitioner" and seldom a specialist, but there are times I do wish my library was more complete.

"Mr. E.". Sounds like "mystery". Ha. I crack me up.

Muygrandeoso

Hi,


Michael Freeman's book was re-published by Spink


I also use Michael Gouby's "The Bronze Penny" It has more varieties listed and a format that is useful for discerning which variety you are looking at. Mr. Gouby was the the one that Spink asked to update the values for the new edition of Freeman.

Chris

au58

So raised lines in the shield are irrelevant, correct?

Muygrandeoso

Correct..

The major differences between the 1879 reverses is a large and small date and thin and thick LH