The St. Patrick Halfpenny: Do all examples have the brass splash?
1834
Posts: 62
I was looking over my St. Pat and comparing it to various other online images and wondering if they all had the brass splash on the crown and how it was applied before striking. Was it allowed to solidify before striking or was it still molten? And finally on well worn examples are the were patterns indicitive of the difference in metallic properties and did the brass ever fall off/out???
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I do not know the answer to the rest of your questions.
RYK
<< <i>I was looking over my St. Pat and comparing it to various other online images and wondering if they all had the brass splash on the crown and how it was applied before striking. Was it allowed to solidify before striking or was it still molten? And finally on well worn examples are the were patterns indicitive of the difference in metallic properties and did the brass ever fall off/out??? >>
I have been fortunate to have handled about 40% of all the extant specimens of St. Patrick's coinage over the years. Here is what I have learned:
1. All that I have seen to date have the brash splasher. Occasionally the splasher will tone over (or be covered with a layer of dirt) to the same shade as the surrounding coin, but all I have seen have it present.
2. Occasionally there will be more than one splasher. This was accidental.
3. I think there was more than one way the splasher was put on. Some seem to have molten metal dripped onto the blank planchet prior to striking. Others seem to have had a small round "slug" placed on the plachet prior to striking. I'm not sure which came first.
3. I haven't seen one where the splasher fell out, but I have seen several/many where their has been an attempt to scrape off the splasher (presumably in the mistaken belief that it was made out of gold).
4. Since brass and copper are of similar hardness and wear resistance, I have seen no difference in their wear patterns.
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