In 1867, a new bust of Victoria was introduced in the sixpence series.
The "Standard Catalogue of English Coins", now published by Spink, formerly by Seaby, does not acknowledge that 1867 and 1868 were transition years in the change of obverse, with both obverses appearing in both years. The Catalogue considers 1866 to be a clear cutoff, with only the new obverse die used from 1867 onwards.
ESC (at least the 1974 edition I have) is the same as Seaby/Spink, and considers there to be a clear cutoff at the end of 1866, with no overlapping years. Hardly surprisng, considering Herbert Seaby was involved with authoring both books.
"British Silver Coins Since 1816" by Peter Davies is the only reference book which gets it right, although on the numbers known to me, his relative prices are a bit out. Davies is also the only reference which considers the obverse die introduced in 1858 as a separate die - the others ignore it.
Here's a scan of Obv 2 (on the left) and Obv 3 (on the right). (These are Obv1 and Obv2 if you're using Seaby/Spink.)
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/jrg_from_oz/186768sdD2D3.jpg)
The obvious difference is in the positioning of the colon following BRITANNIAR. There are a couple of other subtle differences (such as the truncation to the bust, and the number and size of rim beads), but the colon is very easy to pick.
This whole die number period is, in my opinion, one of the most fertile grounds for study in the whole GB series.
John
Thanks for posting this. I think you're right about the die number period being fertile ground for study. While I don't really know how prevalent the use of die numbers were but I get the idea that varieties abounded back then.
And I'm guessing that obverse 2 (the one on the left) is the old one while obverse 3 (the one on the right) was then used from 1869 onwards?
Out of curiosity, is there any pattern to the die usage i.e. is the old obverse used with lower die numbers and the new obverse used with high die numbers or something like that? And were both obverses sometimes used for the same die number?
There is a definite pattern, in that more Obv2 than Obv3 were used in 1867, and more Obv3 than Obv2 in 1868 - consistent with Obv2 being phased out and replaced by Obv3.
So in 1867 we have all die numbers 1-20 known with Obv2.
In 1868 we have all die numbers 1-16 known with Obv3.
Then it gets murky.
In 1867 there are 6 die numbers in the 1-20 range known to be matched with both Obv2 and Obv3. But the numbers range from 2 to 20, with no apparent pattern.
In 1867, we also have dies 21, 22 and 24 known with Obv3 only.
In 1868, we have 5 die numbers in the range 1-9 known to be matched with both Obv2 and Obv3.
So, while the pattern is generally consistent with Obv3 being introduced sometime in 1867, and Obv2 being phased out during 1868, there are enough inconsistencies to keep us all guessing
It's important to remember that my data is an amalgamation of information supplied by a number of collectors over many years. While collectively we would have examined thousands of coins, it is always possible that another combination remains to be discovered. That's what keeps the search interesting!
John
Just thought I'd revive this topic from 14 years ago to hopefully attract some comments from newer members.
John
My sixpence collection is sparse before 1873, but I have an 1866 Sixpence and will compare it to these. You would expect some change after nearly 50 years of the same coin.
Here is my 1866 Sixpence
1866 six.jpg1866 6d2.jpg
The main difference I see is the portrait of the Queen is smaller and the letterin is thicker and rim thinner than later coins.
The coin is only Fine though and photo overexposed.