1966 50c Reverse Die Cracks

[purplepennyhunter]

I want to see your crack, 1966 silvers please on the reverse. Anyone got any?

[enworb]

I have not seen cracks, plenty of laminations/planchet flaws though.

[Australian coin]

Haven’t heard of them before?
Did see a pic of a slight lamination

[purplepennyhunter]

I haven't had the chance yet to look at my 1966 50c. A RAM statement from 1968 says they had problems with striking pressure needed to strike up the roo and emu on the reverse and the legends on the obverse. This resulted in  reverse die cracking and a shorter life of the dies.  They went so far as to have the Defense Standards Lab test the pressures needed and order modified dies from the Royal Mint in London. This statement was before they'd decided to change the shape,composition so I expect that none of these new dies were ever used.

[Australian coin]

Just putting it out there, could it be something as simple as the double bar?

[Mister T]

This may be relevant.

When in 1968 was the statement made?

[purplepennyhunter]

This may be relevant.

When in 1968 was the statement made?

I hadn't thought it be as simple as that but you may have hit it on the head. The statement was by the RAM controller in Jan 1968 published in the Third Annual RAM Annual Report 1966-67.

Maybe Andrew (the author of the Sterling and Currency article) might come along and comment.

[Mister T]

I checked my 1966 50c pieces and I couldn't see any reverse die cracks.

Also, could it be that the new dies had a new composition rather than a modified design?

[purplepennyhunter]

Well they didn't produce any more round 50c and changed to the dodecagonal shape after that.

[errorsarebest]

As I recall, they went away from the round 50 cent coins because at the time some senior citizens were mistaking them for 20 cent coins.

[purplepennyhunter]

It mentions that too and justifies it by saying that English florins and half-crowns circulated together since 1849 without confusion and New Zealand 50c and 20c appear readily acceptible, were we just whingers?

[Mister T]

Maybe, but the New Zealand 50c had interrupted milling, so it wasn't all bad.
I'm not sure how they managed before though. I mixed some New Zealand florins hand half-crowns together and they all looked the same to me.

Also, when was the change to a dodecagonal 50c piece decided?

[purplepennyhunter]

50c Timeline

[Mister T]

Ah thanks. Is there a month when the last circulation 1966 50c pieces were struck? Seems like it was before the end of 1966 going by the timeline.

[Fordprefect]

A good article. From the Political side's perspective.

A number of dodecagonal designs had been submitted
for the '66 & '67 coins.

The rising Silver price was the prime motivation to go Cupro
the dodecagonal shape pacified the old farts. :yahoo: