Canberra Florins

[autocoupler]

I'm no expert, but looks like a gouge to me. Reminds me of days in the apprentice compound with hammer and chisel

[Basil]

I'm no expert, but looks like a gouge to me. Reminds me of days in the apprentice compound with hammer and chisel

Thanks for the reply,that was my first instinct as well but i'm not so sure now.
My learned friend seems to think the 'overlap' type tongue thing(green arrows) is too neatly formed to be done by a blow or gouge,he seems to think it was done when minted due to a die fault,you can see the groove its moved along which(i'm told) would be when the metal was hot during the actual strike, but TBH i'm just confused.

[trout]

It does look like a "Hit" to me Basil

[Nevol]

IMO It looks like it's had a nasty hit and the metal has been displaced, hence the scrape (groove).

[Basil]

Ok..i'm getting out-voted here.

[Basil]

Thanks for all the replies,thats why i posted to get some second opinions.
Spoke to my 'friend' again last night,he's been involved in Stamps/Coins for 70 years,50 of that as a dealer,he's adamant that it was caused by the strike.Reasons being the pressure required to move the 'tongue' to a position 45 degrees from where it should be,without damage,would take enormous force.The groove is the width & depth of a matchstick,impossible to gain enough force to do anything except cut a thin line in the Coin.He seems to think it was one of the original minted Coins,possibly even a trial/test Coin.
Anyway all this this is distracting from the 'railing' so if anyone finds a similar Coin could they post here.I won't be selling the Coin so no time limit.

[markn]

Thanks for all the replies,thats why i posted to get some second opinions.
Spoke to my 'friend' again last night,he's been involved in Stamps/Coins for 70 years,50 of that as a dealer,he's adamant that it was caused by the strike.Reasons being the pressure required to move the 'tongue' to a position 45 degrees from where it should be,without damage,would take enormous force.The groove is the width & depth of a matchstick,impossible to gain enough force to do anything except cut a thin line in the Coin.He seems to think it was one of the original minted Coins,possibly even a trial/test Coin.
Anyway all this this is distracting from the 'railing' so if anyone finds a similar Coin could they post here.I won't be selling the Coin so no time limit.

Unfortunately he's wrong.  That's definitely a hit that has displaced metal.  I have seen similar things on cupro nickel coins and that's a significantly tougher material than sterling silver.

[Basil]

OK Mark,thats what he said,but it happened during the strike.How could anyone or anything apply that much force unless the metal was hot,it would destroy the whole area,the groove is microscopic,the PMD hit would have to be the size of a pin head.I'm sorry but after he explained everything i can see how it had to happen during the strike,foreign matter or die flaw but something has warped that area with considerable pressure/force.
Anyway i appreciate the opinions,its certainly been a fast learning curve for me since i found this coin,i'm not sure Digital Microscopes are a good thing or not..LOL.

[keldaw]

get rid of it quick ,

   it spells danger .

[Unicorn]

get rid of it quick ,
 it spells danger .

Well spotted Kel, I didn't see that earlier ... :winkextra:

[Basil]

get rid of it quick ,

   it spells danger .

..eh,this is my Fav. coin until i loose interest,(probaly Tomorrow),the  coin has attracted a lot of attention,some more Pics. Emailed off tonite so see what happens.
The 'hit' is a distraction,the Railing is the big one.

[trout]

Don't you dare get get rid of this coin Basil.
It is a great example of a three stepper and a tiny little hit dosn't  do this coin any harm.
Nice looking coin Mate, well worth hanging onto :ok:

[Basil]

Don't you dare get get rid of this coin Basil.
It is a great example of a three stepper and a tiny little hit dosn't  do this coin any harm.
Nice looking coin Mate, well worth hanging onto :ok:

Thanks Jim,no its not going anywhere other than into my coffin(LOL).

Collector friend got back to me this morning,just finished going thru his 27 PH's.Same as me,no expert just a hobby collector but has decades of knowledge.He didn't find a similar coin but made a couple of good points however.The damage, to his eyes, looks like the coin has taken a hit from somewhere with the groove etc.,but the odds of it happening in the exact spot to cause a section of the facade to peel back is just not plausible.So end result that is  one for the experts.
2nd point he made is that the bag/bin marks near the Kings Ear means there were other coins minted at the same time so unless the batch was destroyed with only souvenirs kept there should be others hiding out there with the 'railing'.
I've sent the Pics. to a couple more Dealers so time will tell.

[Unicorn]

I have seen similar things on cupro nickel coins and that's a significantly tougher material than sterling silver.

Sorry Basil but I really have to agree with Mark. (Please excuse my danger post I threw in while I was searching for a reasonable example ...... just found it).

I hope the pics below express it properly.

[trout]

I have had a really good look at the "Handrail" images you have put up Basil and have come to the conclusion that the parallel line that makes up the top of the handrail is in fact part of the design,  you can  see exactly the same thing on the left at the top of the steps.
The vertical part of the "Handrail" is either a small "Nick" or a carbon spot/blemish.

The Detail that you think are part of a handrail are a part of the design that is normally only found on well struck examples, some people refer to them as the 4th step.

The microscope cameras can pick up all sorts of things on a coin that can change with the angle it is looked at because of the lights in the unit hit the coin at differing angles and produce different images of the same coin, The same thing can be done with any camera setup :ok:

Thank you for bringing this up Basil, I have enjoyed working out what your "Handrail" is :good: