Description Question

ahh that makes perfect sense and I did think that h might stand for hours but I didn't put 2 and 2 together... and pressumably the coins where the information is not listed would be likely be ones with it at 12h.

One thing I have never liked about USA coinage is the die axis (presumably it would be listed 3h?) it means that in albums all the reverses are upside down.

Thanks JW

Then you would most probably be wrong. With Ancients, die axis is not uniform and most people pay no attention to the axis because it means so little, unlike modern coins.

There are some coins that are very regularly one specific die axis. Most are 12H or 6H but there are types that are usually 3H or 9H. There are coins so regular in this that a specimen not correct is almost certainly fake. However 90% of coins are so sloppy on the matter that it means very little. The trick is knowing which ones are which.

If you wonder why anyone would make a 9H coin just hold a coin with thumb at the bottom and forefinger on top. Rotate your wrist so the thumb is at the right and the forefinger is left. Perfectly normal, isn't it? Check your 5th century Athenian owls. Newstyle owls, however are regularly 12H. Why they changed, I do not know.

US coinage has die axis "6 h". That is, when the obverse is up, the top of the reverse is down (at 6 o'clock).
-- Warren