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 Replies: 16 / Views: 2,744 |
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
449 Posts |
Hello! I recently dug this George III Farthing(Soho mint?) while metal detecting last year and I am unsure as to whether this could be possibly a mint error on the date.  The coin looks to of been coated in some sort of red wax/resin at some stage which is proving a pain to get off. With the exception of the colour the coin is in average, circulated condition with the detail still remaining quite prominent on the coin. This coin would have to be either 1806 or 07 however after looking at examples of the 06 and 07 the is no sign of there being any form of numeral where the 6/7 should be. Do you reckon this could possibly be a mint error or would it be more likely that its PMD? I might try soaking in olive oil for a while to attempt to remove the red stuff. Any suggestions or thoughts on this coin?  |
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Valued Member
Ireland
215 Posts |
Definately looks like theye never was a 6 or 7 there, I would put it down to a mint error, I once had an Italy 50 Lira with the last digit of the date missing completely also, I flogged it on the bay about 5 years ago, I thing I got about £25 for it then.
So yep I would say MINT ERROR
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Valued Member
 United Kingdom
449 Posts |
Thanks for the response Jim, would you say its worth possibly soaking it in olive oil to see if I can remove anymore of the red wax/resin stuff on the surfaces or should I just leave it as it is?
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Im not sure how much help oil would be against wax - I reckon it would just clean the wax.
If its resign then I have no idea what you could do. If its wax, try lightly heating it and cooling it until it flakes off?
When in doubt, get a screw top pot (or a film canister) and fill it with oil. Put the coin in, seal the top and date it. Open it in a few months and see if anything happened.
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
449 Posts |
So far I have soaked it in DI water which did nothing and also acetone which took a tiny bit off. I might try heating it to see if it is wax but to be honest I'm now swaying towards some form of resin. Its now a decision between olive oil, sugar soap(trisodium phosphate) which can be a little bit risky long term or just leaving it as it is. If this is a genuine mint error I would rather have the red stuff on it than damage the coin.
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
449 Posts |
Anyone else have any other opinions or suggestions on this piece?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
Quote:
however after looking at examples of the 06 and 07 the is no sign of there being any form of numeral where the 6/7 should be. No but I would lean toward a 7 based on the left tilt of the 0. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2135 Posts |
If it's wax cover the area with thick brown paper (shiny side up, that is, not against the coin) and then apply a hot iron, and the wax should stick on to the paper.
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
449 Posts |
I'm starting to think this isn't wax now. I poured boiling water over the coin while gently scraping it with a plastic tooth pick and not a single piece came off. I'm pretty sure that is some form of resin now. Would this be quite a common mint error(if it is one) I just can't see how this type of mint error could of happened?
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2135 Posts |
Coinage 123, Firstly, what is the weight, please ? I saw a lot of 1806/1807 halfpennies last year that were found in fields near the Battle of Flodden en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Flodden. Many of these were corroded due to the soil, and several of them seemed to have different digits in the date missing. I'm fairly certain that it was wear or corrosion in the case of the finds. In some specimens, half a digit had disappeared. It's odd how corrosion seems not to be uniform over the whole coin but that is presumably random. Peck doesn't mention anything about dies with missing date digits and he had access to a lot of specimens in mint and EF condition. |
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
449 Posts |
Apologies, I forgot to include the weight in my original post. The farthing weighs 4.64 grams.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2135 Posts |
That seems OK. They were struck at 6 farthings to the ounce, ie on average 4.7 g, probably +- 0.1g is normal.
A worn one should weigh a bit less, and yours has a bit of debris which must weigh something.
Edited by Pertinax
01/30/2013 6:35 pm
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
449 Posts |
Do you reckon that it may be worth contacting Spink or a British milled coin expert(if one exists  ) to see what their oppinions are on this coin? I also have an update on the red stuff. Using a very small amount of acetone I managed to remove a little bit of the red stuff infront of britannia's knee without harming the coin. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
Battle of Flodden ? that was in 1513 ...
- I wonder why there would be significant numbers of 1806~7 farthings deposited 300 years, or so, after the battle ?
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2135 Posts |
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
449 Posts |
I've e-mailed Spink and couple of other people to see what their opinions are on it. I will let you know what sort of response I get back.
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Replies: 16 / Views: 2,744 |
Posted 01/27/2013 09:08 am
