A few years ago Dave Greenhalgh published a blog about some unusual reverse dies of Edward I Class 1c pennies. Three examples of reverse dies were presented where the beaded inner circle was misaligned relative to the die sinker’s circular guideline. It was hypothesized that this could be an error or a privy mark of a particular die sinker.
These suggestions just didn’t “feel right”. In this note I would like to suggest an alternative and simpler hypothesis – that a single curved punch bearing the beaded quarter circle was used to create the sections of the beaded inner circle. When entered incorrectly, the beaded inner circle is misaligned relative to the guideline.
A further example from Berwick-upon-Tweed will be presented to support this hypothesis. The hypothesis is also testable on other reverse dies.
BNS Research Blog 