Author: BNS Blog Coordinator

The period 1876-1880 is far less complicated than the previous period but still has a few complications which need to be covered. In the year 1876 a new obverse started to appear although the reverse die was not changed and continued in use until 1880. Coins using the new narrow ribbon obverse die where minted along with coins that used the previous wide ribbon obverse die for the years 1876 and 1877. This new obverse die continued until 1880, when a new obverse die of 136 denticles bearing the fifth head started to be used.. The half sovereign is the only denomination on which die numbers can be found on coins bearing the date 1880. The various types of half sovereigns that were minted in 1880 will be explained later.

                                              Three separate arguments are presented which completely reject the hypothesis that onlytwelve pearls were included in the original design of the Jubilee Head gold half sovereignnecklace. Examination of the entire set of sixteen redesigned coin denominations shows that oneach and every one a string of pearls runs up to the edge of the neck, and then terminates witha final pearl positioned mainly over the empty field. This final pearl was obviously intended tovisually facilitate linking between the hanging pendant and the necklace. There is absolutely nopossibility that the final pearl found on essentially all half sovereigns struck at three differentmints over a seven year period was caused by a random die flaw or striking problem, sincequality control inspectors would never tolerate such an obvious and persistent defect. Athirteen pearl necklace is undoubtedly the normal configuration for the Jubilee Head halfsovereign, while a twelve pearl necklace is the extremely rare anomaly. Please click here to read the article.

In Part 1, which covered the years 1863 to 1869, if you excluded the years 1863 and 1864, theremaining years follow a similar pattern with the die numbers starting at 1 each year andseemingly completing a range. After 1869 the die numbers used do not follow any pattern withdifferent types of half sovereign being minted in the same year, some bearing the same dienumber although they are different varieties of half sovereign. Using the Spink referencenumbers I will detail which coins appear in which years and the die numbers that have beenrecorded to date. All the different varieties will be fully explained after the details for the 1871die number half sovereigns have been given.

A new variety of Jubilee Head gold half sovereign having only twelve pearls in the Queen’s necklace has been confirmed, and the first examples from the Royal Mint in London have been discovered. Based on size and position of the thirteenth pearl found on the vast majority of coins, it is proposed that this last pearl was not present on the master hub, but was individually punched onto each working die. On rare occasions this extra punch was accidentally neglected, resulting in coins displaying only twelve pearls in the necklace. Examples of twelve pearl varieties are reported for five of the eleven date/mint combinations of the Jubilee Head issue from 1887 to 1893, including 1887 proofs. Please click here to read the article.

On reading Michael Marsh’s books on the Gold Half Sovereign. I decided some years ago tocommence an exercise to see what die numbers still existed and to see if the reason for theiradoption could be ascertained. The gold half sovereign denomination is an excellentdenomination to look at as the use of die numbers on half sovereigns occurred over thelongest period, that is 1863-1880 inclusive.