The Jubilee Head Gold Half Sovereign 1887-1893A special publication by David Iverson

Edited by Steve Hill

Including a fixed price sale catalogue of the

David Iverson Collection of Jubilee Head Gold Half Sovereignsavailable to purchase from

32 St George Street | London | W1S 2EAwww.sovr.co.uk | +44 20 3019 1185 | info@sovr.co.uk

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INTRODUCTIONWelcome to this detailed study of the Victorian Jubilee Head gold currency Half Sovereigns, which is coupled together with the sale catalogue of the most comprehensive collection of such coins that has thus far ever been assembled.

For me, it was a logical next step, following on from my study of the Sovereigns of this series to form the accompanying collection. I was also encouraged and indeed urged, to research the Half Sovereigns further by several collectors and dealers, who have been most complimentary about my previous work. I hope that this latest study will live up to those expectations and add to the knowledge and enjoyment of these intriguing gold coins.

Prior to my study of any of the Jubilee Head gold coins, there had in fact been more information published about the Half Sovereigns than the Sovereigns. However, I have to say that much of that information has been confusing, conflicting, incomplete and at times incorrect. I will attempt here to present a much clearer picture of these interesting gold coins and undo some of the commonly repeated inaccurate and misplaced understandings.

BRIEF FACTS AND FIGURES FOR CURRENCY HALF SOVEREIGNS

All the Sydney Mint dated 1887, all Melbourne Mint dated 1887, but just a very small proportion of London produced 1887 gold Half Sovereigns have variations of the J.E.B. initials with a hooked J on the truncation of the Queen. All hooked J type 1887 gold Half Sovereigns are rare.

A very small proportion of London 1887 Half Sovereigns have no J.E.B. initials on the truncation. These are rare.

The majority of 1887 London Half Sovereigns seen, are of the “imperfect J” variety.

All Half Sovereigns for 1887, across all three Mints are of the “High Shield” variety.

1889-1893 Half Sovereigns across the three Mints can be “High” or “Low Shield” variety. Some are extremely common, others are scarce, rare or very rare.

Post 1887 the vast majority of gold Half Sovereigns have no J.E.B. initials on the truncation.

All Half Sovereigns 1889-1893 with J.E.B. initials demonstrate the “imperfect J” variety.

There are some Half Sovereigns where there appears, under strong magnification, to be the very faintest trace of J.E.B. initials. It is not yet clear if this is where on some dies the initials were removed, or more likely due to extreme die wear from excessive die longevity. In such cases I would categorise these coins as no J.E.B. on truncation.

By far the most common Half Sovereign is the London 1892, Low Shield, with no J.E.B. on truncation. Previously for some reason this has sometimes been described as scarce. It is not, it is extremely common.

Just over 97% of all Jubilee Head Half Sovereigns minted are London.

Just under 2% of all Jubilee Head Half Sovereigns minted are Sydney.

Just under 1% of all Jubilee Head Half Sovereigns minted are Melbourne.

All Melbourne Jubilee Head Half Sovereigns have J.E.B. initials depicted on the truncation.

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TERMINOLOGY AND DESCRIPTIONS

There has to date, been very confusing and conflicting descriptions in regard to Jubilee Head gold Half Sovereigns, particularly in the detailing of the J.E.B. initials that appear on the truncation of the portrait of Queen Victoria.

All 1887 Sydney and all 1887 Melbourne along with a very small proportion of 1887 London have the J.E.B. initials with a hooked type J. The J in these cases is always distinctly rounded and hooked as you would expect for an upper case J. These should always be referred to as “HOOKED J”. It is not helpful to use the terms, normal J, or standard J as has been seen in other previous articles and publications.

The vast majority of 1887 London Half Sovereigns and ALL later dates for all three Mints, where there are J.E.B. initials present, show the J either as a reversed L, or looking more like an upper case letter I. There are various slight variations both to the shape of the J and the positioning of the initials and stops. All such coins should be referred to as “IMPERFECT J”. It is not helpful to use the terms normal J, standard J, J as an I, or I.E.B. as seen in other publications.

Hopefully using just these two descriptions and using them correctly to differentiate the two very different J.E.B. initial types it will subsequently lead to much greater clarity.

The other issue that causes a very great deal of confusion is between the High and Low Shields. Previously they have been quite frequently wrongly described and listed.

The reverses are clearly quite different and the easiest way to determine which is which is to look at the date. On the “High Shield” the two parts of the date are closer together. On the “Low Shield” the two parts are much wider spread.

The other aspect that distinctly differs is the distance from the base of the shield each side, to what is the “bottoms” of the letters in the surrounding legend. With the “High Shield” there is a distinct gap of just over a millimetre. The “Low Shield” has the base of the shield with a much smaller gap to the letters of the legend.

TWO SIGNIFICANT AUCTIONS

RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIAOn the 29th-30th November 2005 the Reserve Bank of Australia held a major auction in conjunction with Downies of 5,850 gold coins. There were various world coins, but unsurprisingly the majority were gold Sovereigns and Half Sovereigns minted in Australia. The sale came about because the Reserve Bank had accumulated vast quantities of gold coinage between 1929 and 1976, when the law required the Australian public to sell any gold coins in their possession to the bank.

Whilst this was a vast auction of gold coins, it was merely a selection of an even greater number, which were either deemed to be very common or low grade; or had already been melted down or sold off as bullion.

The auction itself is very significant in regard to Jubilee Head gold Half Sovereign series for the following reasons:

Firstly, it revealed that variations previously not noted, existed; thus stimulating interest in the series. However, the downside was that it sowed the seeds of some misunderstandings that have existed for the last 14 years, which I now wish to put right.

Whilst 1887 Sydney and Melbourne Mint Half Sovereigns with previously unrecorded J.E.B. variations were indeed identified, due to limited space or inaccurate listing description, it was not clear that each Mint’s dies were each unique to that mint. For example an ‘1887 Sydney small spread J.E.B.’ does not have the same J.E.B. initials on the truncation as an ‘1887 Melbourne small spread J.E.B.’ as each of the dies used at these Mints has the initials punched in by hand, so the positioning differs.

A further legacy of that auction was that given the quantity of coins sold and the fact that new variations were discovered, a common assumption was that no further variations existed. This was not the case and indeed there are variations now identified of which there were no examples in the auction.

A last important point to note is that, as previously mentioned, before the auction, vast quantities of coins were sold off as bullion or melted down. Only coins either deemed of good grades or having some numismatic rarity value were auctioned. The auctioneer sold some of the numismatic or high grade

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coins individually, and some as bulk lots. However, just because six of one particular variation and only one of another appeared in the auction, it should not be concluded automatically that the one is rare and the six common. It is quite possible that the six were in the auction because they were considered much rarer than the one more common variety in high grade, and that many more of the common variety were previously melted or sold outside of the auction, hence only the single appearance.

QUARTERMASTER COLLECTIONThe Quartermaster auction was held in Australia on 4th June 2009 by Monetarium. This was a very substantial auction of very rare and high grade coins formed by a prominent Australian collector over many years. However, understandably, not all the Half Sovereign varieties now identified in this publication were present in that auction. There are only three 1887 Sydney J.E.B. variations and just two 1887 Melbourne variations of the gold Half Sovereign present in the Quartermaster sale.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank the following people for their help, encouragement and support in various ways:

Steve Hill, Julie Lecoindre and Graham Byfield at Sovereign Rarities Ltd, 32 St George Street, London, W1S 2EA. www.sovr.co.uk

Eric Eigner of Drake Sterling Numismatics, Australia.

London Coins Ltd, in particular Semra and Paul.

Andrew Thorburn.

Peter Withers.

REFERENCES and BIBLIOGRAPHY

The National Archives, Kew, London.

Coins of England and the United Kingdom Standard Catalogue of British Coins, 54th edition. London: Spink & Son Ltd. 2019

The Gold Sovereign, by Michael A. Marsh, revised edition by Steve Hill. Exeter: Token Publishing Ltd. 2017

Misunderstood or too difficult?, by B Unsworth, Coin News article, edition of December 2008. Exeter: Token Publishing Ltd. 2008

Reserve Bank of Australia, auction catalogue, 29th November 2005. Melbourne: Downies 2005

Quartermaster, auction catalogue, 4th June 2009. Adelaide: Monetarium 2009

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ROYAL MINT LONDON 1887

DISH NUMBERS L501-L508The lead up to the introduction of the new Jubilee Head coins in June 1887 was very protracted and had been beset by much indecision and delay. I do not intend to retell the whole background story here as that has been done many times before. One just needs to understand that it had a very great impact on the Jubilee Head gold Half Sovereigns as indeed with other denominations in 1887.

What is clear is that there was a rush to get Half Sovereign dies into production, so that there would be coins with the new image of the Queen ready for distribution at the time of the Golden Jubilee in June 1887.

In unison with the production of new Sovereign dies, in April 1887, it is known that six Obverse and six Reverse dies for the gold Half Sovereign were shipped to both the Sydney (S) and Melbourne (M) Mints in Australia (DISH S501-506, M501-506). All demonstrated the J.E.B. initials on the truncation, using a Hooked type J, hand punched into each individual Obverse die by Royal Mint employee William Poplett, so each were unique in their arrangement of these initials. Clearly, at the same time some early dies were produced for use in London too, again with the J.E.B. initials punched onto each Obverse die by hand. It would seem logical to assume therefore that there were six obverse dies produced for London. To date I have identified five different arrangements of the J.E.B. initials on the truncation with the hooked type J (DISH L502-506). For 1887 a very much larger number of later dies were produced with the J.E.B. already present on the master dies with the “Imperfect J” (DISH L508). The J is in fact much more like an upper case letter I, or sometimes like a right angled J, or reversed L. The number of dies utilised were indeed large. For the whole London Production of 1887 162 Obverse and 83 Reverse Half Sovereign dies were used. All the Reverse dies were of the “High Shield” variety.

There was great concern at the Royal Mint about ‘metal flow’ with the resulting new image on the coins and to try to assist with this perceived issue, silver was added to the alloy for the 1887 gold coins produced in London, giving a distinctive yellow colour. Clearly there were continuing production issues as only just under 50% of the gold Half Sovereigns struck in London in 1887 made it past the quality control process.

Records show of the 1,771,425 coins that were struck, the final mintage figure of coins issued was 871,770. There is also a different figure of 841,200 which is more commonly quoted, a difference of 30,570. There is a possible explanation for this difference which I will examine and set out below:

The Royal Mint annual report for 1887 states that an average of 14,460 Half Sovereigns were produced per pair of dies. However, given that just over 50% of the coins produced were rejected that gives us an average figure of around 7,000 actually released for circulation. This average figure reduces further to around 5,500 per Obverse die, given that 162 obverse dies were utilised in combination with 83 Reverses.

Quality control would have been observed even more closely on the very first Half Sovereigns produced, so even this 5,500 figure should be seen as high when production began in May 1887.

As previously stated, it is a reasonable assumption that six initial pairs of dies of Hooked J type were produced for use in London at the same time as six of each were produced and sent to both the Sydney and Melbourne Mints in April 1887, also with Hooked J. To date physical evidence exists that five were certainly used in London. There were also a very small number of dies used at London with no J.E.B. initials at all on the truncation (DISH L501).

The number of such Obverse dies used with no J.E.B. initials is unknown but on the evidence of the number of examples of coins still existing, found today, I would suggest that the figure would be no more than three obverse dies.

In theory if all six Hooked J, type J.E.B. and three ‘no J.E.B.’ dies were utilised, with their total production accounting for the 30,570 difference in the annual reported figures, that would equate to a mintage figure of just under 3,400 coins per pair of dies.

The 871,770 figure is very clearly stated as the total mintage figure by the Royal Mint in their annual report of 1887. All later Royal Mint annual reports and statements quote the lower figure of 841,200, which may therefore refer to the mintage of the 1887 imperfect J variety.

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Having dealt with the initial coins struck, using a handful of dies, the vast bulk of the 1887 year’s production was produced from a very much larger number of dies, the obverses of which had had the J.E.B. initials already placed onto the Queen’s truncation on the master dies with the “Imperfect J” variety. There are, as previously mentioned, some slight differences between these initials. Some show the J very much as an I. On others there is a sharp right-angled J, looking more like a reversed L. The J.E.B. initials can be slightly higher or lower on the truncation, though all tend to have the B and the last stop very much off the bottom of the truncation into the field.

These coins should all be described as ‘Imperfect J’ and are all very common. There are some of these coins where there is a distinct raised area in the field in front of the Queens chin. There are also some minor variations to some of the reverses. All of these variations are minor, and I do not consider them rare or significant enough to differentiate further. Therefore all the “Imperfect J” types of 1887 are categorised under the same DISH number.

An example of the 1887 High-Shield reverse is illustrated below:

DISH L501

HIGH SHIELD

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DISH L502 DISH L503

7

DISH L504 DISH L505

8

DISH L506 DISH L507

DISH L508

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ROYAL MINT LONDON 1890DISH NUMBERS L509 -L512

Throughout the short Jubilee Head coinage series 1887-93, changes were being made. All of the gold Half Sovereigns in 1887 across all three mints had been of the High Shield Reverse type.

Seemingly there were no Half Sovereigns at all minted in 1888, though there is evidence that 1888 dated dies were sent to both Sydney and Melbourne Mints in Australia, and therefore it is possible an 1888 London die could have been prepared, however no physical genuine coin has been seen to date by the author, and it would be very interesting if a genuine coin was to one day turn up.

For the year 1889 just the Sydney Mint issued gold Half Sovereigns, and the Reverse dies showed a significant change in that all were of the “Low Shield” variety.

In 1890 London once again started Half Sovereign production and the change from High to Low Shield happened during this year. One assumes that the production of the High Shield reverse coins dated 1890 were produced the earliest that year, probably using up stock of high shield dies left over from the 1887 production runs, though fresh high shield dies could have been produced in deference to the low shield ones that had been sent to the Sydney Mint the year before dated 1889.

For the date 1890 the Obverse dies used have no J.E.B. initials on the truncation and were coupled with the high shield reverse die (DISH L509). That is to say at least, that none seem to exist today which display the J.E.B. initials. As with all Jubilee Head coinage one can never say never with any certainty that none were ever produced and perhaps an example may one day turn up with the J.E.B. initials (DISH L510).

The later, newer Reverse dies dated 1890 were of the Low Shield variety, and from my observations and research, I would suggest that about 70% of the year’s production was High Shield and 30% Low Shield variety. Just to make things even more complicated it would seem that about half of the newer Low Shield Reverse dies were coupled with an Obverse die with no J.E.B. initials (DISH L511), and the other half with an Obverse Die with J.E.B. initials on the truncation (DISH L512); those with initials being of the “imperfect J” type.

HIGH SHIELD

LOW SHIELD

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DISH L509

DISH L510

DISH L511

DISH L512

L511

L512

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ROYAL MINT LONDON 1891DISH NUMBER L513

All gold Half Sovereigns for London dated 1891 appear to have been produced using the Low Shield Reverse dies coupled with Obverse dies without J.E.B. initials on the truncation. As ever though, just a word of caution, as one should always be aware of the chances of coming across the unexpected, and perhaps something different to the known variety turning up one day.

DISH L513

ROYAL MINT LONDON 1892DISH NUMBERS L514-L517

This is a most interesting and significant year for gold Half Sovereign production. Firstly, for the vast number of coins produced, 13,680,486. This is by far the highest annual output of Jubilee Head Half Sovereigns and indeed the highest yearly mintage figure of Half Sovereigns ever, before or since.

To put this figure into context in terms of Jubilee Head Half Sovereign production, it represents just under 75% of all the Jubilee Head Half Sovereigns produced.

There are clear reasons for this vast ramping up of production. During the 1880’s there had been concern about the costs of producing and having to keep replacing Half Sovereigns. They were in constant use and due to that wear were having to be recalled. In 1887 as part of the launch of the new coinage, silver Crowns and a new denomination the silver Double-Florin of four shillings were minted and circulated.

The expectation was that these coins being much larger and hard wearing would significantly reduce the need for, and use of, gold Half Sovereigns. The problem was the public hated them. They were large and heavy and the two silver denominations were far too similar in size, causing confusion. Colloquially the silver Double Florin became known as the “Barmaid’s nightmare” as all too often the four shilling piece was being passed at five shillings in darkly lit places like public houses.

The silver Double-Florin therefore ceased production after just four years, the last dated 1890, and there continued to be great public demand for gold Half Sovereigns, which were not available in large enough numbers, which was rectified by the large issue of 1892 dated Half Sovereigns.

By now the vast number of dies being used were the Low Shield Reverses again coupled with no J.E.B. type Obverse dies (DISH L516). There are however, a small number of High Shield coins to be found (DISH L514-515). It is therefore reasonable to assume that given the vast number of coins required that older unused High Shield Reverse dies were dug out of storage and used once again.

I would put the figures at around 95% being Low Shield and 5% High Shield’

It appears that a tiny number of Low Shield Reverse coins exist with the J.E.B. initials on the truncation (DISH L517). These are extremely rare. There was just one in the Reserve Bank of Australia auction of 2005, Lot 351, mentioned previously.

L513

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DISH L514

DISH L515

DISH L516

DISH L517

L514

L516

ROYAL MINT LONDON 1893DISH NUMBER L518

1893 was the year during which the new image of the Queen, referred to as either, ‘VEILED HEAD’ or ‘OLD HEAD’, was introduced. Production of gold Half Sovereigns switched from Jubilee Heads to Old Heads halfway through the year. A total of 4,426,625 Half Sovereigns were issued in 1893. Until now, that figure has just been quoted as the total for both heads, with the general assumption that there were more Old Head coins issued than Jubilee Heads. In fact the split between the two is very dramatic. The breakdown is very clearly recorded in the Royal Mint annual report for 1893. Of that previously mentioned total for the year, just 186,218 were Jubilee Heads. This is only just over 4% of the year’s output. This is by far the lowest annual number of London Jubilee Head Half Sovereigns produced.

It would seem that all Jubilee Head Half Sovereigns for 1893 were Low Shield, no J.E.B. variety.

L518

DISH L518

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SYDNEY MINT AUSTRALIA 1887DISH NUMBERS S501-S506

In April 1887 The Royal Mint in London sent six pairs of gold Half Sovereign Dies to Sydney, Australia, with the new effigy of Queen Victoria ready for production to begin in June to coincide with the Golden Jubilee celebrations. The six Obverse dies had not had the J.E.B. initials added on the master die. Therefore, the initials were punched onto each individual die by hand and this was done by Royal Mint employee William Poplett. Because this work was done by hand the positioning of the initials and the stops differ on the six dies. Some are quite similar and others significantly different but all six are each unique in their variety.

All six Obverse dies were used and there are examples of all six in existence today. However, whilst we have figures for the average number of coins produced per pair of dies, production per individual pair of dies probably varied considerably. This would of course be the case for any mint for any year. This does seem to have been particularly the case here. Given the mintage figure for Sydney 1887, all are at the very least scarce, however one of the J.E.B. initials variations DISH number S.503, turns up as frequently as all the others put together. This makes the other five either rare or very rare indeed.

There were also gold Young Head Half Sovereigns produced by the Sydney Mint dated 1887. Some young head type were produced prior to the production of coins using the new Jubilee type dies and some were struck later, as confirmed in a letter from Sydney Mint to The Royal Mint in London. Sydney only ever received the initial six pairs of Jubilee Head Half Sovereign dies used in 1887.

The Sydney Mint annual report for 1887 quotes 19,000 as the average production of Half Sovereigns for that year per pair of dies.

A total of 134,000 Half Sovereigns were issued.

I would suggest that two pairs of Young Head dies were used as there were production runs of this type before and after jubilee type coins dated 1887.

8 X 19,000 = 152,000

However, we know that a percentage of coins minted are rejected during the quality control process. In London for 1887 the rejected Half Sovereigns amounted to 50% of production. That figure would be expected to be very much lower at Sydney where they did not have the luxury of new dies available instantly. Therefore often, coins deemed substandard at London would be considered acceptable by Sydney.In a letter dated 17th November 1887 from Robert Hunt, Deputy Master at Sydney, to Charles Fremantle, Deputy Master at London, Hunt states that 12% of gold coin production has had to be rejected.

HIGH SHIELD

14

DISH S501 DISH S502

15

DISH S503 DISH S504

16

DISH S505 DISH S506

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SYDNEY MINT AUSTRALIA 1889DISH NUMBER S507

In 1889 the Sydney Mint produced 64,000 gold Half Sovereigns. The mintage figure has previously been widely quoted as being 32,000 in error. This error most likely came about by mistaking the face value of the year’s output for the number of coins.

Even at 64,000, this is a very low mintage and Sydney 1889 Half Sovereigns are rare.

There are slight die variations and attention is sometimes drawn to the existence of 12 and 13 pearl necklace differences. To be honest, there are other more easily identified differences, both on the Obverse and Reverse dies. In my opinion these differences are minor and all Half Sovereigns of this Mint and date are rare, so I am not differentiating between them and they are being allocated just one DISH number.

All are Low Shield Reverse with Imperfect J type J.E.B. initials on the truncation.

DISH S507

SYDNEY MINT AUSTRALIA 1891DISH NUMBERS S508-S509

154,000 gold Half Sovereigns were produced in this year. Once again, as with the 1889 figures, the mintage figure for this year has been previously erroneously quoted at half of the actual figure. The same mistake having been made of quoting the face value of the output rather than the number of coins.

There are two very distinct Obverse types for this year. One with the Imperfect J type J.E.B. initials on the truncation (DISH S509), and the other with no J.E.B. initials at all (DISH S508).

The coins with the J.E.B. initials on truncation are very much in the minority, and I estimate that ratio as being about 15% with the J.E.B. initials and 85% without.

All 1891 Sydney Mint Half Sovereigns are High Shield, which is surprising given that the 1889 Sydney coins were Low Shield. One does have to wonder about when particular dies were created and the order in which they were used.

Given the intermittent years of minting of gold Half Sovereigns and in very small numbers, by both the Sydney and Melbourne Mints, it is quite possible that dies produced some years earlier were being ‘used up’ and dates simply being added or changed as appropriate.

HIGH SHIELD

LOW SHIELD

18

DISH S508 DISH S509

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MELBOURNE MINT AUSTRALIA 1887DISH NUMBERS M501-M506

Just as with the Sydney Mint, Melbourne were sent six pairs of gold Half Sovereign dies with the new effigy of the Queen, ready for production of the new coins to commence in time for the Golden Jubilee in June. Again, the Obverse dies were produced without J.E.B. initials present on the master die. Therefore, like the Sydney Mint dies, the J.E.B. initials were punched by hand individually onto each Obverse die by Royal Mint employee William Poplett using the Hooked J variety.

All six hooked J Obverse dies were utilised at Melbourne and all have been identified today, evidently produced in very small numbers all should be considered very rare.

The Melbourne Mint annual report for 1887 quotes 14,176 as the average production of Half Sovereigns for that year per pair of dies.

A total of 64,000 Half Sovereigns were issued and included some young head type dated 1887.

I would suggest that just one pair of Young Head dies were used.

7 X 14,176 = 99,232

That would suggest that just over 35,000 coins were rejected, or about 35% of production. That is less than London at 50% but considerably higher than Sydney’s 12% rejection rate for the year.

HIGH SHIELD

DISH M501

20

DISH M502 DISH M503

21

DISH M504 DISH M505

22

DISH M506MELBOURNE MINT AUSTRALIA 1893DISH NUMBER M507

There were 110,024 gold Half Sovereigns produced by the Melbourne Mint in 1893. An extremely tiny proportion of these were ‘Old Heads’. The exact number of these is unknown but it is a small enough quantity for me to decide not to adjust down the Jubilee Head figure.

There are some very minor differences to both the Obverse and Reverse Half Sovereign dies, similar to those mentioned for the Sydney Mint dated 1889. Again, in my opinion, insignificant enough to justify more than one DISH number. Given that these were the first Melbourne Half Sovereigns struck since 1887, one has to speculate a remote possibility that the dies used for Melbourne 1893 and Sydney 1889 were produced at the same time, though it is more likely the Melbourne Mint ordered fresh dies from the Royal Mint in London nearer to 1893 and separately from the Sydney Mint for their production run dated 1889.

DISH M507

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APPENDIXPRODUCTION BY YEAR AND MINT

LONDON SYDNEY MELBOURNE1887 YES YES YES1888 NO NO NO1889 NO YES NO1890 YES NO NO1891 YES YES NO1892 YES NO NO1893 YES NO YES

LONDON 18,092,381 97.40%

SYDNEY 318,500 1.71%

MELBOURNE 164,882 0.89%

TOTAL 18,575,763 100.00%

1887 1,027,128 5.53%

1888

1889 64,000 0.34%

1890 2,266,023 12.20%

1891 1,241,884 6.69%

1892 13,680,486 73.65%

1893 296,242 1.59%

TOTAL 18,575,763 100.00%

SURVEY OF JUBILEE HEAD HALF SOVEREIGNS SLABBED BY LONDON COINS

In January 2019 I spent time at London Coins going through their archiverecords of all the Jubilee Head Half Sovereigns they have graded and slabbed.The small number of 1887 London Proofs were discounted as they wereoutside the remit of my research.There were then a total of 69 coins.The breakdown is as follows:

LONDON 65SYDNEY 2MELBOURNE 2

TOTAL 69

The breakdown of the London Mint coins is as follows;

1887NO JEB 2HOOKED J 2IMPERFECT J 41TOTAL 45

1890HIGH SHIELD, NO JEB 2TOTAL 2

18911

TOTAL 1

1892HIGH SHIELD, NO JEB 1LOW SHIELD, NO JEB 15TOTAL 16

18931

TOTAL 1

TOTAL 65 65

SURVEY OF JUBILEE HEAD HALF SOVEREIGNS SOLD BY LONDON COINS AUCTIONS

In January 2019 I looked at all Jubilee Head Half Sovereigns sold by London Coins,going back from that date on their online archive. I only examined coins photographed, so at to be sure of accuracy.This was a total of 115 coins.The vast majority of the coins sold, unsurprisingly, were London Mint.The breakdown is as follows:

LONDON 105SYDNEY 5MELBOURNE 5

TOTAL 115

6 were 1887 London Proofs, so were outside the remit of my research. The breakdown of the remaining 99 London Mint coins is as follows:

1887NO JEB 5 HOOKED J 8 IMPERFECT J 44 TOTAL 57

1890HIGH SHIELD, NO JEB 5LOW SHIELD, NO JEB 1TOTAL 6

1891 4TOTAL 4

1892HIGH SHIELD, NO JEB 1LOW SHIELD, NO JEB 24TOTAL 25

1893 7TOTAL 7

TOTAL 99 99

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MINTAGE FIGURES AND ESTIMATED VARIATIONS BREAKDOWN

LONDON SYDNEY1887 DISH NUMBER OBVERSE REVERSE PRODUCTION %AGE RARITY SPINK NO. 1887 DISH NUMBER OBVERSE REVERSE PRODUCTION %AGE RARITY SPINK NO.

DISH L.501 NO JEB HIGH SHIELD 10,188 1.17% R 3869C DISH S.501 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 16,750 16.67% R4 3871 DISH L.502 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 3,397 0.39% R5 3869A DISH S.502 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 16,750 16.67% R4 3871 DISH L.503 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 3,397 0.39% R5 3869A DISH S.503 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 16,750 16.67% R2 3871A DISH L.504 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 3,397 0.39% R6 3869A DISH S.504 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 16,750 16.67% R4 3871A DISH L.505 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 3,397 0.39% R6 3869A DISH S.505 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 16,750 16.66% R4 3871A DISH L.506 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 3,397 0.39% R6 3869A DISHS.506 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 16,750 16.66% R4 3871A DISH L.507 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 3,397 0.39% R7 3869A YEAR TOTAL 100,500 100.00%

DISH L.508 IMPERFECT J HIGH SHIELD 841,200 96.49% C2 3869 134,000 Half Sovereigns were struck at Sydney in 1887. I estimate that 25% were Young Heads. YEAR TOTAL 871,770 100.00%

1889 DISH NUMBER OBVERSE REVERSE PRODUCTION %AGE RARITY SPINK NO.1890 DISH NUMBER OBVERSE REVERSE PRODUCTION %AGE RARITY SPINK NO. DISH S.507 IMPERFECT J LOW SHIELD 64,000 100.00% R3 3871B DISH L.509 NO JEB HIGH SHIELD 1,586,217 70.00% C 3869C YEAR TOTAL 64,000 100.00%

DISH L.510 IMPERFECT J HIGH SHIELD DOES IT EXIST? R7? 3869DISH L.511 NO JEB LOW SHIELD 339,903 15.00% R 3869D 1891 DISH NUMBER OBVERSE REVERSE PRODUCTION %AGE RARITY SPINK NO.DISH L.512 IMPERFECT J LOW SHIELD 339,903 15.00% R 3869B DISH S.508 NO JEB HIGH SHIELD 130,900 85.00% R2 3871D

YEAR TOTAL 2,266,023 100.00% DISH S.509 IMPERFECT J HIGH SHIELD 23,100 15.00% R4 3871CYEAR TOTAL 154,000 100.00%

1891 DISH NUMBER OBVERSE REVERSE PRODUCTION %AGE RARITY SPINK NO.DISH L.513 NO JEB LOW SHIELD 1,087,884 100.00% S 3869D SYDNEY TOTAL 318,500 318,500

YEAR TOTAL 1,087,884 100.00%MELBOURNE

1892 DISH NUMBER OBVERSE REVERSE PRODUCTION %AGE RARITY SPINK NO. 1887 DISH NUMBER OBVERSE REVERSE PRODUCTION %AGE RARITY SPINK NO. DISH L.514 NO JEB HIGH SHIELD 684,024 5.00% R 3869C DISH M.501 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 9,143 16.67% R4 3870

DISH L.515 IMPERFECT J HIGH SHIELD DOES IT EXIST? R7? DISH M.502 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 9,143 16.67% R4 3870DISH L.516 NO JEB LOW SHIELD 12,971,499 94.82% C3 3869D DISH M.503 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 9,143 16.67% R4 3870DISH L.517 IMPERFECT J LOW SHIELD 24,963 0.18% R6 3869B DISH M.504 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 9,143 16.67% R4 3870

YEAR TOTAL 13,680,486 100.00% DISH M.505 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 9,143 16.66% R4 3870ADISH M.506 JEB VARIATION HIGH SHIELD 9,143 16.66% R4 3870A

1893 DISH NUMBER OBVERSE REVERSE PRODUCTION %AGE RARITY SPINK NO. YEAR TOTAL 54,858 100.00%DISH L.518 NO JEB LOW SHIELD 186,218 100.00% S 3869D 64,000 Half Sovereigns were struck at Melbourne in 1887. I estimate that just over 14% were Young Heads.

YEAR TOTAL 186,218 100.00%4,240,407 Old Head Half Sovereigns were also struck in 1893, which was 95.80% of the 4,426,625 struck that year. The 186,218 Jubilee Heads is just 4.20% of the year’s output. 1893 DISH NUMBER OBVERSE REVERSE PRODUCTION %AGE RARITY SPINK NO.

DISH M.507 IMPERFECT J LOW SHIELD 110,024 100.00% R2 3870BLONDON TOTAL 18,092,381 18,092,381 YEAR TOTAL 110,024 100.00%

A tiny unknown number of Old Heads were struck at Melbourne in 1893.

MELBOURNE TOTAL 164,882 164,882

GRAND TOTAL 18,575,763 18,575,763

25

The David Iverson CollectionVictoria Jubilee Head Gold Half Sovereigns

Sale Catalogue - Coins available from Sovereign Rarities Ltd

DISH L501 – Iverson coin 1

£500

DISH L502 – Iverson coin 2

£1,250

DISH L503 – Iverson coin 3

£750

DISH L504 – Iverson coin 4

£650

26

DISH L505 – Iverson coin 5

£1,250

DISH L508 – Iverson coin 6

£275

DISH L509 – Iverson coin 7

£350

DISH L511 – Iverson coin 8

£450

27

DISH L512 – Iverson coin 9

£475

DISH L513 – Iverson coin 10

£325

DISH L514 – Iverson coin 11

£400

DISH L516 – Iverson coin 12

£275

28

DISH L518 – Iverson coin 13

£500

DISH S503 – Iverson coin 14

£650

DISH S504 – Iverson coin 15

£1,250

DISH S505 – Iverson coin 16

£1,350

29

DISH S507 – Iverson coin 17

£650

DISH S508 – Iverson coin 18

£650

DISH S509 – Iverson coin 19

£650

DISH M501 – Iverson coin 20

£1,250

30

DISH M502 – Iverson coin 21

-

£1,350

DISH M503 – Iverson coin 22

£1,250

DISH M504 – Iverson coin 23

£950

DISH M505 – Iverson coin 24

£1,000

31

DISH M506 – Iverson coin 25

£1,250

DISH M507 – Iverson coin 26

£475

The Iverson CollectionSynopsis

DISH NUMBERS BY MINT COIN NUMBER DISH NUMBERLONDON 18SYDNEY 9 LONDONMELBOURNE 7 1 L.501

2 L.502TOTAL 34 3 L.503

4 L.504THE IVERSON COLLECTION 26 5 L.505MISSING FROM COLLECTION 5 6 L.508QUITE LIKELY EXISTS 1 7 L.509MIGHT NOT EXIST 2 8 L.511 9 L.512TOTAL OF DISH NUMBERS 34 10 L.513

11 L.514MISSING FROM COLLECTION 12 L.516L.506 13 L.518L.517S.501 SYDNEYS.502 14 S.503S.506 15 S.504

16 S.505QUITE LIKELY EXISTS 17 S.507L.507 18 S.508 19 S.509MIGHT NOT EXISTL.510 MELBOURNEL.515 20 M.501

21 M.50222 M.50323 M.50424 M.50525 M.50626 M.507