COLLECTION OF MILLED BRITISH HALF CROWNS SINCE 1816 (M.T.)
I have always had an interest in coins but only started collecting British coins, seriously, in the late Nineties. Being a perfectionist I was attracted to milled coins post 1816, especially in MS grades, where you can fully appreciate all the fine and intricate details of the design.
The year 1816 actually marked one of the most important moments in the history of British coinage – The Great Recoinage. The Great Recoinage was designed to relieve the chronic shortage of change that had plagued the country for many decades. For Georgian Britain, it was a change as big as decimalization for you and me. It marks one of the most important moments in British numismatic history. The machinery used to steam-mill the coins was provided by Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham, and was installed at the Royal Mint's new premises on Tower Hill. These coins were a considerable qualitative improvement over the screw-milled issues of previous years.
I had very quickly set my heart on Young Head Victorian half crowns, which are now in the centre of this collection. The main reason was (at least in my eyes) the timeless beauty of the Queen Victoria portrait. The Young Head portrait was created by William Wyon (1795 – 1851), chief engraver at The Royal Mint. It depicts Victoria at only 18 years of age when she acceded to the throne. The Young Head portrait has a neoclassical feel with the Queen's gently waved hair gathered into a loosely knotted bun or small ponytail. William Wyon was clearly inspired by his admiration of the neoclassical style of his mentor John Flaxman to create this uncluttered and well-balanced portrait. Now familiarly known as the Young Head, its beautiful features flattered the queen, who was a grandmother in her late 60s before she allowed it to disappear from the coinage!
Saying all that, it is probably not too surprising that one of my most favourite coins from the collection is the 1882 Young Head Half crown in MS66. It is not only a beautiful coin with unmarked satin fields but it is also currently the single highest example of Type A5 Halfcrown (Spink, 1874 - 1887 YH Halfcrown) in MS 66 grade across NGC and PCGS. If you want to check out just one coin from my collection, this might be the one :-).
As mentioned above, my initial interest was directed towards YH Victorian half crowns, but after a couple of years I began to focus on all milled half crowns post 1816 and nowadays my goal is to put together a high grade, and ideally complete, set of these half crowns. However, it is quite a challenging task as
half crowns are relatively heavy and large coins (compared to smaller denominations) and as a result suffer from bag-marks and marks in their fields generally. On top of that, as mentioned by Poldan, the half crown was a very popular coin but after 1850 no further circulation coins were minted until 1874. Those that remained in circulation saw much more circulation than might have otherwise been the case, also their high value made it more unlikely that they would be put away with the consequence that prices for all the early coins in mint condition are very high. Also, the price of some of the key dates (such as 1841 and 1905) in a high MS grade could prove to be limiting, meaning I might have to consider lower grades.
Certainly choice material is in very short supply and makes this set very challenging to complete.
Surprisingly, even Half crowns of George VI and Elizabeth II are quite difficult to obtain in certified choice grades. There are several reasons for that, mainly because of poor production quality (meaning they are heavily bag marked due to mass production) and the fact that they don't have high enough valuations to justify slabbing. Also, there are a lot more George VI and Elizabeth II coins around because it was possible to find them in change in the 1970s, but most of the "high grade" ones that come onto the market are cleaned EF (they look more presentable cleaned to the untrained eye than George V). In my experience, the majority of raw half crowns from this era, bought from reputable dealers and described as BU, will come back graded as MS 62 – 63 or even UNC Details Cleaned. In my opinion, the scarcity of truly uncirculated or choice examples is now very slowly emerging over time on the population reports. We shall see. My own prediction is that anything from 1938 - 1944 will prove scarce in truly choice UNC grade (MS 64 and above) and may well prove to be a good investment in the long term. Already now prices of MS65 and MS66 examples are up to 10 times higher than book prices. I have to fully agree with Sterlingcoins observation: “Pricing for Gem quality examples in most price guides is often wildly inaccurate as these coins are seldom available for sale. Although there seem to be few serious collectors of these coins, among these few well informed collectors, the competition can be fierce.”
For those interested, below is a very brief summary of Half crown history (source: coins-of-the-uk.co.uk) and mintage figures are included in individual coin comments. Just bear in mind, that the amount given are the numbers of coins issued by the Mint in a particular calendar year, not the number coins that bear a particular date. In many instances dies of one year continued to be used the following year, and it is only since 1950 that totals of particular dates can be computed with accuracy.
Very brief summary of Half crown history:
The half crown was first issued in 1526 during the reign of Henry VIII, and was struck in gold. The issue continued until the reign of Edward VI and in 1551 the first silver half crown was produced. It was a short lived series - the denomination was not issued again until the reign of Elizabeth I, who once again issued gold half crowns. During the last two years of her reign silver half crowns were produced once again. The half crown continued to be issued during the Commonwealth and the last hammered coins were issued by Charles II.
Milled half crowns were issued with the portrait of Oliver Cromwell in 1656 and 1658. Those of Charles II started in 1663, and the half crown was issued regularly until 1751, during the reign of George II.
After 1751 there was a large gap until the Great Recoinage of 1816, when the half crown was produced once again. They have a diameter of 32 mm and a weight of 14.1 g, these dimensions remained the same for the half crown until decimalisation in 1971. The reverse of all subsequent half crowns consists of a shield with the royal coat of arms.
Half crowns of George III
The first portrait, used in 1816 and 1817, was not very flattering of King George, so a new design came out during 1817. The half crown was then issued almost every year until 1850, when minting ceased because of the introduction of the florin in 1849. Unusually, in 1820 coins were issued for both George III and George IV.
Half crowns of George IV
These come with two obverses and four reverses, as follows:
Obverse 1: Laureate Head, GEORGIUS IIII D G BRITANNIAR REX F D (1820-4)
Obverse 2: Bare Head, GEORGIUS IV DEI GRATIA, {date} below (1824-9, 1824 version very scarce)
Reverse 1a: Garnished Shield, large crown above, ANNO {date} below (1820-1)
Reverse 1b: As above but with small differences in many places (1821-3)
Reverse 2: Crowned shield with garter on which is HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE, ANNO {date} below (1823-4).
Reverse 3: Garnished shield surmounted by helmet and crown, BRITANNIARUM REX FID DEF around (1824-9, 1824 version very scarce).
The half crowns of William IV usually have the designers initials (WW) in script on the truncation of the head, but rare varieties of 1831 and 1834 of have the initials in block letters.
Half crowns of Victoria
The early issues of Queen Victoria up to 1850 had a portrait in fairly high relief.
In the years 1851 to 1873 no half crowns were issued for circulation, as the florin was used in its place.
Half crowns are known dated between 1866 and 1871, but these are forgeries.
When the half crown was reintroduced in 1874 a lower relief portrait of the Queen was used. Both types had a similar reverse showing a coat of arms with a wreath around.
Design changes took place in 1887 (the Jubilee issue) and 1893 (the Old or Veiled Head issue). Minor variations in the reverse of the Veiled Head issues are known, mainly distinguished by the length of the border teeth.
Half crowns of Edward VII
A completely new design was used in 1902 on the accession of Edward VII, and unusually the reverse was left unchanged for the early George V issues.
Half crowns of George V
The original portrait of George V is in fairly high relief. As mentioned above, the reverse was originally kept the same as for the issue of Edward VII. In 1920 the price of silver rose to the extent that the intrinsic values of the silver coinage exceeded face value. As a result the silver content was reduced to 50%. At first the new alloy did not wear well, and later modifications were made.
In 1926the effigy was modified. The most straightforward way to tell the two types of 1926 apart is to compare them with the 1920-1925 versions or the 1927-1936. The BM on the truncation is further to the right in the modified version, and no longer has full stops. In addition there are differences in the beading round the edge on both sides of the coin.
A revised reverse appeared in 1928, with proof versions of this new design dated 1927.
Half crowns of Edward VIII
A new design was to be issued for Edward VIII, but on his abdication the design was abandoned. Rare patterns are known.
Half crowns of George VI
A modified version of the George V reverse was issued by George VI. In 1947 the alloy used was changed from 50% silver to cupronickel. A further change took place in 1949 with the removal of the words IND IMP from the reverse.
It is believed that only two half crowns dated 1952 are known. One was recovered from circulation, while the other is a VIP proof. Nickel was in short supply at that time because of the Korean War, and so none were intended to be issued.
Half crowns of Elizabeth II
In 1953 a new design was issued with the portrait of Elizabeth II, the reverse having a crowned shield flanked by E and R. As with other denominations, the obverse inscription changed after 1953. Coins dated 1954, 1958 and 1959 are very difficult to find in uncirculated condition, as at that time collecting by date was less prevalent than it is today.
The Half crown was finally demonetised on 1st January 1970 in preparation for decimalisation the following year. Proof coins dated 1970 were never legal tender.
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COLLECTION OF MILLED BRITISH HALF CROWNS SINCE 1816 (M.T.)
By M.T.
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