Great Britain 1844 half farthing
This specimen was lot 820 in Stack's "Vermuele, Ward & Mexico Maxico" sale (New York, January 2010), where it sold for $149.50. The catalog description[1] noted, "GREAT BRITAIN. Victoria, 1837-1901. Half Farthing, 1844. Young head l. REGINA shows N punched over an erroneous E. Rv. Crown over value. Marvelous engraver's error distinguishes this obverse. Pleasing brown. MS-63 BN (NGC)." In the early nineteenth century, many British colonies did not receive distinctive coinage but "homeland types" struck specifically for that area. The SCWC notes this half farthing (1/1920 of a sovereign) was struck for Ceylon 1839-56 and only made legal tender in Britain in 1842. This variety, with the E over N, is listed at four times the price of the normal issue.
Recorded mintage: 6,451,000 (all varieties).
Specification: copper.
Catalog reference: S.3951, KM 738.
- [1]Kraljevich, John, and Frank Van Valen, The Vermuele, Ward & Mexico Maxico Collections, New York: Stack's, 2009.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Bressett, Kenneth E., A Guide Book of English Coins, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 2nd Ed., Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing, 1962.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
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