A Couple of 1806 George III Half Guineas with Interesting Lettering Errors or Doubling

[LawrenceChard]

A Couple of 1806 George III Half Guineas with Interesting Lettering Errors or Doubling

Obverse is normal enough, but:

SO in DEFENSOR appears to be over other letters, but what?

Supermacro Close-Up

 

Second Coin:

But different error in reverse lettering:

 

F in DEFENSOR appears to be double struck:

 

A nice pair, in my opinion.

😎

[Stuntman]

The second one looks a nicer specimen than the first one, especially the obverse.

Both obverses appear to be very similar, maybe even the same die.  The D of DEI is lower than the EI on both, and the third I of III is further from the second I compared to the gap between the first and second I.

No ideal on what the SO in DEFENSOR is potentially overstruck.  Might it just be how the reverse die has worn out or degraded over time?

Thanks for sharing.  I find these small variations in these older coins interesting although unlike some collectors, I would rarely if ever consider paying a big premium for one that might be considered a rare or unusual variant.

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, Stuntman said:

The second one looks a nicer specimen than the first one, especially the obverse.

Both obverses appear to be very similar, maybe even the same die.  The D of DEI is lower than the EI on both, and the third I of III is further from the second I compared to the gap between the first and second I.

No ideal on what the SO in DEFENSOR is potentially overstruck.  Might it just be how the reverse die has worn out or degraded over time?

Thanks for sharing.  I find these small variations in these older coins interesting although unlike some collectors, I would rarely if ever consider paying a big premium for one that might be considered a rare or unusual variant.

Yes the second one is much better grade.

I had not compared the obverses with each other, but you could be right. Reverse dies wear out about twice as quickly as obverses, so one obverse die can often be seen with two different reverses.

The lettering features are very unlikely to be through wear, as this would not cause doubling or overstamping of letters. It is usually caused by blunders when punching the lettering onto the dies.

(A bit like typos in forum posts).

😎