1932/1 5 mark. I was lucky enough to have spoted two of these very rare overdated 5 marks last year and bought both without thinking too much! Sent this one for grading and decided to keep the other raw .
Brandenburg-Bayreuth/ Margraviate AV Dukat 1642/1 Nurnberg Mint Christian I Margrave Von Brandenburg-Bayreuth
1675/3/2 halfpenny, previously in a NGC MS65 slab dated 1673, but somewhat overgraded based on the reverse. It was obviously 5 over 3 to the naked eye prior to removal, but a hi-res scan of the date shows it is also over 2 - the double overdate previously unknown.
1734/3 halfpenny. Nothing special to look at, but much, much rarer than the book would suggest. I've seen 3 with a possible 4th in the past 20 years, and this one is a full grade higher than the next best I've seen.
Beautiful gold coin. King Ferdinando was a young pup when that coin was minted in Naples, around 12 years old. He would grow up to be a powerful King in Southern Italy and Sicily. His Daddy was King Charles III of the Spanish empire.
One from Napoleonic Italy 1814 1/0 40 Lire. There are almost as many normal dates to overdates (and overstruck mintmarks) for all the denominations in this series - unlike the French, Dutch, Spanish and German issues where they are rare.
GB 1578/7 sixpence. The reverse mark is short cross over eglantine, which means the die was used in two separate periods corresponding to the two initial marks. Apologies for the colours here.
How does a mint overstrike mintmark? My understanding of overstrike is an old coin is used as a planchet and struck as a fresh coin.
In addition to the overdates it is very common to see V/M where the V for Venice is over the M for milan. As far as I know it is not known whether the milan dies were then sent to the Venice and Bologna mints and whether these were recut or whether the change in mint letter was just added afterwards with the overdate originally resulting from reused dies at Milan - if anyone can shed some light on this that would be great! Individual letters in some legends were also altered. Pic is a 1812 V/M 1 Lira - the V/M is very obvious in hand!
There are different options. You can punch in the new detail without removing the old character as per the 1578 over 7 sixpence above, or you can fill the die (presumably by hammering soft metal as used for the die into the die recess) and punch in the new detail as per the 1675 over 3 over 2 halfpenny above. The former is fairly obvious in hand, but the latter is usually very subtle. Using the 5/3/2 above as it covers both options, the only hint you have of the 2 is the horizontal line on the base. This is very slightly raised and is the edge of where the incuse detail on the die has been filled, but is not a perfect job and so there is a slight undulation in the field at this point. When the 3 was entered, the top loop of the 3 partly followed the line of the 2 top curve, but then the bottom loop curved out to avoid the filled area. The 5 was subsequently added by utilising part of the bottom loop as seen. Whatever is done, the die needs to be softened prior to entering the new letter or digit as it is almost impossible to punch in a clean sided letter, otherwise you tend to see a series of stepped characters as the punch works deeper as the hardened metal is harder to penetrate. The image below is a good demonstration of this. This is a James I halfgroat with the spur rowel mark punched in over a saltire. The saltire mark was used during the pyx period 9th June 1619 - 23rd June 1620. For some reason Spur Rowel was also pyxed on the same day. This may have been a delayed pyx for Saltire, or maybe there were two mints operating that year in the Tower, as had been the case 70 years earlier. Assuming Saltire preceded Spur Rowel, rather than scrap the unused dies after the first mark closed, they were reused as was normal practice by entering the new mark, which is a 6 pointed star with a central hole. The right angle of the saltire is clearly seen as the highest point. The spur rowel overmark, which has no right angles, can be seen as a series of steps coming in from 10 o'clock. This coin is the Coins of England S2671 variety which reads 'mm.24 with rev. stops known'. Reverse stops are a feature of 2nd coinage halfgroats, no stops for 3rd coinage.
Ok back to overdates. The Spanish colonial pillar dollar series is replete with examples. Here's one of my clearest overdates.
1787 No Stop at Head and No Hearts shilling with the 8 over 7. Obviously an engraver error because the design didn't appear until 1786.
And a 1787 With Hearts shilling having the same issue (8/7), but this time also showing the 1 over an inverted 1.
I like the octagonal dollar as I'm drawn to anything oddball. You can't beat an eclectic collection. 1858/6 halfpenny. Two obverse dies are known with this overdate. The 8 covers the 6 well, the latter showing mostly as a connection in the left side between the two loops.
