Couple of pound coins someone brought back from a trip. I've heard that the collars which create the edge lettering are placed at any orientation, so the text is about 50-50 to face the front or back. Is the lettering also randomly oriented rotationally as to where the words line up compared to the top of the coin? Any answers for the UK or other countries with edge lettering are welcomed. I don't have a lot of lettered modern coins to use for comparison.
Yes. The edge inscriptions are done separately from striking the obverse and reverse, so its placement is completely random on all fronts. The only current coins with edge lettering that are not random, to my knowledge, are Swiss 5 francs. Lettering on those is done using a 3-piece collar at the time of striking. The same is true for proof American dollars, but not the business strike coins.
Agreed - the lettering on British coin edges is roughly 50/50 which way up it will appear, and rotationally can start anywhere around the coin. The edge and faces are struck in two different processes and in between the coins are held in a hopper, so there can be no control on the orientation of the edge. Beware - on Ebay there are always lots of sellers trying to charge a premium for "upside down edge", which is a con. On the new bi-metallic £1 coin there is an edge variation depending on whether the milling on the edge at the base of the portrait starts to the right or left of the truncation. Correct is to the right, but left (a leftie) occurs fairly frequently. They do command a slight premium but are not really that rare - ~5% of the population.
