I bought a huge amount of British and world coins at an antique auction a few weeks back Lots of rare date coins from a deceased collection. I`m familiar with most mintmarks and terminology for British Penny`s KN, H, ME (Modified Effigy) 1902 Low Tide etc etc But this 1905 is puzzling me, it was like all the others in a card holder inside a pvc sleeve with 1905 (EN PAR) written on the card I know there is an Enclosed 3 on the 1903 which might explain the EN but what is PAR This is not in any of my coin books, any help would be appreciated.
never heard of that one davey but it could be a partially closed 5 in the date, it looks that way to me. certainly different from the standard date.
There are two types of the obverse, but I suspect that it is the vendors code for what it cost him/her.
"Par en par" in Spanish means wide or alot, kind of. Something like "end to end" in other words, "the window is open from end to end." It may be an abbreviation written by the original collector or dealer. It could refer to the date being wide.
I just checked the reference for UK coins (Spink) and it has not listed any variations for the 1905 penny.
You are looking in the wrong place. This is an extract from my website: There are also two reverses for 1905, the first as for 1904 with the upright of the E almost parallel with that of the P in PENNY, and the second as for 1906 with the E more parallel with the N. The example shown is of the second type. Neither is scarce, as far as I know. The meaning of EN PAR should now be clear!
I had it wrong here, as I had not got round to looking! It is 1908 that has two types of obverse (and two of the reverse) In 1908 changes of both obverse and reverse took place. First the obverse changed from the 1907 pattern (1C) to the 1909 pattern (2C), with the colons becoming more central between the words, and then the reverse changing to the 1909 pattern (2D) with a choppier sea which now meets the legs exactly where they cross. At least one copy of the other combination (1D) has been reported.
Nope, I'm confused now. It is still a little hazy for me. Pictorial examples may help me with understanding the two types a little better. It's not that I'm dumb :yes:, I'm just having trouble reading your description. The syntax is throwing me off a bit. I still think in Spanish, that's why.
EN PAR stands for E and N in PENNY almost parallel. Here are some examples for you. The upper image shows the 1904 type, with the top of the E parallel with the edge. The lower image shows the 1906 type, with the top of the E angled with the edge. The images have been adjusted to make the upright of the E vertical, revealing the angles of the P and N
