So this Maundy piece finally arrived in the mail. It is undoubtedly a Maundy fourpence, being slightly larger than the regular fourpence and everything. But the thing is, British coins normally have a medallic orientation. This means that when you turn them sideways, they will be the same side up. However, when I turned this coin sideways, it had coin orientation (opposite side up when you turn the coin sideways). All of my Victorian halfpennies and pennies have medallic orientation, including my 1846 circulation-issue fourpence with the seated Britannia, but my George III halfpenny has coin orientation, which makes me believe that this is date specific. Is it date specific or an error?
Interesting. Did they use both medallic and coin alignments regardless of date? In US collecting, medallic alignment on regular coins is considered an error, but I'm not as familiar with UK coins.
I don't have my books to hand, but yes - it varies by date and denomination. Generally 18th century and earlier British coins are "Coin" alignment. This changed during the 19th century with all switching to "Medal" alignment. It is rare to get both Medal and Coin alignment in the same year and denomination. In the Spinks year books it clearly indicates which is expected using two arrows - both pointing up for Medal and one up/one down for Coin alignments.
