Set Description
My inspiration for this set was wybrit who was the former Registry leader with a staggering points total of 91349.
I have very recently finally succeeded in completing this set although the very rarest coins are at present in poor condition. So, the present total of 90,650 falls just a little short of wybrit’s total but is nevertheless a solid improvement on last year’s figure of 77,486 ( the year before that 61355 ). Sadly the exclusion of PCGS coins led to wybrit having to exit the NGC Registry as many of his fabulous MS66, 67 & 68 sixpences were PCGS graded.
I have to say that in my experience a large number of PCGS graded coins have failed to cross over into NGC at the same grade, which leads one to suspect that PCGS applies different criteria in their grading.
However I applaud his achievements which I humbly strive to emulate but despite his remarks ( see below ) this has not been an easy challenge to meet!
With sincere and grateful acknowledgement to him I replicate his set description as it is still fully relevant, but I will as time permits further update it following my own researches and purchases!
" With some exceptions, this is a series that is quite easy to build. Population reports in just the US TPGs suggest that many of the early dates have quite pristine specimens available. For example, 1853 has many examples at MS66-68. These early dates are very well struck up compared to coins from 1858 onwards. The young head series has six obverses, with slight aging of the portrait over time. It is interesting that the last so-called young head was issued when the queen was close to 68 years old!
The six obverses of the young head are broken down thus:
Obverse 1: 1838-1858.
Obverse 2: 1858-1868. Extra curl in the hair extending from the bun; not as well struck up.
Obverse 3: 1867-1874. Lips pursed together compared with Obv 2.
Obverse 4: 1874-1879. Nose is more aquline than Obv 3.
Obverse 5: 1879-1880. The hair bun starts at the second N in BRITANNIAR, whereas it almost completely surrounds both Ns in Obv 4. It is also poorly struck.
Obverse 6: 1880-1887. There is no lock of hair on the cheek like on Obv 4-5. The border teeth are shorter and have a smaller pitch. The hair has been retouched for better definition.
Die numbers were included on dates 1864-1879. Some coins dated 1866, 1871, 1877 and most coins dated 1879 do not have die numbers. Die numbers are thought to have been used to study die lifetime (per Coincraft), but this premise is not universally accepted.
Key dates of the series are, in approximate order of rarity: 1854, 1848 (with or without overdate), 1862, 1876, 1882, 1863 and 1869. There are many other scarce dates that could be included in the list. Key varieties include two in 1878: Die #6 with DRITANNIAR and die #30 which has a rare 1878/7 overdate.
The Mint recorded sixpence production in both 1849 and 1861, but not a single example of either date has ever been found. It is thought any coins minted in these years actually bear an adjacent date.
The Jubilee Head is actually the first widowed head. It has been largely branded an unpopular obverse. When the shilling reverse was changed in 1887, the sixpence was given a similar looking reverse. Apparently, this coin was confused with the half sovereign (the diversity of coinage must have created a lot of confusion), so the Mint acted quickly to produce a reverse similar to that of the young head pieces, which then remained virtually unchanged until 1910.
There are several varieties of the so-called "Withdrawn" 1887 sixpence. Some are well known and some are largely unrecorded:
* " Standard obverse"
* JEB on truncation .
* R/V in Victoria
* R/I in Victoria
* A over misaligned A in Victoria.
There is only one obverse but there are a total of five reverses with minor die differences in the standard reverse of the Jubilee Head series. The 1893 Jubilee Head sixpence is among the most prized of the entire Victorian run.
The Veiled Head series has two obverses and two reverses but are only slightly different. There are no key dates in this run, but 1894 is the date of lowest mintage. "
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A few months ago, I picked up raw specimens of the 1854 and 1848 coins – I have not seen slabbed ones for quite some years and the population reports confirm their scarcity. Some of the remaining Gaps in my collection were further filled by obtaining raw coins at British auctions, though certain British auction houses seem somewhat blind to hairlines produced by cleaning!
The 1862 and 1863 coins popped up in a couple of English auctions in a raw state a while ago but finding slabbed ones seems to be well nigh impossible! There is a nice NGC MS64 specimen of the 1863 coin on eBay at the time of writing ( 23 November 2015 ) but with a BIN price of £2099 plus Import VAT this is priced – in my opinion – very aggressively!
The hitherto sole specimen of the 1869 sixpence in the NGC Population Report became available in an English auction last summer but it's scarcity resulted in some very exciting but costly bidding. I was however fortunate enough to acquire a nice raw coin not too long ago which at MS63 is an attractive addition to my duplicate set of sixpences. The 1876 coin seems to be of a similar scarcity though I have been able to find these in Great Britain in a raw state at quality auctions, but with a price to match.
There are certain dates which exist both with and without die numbers and it can be very hard to acquire both as one type is usually very common and the other much scarcer than the catalogues suggest. For this reason I have had to settle for a few " Details " coins.
The 1848 does appear occasionally but more often than not in a low grade. Past auction history indicates that reasonable raw ( ie. AU53 and better, though not graded ) specimens of this coin have been available in the past but none have appeared for public sale for quite some years. Clearly, dedicated collectors appreciate the scarcity of such coins.
The 1878/7 coin is occasionally available on eBay but from what I have seen the overstrike is not usually convincing.
The 1854 sixpence will be my ultimate challenge as this seems to rank with the florin of the same date in terms of rarity. I have not seen any for some years in any grade so the one high grade coin in the Population Report is truly a very rare gem! A cleaned specimen was available quite recently in a British coin auction but with a price achieved of £2400 plus premium this proved too great a challenge for me at present though it was an attractive looking coin.
I think that wybrit's comment about the ease of completing the set may now be a little historic as very few of the high grade specimens actually appear in auction - clearly the owners appreciate the beauty of the highly graded gems and are hanging on to them! However I am quite pleased that my collection has progressed to the current position as I might now be able to devote my resources and time to my Victorian Halfcrown set, the latter proving significantly more costly for the earlier Young Head coins.
I would finally comment that catalogue values universally are totally unrealistic and just seem to be reprinted from year to year parrot fashion without any real knowledge of or actual scarcity of most of the coins in the real world.
Detailed below are the mintage figures for the standard coins, although how reliable these are for indicating the actual numbers released into circulation is a matter of conjecture…….
Date Mintage
1838 - 1,607,760
1839 - 3,310,560
1840 - 2,098,800
1841 - 1,386,000
1842 - 601,920
1843 - 3,160,080
1844 - 3,975,840
1845 - 3,714,480
1846 - 4,268,880
1848 - 586,080
1850 - 498,960
1851 - 2,288,107
1852 - 904,586
1853 - 3,837,930
1854 - 840,116
1855 - 1,129,084
1856 - 2,779,920
1857 - 2,233,440
1858 - 1,932,480
1859 - 4,688,640
1860 - 1,100,880
1862 - 990,000
1863 - 491,040
1864 - 4,253,040
1865 - 1,631,520
1866 - 5,140,080
1867 - 1,362,240
1868 - 1,069,200
1869 - 388,080
1870 - 479,613
1871 - 3,662,684
1872 - 3,382,048
1873 - 4,594,733
1874 - 4,225,726
1875 - 3,256,545
1876 - 841,435
1877 - 4,066,486
1878 - 2,624,525
1879 - 3,326,313
1880 - 3,892,501
1881 - 6,239,447
1882 - 759,809
1883 - 4,986,558
1884 - 3,422,565
1885 - 4,652,771
1886 - 2,728,249
1887 - 3,675,607
1888 - 4,197,698
1889 - 8,738,928
1890 - 9,386,955
1891 - 7,022,734
1892 - 6,245,746
1893 - 7,350,619
1894 - 3,467,704
1895 - 7,024,631
1896 - 6,651,699
1897 - 5,031,498
1898 - 5,914,100
1899 - 7,996,804
1900 - 8,984,354
1901 - 5,108,757
