February 6, 2024

Die Varieties

If building a complete set of coins from the Island of Jersey is not challenging enough, then collecting the various die varieties of these coins should keep any numismatist busy for years. There are many things to look for including striations, repunched dates and letters, prominent die cracks, mis-aligned letters, and various spacing between letters and digits. Broadly defined a die variety represents a coin that can be linked to a specific pair of dies. Typical die varieties included repunched dates and letters, variations in placement or alignment of letters and numbers, or a slight modification of the design itself. These are differences that occurred at the time the die was made. Also, when looking for varieties it is important to know that there are changes to dies when they are used. These changes can be defined in two categories, a die state and a die stage. A die state refers to how long a die has been used. A die stage refers to die cracks, die breaks, striations, or any other damage to a die. There are many references on the subject of die varieties, die states, and die stages and I would suggest further reading for a better understanding on this subject. However, for this work, a "variety" is something that readily distinguishes one coin from the next. For example, consider two coins that are identical except for one noticeable feature. One has striations and the other does not. We will consider these two coins as two die varieties. (Yes, in reality both come from the same set of dies. The obverse die is in a different die stage.) To properly describe a variety, the obverse die and reverse die must be identified. For this work, numbers are used to indentify obverse dies. If the die has striations, the letter "S" is appended to the number. Letters are used to identify the reverse dies. A die variety is identified by the pairing of the two. For example, an 1851 half penny has seven die varieties. The seven are: 1-A, 1S-A, 2S-B, 3-C, 4S-C, 5S-C, and 6S-B.

The following table lists the obverse and reverse die types for the penny, half penny, and farthing. It also reports the number of known varieties for each coin. There are not any varieties of the one fourth of a shilling and five shillings coins.

Penny Half Penny Farthing
Year Number of Obverse Types Number of Reverse Types Number of Varieties Number of Obverse Types Number of Reverse Types Number of Varieties Number of Obverse Types Number of Reverse Types Number of Varieties
1841 2 3 3 5 2 5 4 2 4
1844 2 2 3 3 1 3    
1851 5 2 5 7 4 7    
1858 5 3 6 4 3 4    
1861 9 6 10 4 4 6    
1866 4 1 4 4 1 4    
1870 5 1 5 7 2 7    
1871 5 2 6 2 1 2    
1877 5 1 5 13 1 13 3 1 3
1881 1 2 2      
1888 4 5 7 7 2 7
1894 1 4 4 2 2 2
1909 1 1 1 1 2 2
1911 2 4 5 1 3 3
1913 2 2 2 1 1 1
1923-1 1 3 3 1 2 2
1923-2 1 1 1 1 1 1
1926 1 1 1 1 1 1
1931 1 1 1 1 1 1
1933 2 1 2 1 1 1
1935 1 2 2 1 1 1
1937 1 2 2 1 1 1
1946 1 1 1 1 1 1
1947 1 2 2 1 1 1
1945G 1 1 1
1945E 1 1 1
1957 1 1 1
1960 1 1 1
1964 1 1 1
1966 1 1 1
Penny Half Penny Farthing
Year Number of Obverse Types Number of Reverse Types Number of Varieties Number of Obverse Types Number of Reverse Types Number of Varieties Number of Obverse Types Number of Reverse Types Number of Varieties
1841 2 3 3 3 2 3 4 1 4
1844 2 2 3 2 2 2    
1851 4 1 4 7 3 7    
1858 5 1 5 5 3 5    
1861 9 6 10 5 3 6    
1866 5 2 5 3 1 3    
1870 4 1 4 6 1 6    
1871 5 2 5 2 1 2    
1877 5 1 5 8 1 8 3 1 3
1881 1 2 2      
1888 4 5 7 6 2 6
1894 1 4 4 2 2 2
1909 1 1 1 1 2 2
1911 1 4 4 1 3 3
1913 1 2 2 1 1 1
1923-1 1 3 3 1 2 2
1923-2 1 1 1 1 1 1
1926 1 1 1 1 1 1
1931 1 1 1 1 1 1
1933 2 1 2 1 1 1
1935 1 2 2 1 1 1
1937 1 2 2 1 1 1

Penny Half Penny Farthing
Year Number of Obverse Types Number of Reverse Types Number of Varieties Number of Obverse Types Number of Reverse Types Number of Varieties Number of Obverse Types Number of Reverse Types Number of Varieties
1946 1 1 1 1 1 1
1947 1 3 3 1 1 1
1945G 1 1 1
1945E 1 1 1
1957 1 1 1
1960 1 1 1
1964 1 1 1
1966 1 1 1